CORPS - Player Races (3 of 4)

Today we're continuing our third installment of the four part series on Playable Races in CORPS. When we were designing the races for CORPS, along with nearly all of the tactical parts of the game, we were focusing on keeping things balanced. Many games try to follow this 'different but equal' creed of balancing options but it's much easier said than done. Learning things as we went along while designing CORPS it quickly became apparent that using templates with rubrics were an effective way to keep common things balanced among each other. In this case, the case of player races we found we wanted to make sure that each race addressed one of each of the following aspects of the game.

All races should have:

• Attributes that they can increase, either assigned automatically because of a particular race or as free floating attribute points the player can assign as they seem fit
• Prevent excessive min-maxing from any given race; a race cannot increase any 1 attribute by more than 2 points
• Approximately 2 racial powers; these can be something that can be activated in combat or can be passive occurring whenever a triggering condition is met.
• Some basic knowledge of languages they would have likely been around
• Something extra; this 1 to 3 things that are a free form benefit of the race to players who pick it.  This is usually a one time benefit like additional talent points or some kind of passive ability like keen eyesight in low light settings.

Now given this rough template we were able to mechanically design races that we felt would give a dynamic feeling across the multitude of builds people could create from the classless system.  We also wanted to try and give options among the races that simply went beyond attributes.  With D&D 4e, there were some classes that went very well with a given race or two while fitting in rather poorly with others.  That still exists to some extent within CORPS but there are also a lot of interesting combinations that can work out if a particular races' attribute bonuses don't benefit the type of character you are making.

While it may sound kind of backwards once we had come up with a lot of ideas that matched the template outline listed above I started coming up with stories and histories that helped explain the how and why a particular race got any given mechanical benefit.  I would think normally people would come up with a story about a race first, and then from there try and derive what mechanical benefits that race might get.  Using this approach I was able to make sure races were mechanically balanced first (or at least pretty close to it) before coming up with why each race got what it got.  This was also another reason for straying away from many of the common fantasy races other RPGs use over and over again.  In earlier posts, the guy who actually read the post might have noticed strong similarities between a the Burman and Dwarves from other games.  Many of the concepts are alike but some of the mechanics used for the Burman didn't fit in with some concepts of a dwarf from other games.  For reasons such as that we decided to put our own twist on them and branded them as such.  But enough rambling.  Moving on lets start and finish by unveiling 2 more player races of CORPS.

Gryx (Gricks)

Overview

Over a thousand years ago the Gryx were rulers of mighty and vast empires. Their reach and influence extended to far corners of the world. During the emergence of a great and powerful magic into the prime world the gryx were driven to insanity. Much of the recorded history at that time from such bastions of power had been destroyed as the world plunged into chaos. The ending result spawned the birth of what is now commonly known as orcs. The gryx as a race have never recovered from this devastation and the remaining settlements of the gryx are far and few between, scattered on the edges of civilization.

Despite the events that happened so long ago there exists a great deal of tension between the gryx and other races. Tomes of history vary wildly from blaming the gryx for turning into common orcs and slaughtering those within their walls by the millions across the world to making accusations that it was the gryx who brought on the malevolent surge of magic that corrupted them in the first place. Only a handful of scholars throughout the ages have attempted to defend the gryx arguing that as a people they have a very weak affinity to magic and therefore couldn't have been responsible for the destruction caused by the orcs but much of that has fallen on deaf ears.

Time has slowly started to heal the wounds of old and although there is still often tends to be deep seated animosity towards gryx among many, there are gryx present in most of the worlds larger cities. As a people gryx have persevered and continue to survive both among their own settlements as well as within the larger cities of other races often striving to recapture their former glory.

Physical Traits

Gryx usually stand at about a height of 6’, with females averaging a few inches shorter. Gryx are extremely muscular, the average Gryx weights close to 250 pounds. Gryx surprisingly look more like Altwani (on steroids) than orcs, they have small pointed ears and fine well chiseled facial features. Gryx to have rather strongly defined canine teeth that often slightly protrude past their lips. Skin tones can vary greatly among gryx but most commonly vary between gray, light green, brown, and even red. Gryx tend to have red or violet eye which seems to play a part in granting them the ability to see clearly with low levels of light
In addition to their large size gryx are also often very skilled in the ways of combat. Given their impressive physical stature and heritage its not hard to see why swinging an ax or sword is a inherit as learning to eat with a spoon for the gryx. Their speed and strength in combat is the stuff of legends. When a gryx has their adrenaline up they have been known to be able to cover great distances into a matter of seconds slaughtering those in their path without so much as breaking their stride. As the gryx have reemerged into the civilized world over the past century it has been noted that the remainder of the race that survived fall of the gryx so long ago have developed a slight tolerance towards most magics. While this trait exists in a few other civilized races this relatively recent change among the gryx and further sets them apart from their orc counterparts that haven’t changed much since their violent introduction into the world.
As the gryx have reemerged into the civilized world over the past century it has been noted that the remainder of the race that survived fall of the gryx so long ago have developed a slight tolerance towards most magics. While this trait exists in a few other civilized races this relatively recent change among the gryx and further sets them apart from their orc counterparts that haven’t changed much since their violent introduction into the world.

Another difference among the gryx and altwani is that they possess a profuse amount of facial hair. Gryx beards often times can rival the beards of burman in their length and intricacy. Much like the burman among male warriors there beard is a source of pride and status among their kind. Female gryx cannot grow facial hair but will instead grow their head hair, usually draping it over their shoulder to display it.

Personality Traits

As a result of their past most gryx are distrustful of others, even other gryx. The large race while by most appearance are brutish and primitive they possess a keen insight that sets them apart from their orcish cousins. Gryx aren't the quick to temper creatures they once were. Most gryx have grown wise to their old ways and think things through before acting on a whim. While they still possess their fury in the heat of battle most gryx have their emotions well under control.

Despite the gryx having grown emotionally from their personal history they are still considered to be one of the most aggressive civilized races in the world. Everything from their language to their demeanor generally comes off as being harsh or hostile to other races. Coupled with their love of physical sport and combat this can often lead to disagreements between gryx and other races.

Another very common trait among the gryx is their value in honesty. After the collapse of their civilization many gryx had to rely on their promises to other to survive the fallout. Even countless generations later the gryx’ respect for honesty and promises kept is still prevalent in many gryx across the world. While certainly not a universal trait among gryx, and often one that is overlooked by other races, it is present in the majority of them for those who care to take a gryx at his or her word.

Life cycle

Gryx have a life cycle that is very close to that of humans. They reach maturity generally by the age of 11 and hit full adulthood before they are 18. Gryx have only a 7 month gestation period and childbearing females will usually average roughly one 1 child every 24 to 30 months. Female gryx are fertile up until their early 30s at which point their fertility starts to decline. Usually by their 40s female gryx are infertile. Some gryx have been known to live to see their mid to late 80s however most commonly gryx live for between 45 and 60 years.

Primental (Pri-men-tl)

Overview

Primental are a race of humanoids whose ancestors were derived from the primordial realm. Fairly uncommon among civilized races the primentals are still considered one of the newer races among the prime world. Their plight closely resembles that of the asari but rather than a single being crossing over from the enchanted realm there were several different elemental beings hailing from the primordial realm. Similar to the asari these elemental beings quickly experienced degenerative effects the longer they stayed in the prime world. It is believed several species of elemental types were wiped out of existence completely within their first few weeks on the prime world. The few primordial that survived their transformation were forever changed and started the race of what is today known as the primentals.

Interestingly enough there are four subcategories of primental each of which mirror one of the four prime world elements, fire, earth, water and air. These elemental affinities are all that remain to tie the primentals back to the primordial realm. Since their introduction into the prime world, shortly after the fall of the gryx empire, the primentals have primarily splintered off into small factions and scattered themselves across the world. Only a handful of pure primental societies exist today. To their credit those few societies have gone to great lengths to establish themselves as a dominate force in their respective areas.

Physical Traits

The physical appearance of a primental closely resembles that of a human with only a few exceptions. These exceptions almost always seem to be a result of their elemental affinity. As each affinity differs across individual primentals so does the affinity materialize in different physical characteristics. Perhaps the most obvious characteristic among the primentals is that of their hair and skin. Primental with an affinity to fire and earth tend to have reddish brown and dark tan skin while those with an affinity to air and water have a very fair and pale complexion. Regardless of their affinity however the skin of a primental is surprising resilient offering a degree of protection against harsh elements or other physical dangers they may encounter. Likewise their hair can have some extremely unusual characteristics such as those with a water affinity resulting in bluish tinted hair or air affinities with semi translucent silvery hair. Fire affinities generally range between bright red and dark red hair while earth affinities have all shades of brown and black as their typical hair color. While a primentals eye color will usually share similar traits of the affinity it doesn't seem to have any actual impact on their vision, which is roughly the same as their human counterparts.

Another common physical trait among the primental is a natural resistance to their elemental affinity. While the strength of their resistance varies from individual it does seem to be present among all members of the race. An example of its effect can vary from things like a fire primental being able to hot foods without burning their mouth to being able to walk through a burning building without so much as getting singed.

When compared to humans primental are generally a little bit taller, males usually between 5’ 9” and 6’ 3” for males and 5’ 5” to 5’ 10” for females. Their weight is fairly similar as well with male primentals usually weighing between 160 lbs and 225 lbs and females between 130 lbs and 170 lbs. Primentals are also noted for generally having a commanding presence about them. It could be their unusual color and skin tone or perhaps somehow apart of their highly magical nature or a combination of the two.

It has been documented among the four variants of primental that each affinity to a certain degree possess some inherent magical capabilities. The range of these capabilities vary greatly among the primental. One primental may be able to cause a few drops water to to fall from their finger while others may be able to make the very earth quake around them. Regardless of their initial capabilities it does appear that this is a trait. while natural to the primental. is inherent to most commonly practiced magics in that given practice and training its power can be increased. This has unfortunately led some practitioners of more nefarious magics to hunt and capture primentals to be used as living spell reagents for their spells.

Personality Traits

The primental like most civilized races display a wide range of personalities but commonly among them they are known to have stronger than usually emotional outbursts. Whether cries of joy or of telling battle primentals exhibit a whirlwind of emotion compared to most other races. Despite the general well intentions of the primental such overwhelming emotions have often caused more problems then they've solved.

In addition to their strong physical characteristics that result from their elemental affinities, primentals also have some personality traits also tend be tied to particular affinities. Fire affinities tend to be aggressive and loud. They often been compared to a cross between a burman and a gryx in their behavior and general rowdiness. Water affinities tend to be noncommittal as they will be of one opinion one day and be from the complete opposite the next. The earth affinities are almost the polar opposites generally desiring continuity and routine in their lives, almost as much as the elder. The air affinities tend to vary the most but commonly them seem to be instigators. Some might say they try to look at any problem through all points of views but all too often they come off as playing the devils advocate, especially among other primentals. They’ll argue with the fires, suggest alternative solutions to the waters and insist on change for the earths, generally amounting to no end of problems.

Another interesting trait among the primental is their tendency to talk or vent to inanimate objects that share their elemental affinity. This habit seems to start in early adolescents but carries on throughout their lifetime. While races not familiar the primental and their mannerisms often find this a very odd behavior the primental have described it to be the somewhat similar to the verbal prayers made by more pious races of the world. That isn't to say there aren't pious primental, it just seems they have some inherited tendency to talk to the rocks and the water like a human might pray to the gods.

Life cycle

The primental have a life cycle that most closely matches that of the burman. Primental children usually reach maturity in their early teens are adulthood in their early 20s. The gestation period for the primentals actually seem to vary depending on the mothers elemental affinity with fire and water usually averaging between 8 and 9 months while air and earth affinities tend to be closer to 10 or 11 months. The birth rate for childbearing primentals is usually about one child every 3 years. The fertility of primental females can vary greatly but in a general water and fire primentals will be fertile into their mid to late 50s while the other affinities are usually fertile into early 60s. Primental females have been known to give birth later in life but the infant/mother mortality rates seem to jump drastically at that point. Again a primentals affinity seems to play some part in their overall life span with water and fire primentals usually living to see their early 100s while most air and earth affinities will live into the 110s. A few rare primental have lived to see 120 years of age but only its only a fraction of a percentage. Unlike the majority of the other mortal races of the prime world the primentals only show minimal effects from aging up until only months before they die at which time they rapidly decline in health.

CORPS - Player Races (2 of 4)

Previously I had started a series of posts introducing races of the RPG that I am co-developing called CORPS or Combat Oriented Role-Playing System. For those who mistakenly showed up here because they decided to try Bing instead of Google let me bring you up to speed. The 4 people who visit this site annually can probably skip ahead. :)
CORPS is a classless level based system that wanted to strive towards bringing strong strategically focused small group combat to the heart of a role playing game. Inspiration and frustration for this game was created from several other RPGs such as D&D 4e, Rolemasters, 7th Sea and HARP. These games have a lot of elements in them that the developers of CORPS like but with enough glaring flaws as to encourage us to come up with our own answer to what we really want. Since we wanted to focus primarily first on combat and since that generally involves the most tactical and technical rules of fantasy genre games like D&D, we wanted to make sure we got it right. To do this, especially in a classless system, we wanted there to be a large number of options for people to create the kind of character they would like to envision themselves playing rather than picking a class that most closely associates to what they are looking for. In part of the creative process of making a player character, there is often some distinguishing characteristics related to the given race of a player character. In many RPGs this is one of many options for a player to choose to customize and build the kind of character they want and CORPS is no exception. So without further delay let me introduce 2 more playable races in CORPS.

Burman (Bur-man)

Overview 

Burman are one of the more adaptable races in the prime world, perhaps second only to humans. Burman inhabit nearly all climates both in civilizations that are exclusive only to burman as well as within cities and towns comprised of other civilized races. Belief as to how burman came to be vary greatly. Popular common belief points to burman being born from rock and stone and ore. Given all the varying kinds of rocks, stones and ores in the world it could explain how so many varied yet racially similar burman came to be.

Physical Traits 

Burman are often described as being stout or stocky and burly men, in fact it is believed that’s where the racial name of burman originated from. Most Burman are between 4’ 5” and 5’ 2” tall although some localities of burman have been as tall as 5’ 6”. Despite their height burman are generally rather stout and with their stoutness also comes strength. Burman usually vary in weight between 170 lbs to 250 lbs and while not a universal trait, burman are usually stronger than their human counterparts. Regardless of their height or strength however all burman have a very thick skin which is usually an earthen color. Their toughened skin makes them incredibly resilient creatures capable to surviving levels of punishment that would otherwise be fatal to most other humanoid races. Like all mammals burman are covered with hair. Their hair in general, like their skin, tends to be coarse and thick only thinning out towards the later stages of life. By human terms burman tend to have an overabundance of facial hair, capable of growing several inches in a single month. Many females are also capable of growing facial hair but to a lesser extent than males. Burman also share a common trait that they have spectacular vision, much better than that of humans especially in low light settings. Before burman were integrated with other races the bulk of their race lived underground for countless generations. In that time they seemed to have developed the ability to see clearly short distances with next to no light source at all, while still being able to operate daylight or torchlight with no consequence. While many might consider the diminutive height of a burman as a disadvantage burman commonly utilize it as an advantage. Their stocky frame and low center of gravity cause burman to be incredibly surefooted. In physical combat it is widely regarded that a line of burman can be nearly as daunting to a cavalry charge as a row of pikeman.

Personality Traits 

Much like personality traits of humans burman are a varied lot. Burman can be a jolly and friendly people or cruel and despotic. Their upbringing and environment make up a great deal of who they are. However there do tend to be a few characteristics that are common among most burman. Perhaps the most common is pride in their accomplishments. Burman generally like to tell of what they have done and even what they will do. To many burman, what they have done represents who they are, and if a burman has done something great, be it felling an enemy with a single blow, saving an innocent, or even drinking someone under the table there is no doubt friends, family and even nearby strangers will hear of it for days. Along with their tendency to brag about their deeds burman are often considered one of the more boisterous civilized humanoid races in the world. Burman being boisterous may also be on account of their tendency to appreciate a good drink but even sober they are usually easily heard over other races. Burman also share a trait in that they tend to seek and create structure in their lives. Burman don’t generally travel much from an area they've come to call home unless some life altering/ending event takes place. Most burman are content to find a comfortable place to call home and live out the rest of their days there. Although when their homes are threatened burman are among the most fierce and staunch defenders of it. Coupled with a tendency towards stubbornness, removing burman from and area they call home can prove to be a challenge task both in times of peace and war.

Lifecycle 

Burman share a similar lifecycle to that of humans. They reach maturity in their early teens and full adulthood by their early 20s. They have slightly longer gestation period than humans, usually lasting about 10 or 11 months and have a lower birthrate than humans usually about 1 offspring every 3 or 4 years. Female burman are fertile into their 60s but rarely beyond that. Burman have been known to live for 120 years or more but their average life expectancy is usually in the early 100s.

Feydra (Fay-drah)

Overview

“The Fey” is a rather generic term used to describe a host of creatures that live in the Enchanted Realm - one of the other worlds of tremendous magic that seems to mirror the prime world in some ways. Fey creatures seem to have the ability to travel into the prime world at whim, most times they seem to revel in mischief, though many stories of Fey coming to the prime world to warn of impending disasters fill the mythologies of all of the civilized races. It is said that time and perception vary greatly between the worlds, and anytime Fey creatures visit they rarely stay long. The most common race from the enchanted realm to come to the prime world is the long lived Asari, tall wispy creatures that seems very close in appearance to the Altwani. Asari, as well as most other Fey, begin to undergo severe and predictable effects if they stay too long in the prime world. Within a time frame of a single month an Asari will lose the ability to return at will to the Enchanted Realm and they begin to suffer pronounced memory loss. After a mere two months in the prime world an Asari will have completely lost their memory of their existence in the Enchanted Realm. Once this exposure to the prime world has taken its toll it seems to be impossible to reverse - the Asari lose most of their magical powers and begin to age at a rapid rate (albeit quite slowly compared to the lifespan of most mortal races). At this point the Asari is no longer a fey creature but instead has become a Feydra, or the Lost Fey.

Physical Traits

For the most part feydra retain much of their physical appearances as they had when they were asari, even after several generations in the prime world. Meaning they are generally tall and thin creatures. Most male feydra stand between 6’ and 6’ 5” and rarely weigh more than 170 lbs. Female feydra are usually between 5’ 8” and 6’ tall and usually about 20 pounds lighter than their male counter part. The most notable difference among feydra and asari is that the feydra don’t have a magical shimmer to them, as they've lost much of the magically qualities asari seem to possess. That being said, compared to races native to the prime world, feydra still have a strong affinity towards magic. Feydra tend to be intelligent and are capable of picking up other languages fairly quick. Feydra tend to have large eyes with small pupils but very large irises - leading the unobservant to believe that their eyes are solid orbs of colors. However this merely helps grant the feydra keen vision in low levels of light. Feydra have slightly pointed ears often causing them to be confused with Altwani. However aside from their tell tale height difference and large eyes feydra also have large hands for their size. This seems to be a result of some trace amounts of magic that remain with the feydra after their transition from the asari. The feydra are capable of drawing in the life essence of certain creatures they've recently killed through their hands. The feydra are then able to utilize this essence to accelerate healing of their own wounds as if they were able to rest for a long period of time in the blink of an eye. This has caused some individuals to inherently distrust feydra thinking them somehow related to vampires or other fantastic monsters however most people seem to either be unaware of this fact or choose to simply ignore it.

Personality Traits

While the Feydra are one of the least common humanoid races for a human to meet face to face across the realms, they are surprisingly large in number. Feydra are most commonly found living with altwani however many Feydra seem to be filled with a tremendous sense of wanderlust that prevents them from staying in one place too long. As a result there are very few known population centers made up of feydra, although this can also probably be attributed to the race being relatively new to the prime world. Feydra have a great variation in their personalities - other than their almost insatiable desire to travel and their quixotic dispositions which seem to remain a constant among the race. Like humans Feydra tend to be social creatures enjoying companionship and the company of others however the bonds they hold with others seem to wax and wane over time. Even among family feydra may be loving and caring or cold and indifferent with a constantly changing disposition over time. To humans this comes across as feydra seeming to be uncaring or distant at times, however most scholars believe that the rational thought process of the feydra is so great that it often inhibits their emotional responses, causing them to react inappropriately or not at all when by human standards they should. Another common trait among feydra is their ability to learn or at the very least, mimic things taught to them quickly. Very often the first time they try something that requires great focus or a degree of skill feydra can pull it off with great success.  However that success can quickly become inconsistent over a number of repeated trials.   Many feel that feydra have a kind of natural beginner’s luck but there are documented cases of feydra being able to briefly use a great deal of focus for a short time to accomplish varying skilled tasks. While often invoked when feydra are attempting something new this trait is by no means limited to new tasks. Aware of it or not all feydra seem to possess this ability to a certain degree which at times can make feydra appear to be cocky or humble depending on their own awareness and control of this unique talent.

Lifecycle 

Feydra have an incredibly slow life cycle among races in the prime world. Many believe asari to be immortal and when they are changed by the prime world into feydra people believe some of that immortality stays with them. While little is known of the asari, feydra that have been born in the prime world seem to reach maturity within the first 20 years of life but they don’t tend to reach full adulthood until they are well into their 40s. The birth rate among a female feydra who is bearing children is almost nonexistent averaging roughly 1 child every 55 years. Most females however remain fertile for the first 200 years of life. The gestation period for a baby feydra can vary greatly between 24 and 30 months. The population of feydra is only as large as it is because at some point in history it is believed a large exodus was made by the asari to the prime world. Although no one knows the reason for it. As a result the majority of feydra race was practically thrust into the world over the course of a few months. A very few feydra have been known to live to see their 500th year of life however most feydra live for between 330 and 375 years. The effects of aging are very minimal among the feydra. Symptoms of old age usually only manifest and rapidly progress within weeks of a feydra dying of old age.


So now with half of the playable races introduced I'm sure at least person is wondering what's the point of all this?  Well it's simple, the races of CORPS provide a number of unique racial bonuses and abilities to each player character.  While we're fairly solid on what these racial benefits are, it seems rather odd to explain exactly what those mechanics are since so little of the game is actually known.  But worry not, as this series sees completion other aspects of CORPS will be made available to help give a better idea of what this game is all about why someone might be interested in giving it a test run at the ol' gaming table.

CORPS - Player Races (1 of 4)

This post is series 1 of 4 that introduces the player character races of the CORPS (Combat Oriented Role Playing System) that is currently under development.

With many RPGs out there, player races often comes up as a deciding factor for how someone builds their character. This is perhaps most true in games like TMNT where your race can literally determine what kinds of powers (mutations) are available to your character. With CORPS being the classless system it is, we really wanted to try and find a way in which we could make nearly any race be applicable in nearly any role. Certainly, some races would have strengths leaning towards their racially natural disposition, but first we had to ask ourselves, what ARE the racial dispositions of these races? This ties so closely to the fact that we're knocking on D&D's door. With a system being used based in a fantasy setting we needed to ask ourselves what are OUR sterotypes. Do we have the normal races of fantasy? The agile elves, burly dwarves, or sinister drow? Do we have half-orcs, half-giants, gnomes and goblins? It took some time, but in the end I simply didn't want to follow in the footsteps of the well walked path that is 'normal' fantasy races.

My reasoning for wanting to pave my own way in the racial equation in CORPS has both pros and cons. The plus side is we get to define what is 'normal' for a race. Is one race particularly smart over another, is this race able to adapt better than others? Is there a race known to its amazing feats of strength? These are common enough themes, and they are answered very well in many fantasy games. You want to be a master bowman, well look no further than an elf. You want to be masterful with an axe and have a beard to the ground? A dwarf is the race for you. Anyone familiar with fantasy, and even many not, can rattle of these stereotypes. But why work so hard on a new system and new game, only to rehash the same old variables in a new setting with some new rules? This was a big reason why I felt compelled to break away from the common races of fantasy. However in doing this I also knew that I was also breaking the relationships many players have come to love and hate among the common fantasy races.

In the end for the races we wanted to focus on themes we wanted to represent in CORPS. There are many common characteristics between some new races and some of the common races, and even a few familiar faces among the lineup. Still with each race we wanted there to be a purpose as to why a player might want to play that particular race.  Since I wanted to include a good deal of detail with each of the races I'll only be introducing 2 or 8 races in detail, for the rest, I'll probably put them into future posts down the road. Each race is broken down into 4 categories that include commonalities among each race to help introduce players to them.  These categories are Overview, Physical Traits, Personality Traits and Life Span.

Altwani  (Alt-whan-ee)

Overview
The long lived altwani are often considered one of the oldest mortal races on the prime world second perhaps only to the elder. Debates still arise over that matter as older history records are sketchy at best but it is believed that the altwani came into existence after the creation of the prime world during a time when the Enchanted Realms were joined to the world. Regardless of which race truly came first the altwani and elder have had a great deal of interaction throughout the ages and although they haven’t always seen eye to eye they do share a common respect and reverence for nature. Since it is believed that the other realms mirror the prime world in many ways people knowledgeable of history attribute the altwani as being the prime worlds counterpart to the asari, a race of immortals from the enchanted realm. Although the altwani themselves show no natural affinity towards magic there are some physical similarities between the two. The most obvious being that the altwani display a unique gracefulness in nearly everything they do. 

Physical Traits
The altwani have a very similar appearance to the asari and feydra except that they tend to be smaller. Most male altwani ranging between 5’ 7” and 6’ 1’ and females usually between 5’ 3” and 5’ 7”. They have large prominent ears that end in a point and generally very angular facial feats. Altwani have keen senses and large cat like eyes allowing them to see clearly in low levels of light. Altwani commonly have blue or green eyes however they can also have brown and occasionally gray or even orange. Most altwani have little to no body hair. Those that do, usually only have small amounts of fine hairs on their arms and legs. Facial hair is nearly nonexistent among the altwani and while hairstyles vary wildly among the race depending on their region and culture, most tend to grow their hair out. Their hair color can vary between black, brown and auburn red. Occasionally and altwani will have golden or silver hair but this is very uncommon among their kind. Most altwani are also fair skinned but their skin color can vary as much as humans depending on where they are from. Altwani males generally weigh between 125 and 150 lbs with females usually being 15 to 20 lbs lighter. Almost universally the altwani are small framed creatures with slim builds. Despite their lean frames altwani are generally about as strong as their human counterparts but they have a natural agility about them that is unparalleled. The first altwani had spent countless generations in the deep forests before establishing cities and strongholds like the civilized races of the day and they relied heavily on their speed and stealth to survive. This trait seems to have stuck with the altwani more or less as the race still shares a nimbleness unseen in other races. As times the altwani have been referred to as windwalkers they are so quiet in their movements others often think they are literally walking on the wind. In combat altwani warriors are graceful and surefooted fighters. They excel at being able to foresee their agile movements ahead of time allowing them navigate difficult terrain with ease when keeping their defenses up. This ability to foresee borders on a type of natural precognition for the altwani. The altwani have described it as being able to see their actions play out in their mind and then make fine tuned adjustments to change the outcome of these foreseen actions all in the blink of an eye. While it does take some practice and a good deal of training for an altwani to perfect it does seem to be a natural trait present in them all. 

Personality Traits
Altwani have a fairly wide range of personalities that closely mirror those of humans with only a few exceptions. Among the few traits shared across the race is that the altwani are naturally soft spoken. While this is a natural tendency for altwani it can be overcome with a level of training however for most it isn’t an issue. In the past other races had often mistaken this soft spokenness as a sign of submission or weakness but it couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact when most altwani are exceptionally heated or deadly serious their words come out barely above a whisper. To the altwani with their keen hearing this is an obvious sign of danger but it has been overlooked by other, less aware races, in the past with dire consequences. Many altwani also take great joy in physical activities. Expressing their movement, be it through combat, gymnastics or dance seems to be intensely enjoyable to the altwani. It is rumored this helps play a part in their longevity but no research has proven this yet. Still it has spoken throughout their history that the altwani are most suited like a river in that they are always in motion. Like the elder many of the altwani also have a profound respect of nature and its simple elegance. Altwani carry this with them and often try to incorporate it into their daily lives. The most direct and simple solution is usually the best to the altwani. In their personality this often comes across as altwani being very direct about their feelings and thoughts. They say what they are thinking and usually care little for the intricacies of human customs which can result in the altwani as coming across as rude or disrespectful even if they don’t intend it. 

Lifecycle
The altwani have the longest lifespan of any humanoid creature native to the prime world. While the feydra tend to live slightly longer, many don’t consider them native to the prime world since they originated from the asari that came over from the enchanted realm. Altwani mature at a rate that is slightly slower than the elder. Altwani reach maturity by 18 and full adulthood by the age of 25. The birthrate among the altwani childbearing females is about 1 child every 35 years. Altwani females generally remain fertile well into the mid hundreds but the percentage of fertile females quickly drops off after the 150s. The gestation period for the altwan is relatively quick given their longevity and ranges between 8 and 12 months. The average age of an altwani is usually ranges between 255 and 280 years. Some altwani have been known to reach the age of 300 but generally experience a poor quality of life at that point. By then even the altwani have lost much of their ability to move as they normally do. This tends to result in the elderly altwani becoming deeply depressed, so much so that often it seems they simply choose to no longer live and die of quickly and quietly. There has been some speculation that the altwani could physically live for much longer if their natural agility were to remain in tact.

Elder  (El-dur)

Overview
Believed to be the first race of the prime world their way of life still remains mostly a mystery to mankind. As far as tales go the elder are said to have been created with the world before all other creatures on it and were witness to the gods who came and introduced magic to the world along with the other realms that influence it today. The Elder took breath when plantlife was introduced in the world. Although much of their history is orally passed down through the generations most elder firmly believe their kind was created as the natural guardians of the untamed world, before nature had been sullied by others. 

Physical Traits
Elder most commonly resemble tall humanoid walking trees similar to treants, though one telltale sign that sets them apart is that elder do not grow leaves of any kind. They have a bark like skin which is made up of interlocking crusts that resembles wood although it is not nearly as durable yet still offers some protection. Their hair looks like branching roots which they usually keep tied in braids. Their appendages appear as solid branches with hands that split of into 4 smaller segments, making up 3 fingers and an opposable thumb. Their torso appears as if it were a solid trunk going from just below their shoulders down to their groin area. Although elder appear to very solid since their skin is made up of interlocking crusts they have roughly the same range of motion as a normal human might have. An elder’s head sits between their shoulders on top of their trunk. To many humans it appears as though elder are always shrugging their shoulders but the position is relaxed and natural for elder. The head of an elder is usually described as a upside down tree stump but rather than roots branching out they taper down to thin roots that act as the elder’s ‘hair’. They have deep set eyes and usually carry large protruding noses and have a lipless mouth. Multiple tiny holes on along the side of their face serve as auditory sensors enabling them to hear with great accuracy. From what would be a human's groin area an elder’s trunk splits to form two legs. Their feet are made up of a bunch of snaking vines they refer to as “flexurei” [flex ur-eye] which they can actively move to churn through soft earth, sand or mud allowing them to move unimpeded. They can also use their flexurei to grasp ahold of and balance on uneven surfaces making it fairly trivial to cross most natural landscapes. Although elder have what appear to be ‘roots’ both on their feet and heads they still consume food in similar fashion to other humanoid races. eldar are usually between 6’ 2” and 8’ 0” when they stand on the tips of their vines, although they are usually 6” to 8” shorter when their vines are burrowed in the ground or are just standing normally with their flexurei relaxed. Males and females are roughly the same size with males being taller narrower and females being shorter and wider. Eldar usually weigh between 175 lbs and 235 lbs. 

Personality Traits
Elder as a race tend to be very focused in nearly all walks of life on particular objectives. Most elder gravitate towards a single profession at an early age and stick with it throughout their lifetime. They have a natural competitive nature about them and once they've chosen a profession they will work to perfect it throughout their lifetime. Given their longevity and self discipline elders who focus on skilled crafts often become masters of their trade. However their focus on singular skills or subsets of them often leave them lacking in other areas. Elder often have great respect for nature and in particular trees and forests although their preferences can vary greatly depending on their location. Other common traits among elder is that they tend to be bold in the face of adversity when their beliefs or ideals are questioned. Some attribute this to elder being a strong willed race while others feel elder are particular bold because of their imposing size and natural resilience. Much like their trade elder also prefer to keep other factors of their life fairly consistent. This is most commonly observed in the circle they keep company with. Be it childhood friends or people who follow the same trade as they do, elder generally prefer to have a close group of a few friends rather than impress themselves upon larger groups. This idea of consistency can also extend to their general routines throughout their lifetime as well. An elder may visit a lake at a particular time of year every year for no other reason than having a pleasurable experience the first time they happened upon it. Needless to say first impressions are very important to elder. Overcoming them while not impossible does generally prove to be difficult. 

Lifecycle
Elder as a species procreate in a similar fashion to other humanoid races with the major exception that after roughly a year after conception the female will birth a germinated seed or egg (speculation between the two still remains) which is then planted into the ground. After roughly another 20 to 30 days the innards of the seed will be consumed by the young elder and it will literally ‘sprout’ from the ground. Young elder are capable of walking but little more when they are first born. The birth rates for elder average roughly 1 offspring every 10 to 12 years, although female elder can be fertile into their early 90s. The rate of death from the birthing process is almost nonexistent among elder. They reach maturity within the first 15 years of life and can live up to be nearly 200 years old, however most elder enjoy a lifespan between 150 and 170 years.

So now to the poor soul who managed to make it this far I have to ask, when getting into a new RPG in a fantasy setting such as this one, do you feel better coming in knowing the familiar common races or do you prefer seeing new ideas?  

CORPS 3.0! Wait no, 2.5? Eh, Why Not?

Development has continued on with the CORPS (also comically referred to as CORPSE (combat oriented role playing system EXTREME) to the point where we have evolved from 2.0 and moved on to 3.0. As with any of our core game changing implementations we felt it best to increment the internal version number of our game for tracking purposes and because everyone who has a hand in this is a computer programmer and that is just what programmers do. However we quickly found out that the proposed changes introduced in 3.0 cause some major problems in the existing system that frankly, we didn't want to touch with a 10 foot pole. So our solution was to simply revert back to 2.0 but we felt that 3.0 had a lot of good things to offer the game as well. So in the end we called it 2.5. We made some interesting changes from the game setting it apart from just another d20 game or a D&D clone while at the same time further streamlining aspects of the game that were making it more complex than it needed to. So now that I've cryptically gone through CORPS' most recent changes at a high level view, I am sure that one reader who mistaken stumbled upon this site accidently when trying to look up what corpse munging means is curious what exactly some of those changes entail. Well I'm feeling good so I think I'll share.

One of the first big changes made in CORPS 2.5 was streamlining the dice rolls. In some of our play testing we realized it was a little confusing to have a vast number of different rolls. A single character could have a d20+d4+7 melee attack roll, a normal d20+6 ranged attack roll, a reflex saving throw of d20+d8+3 and a will saving throw d20+d4+6. All those different dice you got to roll can get pretty confusing to keep track of, and this only got worse at high levels because some skills would be advanced, increasing up to a d20+d12 while other skills maybe never be increased beyond a simple d20 or d20+d4. So to streamline this we decided to try and keep most of the rolls stay the same. This is pretty much a staple of a d20 game, thus d20 is used for nearly everything. However everyone working on CORPS hates d20s, they are over played, so we said F*#$ it and removed them from the game. Now in place of a d20 + dX we have all dice roles set as 2d12. THAT'S RIGHT, we just took the red headed step child dice among most of RPGs and turned it into our staple dice for the entire game. That's how awesome we are. That combined with a few other quality of life changes has us retesting and reevaluating the material we already have.

Some other overviews to the game, we're still supporting a classless level based system. We like the idea of a classless system because it allows players to form an idea in their head of what kind of character they'd want to play then give them the tools to build something as close to that as possible. There are still some limitations of course, mainly in the realm of spell casters, but overall I feel we've done a good job in providing a lot of different viable options. As I had mentioned the issue with spell casters is that we currently have a sphere based system. That is to say, when a character assigns theme points (I'm pretty sure I mentioned theme points in an earlier post, but if not, there are 4 theme points to assign in 10 slots that determine the type of build your character is. There are 3 categories of spell casters to make the ability of assigning 1 to 3 theme points towards magic. Obviously assigning 0 means your character has no natural magical affinity, but if you have 1 or more you can choose a minor, lesser or greater spell sphere. Currently we have plans for 2 minor, 6 lesser and 6 greater spell spheres. The limiting factor at this point is the sphere itself. Even though there are still multiple build options within a sphere, once you pick a sphere you are limited to spells within the sphere. An example might be the priest sphere. Even though we have a classless system, if you allocate 3 theme points towards magic and pick the priest sphere, it's pretty easy to assume you're playing some kind of magical priest. Granted there are 42 different spells in the sphere and at most a high level player will only be able to pick from 15 of them so it leaves a lot of room for variation, but still it's pretty easy to assume your character can be classified as a priest. It may just be the name of the spheres at the moment though. We are basically usually class names commonly used in other role playing systems to roughly define the spheres of magic we want to include in the game. Down the road if we change the sphere names to something more related to an aspect rather than a commonly conceptualized character class, it might force players to think more about what their character really is to them.

Going back to the Priest Sphere, I think calling it something like the Divine sphere would allow players break away from any preconceived notions about what a Priest may be in their minds. In a game that has a very similiar look and feel of something like D&D 4e, using terms that overlap such as a Priest, can set the player up with certain expectations like having the iconic D&D ability to "Turn Undead". If someone is set on having a character that does this, they may be disappointed to learn that the Priest Sphere in CORPS is not the same thing as say a Priest in Dungeons and Dragons. Perhaps this is something that will get worked out when we actually get down to the nitty gritty of constructing a player's book for the game system itself rather than the manual of rules and how to play documents we currently use now.

There a few other technical changes that are pretty significant to the game play but since no one reading this has played the game it'd be kinda of waste to go into them at any level of detail. That said however, internal testing is going very well and I hope to be able to run some play tests with outside testers at some point in the near future. Another CORPS developer has been running games about once a month with a group who is about to hit level 2, which is pretty monumental for the game. So that leaves me to working towards gathering up a group of players and trying to sit down and hack out a gaming session out of this to see how it turns out. To the few who actually visit this page, from time to time if you or anyone you know is interested in trying out a virtual online gaming session of CORPS let me know and perhaps we can schedule a time try it. Although I might fall out of my chair if I actually hear back on that. Also if anyone has some particular question about the game itself, what has been explained or perhaps left in the dark, I'm always up for discussing my thoughts on the game design process.

The CORPS, a new RPS in progress

Oh the progress that can be made when all other ambitious projects are thrown to the wind. As I have eluded in my one and only post of 2012 (yeah I'm totally on top of posting updates) I have been working on a new table top game for quite some time. Well I am happy to say that a great deal of progress on has been made towards putting together, what in my opinion is, an epic game. We've even go so far as to actually decide on an official name for the game which has been something that was a long time coming. So without further ado allow me to introduce to all of the two people reading this post,The CORPS! Also known as The Combat Oriented Role Playing System. Obviously the system is centered around combat as that was the core starting point for where the game was started. While we've been through many iterations of this game finally having it given its own name makes the things feel so much more real.
I'll try to stay on point here since I tend to ramble but to give an overview The CORPS is a classless role playing system that is based in a high magic medieval fantasy setting. The original idea for this game came about from my playing another game called H.A.R.P (http://ironcrown.com/harp/). So while playing HARP was fun there are many glaring flaws with the game. Namely the fatality of combat. Actually playing the game as is, not pulling die rolls, will lead to character death very quickly. Generally within a level or 2 someone, if not everyone is dead. Given the randomness of the dice, even for the cautious player, the player will die, always. While dying isn't necessarily a bad thing, in this games case it is.
So the task for my brother and I seemed pretty simple, fix HARP, make use of a fun and 'deadly' critical hit system without guaranteeing players WILL die, regardless of anything they can do. Seemed clear enough, have fun, risk and reward without a bad dice roll or two ending things prematurely. Thus started out rework of HARP which we fondly coined the term of HARP 2.0. Granted we had no affiliation with HARP or anyone remotely even close to ICE. What we did have was creativity, over two decades of amateur game designing/modifying experience and a knack for what is balanced and fair in a game system. However only a few months into the project both of realized that things were just going from bad to worse. Being a rules heavy game to being with, adding in new concepts just make things more bogged down. In the end we could say what we came up with was perhaps a nice dueling system but for more than 2 players it just wasn't practical.
Scratching HARP 2.0 from our ledger we turned our collective energies to starting things from scratch. Something that was based solely on our core ideas and then supplemented by ideas and concepts we liked most about other rpgs. Thus AEGIS (Awesome Epic Gaming Is Scary) 1.0 was born which while it held many new creative ideas quickly fell apart trying desperately to hold together mechanics from so many different systems. Again back to the drawing board. We simplified some of our core concepts, reshaped others and overall tried to cut out the fat and thus created CORPS 1.0. We finally committed our name towards we really were hoping to accomplish, which was to create a fun and strategic combat system that offered all players a number of options beyond the simple, I swing my sword or I shoot my wand. We also started getting a lot (well relatively for a two person design team) of play testing in and were becoming content with our vision of how the game was shaping up. However there were still things that were holding us back. There were lingering complexities from old concepts that while once were neat and versatile were now awkward and clunky. So again we decided to take the game through a bit of an overhaul. We pulled out the core features we really wanted in the game and stream lined them so that while the options still existed, the possibility of building a horribly flawed or crippled character was more obvious and less likely something someone would do by accidently merely by picking and choosing options that didn't benefit their character. Thus our current iteration (at the time of writing this) was born, CORPS 2.0. Since then our play tests have been much more positive and while there is still a lot of work ahead to do, the feeling that we may have something that is really fun to play on our hands is exciting. My hope is that as our player documentation is built up we can extend our testing to players outside of the immediate development process (I.E. have DMs who haven't had a hand in the creation of the game). Perhaps it'd even get to the point where people viewing this very site could download some materials that would allow them to run an adventure using the CORPS with their own groups. I think feedback like that could prove invaluable but first we need to get there. So now the question is would you, the poor reader who ended up here from a random google search about something D&D 4e related be interested in trying out a new role playing system? Is it worth your time to even try to convince your gaming group to even adopt a new system, if for only a single session? I think it is! But then again I'm pretty biased on the subject.