Pony Thought of the Day: Pony BESM

If all goes well and the planets align, shortly after this goes up I should be holding the first meeting (pre-game discussion and character creation) for an FIM-themed BESM game! We will be playing using a modified version of Big Eyes, Small Mouths Second Edition (a.k.a. The Good One), a sadly out-of-print roleplaying game designed for anime-esque campaigns. My modifications can be read here--four new character templates, a handful of new Attributes, a skill-cost chart with a few new skills (the ones with specializations listed are new or modified, all the others use the default specializations), and a new game mechanic designed to reflect the power of friendship and solve one of the game's problems, which is that it's fairly common to make a character that has an Energy Point pool and no abilities that use it.

None of which makes any sense to those of you unfamiliar with BESM (likely all of you). It's Saturday and tomorrow's post is proving unexpectedly difficult, I'm afraid, so I was somewhat strapped for a PTOTD.

Pony Thought of the Day: BESM Weather Control

Here's another new BESM attribute for my pony game. The ability to use weather to attack hasn't shown up much in the show, but seems logical, is crucial to Turnabout Storm, and made possible one of Rainbow Dash's best moments in the big crossover game I ran at Anime USA (specifically, it's how she beat LadyDevimon). So I tossed it in.

Weather Control (3/level): You have the ability to physically manipulate clouds and winds. Unlike Environmental Control, which is supernatural or technological, this requires you to physically move air and clouds, and therefore requires your full attention. However, again unlike Environmental Control, it can be used to attack with wind, rain, snow, or lightning. (Treat the attack as a Weapon Attack of one level lower than the pony's level of Weather Control).

• Level 1: You can stand and walk on clouds as if they are ground.
• Level 2: You can move individual clouds to create precipitation, lightning, or sunshine over a small area (5-meter radius). You can only create temperature-appropriate effects (that is, you cannot make it snow on a hot day). You can also create gentle breezes.
• Level 3: You can move multiple clouds in a round to control the weather in a larger area (30-meter radius). You can still only create temperature-appropriate effects, and create stronger gusts of wind.
• Level 4: You can control weather in a 100-meter radius, create temperature inappropriate effects (such as snow in summer), and create gale-force winds.
• Level 5: You can control weather in a 200-meter radius, including temperature-inappropriate effects, and create winds strong enough to knock ponies over (Body check to prevent).
• Level 6: You can clear the sky over an entire town in ten seconds flat, or otherwise control the weather for a town-sized area, and create tornado-strength winds.

Pony Thought of the Day: BESM Blank Flanks

Since I posted the BESM Cutie Mark attribute I made, here's the Blank Flank attribute.

Blank Flank (4/level): You have not yet discovered your special talent. All ponies with this attribute must take Marked -1 (Blank Flank) and Ageism -1 to represent that ponies regard acquiring a cutie mark as a rite of passage. At some point during the game, the GM identifies your special talent, but does not tell the player (it is recommended for the GM to wait at least a couple of sessions, in order to get to know the character and identify an appropriate talent). At this point, the GM begins applying the talent to rolls as appropriate (see the Cutie Mark attribute), again without telling the player. If the player guesses the talent (or something suitably close to have received the same bonuses), then after a successful roll that receives the Blank Flank bonus, the attribute is removed and replaced by the Cutie Mark attribute. For each level of Blank Flank the character possesses, the player receives 4 points; the first two must be spent to remove the Marked (Blank Flank) and Ageism defects, and all others must be spent on the Cutie Mark attribute. Any leftover points can be combined with future character advancement points, but only for purposes of increasing the level of the Cutie Mark attribute.

Example: Sweetie Bell possesses Blank Flank at level 1, along with Marked (Blank Flank) -1 and Ageism -1. After a couple of sessions, the GM identifies singing as her special talent. A few sessions later, after succeeding with a bad roll on a difficult Performing Arts (Singing) skill check, the player correctly identifies Sweetie's special talent as singing. She gains a cutie mark (the player chooses a microphone, and the GM agrees) and 4 character points. The first two must be spent to remove her Marked and Ageism defects, and the remaining two on the Cutie Mark attribute. Since Cutie Mark (Singing) has only narrow, non-combat applications, it is only 1 point per level, so Sweetie Bell's player replaces Blank Flank 1 with Cutie Mark (Singing) 2.

Pony Thought of the Day: Cutie Marks in BESM

At the request of some folks in the DC Brony Society, I've been working on an MLP campaign in the out-of-print anime RPG Big Eyes, Small Mouths (Second Edition, a.k.a. "the good one"). I've worked up a few new attributes, and here's the first and most obvious, Cutie Mark.

Cutie Mark (1-5 CP/level): You possess a special talent in which you excel. On taking the Cutie Mark, identify both the talent and the mark which symbolizes it (both subject to GM approval). Add your level of Cutie Mark to any rolls involving your special talent.

Example: Sweetie Bell acquires Cutie Mark (Singing) level 2, in addition to Soul 5 and Performing Arts (Singing) 3. The next time she makes a Performing Arts (Singing) check, her target number is her Soul stat (5), plus her level of Performing Arts (3), plus 1 for having the appropriate specialization, plus her level of Cutie Mark (2), for a total of 5+3+1+2=11. Assuming no difficulty modifiers, she must roll an 11 or lower to succeed.

The cost per level of Cutie Mark varies depending on how widely applicable the special talent is:

• 1/level: The special talent is usually only applicable to a few non-combat rolls which only rarely come up in normal play, such as apple farming.
• 2/level: The special talent is applicable to a variety of non-combat rolls, none of which occur frequently, or applicable to a narrow selection of rolls which come up frequently, such as carpentry.
• 3/level: The special talent is applicable to a variety of non-combat rolls, some or all of which come up frequently, such as parties.
• 4/level: The special talent is applicable to a variety of non-combat rolls and/or a narrow selection of combat rolls, such as stunts.
• 5/level: The special talent is applicable to a wide variety of combat and non-combat rolls, and/or is deemed very powerful by the GM, such as speed or magic.

Note that the specific cost of a talent may vary according to the type of game. In a game focused on competing in agricultural fairs, Cutie Mark (Apple Farming) might be 5 points per level!