Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Isamu NEET-a]

Anyone here familiar with the Shin Megami Tensei (WARNING: Link is NSFW. Contains deicide, nukes, devil summoning, and Lord Mara) franchise? Well, I'm doing a conversion if anyone's interested. If no one else is, this thread will probably mainly be between me and a guy named Wes, who recommended Savage Worlds to me.

[kronovan]

Yup, I've thought about doing it more than once. My idea however was to base it on the Shin Megami Tensei Imagine online game, because there's a lot more meat to it than the average SMT console game - both play mechanics and setting. I agree that SW is without a doubt the best engine for it. One thing I really like about the online game is the manner in which your Expertise (skills) natually upgrade and eventually unlock chained expertises (skills). There really isn't a system for that in SM, but I've been recently toying with a Knowledge Skill-secondary skill liked system that's a bit similar.

Then of course there's the demons whihc IMO are the best pets in any MMORPG to date - bar none. I think the demons might prove to be a challenge though, as you could either handle them like Controlled Animals in the SP compendium with use of the super powers modifier to give them special powers, or make them an Extra with the AB(magic) or AB(Miracles) edge. If you're thinking of the online game, the Magic attribute doesn't match up well and you'd have to realign it with Magic=Spirit or Magic=Smarts. Othewise all the other attributes are straight forward; Strength=Strength, Speed=Agility, Vitality=Vigor and Intelligence=Smarts.

I'm currently working on a home-brew setting so I wouldn't have a lot of time to contribute. Something to also consider - Atlus Japan had a SMT P'n'P RPG they published in Japan, so they may not be so benevolent towards a thorough fan-made one. It's currenlty OOP, but they might be guarded with their IP's.

[Isamu NEET-a]

I figure as long as they don't release Mato Tokyo 200X in the US, they don't care about America. I don't think they'll be bothered. I'm going to use Nocturne, Strange Journey, and IMAGINE as reference for the main series. I also plan to cover the Persona series, the first two Devil Summoner games, Raidou Kuzunoha, Avatar Tuner, and Devil Survivor, but I'll start on the rest of the system after I get all the demons and their skills converted. I was thinking demons would just be allies. I like your ideas. If you wanna join in, we're gonna talk most of it out on the forums of Wes' miniatures company when he gets everything set up. I can PM you a link if you want.

[kronovan]

[Lord Lance]

Well, if you remove explicit references to the serie, I think you can easily create a "parallel" setting with humans that are bestowed with powers from an external source.

If you think about that, you can easily cover the JoJo Bizzarre Adventures serie simply changing some name... There you have "Stands" that bestow powers to their "carriers" >> I dunno how they translated those names in english... :/

Maybe you could simply create some "Template" that are added to the standard character, when he's "using" that demon / persona / stand...
Stupid example:

Chariot
Give Quick edge, give Quickness power (use character Spirit to cast), give +1 step Agility.

Chariot "2nd evolution"
Give Quick and Level Headed edge, give Quickness power (use character Spirit to cast), give +2 step Agility and +1 step Strength.

Chariot "3nd evolution"
Give Quick and Improved Level Headed edge, give Quickness and Burst power (use character Spirit to cast), give +2 step Agility, +1 step Strength and +1 step Smart.

If the Character has those Edges or Powers before, then he's favorable attuned with his stand / demon / persona. For every "overlapping" edge and power, the Character receive a +1 Benny instead.
_________________
"Balance is the key, Trapping is the word." - - Lord Lance

Proud creator of the SAVAGE FREE BESTIARY

[kronovan]

[Isamu NEET-a]

I really don't think there'll be any copyright issues as long as we don't sell it. I see a bunch of D&D campaign setting conversions, two Mass Effect conversions, a CoC conversion, and more on Savage Heroes. Those companies were cool, and I don't think Atlus would want to alienate any portion of their fanbase with a dick move like nixing someone's fan project, particularly when this could drum up interest among tabletop gamers for the SMT series, possibly even get the vidya gamers excited for an official TRPG release. I mean, I'm not holding my breath for a Mato Tokyo 200X US release, but a guy can dream, right?
As for game mechanics, i think you can have Wild Card allies, but they're rarer. Maybe we can have some sort of Mitama fusion, Elemental fusion, or incense that allows you to upgrade demons to Wild Card status. Lance: I was thinking along similar lines with the template thing. I was thinking of using the rank up system for leveling up personae from Persona 1&2, though. I don't really plan to cover 3&4 because I find those games limiting and contradictory towards 1&2 while acting as though they're in the same universe, which drives the Crawling Chaos up the wall. Seeing as how I don't plan to cover 3&4, social links as per those games are out. However, in Persona 1&2, when you make choices that encourage personal development, such as letting Eikichi handle his own problem at Club Zodiac instead of running to the rescue, you open up better personae for the characters later. Besides, most fusion systems are too hard to work out without a computer. For the Persona setting, I'm going to use Persona 2's Velvet Room card cost summoning system. If either of you is unfamiliar with anything, just ask me about it and I'll clarify. Oh, kronovan: The Stands in JoJo's Bizzare Adventure and the Gurdian Spirits in SMT if... were sources of inspiration for Persona.

[Isamu NEET-a]

Sorry for the double post, but I need help figuring something out. In later Shin Megami Tensei games, physical "skills" (the games' term for spells, techniques, edges, etc.) cost a certain percentage of your HP. As we all know, Savage Worlds doesn't use HP. I don't want to make these skills to automatically cost wounds of fatigue, but I want there to be a decent risk of it. Maybe a skill could do a random amount of damage relative to the character's Toughness. Here's a list of the skills in Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne with associated costs and effects to give you a better idea of what I mean. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.[/url]

[ValhallaGH]

[Isamu NEET-a]

OK. Thanks for the advice.

[FoxBlue]

Just started working on this the other day!

My conversion will be mostly based on the SNES games + strange journey for plot and tone and Nocturne for mechanics and demons.

I'm going to start writing up stats for the demons soon. I plan on making them somewhat simplified so many demons that know certain spells in the games wont know them in my write ups unless they are one of the demon's defining features. I think it would be confusing to determine just what each individual demon can or can't learn through advances, so I'm just going to give them what I feel they need from the get go and only let them power up through fusion (no advancing like normal allies).

I don't think I'll convert physical skills other than as combat edges, monstrous abilities and natural weapons. For magical skills I might use the PP free casting rules. That would save having to track multiple demons power points.

I'll post them as I write them.

I'm not sure about the details of the actual summoning yet.
Things I'm looking for are:
-Availability of summoning powers.
Ideas - Designate a "main character" he gets it.
- An edge?
-Number of demons that can be stored in the Computer.
-Number of demons that can be summoned at once.
Ideas - 1 per Summoner. (works best for multiple summoners)
- Based on rank of summoner and rank of demon to be summoned.
- Just one demon per summoner's rank regardless of demon's rank.

Mostly I'm trying to get the tone and themes right. I'm not too concerned about the mechanics. SW can probably handle it as is.

[Lord Lance]

The question is:
Do you want the battles fought by main characters "powered up" by their demons? Do you want characters AND demons on the map, each one fighting each other (so a very high strength demon can attack a "standard" toughness 5 - 7 human)? Do you want that, when demons are up, their characters cannot fight each other, so you simply fight with demons?
_________________
"Balance is the key, Trapping is the word." - - Lord Lance

Proud creator of the SAVAGE FREE BESTIARY

[kronovan]

[FoxBlue]

I'd like demons to act alongside the characters. They will get some stuff the players can't like high strength and monstrous abilities but I'll be giving players enough to work with for there to be a certain balance. Only unique demons will be wild cards and they will generally not be open to negotiations, in any case there is no way they'd take the party even nearly seriously enough to consider submitting to them.

As I said, players will have a lot to work with. Spellcasting and sci-fi gear are pretty common in the setting. Give the players demonica suits from SJ and they'll be putting most demons to shame in no time.

[Lord Lance]

[ValhallaGH]

[kronovan]

[ValhallaGH]

[kronovan]

[ValhallaGH]

You seem to have the gist of it, now. When they say "No Power Points" they mean it - though the Power Point cost of a given power (including extra duration and so forth) is used to determine part of the casting penalty.