Candy Land

[PhoneLobster]

Kinda young for Rankin there...

I mean at least it isn't Dance of the Voodoo Handbag or something.

[Sashi]

My friend Carlton.

You actually friends with him, or is that a euphamism? Because I want to want to buy that fucker a drink.

[the_taken]

OK, I've put this off on long enough.

Step Seven - Do the Math

SAME System, RAL movement and maneuvers, gang-up style CAN Score, possible Charge Up and Rage Bars, increasing in ability improves form (Pokemon style Evolution), and Thematic Move Set Lists with the hope that Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting by time we finished.

Let's get a working model up and running

SAME

The RNG for SAME is going to be 2d20. That means 2 to 40 is the range before modifiers, and a bell curve roll. I'm not worried about people fucking up the math, since the automated die rollers automatically add things together.

It is interesting to note that if you make the base To-hit and base Attack-power the identical, no matter what you change them to, the odds stay the same. Taking advantage of that, I want attackers to feel like they accomplish things regularly, so the base Target Number for the Attack roll is 15, a 77.25% success rate, while attack designs will assume that 15 is the power of an average attack, giving the Soak roll a base 77.25% chance to block a medium power attack. (Maybe my math is a bit off since it's a bell curve as opposed to a flat roll, but whatever. I think I'm right and that's what's important.)

Result	Chances	Percentage	Inverse	Result	Chances	Percentage	Inverse
1	0	100	0	21	20	52.5	52.5
2	1	100	0.25	22	19	47.5	57.25
3	2	99.75	0.75	23	18	42.75	61.75
4	3	99.25	1.5	24	17	38.25	66
5	4	98.5	2.5	25	16	34	70
6	5	97.5	3.75	26	15	30	73.75
7	6	96.25	5.25	27	14	26.25	77.25
8	7	94.75	7	28	13	22.75	80.5
9	8	93	9	29	12	19.5	83.5
10	9	91	11.25	30	11	16.5	86.25
11	10	88.75	13.75	31	10	13.75	88.75
12	11	86.25	16.5	32	9	11.25	91
13	12	83.5	19.5	33	8	9	93
14	13	80.5	22.75	34	7	7	94.75
15	14	77.25	26.25	35	6	5.25	96.25
16	15	73.75	30	36	5	3.75	97.5
17	16	70	34	37	4	2.5	98.5
18	17	66	38.25	38	3	1.5	99.25
19	18	61.75	42.75	39	2	0.75	99.75
20	19	57.25	47.5	40	1	0.25	100

So, SAME uses four attributes that are paired together by default, and they can be named anything. Strength and Agility are perfectly named, but I'll use Spirit and Willpower for the names of the magical attributes.

For the social combat side, I'm adding another pair of attributes, Intuition and Charisma. However they won't work as a pair the same way the other fours attributes do. While you can use them both together offensively, you can't defend with both. Well actually, the attacks will be designed so that the defense TN and Soak Roll will use at most one of these attributes. So Tea Cup Surprise will use both Intuition and Charisma on the offense, but the target will have to defend using Agility and Strength, since the attack involves splashing them with wicked hot tea.

I've noticed that having every one's HP cap be the same gives people the impressions that they're all just as tough as each other, despite the declaring that Strength not only represents the power output on the character's muscles, but also the character's ability absorb damage. As such, I'm adding in variable HP boni. After doing some math, it looks like HP is approximately worth a third as much as similar bonus to strength or agility, but worth a bit less when both have a bonus. In any case, to those HP wankers happy, I'm adding another attribute, Durability, which will grant an HP bonus, and increasing it takes half as much as any of the other six attributes.

To make the HP bonus more useful, I'm adding penalties to the Attack and Soak rolls the less HP you have. For every 5 points less than 20 the character has they take a -2 penalty to their Attack and Soak rolls.

Obviously, at 0 hp the character is no longer participating in the battle, though they can have marshmallow peeps and stars circling over their heads while they moan about how unfair their loss is, or get rocketed off into the night sky.

So Strength, Agility, Spirit, Willpower, Intuition, Charisma, and Durability.

CAN Score and Energy

Phonelobster's energy mechanic brought up an interesting idea. His is a mix of a two input Rage Bar, and bit of a Charge Bar mechanic. That isn't exactly suitable, but it did bring about this setup.

There's two CAN Scores.

The Sweet Track, which is CAN Score that measures how good the CandyGirls feels right now. Certain techniques will make use of this track, and the most to obvious will be universal ability to increase this score. Then, certain actions will make use of this track, rolling on it to see if a special effect occurs, like the popular critical hits. I'm certain many of these will lower the track as well.

It is a double edged sword, however, since a CandyGirl can make herself feel so good that she becomes dizzy, delirious, a bit hyper etc. There will even be some attacks that take advantage of the a pumped up Sweet Track, bringing the potential for battles where the CandyGirls compete to make each other feel too good.

The there's the Bitter Track, which is more like the traditional CAN Score. Basic violent actions increase this track on your opponent, and more advanced violent actions will induce status effects with a sufficiently high roll on the opponent's Bitter Track, especially those with a bonus. Instant KOs will be available, but at the top of the track, so stacking those boni up is encouraged.

In both cases, I'm thinking of making the die roll on these Tracks a d6, with discreet bonuses of 1 through to at most 3. The status effects will be up to 12 on the track at most, and those will be the finishing moves. To keep people from simply cranking a CAN Score up to start a Tekken Juggle then forgetting about it, these Tracks will lower round by round, so Tekken Juggling would have to be done with CAN Score upkeep.

So two more attributes, Sweet and Bitter resistance, in addition to the Sweet Track and Bitter Track.

Really Abstract Locations

Frank developed it recently enough that we all have the rules pretty much in our head, thought there isn't a complete system for it yet. Until I get a larger play group, I'm implementing the simpler version of six zones and one die.

RAL makes use of Assault, Withdraw, Attack, Fire[/b], Circle, Focus, Poke maneuvers. The difference in this system is with Focus. Instead of interacting with the Wheel of Fate that we don't have, Focus is generally an action that can be performed to affect oneself. The basic Focus action is Sweet Spot, which a CandyGirl uses to increase her Sweet Track. Screaming during this Charge Up Action is vehemently encouraged.

[TarkisFlux]

I don't know why you would want to add 2 extra stats onto the SAME setup, especially if those two stats aren't even worth as much as the rest due to the lack of using them for defenses. It looks like you just want a set of stats that attack either physical or magical, and you could probably do the same thing with regular old attacks that just happened to target the other set of stats. If you're willing to allow crossover attacks I don't think you even need them.

Using your Tea Cup Surprise as an example, you could just as easily fluff it as you throwing (agility) a cup of the hottest tea you can stand (strength) at someone, and if they didn't have the spirit to just deal with it / avoid it in the first place they'd need to resist getting agitated and flipping out (willpower) from being hit. Same stuff accomplished, extra set of secondary stats not particularly necessary. And as long as you keep the SAME thing where the primary stats are within a particular range of each other it's not even a big deal.

[CatharzGodfoot]

2d20 isn't a curve; it's a 'V'. 3d12 is a curve.

[the_taken]

2d20 isn't a curve; it's a 'V'. 3d12 is a curve.

After drawing the graph, I have discovered that you are correct... still has the same effect, with the center of the rolls the most likely result, while fringe rolls being less likely.

[the_taken]

I've come across the MAID RPG, and while it's not a game I'd invite friends over to play, it does have some of the same themes that will show up in CandyLand, and cannibalizing the mechanics could prove useful. I also decided to rename Charisma to Cunning to create a pseudo-intelligence stat, which the MAID RPG makes use of.

I still have no idea what alternate word to use in place of 'evolution level' level with regards to the new, more powerful forms CandyGirls take on. I'll still be using it as a place holder.

---

OK, some mathematical proof on concept. All the CandyGirls have a range of attributes that is based on her evolution level. Each of her attributes is given a rating of 1 to 4 (Durability can be 0), and all of these attributes add up to 20, together. Then, Strength, Agility, Spirit, Willpower, Intuition, Charisma, and Durability are multiplied by the CandyGirl's evolution level (then Durability is doubled) to determine her actual attribute scores. CandyGirls start at evolution level 1, and can Rise to a new form up to two times.

So the minimum attribute is 1 (or 0 bonus HP) and has a maximum of 12, which keeps weak CandyGirls somewhat closer to a higher evolution level CandyGirls, the difference being a little over a quarter of the RNG. That should give us plenty of room to work with for handing out other bonuses.

---

Speaking of bonuses, I'm wondering about this skill here. It's one that exists separate of the Thematic Move Sets, but is still important. What I'm afraid is that it will become a Skill everyone will take.

Athletics - General
No prerequisites
Untrained Use: None
Basic Level: Increases Strength and Agility by 2, and provides 3 additional HP
Advanced Level: Increases Strength and Agility by an additional 2 (4 total each), and provides 3 more HP (6 total).
Mastery - Increases Strength and Agility by another 2 (6 total), and provides 3 more HP (9 total). The character is now very fit and healthy, gaining a +Y bonus to beauty.

And then there's the mirror Skill:

Meditation - General
No prerequisites
Untrained Use: None
Basic Level: Increases Spirit and Willpower by 2, and provides 3 additional HP
Advanced Level: Increases Spirit and Willpower by an additional 2 (4 total each), and provides 3 more HP (6 total).
Mastery - Increases Spirit and Willpower by another 2 (6 total), and provides 3 more HP (9 total). The Character is now very efficient at using their own energy, and increases their Bitter Track by one less when using a move that is self-penalizing (minimum 0).

And then there's this one:

Combat Training - General
No prerequisites
Untrained Use: None
Basic Level: - The character gains two bonus points that they can apply to any attribute to improve it by 1, though not the same one. If one of these points is applied to HP, it increases by 2, instead of 1.
Advanced Level: - Again, the character gains two bonus points that they can apply to any attribute to improve it by 1, though not the same one. They can improve an attribute they improved with the Basic Level of this skill. If one of these points is applied to HP, it increases by 2, instead of 1. The Character also becomes more tactically aware, decreasing their Bitter Track by 1 every round.
Mastery - Again, the character gains two bonus points that they can apply to any attribute to improve it by 1, though not the same one. They can improve an attribute they improved with the Basic and Advanced Levels of this skill. If one of these points is applied to HP, it increases by 2, instead of 1. The character also increases the how much they affect the Bitter Track of someone they target by 1 for any ability that already does so.

[JigokuBosatsu]

My friend Carlton.

You actually friends with him, or is that a euphamism? Because I want to want to buy that fucker a drink.

Yeah, we're not buddies or anything, but we've shared some limoncello and valium, and he asked me to be in his upcoming "Christmas on Crack" anthology. We have some fairly serious aesthetic disagreements, but get along okay. Actually, I think I'm better friends with his wife than with him.

[the_taken]

Template - Example
Prerequisites list
Untrained Use:
Basic Level: Bonus list
New Maneuver
Advanced Level: Bonus list
New Maneuver
Improvements to previous techniques
Mastery: Bonus list
New Maneuver
Improvements to previous techniques

Offensive Strategy - General
No prerequisites
Untrained Use: None
Basic Level:
New Maneuver

Advanced Level:
Redirect - Poke - The character allows an ally to re-roll their firing line.
Synergy - Circle - The character places a Mark on any Zone that an ally has an open line to, if they have an open line to that ally.
Mastery: The character can maintain one more mark.
Over Watch - Order - The character places a Mark on any Zone they have an open line to, for any ally they have an open line to.

Defensive Strategy - General
No prerequisites
Untrained Use: None
Basic Level:
New Maneuver

Advanced Level:

Beacon - Order - The character places a Mark on the Zone they reside in for an ally they have an open line to.
Mastery: The character rolls twice to determine which Zone they have an open line to, and picks the one they want.
Decoy - Focus - The character removes a Mark from the Zone they reside in.

Offensive Tactics - General
No prerequisites
Untrained Use: None
Basic Level:
Charge - Assault - The character Assaults into a Zone and makes a Melee Attack on an available target.
Seize - Assault - The character Assaults into a Zone and Pokes a feature within it.
Advanced Level:
Overrun - Assault - The character makes a Melee Attack on a available target, then Assaults into a Zone.
Boomerang - Circle - The character Assaults into a Zone. They then Mark the previous Zone they resided in.
Mastery:
Outrage - Assault - The character makes a Melee Attack on a available target, then Assaults into a Zone, and makes a Melee Attack on an available target.

Defensive Tactics - General
No prerequisites
Untrained Use: None
Basic Level:
Last Chance - Withdraw - The character Pokes a Feature, then Withdraws into the target Zone.
Fall Back - Withdraw - The character Withdraws into the Target Zone, then pokes a Feature.
Advanced Level:
Regroup - Withdraw - The character Withdraws into the target Zone, then Marks the Zone they just left.
Harrying - Withdraw - The character makes a Melee Attack on an available target, then Withdraws into the target Zone.
Mastery:
Bide - Withdraw - The character Withdraws into the target Zone. They also maintain their current Mark.

Ranged Support - General
No prerequisites, however many of the techniques require a method to perform ranged attacks.
Untrained Use: none
Basic Level:
Aim - Focus - The character gains a +4 bonus to Attack Rolls with ranged techniques. This effect is cumulative up to six times.
Mind over Matter - Focus - The character gains a +4 bonus to damage on techniques that use Willpower for the rest of the scene. This effect is cumulative up to six times.
Advanced Level:
Shoot and Move - Assault - The character uses a Ranged Attack on an available target in the target Zone, then Assaults into it.
Move and Shoot - Withdraw - The character Withdraws from the current Zone, then makes a Ranged Attack on an available target in the zone they just left.
Mastery:
Suppression - Circle - The character uses a Ranged Attack on an available target in the target Zone, the Marks it. They count as contesting the Marked Zone for the purpose of Crossfire, though they make Range Attacks as Crossfire Attacks.

Guardian - General
No prerequisites
Untrained Use: None
Basic Level: The Character gains an additional Crossfire per round.
Cover - Poke - This character links to a feature or character. They use this character's SOAK, and this character takes half the damage for them for as long as the link is maintained.
Choke - Poke - This character links to a feature or character. Anyone that pokes it takes Crossfire for as long as the link is maintained.
Taunt - Focus - If this character is not attacked before their next turn, they gain a +8 bonus to damage on techniques that use Strength for the rest of the scene.
Advanced level: The character gains a +2 bonus to SOAK rolls.
Bodyguard: - Passive - If this character links to another character using the Cover or Choke techniques, and that character uses a Withdraw maneuver, this character may follow them and maintain the link.
Vanguard - Focus - The character contests for the Zone they currently reside in.
Mastery: The character gains another +2 bonus to SOAK rolls (+4 total), and another Crossfire per round (+2 total)
Resolve - Passive - If this character is not attacked once each turn, they gain a +4 bonus to damage on techniques that use Strength for the rest of the scene. This effect is cumulative up to six times.

[the_taken]

All right, to make things easier for us to create Move Lists, I figured there has to be both some sort of prerequisite for many of them, as well as a benefit to taking on a higher level form. To that end, I'm going to generate a list of features that the various CandyGirls may have, and use these as basis for the Move Sets. These are going to be things like Claws, Sachs Organ, Manifest Rifle, Ki Talent, and Precognition. In and of themselves, these features will provide very small, if any benefit, and are only there to provide a reasoning as to why the CandyGirl can do what she can do.

Of course, there is nothing stopping one CandyGirl from gaining a feature that her form doesn't naturally provide. This is done by either using equipment that emulates the feature, magically transforming to have the feature, or just having the feature because you want it.

Edit-> After thinking about it for a bit, I realized that some of these features have varying degrees of severity. For example:

1. Owns a Rifle
2. Crafts a Rifle
3. Summons a Rifle
4. Manifests a Rifle
5. Has a Rifle for an Arm

Some of these are going to be really short, though.

1. Shoots Flames from her mouth/hands/eyes.
2. Is on Fire all the time.

[the_taken]

Now how do I handle the different movement types? I know there's going to be CandyGirls that are very fast, while other can Fly, some can Fly quickly, other hover at a snails pace. Some will teleport, while some will jump around like grasshoppers/ninjas/my cousins. Then there will be those CandyGirls that can smash through walls without flinching...

[the_taken]

I've removed Athletics, Meditation and Combat Training from the Skill List. Those were going to make problems.

What I am going to do instead is have the Move Sets provide bonuses to attributes at the advanced level, and then have a maximum amount of attribute bonuses a character may actively have.

[the_taken]

OK, lets start making some CandyGirl features we can use to generate character concepts.

Equipment - Equipment features are different than pieces of equipment you buy. Think of it as like buying a specific weapon for a specific character in a J-RPG. Aeris (FF7) has uses a staff, and Lightning (FF13) uses swords. And while you can give each the other's weapon, you don't because they don't have any ability to use that type of equipment. The fact that the games won't let you (or that's they're not in the same game) has nothing to do with it.

Let's start making that list:

• Little Swords
• Big Swords
• Knives
• Hammers
• Long Sticks
• Short Sticks
• Ropes
• Cord
• Tea
• Boxes
• Shields

And now ranged weaponry

• Arrows
• Needles
• Knives (again)
• Balls (or Rocks)
• Boomerang
• Sticks
• Grenades
• Long Guns (sniper, rifles)
• Rapid Guns (rifles, mini-guns)
• Wide Guns (shotguns, mini-guns)
• Hose
• Flamethrower
• Ropes (again)
• Strings
• Lasers

I think this covers everything that can be wielded.

Now for the list of anatomy features. Stuff people come with:

• Arms
• Head
• Body
• Legs (or maybe not. Naga chick love!)

Optional bonuses, some of which may or may not provide ranged attacks:

• Scythes
• More Arms
• Good Fists
• Claws
• Big Tail
• Tentacles or Small Tail
• Sharp Teeth or Big Mouth
• Fangs
• Horns
• Hide
• Crest
• Mane
• Wings
• Spines
• Venom Sacs
• Feathers
• Wings

Now for some weirder things:

• Fire for Hair/Fur
• Lightning Shaped Hair/Fur/Horn
• Cool Minty Breath or Ice Cream Hair
• Rock Sugar Freckles or Cotton Candy Hair
• Flowers/Flower Buds/Berries
• Leaves
• Small Vines
• Cybernetics

That last on allows the Candy Girl to have equipment pieces as anatomy features.

Now for a more interesting part. Energy Features:

• Fire Aspect
• Lightning Aspect
• Chi/Ki Focus
• Ice Power
• Water Power
• Plant Command
• Summon Rocks
• Sweet Magic

And now the Spirit Features:

• Zen State
• Precognition
• Second Sight
• Dripping Mascara
• Blood Magic
• Scary Angry Face
• Cuckoo Lander
• Super Lucky

I think that should just about cover everything to make a dramatic and zany set of characters. Of course, feedback and suggestions are always encouraged.

[the_taken]

So, using that list of features, let's generate some character concepts. So what we do is pick a punch of CandyGirl features, and write a physical description of a couple of CandyGirls, and come up with some abilities they like to use. No numbers, now. Just character concepts. Like this:

Machiko - Jack's Waifu

Equipment Features: Knives, Hammer, Long Sticks, Short Sticks, and Tea.
Anatomy Features: Arms, Head, Body, Legs, Rock Sugar Freckles
Energy Features: Sweet Magic
Spirit Features: Scary Angry Face

Jack's loving wife, Machiko, is a very friendly and personable young woman. Many people would call her the ideal housewife. However, not many people know that she's actually a CandyGirl, capable of some supernatural feats. It's not exactly a secret, it's just that it never comes up in conversation.

In the rare cases that someone isn't polite, Machiko is capable of scowling so fiercely that dark thunder clouds appear, and the people she looks are so overcome with fear they are paralyzed long enough for her to scold them with some harsh words. It's usually Jack, trying to justify going to Taffy Strip Clubs.

Occasionally, she has distraught neighbors. She usually has them sit down, and give them a nice warm cup of relaxing tea. She has also invited some of the other ladies of neighborhood to tea to get them off guard before casually threatening them to not meddle in her son's love life. It's a rather unsettling experience.

Her pastries make her extremely popular at bake sales. She''s also been offered money to bake other families birthday cakes, but she happily does it for free.

Any burglar that prowls into her home is in for a world of pain. She is fully capable of using any knife, frying pan, spatula, wooden spoon, or fork in her kitchen as a weapon, as well as any broom stick or vacuum cleaner as a deadly weapon.

HoneyBee Girl - Sample Mook

Anatomy Features: Arms, Head, Body, Legs, Wings, Venom Sacks
Energy Features: Sweet Magic
Spirit Features: Zen State

HoneyBee Girls gather in hives. They are a merely pest on their own, but large hives can be an hazard to small towns if left unchecked. Most spend their time gathering flowers and other plants to process into honey and syrup, which they eat. They are territorial and very defensive CandyGirls that often attack anyone that tries to get near them, or is too close to the hive. They prefer to drive people off with threatening movements, before escalating to brawling, then painful stings. They have the ability to fly, but no ranged attack abilities. They feel no pain.

HoneyQueen - Sample Mook Leader

Equipment Features: Tea
Anatomy Features: Arms, Head, Body, Legs, Wings, Venom Sacks
Energy Features: Sweet Magic
Spirit Features: Zen State

HoneyQueens are a rare, more powerful version of the HoneyBee Girl. They are popular with regular HoneyBee Girls because they can make better honey, and usually end up with a leadership role in their hive. A hive led by a queen can either be a boon to other people, or a serious threat to health and safety, depending on the disposition of the HoneyQueen. Friendly HoneyQueens that are kept on good terms with often sell their honey to people, and often help keep the local wildlife from getting out of hand. Other HoneyQueens can be quick to anger, easily insulted, and vengeful.

HoneyQueens are more passive than HoneyBee Girls, preferring to relegate dangerous tasks to others in the hive. Those that do get into fights usually try to bribe opponents to surrender, using their wonderful honey. They are capable of flying, but lack ranged attacks. They feel no pain.

Now you try!

[the_taken]

Primary Categories:
Cakes
- Angel
- Sponge
- Cheese
- Fluffy
Confections
- Hard Candies
- Licorice
- Caramels
- Chocolates
- Gums
- Jellies
Cookies
- Biscuits
- Shortbread
- Drop Cookies
- (I know there's an other type)
Doughnuts
Frozen
- Ice Cream
- Gelato
- Sorbet
- Frozen Yoghurt
Pastry
- Pie
- Tart
- Roll
-
Puddings
- Custard
- Moose
-
Sweet Bread
Fruits and Berries

Toppings:
Syrups
Sauces
Creams
Glazes
Powders
Spreads
Sprinkles