That's Not A Wolf But it Bites Like One

 Investigation 1, Day 1
Moon phase: Waning Gibbous
November 1st, 1920

Ernest decides to go into the woods by himself and is attacked by a crow with the mind and aura of a wolf. Where the bird’s talons should merely scratch, and its beak merely peck, instead large claw marks and phantom fangs meet Ernest’s pretty face. He ultimately loses 10 APP from the wound and scars to be. Ernest gets a little lost in the woods, and a little bit infected with the idea of being a wolf. While Ernest is dealing with finding his way back to civilization, the rest of the party start doing some research.

Where Wolf, Club?

Investigation 1, Day 0
Moon phase: Waning Gibbous
October 31st, 1920

Steven “Werewolf Steve” Lowell, a heretofore fledgling parapsychologist studying at the Laguna Bay (no actual body of water involved) Athenaeum, founds Werewolf Club, formally called [something that I’ll have the recording experts forward to me when possible] on Halloween Night. The members are a wealthy dilettante with certain occult learnings, who goes only by “Fawn”, his well-paid and long-suffering doctor, the former field surgeon Asif Macrae M.D., and Ernest Elliot, who, commissioned to print the posters advertising this first gathering, had himself found the event interesting enough to be worth joining. They do some preliminary searching in the woods but find nothing but a misidentified paw print and a herd of deer so nice that everyone regains a little bit of sanity, thanks to a critical success on listen. They do also encounter a cougar that acts strangely wolfish. As they approach a section of the Diggins, some of the members find themselves briefly influenced by a psychic field, pulling their chakras into unnatural alignments reminiscent of psychosomatic werewolfism. Both Ernest and Steve are temporarily reduced to animal (wolf, specifically) intelligence and ability to speak. They take shelter from the moonlight - which they blame for their affliction - in the mouth of an abandoned mine. Eventually, after stumbling around in the forest, they return to their homes and beds. Little do they know, their activity has drawn the attention of Steve's alma mater, and unseen eyes are already upon them.

Character Creation In The Volutions

 When initially creating your character, make sure each skill in which you have points is something that it makes sense for your character to be good at. You can get away with a couple of “hobbies” as freebies, but not every point can go there. Discuss your character’s backstory with your GM before finalizing it and your initial skills.

Each character starts with certain balances between their Aspects: Body, Brain, and Belief. Distribute 11 points between stats of your primary aspect, 7 points between stats of your secondary aspect, and 5 points between stats of your tertiary attribute. All stats begin at 1(before distributing points)

The Body aspect governs and represents the muscular force and motor coordination of a character.
Strength is used for Body tests requiring brute strength.
Finesse is utilized for tests requiring manual dexterity.

The Brain aspect governs and represents the mind, recollection, and thinking.
Memory is used for Brain tests requiring recall of specific details, an exercise of willpower, or long durations of academic study.
Acuity represents the speed at which a character solves a problem, and whether or not a problem can be solved at all in time.

The Belief aspect represents disillusionment from consensus reality, and comprehension of the more accurate lie beneath.
Sanity measures how mentally stable, calm, and able to cope with the horrors they witness a character is.
Attunement measures the level of understanding and intimate experience a character has with the voluted world, and is used to fuel spells.

When rolling a test using any stat, from any aspect, roll a d10 (ten sided die). If the result is less than the stat, it is a success. If it’s greater, it has failed. If it is equal, it’s a complicated success - you achieve the goal, but something goes awry. A 1 is always a full success, even it it’s equal to the stat, and a 10 is always a failure.

Health Points are equal to twice a character’s strength score plus their finesse score.
Magic Points are equal to a character's memory score plus their acuity score plus twice their attunement score.
Sanity Points are equal to ten times a character's sanity score minus their attunement score, with a minimum of 1.

There are twenty skills, but you may need to add more to suit your story. In any case, players start with each skill at a base level (indicated next to the skill) and have 280 points to allocate between them as they choose. The total number of points allocated to a skill indicates its percentile chance of success. Roll a d100(100 sided die) and compare it to the relevant skill.
Result 96-100: Failure
Result Less than or equal to skill: Success
Result Less than or equal to 1/2 skill: Strong Success
Result Less than or equal to 1/4 skill: Extraordinary Success
Result 01: Critical success

List of Skills
Academics 40%(Reading, Study, Research) [Brain]
Art/Craft 1%(Painting, construction, etc) [Brain/Body]
Athletics 35%(Dodging, running, climbing) [Body]
Biology 5%(How bodies and organic chemicals work. Making and curing diseases both fall under this.) [Brain]
Chemistry 25%(How inorganic chemicals work. You could make bombs! Or acid!) [Brain]
Disguise 5% [Brain]
Firearms (Handguns) 20% [Body]
Firearms (Longarm) 20% [Body]
Firearms (Special, choose) 10% [Body]
Larceny 10%(Picking locks, pockets, etc) [Body]
Linguistics 15%(Translation, decryption, and similar)[Brain]
Medicine 10%(Basic to advanced medical care. Knowing what to apply and how.) [Brain]
Melee 20%(*) [Body]
Occult 5%(Knowledge of the occult. Used in conducting rituals properly.) [Brain]
Persuasion 50%(Convincing someone of something.) [Brain]
Physics 5%(Knowledge of how things move. Rocket science.) [Brain]
Repair 10%(How to fix mechanical or electrical things.) [Brain]
Stealth 10%(Not being perceived.) [Body]
Perception 20%(Hearing, Seeing, etc) [Body]
Psychology 15%(sense motive, detect disorder, treat stress, etc) [Brain]

Each skill has a Body or Brain tag. This is used for an optional rule with 3 variants.
1: If a character has the matching aspect as their primary aspect, they receive a bonus die on tests with that skill. Conversely, if that aspect is their tertiary aspect, they receive a penalty die.
2: If a character has the matching aspect as their primary aspect, they receive a bonus die. If that aspect is their tertiary aspect and the skill is untrained (has never improved), they receive a penalty die.
3: If a character has the matching aspect as their primary aspect, they receive a bonus die.

An extra die, bonus or penalty, is an additional d10 rolled in the 10s position of your d100. When rolling with one or more bonus dice, you take the lowest. When rolling with one or more penalty dice, you take the highest. Bonus and penalty dice cancel each other out on a one for one basis. If you have one of each, you simply roll a normal roll. If you have two bonus dice and one penalty die, you roll with one bonus die.

Hellkite Asmodeus

Asmodeus is a frozen whip of living water, acquired by the player after they defeat the Frozen Ouroboros. It's attacks are slow and wide, but offer great control over enemies positioning. Once the player has acquired Asmodeus, they gain access to using grapple points with it in skate mode.

Asmodeus—Overdrive: While in Overdrive, your Damage increases by 10%, your Armor increases by 15%, your Speed increases by 15%, and you Heal bandaged health at a rate of 20% of expended fuel.

Asmodeus—Devil Overdrive: While in Devil Overdrive, the Damage, Armor, and Speed bonuses from Overdrive are doubled, and you Heal stitched health at a rate of 20% of expended heat.

Asmodeus—Diamond Dust: While in Overdrive, hitting enemies slows their falling speed slightly for a short time, with a stacking duration. (Visually represented by a blue tinge to the enemy). In Devil Overdrive, considerably slows enemy fall speed, and causes Ebb to freeze enemies solid instead of knocking them back.

Asmodeus—Combo A

1. A looping lash that traces one half of a figure eight.
2. The mirror to A1, tracing the other half and chaining right back into A1.

Asmodeus—Combo B

1. After A1, pause briefly before pressing the melee attack button (Asmodeus will flash to indicate timing) to instead draw back Asmodeus before bringing it down in a long range slam that knocks enemies off the ground.

Asmodeus—Combo C

1. During Combo B, rapidly tap the melee attack button to cancel the recovery of the smash to rip enemies hit by Combo B towards you.

Asmodeus—Combo D

1. After A2, pause before pressing the melee attack button (Asmodeus will flash to indicate timing) to: instead of looping the combo, swing Asmodeus in a wide left to right arc. (180 degrees)
2. A wider right to left arc. (270 degrees)
3. A continued counterclockwise lash (270 degrees)

Asmodeus—Ebb

1. While locked on, press forward and the melee attack button to perform a lazy swing that pushes enemies back. (This is not knock-back, and enemies remain standing.)

Asmodeus—Flow

1. During Ebb, press the melee attack button to reverse the current, grabbing and pulling foes towards you. (Again, not knock-back.)

Asmodeus—Water Spout

1. While locked on, press backward and the melee attack button to launch enemies with a frozen geyser.

Asmodeus—Tidal Wave

1. While locked on, during Water Spout, press forward and the melee attack button to send the pillar of water crashing forward, knocking enemies back.

Asmodeus—Roil

1. While locked on, press back to forward then the melee attack button to perform a 360 degree spin that sucks enemies in.

Asmodeus—Waves

1. While in midair, press the melee attack button to perform a slow forward spin that chains into itself.

Asmodeus—Seafoam

1. During Waves, rapidly tap the melee attack button to cancel into a faster spin with multiple strikes.

Asmodeus—Inlet

1. While in midair and locked on, press forward and the melee attack button to whip at an enemy with Asmodeus, pulling you towards them.

Asmodeus—Rip Tide

1. While in midair and locked on, press back and the melee attack button to whip at an enemy with Asmodeus, pulling them towards you. Heavy enemies can only be affected if they are already midair.

Asmodeus—Breaker

1. While in midair and locked on, press forward to back then the melee attack button smash enemies to the ground with Asmodeus. By holding the melee attack button, you may follow the enemy to the ground. In Overdrive and Deviled Overdrive, enemies knocked down by Breaker will bounce back up off the ground into the air.

Hellkite Pollux

Now bare your fangs and taste my sin

You hear the chains AND WE BEGIN [echo]

Reveal the lies my golden throne

I’ll vaporize what’s set in stone

(Hate) Bare your fangs

(Sceam) hear the chains

(Fate) see my sin

(Scheme) you begin

(Vaporize) Reveal the lies

(Set in stone) My golden throne

Now strike me down

And claim your prize

~Pollux Boss Theme

Pollux, a set of fulgurite manacles acquired after the player defeats the possessed statue which they originally adorned. Possessing powerful close quarters hand to hand techniques and infused with lightning, Pollux is the fastest melee weapon. Acquiring Pollux allows the player to grind cables while in skating mode.

Pollux—Ball Lightning: Each attack can be charged to increase its effectiveness, with some moves gaining new properties. During Overdrive, all attacks are treated as charged to level one, and in Devil Overdrive, are treated as charged to level 3, the max.

Pollux—Overdrive: With Pollux equipped, while in overdrive, Damage is increased by 20%, Armor is increased by 10%, Speed is increased by 20%, and Healing bandaged health at a rate of 10% of expended Fuel.

Pollux—Devil Overdrive: When in Devil Overdrive, Pollux’s Damage, Armor and Speed bonuses are doubled, and you Heal stitched health at a rate of 10% of expended Heat.

Pollux—Combo A:

1. A quick right jab. Inflicts stagger at Charge 2 and crumple at Charge 3.
2. A right straight. Hits an additional time with crackling electricity for each level of Charge.
3. A left hook. Launches enemies at Charge 3.
4. An uppercut. Launches enemies. If A3 was charged to level 3, this attack will chase them into the air. When charged to level 3, calls down a lightning bolt right before the attack proper hits.

Pollux—Combo B:

1. After A2, pause briefly (weapon will flash to indicate timing) then rapidly tap the melee attack button to launch a barrage of punches. (This attack cannot be charged)
2. A front flipping kick that inflicts knock-down. When Charged, is followed up by a lightning strike. At Charge 3, the lightning strike launches enemies.

Pollux—Static Break:

1. At any time with Pollux equipped, press the Overdrive and Melee attack buttons simultaneously to enter Overdrive with a radial explosion which knocks back nearby enemies. This ability can interrupt any animation.

Pollux—Voltaic Eruption:

1. While locked on and holding backwards, press the melee attack button to perform an intense uppercut wreathed in lightning. Charging increases the radius of the effect.

Pollux—Volcanic Thunder:

1. During Voltaic Eruption, tap the melee attack button to follow your enemies skywards with spiraling fury. Inherits Voltaic Eruption’s level of Charge, hitting two additional times for each level of Charge.

Pollux—Triple Thunder God:

1. During Voltaic Eruption, locked on, and holding forwards, press the melee attack button to jump into a rising, spinning kick that grows in power with each strike and inflicts knock-back with the last hit. [attached is the image which initially inspired this particular attack.]

Pollux—Arc Lightning:

1. While locked on, press back to forward then the melee attack button to perform a flying kick that homes in on its target. Can be used in air or on ground. Charging increases the speed, and at Charge 3, pulls nearby enemies into the attack.

Pollux—Tesla Crash:

1. While locked on in midair and pressing backwards, press the melee attack button to perform an aerial axe kick that knocks enemies down and launches the player higher. At Charge 3, enemies struck by Tesla Crash will ground bounce.

Pollux—Descending Angel:

1. While jumping, press the melee attack button to dive to earth with a kick that launches nearby enemies with the shock-wave. Cannot be charged, but does more damage the higher up it is performed from.

Pollux—Short Circuit:

1. While locked on and pressing forward, press the melee attack button to perform a rhapsody of advancing kicks. Charging increases the number of strikes.

Pollux—Overload:

1. During Short Circuit or Combo B1, rapidly tap the melee attack button to cancel into Overload, performing a more powerful barrage of thundering punches.

Pollux—Direct Current:

1. While locked on, press forward to backward then the melee attack button to perform an overhead kick. This attack produces a shock-wave which launches knocked down enemies and knocks launched or standing enemies towards the player. At Charge 3, the shock wave is trailed by lightning strikes.

Hellkite: Rancor, Overdrive, and Aftermath

Rancor (rough model)

Rancor, the first Melee Weapon the player acquires, is a scythe, and balances well between range, damage and speed.

Rancor—Aftermath: Rancor’s unique effect, called Aftermath, causes some attacks, while in Overdrive, to leave a rippling tear in space that, after a short delay to prime itself, hits the first enemy to come in contact with it. In Devil Overdrive, all attacks cause this effect, with each hit.

Rancor—Overdrive: While in Overdrive, with Rancor equipped, Damage Inflicted is increased by 15%, incoming Damage is reduced by 20%, the speed of your movement and attacks is increased by 10%, and you recover bandaged health at a rate of 15% of expended Fuel.

Rancor—Devil Overdrive: The Attack, Defense, and Speed boosts given by Overdrive are doubled. Additionally, stitched health recovers at a rate of 15% of expended Heat.

These stats can be simplified to DASH: Damage, Armor, Speed, and Healing.

Rancor—Combo A:

1. A slashing attack, holding the weapon close to the center, with the attack going diagonally down from the left, and fluidly chaining into…
2. A mirror of the first attack, forming an “X” of slashes, going diagonally down from the right.
3. A wide horizontal slash from left to right.
4. A spinning horizontal slash that carries the momentum of A3 and inflicts knock-back. Causes Aftermath in Overdrive.

Rancor—Combo B:

1. After A2, pause until the scythe flashes then rapidly press the attack button to spin Rancor overhead, hitting multiple times.
2. After the maximum duration (5 hits) of the whirl, there is a spinning sweep followup similar to A4 with the difference that it inflicts knockdown. This followup attack can be canceled out of by dodging, jumping, or inputting a special move before its animation begins. Causes Aftermath in Overdrive. This Aftermath has the Launch property.

Rancor—Sweeping Gust:

1. Press and hold the melee attack button to begin charging. Has three levels of charge, each of which increases the maximum range of the attack.
2. Release the melee attack button to fling Rancor like a boomerang. When it reaches its max range it will return, bringing back any light enemy it has hit.

Rancor—Gale:

1. While locked on, press forward and the melee attack button to rush forward while spinning, hooking light enemies you pass through. Leaves Aftermath in Overdrive.
2. At the end of the rush, hooked enemies are knocked back with one final spin.

Rancor—Maelstrom:

1. While executing Gale, rapidly press the melee attack button to instead follow up the rush with a whirling attack that draws in nearby enemies, like a more powerful version of Combo B. In Overdrive, creates a large field of aftermath, but significantly drains fuel.
   

Rancor—Rising Wind:

1. While locked on, press backward and the melee attack button to back-flip and launch enemies into the air with an upward slash.
2. Holding the attack button causes you to also rise into the air.

Rancor—High Pressure:

1. During Rising Wind, while locked on and pressing forward, press the melee attack button to chain into a an overhead slash that knocks enemies to the ground while simultaneously pushing you higher into the sky.

Rancor—Dust Devil:

1. While locked on, press back to forward then the melee attack button to charge forward with an upward slash that launches enemies. Dust Devil can be used in air.

Rancor—Head Splitter:

1. While locked on in midair, press forward and the melee attack button to dive down with a powerful slash. Inflicts knockdown.
2. Upon impact with ground, hits again, inflicting knock-back.

Rancor—Downdraft:

1. While midair, press the melee attack button to perform a crescent slash that inflicts knockdown.

Rancor—Steel Cloud:

1. While locked on in midair, press backward and the melee attack button to spin in midair, hitting multiple times. In Overdrive, creates a ring of Aftermath.

Hellkite - Or, If I Had A Budget And A Team...

Hellkite, obviously and foremost inspired by the Devil May Cry series, originated in a particularly chuunibyou phase of my online existence, largely defined by concept fusion RP OCs — taking complementary or amusingly opposed powersets or themes from two or more series — in this case, Devil May Cry, Jet Set Radio, and Air Gear, to give credit where credit is due. Of course, thanks to my wonderfully rampant autism, once I had a character whose abilities were partly based off of a game with detailed and comprehensive combat documentation, I simply *had* to design an entire game around them. It became the vehicle for my annoyances with the series — I distinctly recall thinking that DmC:DMC had *some* good ideas that I could have directed a *lot* better. Admittedly, the resulting control scheme was and is crowded, but also allows for seamless fluidity with the driving design concept that nothing the player character does in a cutscene should be impossible in gameplay.

What follows is the control scheme as it was when I initially designed this concept, updated for readability. Controls are presented with the button layout of a typical desktop gaming controller (not naming any names here). When this was designed, I recall wishing there were back facing buttons, so if that gets more normalized expect these commands to float out a bit to ease the amount of multi-presses.



Controls:
X — Melee Attack
Y — Dash/Evade
LB — Context Actions (based on Directional pad selection)
A — Jump
B — Firearm Attack
Left stick — controls movement
L3 — resets camera
Right stick — controls camera
R3 — changes lock-on (alternate option, change lock-on by flicking right stick)
RB — locks on and can be set to toggle
RT — Cycles melee weapon(hold to choose with Directional Pad)
LT —  Cycles firearm(hold to choose with Directional Pad)
Select button — Taunt.  (hold for alternate)
Directional pad Left —  selects Eclipse (creates singularities that slow time and absorb projectiles in a radius, and can be repositioned and recharged with melee attacks that hit the center) Context Action
Directional pad Right — selects Baby-Doll (Clone effect a la doppelganger) Context Action
Directional pad Up — selects OverDrive context action
Directional pad Down — selects DevilOverDrive context action

Melee attack is bound by default to the left face button.
    Combos are performed by repeatedly pressing the button, with alternate variations used by delaying the next input. Some combos can be further linked by mashing (or, with accessibility mode on, holding) the button. Special attacks use lock-on+direction, and follow more or less the same rules as combos.
Firearm attack is bound by default to the right face button.
     While firearm attacks have no combos, they do also have special attacks usable with lock-on+direction input, some of which can be canceled into each other.
Dash/Evade is bound by default to the top face button.
    By pressing and releasing the Evade button, you can Rush, dashing a short distance in the direction you are currently attempting to move. If no direction is pressed, you will attempt a parry with a very small active window (3 frames). Rushing will interrupt combo chains.
    By pressing the Evade button while locked onto an enemy and moving away from them, you can Dodge, flipping backward. This has more I-frames and less startup than rushing, and can be chained three times (with the second and third allowing you to move in any direction but forward instead of only back) although doing so will result in an obligate taunt, resulting in a moment of vulnerability. Dodging will disjoint combo chains, allowing you to continue the combo from where you were interrupted by pressing the attack button during the Dodge animation. This does *not* reset the number of chained Dodges used, until the combo chain ends.
    By tapping the evade button while in the air and near a wall, you can Wall Trick, grabbing onto it. Jumps from this position are treated as if from the ground, but will not reset air actions. You may fire ranged weapons as though grounded during this technique.
     By holding the evade button near a wall (during Dodge, Wall Trick, or Rush) you can start Wall Running. Depending on the direction of your movement relative to the wall, you can run straight up, diagonally up and forward, or forward. You can attack with firearms while Wall Running, but anything heavier than handguns will end the Wall Run
    If you attempt to Rush while in midair, you will perform an Aerial Rush, dashing a shorter distance in the chosen direction. If no direction is pressed, you will stall in the air briefly by spinning, with a short parry window. (Resets air actions IFF it successfully parries something, but otherwise can only be used once and resets as an Air Action)
    If you attempt to Aerial Rush while near an enemy, you will instead perform an Enemy Rush, using the poor thing as a springboard to dash a short distance in midair. If  no direction is pressed, you will simply move away from the enemy. Unlike Aerial Rush which can only be used once and resets as an Air Action, Enemy Rush can be used so long as there is something to kick off of, and resets Air Actions.

    By Locking On and holding forward and pressing the Evade button while near an enemy or wall, you can perform a Downward Rush, dashing to the ground rapidly and stalling nearby enemies in midair.

Yes, I know, there’s a lot of evasion mechanics and options but they’re all very similar and should flow together. In theory. Now for the JUMPS

Jump is bound to the bottom face button. Jump height is effected by how long the button is held. Pressing in a direction will reduce overall height but allow lateral travel.
    By attempting to Jump towards a ledge, you will Leap farther forward with a notable reduction in height. This can also be forced by locking on and pressing back then forward before Jumping.
    While  near a wall midair, pressing the Jump button will let you Wall Kick, jumping off the wall to get higher. Can only be used once per jump and is mutually exclusive with Aerial Jump. Resets as an Air Action
    While in midair, pressing the Jump button again will result in an Aerial Jump. But…

    If you’re near an enemy midair, Jumping will result in an Enemy Jump, kicking off of the enemy to gain height. Resets Air Actions.

On the next post I will: Talk about mechanics (health and other resources), answer any questions I receive, and (if I have time which I almost certainly will) begin breaking down the starting weapon's move-set (I've got four melee weapons and four firearms already designed... for this character.)