The Campaign Builder's Guild

The most up-to-date and complete information on Asura will always be on the "System (Asura)" page on the wiki, but that is more or less a complete SRD and is sometimes a bit impenetrable to a new player.

So, in this thread, I will attempt to explain the basics for a player to get going playing a game in the Asura system. If you've played FATE, a lot of the mechanics will seem familiar, because the Asura system is heavily inspired by FATE.

Every character in Asura has five basic Traits: Power, Grace, Vitality, Senses, and Mind.
A 0 in a trait score represents an average human. -1 is below average, and +1 is above average. As might be expected, -2 is not too good at all, and +2 is quite nice.

- Power represents raw strength and speed. It is used in aggressive melee combat, as well as athleticism and intimidation.
- Grace represents finesse, fine control, and social charm. It is used in martial arts, as well as in many social applications.
- Vitality represents life force. It is used to determine HP and ability to withstand harm.
- Senses represents perception and instinct. It is used in combat with firearms, determining initiative, and investigation.
- Mind represents intellect and other thought processes. It is used in most knowledge-based and scientific skills, and has social uses as well.

In addition, there are numerous skills available, such as Firearms, Alertness, Brawling, Rapport, or Engineering. When a skill is used, it is linked to a trait in the form of Trait+Skill. For example, rolling Power+Brawling (or, P+Brawling for short) means to add your Brawling skill to your Power, and then roll. This sum is called your effectiveness.

So, now it's time to roll the dice. The standard task resolution dice in Asura are called, conveniently enough, Resolution Dice, or dR for short. A resolution dice roll conists of 2d6-2d6, resulting in a value from -10 to 10, with outcomes from -3 to 3 being the most likely. The first 2d6 are known as the "positive dice," and the second 2d6 are known as the "negative dice."

[ic=Task Resolution Example]An crew member is trying to fix a starship's drive system. She has to roll Mind+Engineering in order to do this, so she adds her Mind of 0 and her Engineering of +2, giving her a effectiveness of 2 for this task. The GM declares that the problem is rather difficult, so she is rolling against a difficulty of 4. She rolls 2d6-2d6, which come up +5, +3, -3, -4. The sum of her effectiveness, minus the difficulty, plus the dice roll, is called the result. In this case, the result is (0 + 2) - (4) + (+5, +3, -3, -4) = -1. A failure. Power conduits spark and fizzle, and the engine remains offline.[/ic]

As anyone has been around me any length of time knows, Asura is about awesomeness. So far, however, this all seems pretty mundane stuff. The mechanism for allowing characters in this system to make the leap and perform feats above and beyond mere mortals (even if they are mere mortals and not Asuras!) are Stunt Points. Stunt Points are spent to give a +2 to a roll, by adding in some colorful prose or over-the-top action, and tying the action to the character, enemy, or environment in some way.

The criteria for using a Stunt Point are as follows:
- It utilizes ("tags") environmental features to enhance the effect of whatever is being attempted.
- It tags one of the character's own beneficial Aspects or Conditions.
- It directly targets one of the enemy's weaknesses, such as a tagging an enemy's negative Aspect, or a Consequence or other Condition.
- It connects to a Prana Power, if the character has one, or a piece of signature gear that the character always uses. (This criterion is not available when the action itself involves the direct use of the gear or power)
- It is just awesome. This is the wildcard point, and has no hard and fast criteria that apply, but everyone will know when it does.

At least one of these criteria must be met for each SP, so, in order to expend 2 SP, two different environmental features must be used, or two different Aspects, or one environmental feature and one Aspects, and so on. Up to 5 SP can be used at once, but the final criterion should also always apply in the case of larger expenditures of SP, as this is a truly audacious display; a +8 bonus should be extremely rare, and +10 almost unheard of. Stunts are often declared before the dice are rolled, but they don't have to be.

[note=Caveat Stuntor]The more audacious your stunt description, the more interesting the consequences of failure, so sometimes it pays to not swing for the fences every time. For example, say you describe slicing off an enemy's head in your stunt. If the GM approves the stunt, that's what happens; even if you roll a critical failure, the head still does come off. But, it's plain to see from that roll, the enemy is very much not dead. What sort of horror that means is coming next is entirely up to your sadistic GM...[/note]
In addition to the bonus, a stunt grants a degree of automatic success. Except for actions that the GM specifically vetoes (in which case, the stunt bonus won't be granted anyway), events stated in the player's narrative of the stunt do happen more or less as the player described them, whether the roll succeeds or not. The implications, and what comes next, are simply likely to be far less favorable in the case of an unsuccessful roll, and the GM is fairly certain to add some caveats to the player's narrative.

[ic=Stunt Example]Let's go back to our crew member that is trying to fix a starship's drive system. Adding her Trait plus her Skill, she has an effectiveness of 2, and the difficulty is 4. She needs an edge. She mentions how her Aspect of "Always get the job done" gives her a singleminded dedication to her task. She expends 1 SP and gets a +2 stunt bonus on the roll. Assuming she gets the same roll as before, +5, +3, -3, -4, her result is now (0 + 2) + 2 - (4) + (+5, +3, -3, -4) = +1. Success, narrowly, but success nonetheless. The ship's drive roars back to life.[/ic]

Combat works much the same way, with the values simply being opposed, instead of rolling against a static difficulty number. When performing an opposed roll, such as an attack, it is often more convenient to have the player roll the positive 2d6, and the enemy roll the negative 2d6. This makes it feel more like an opposed roll in other systems.

[ic=Combat Example]Let's say a human barbarian, with Power +1 and Brawling skill of +3, wants to try to punch an average peasant hassling him, with Power 0 and 0 Brawling skill. The barbarian would roll 2d6-2d6 and add that to his effectiveness of 4, and then compare that to the peasant's defense of 0. The barbarian rolls +3, +4, -2, -6. The result is +3, because (1 + 3) - (0 + 0) + (+3, +4, -2, -6) = +3. A solid hit!

[note=Huh?]Wait, minus zero? How do you know the sign of zero? In Asura, a 0 is neither a success nor a failure inherently; it depends on whether the positive dice are odd or even. If they are even, then the outcome is assumed to be a +0, a narrow success. If they are odd, as in this case, then it is a -0, a narrow failure. If this is annoying or confusing, you can always just roll a d2, too.[/note]
Maybe things would have gone better for the peasant had he run away as soon as the fight started. We'll give him an Athletics skill of +1, and have him declare that he's going to do nothing but try to defend, giving him a further +2 for actively defending. Or, if you prefer, a -2 to the barbarian trying to attack him: in Asura, one side getting a bonus is always identical to the other side getting a penalty. In that case, the result would have been (1 + 3) - (0 + 1) - 2 + (+3, +4, -2, -6) = -0. The barbarian just barely misses the escaping peasant.
[/ic]
At the beginning of a combat turn, initiative is determined. Characters then take their actions in order of initiative. Any persistent bonuses or penalties apply from the the end of that character's turn to the beginning of the next turn of that character. Players on the same side of a combat are encouraged to work together, though long tactical discussions should be curtailed (as they wouldn't have time for such things on the battlefield) unless it is obvious they're following a plan they made ahead of time. At this point, players should be descriptive, but concise; a bit of leeway can be given to stunts, of course, as well as players who land big hits or are doing something else audacious. After an action has been resolved, the GM can also embellish any details that weren't clear.

During combat, as well as during other adverse circumstances, characters will inevitably take damage. Characters have two different measures of damage:
- HP are Hit Points, representing physical toughness and endurance. Most combat erodes these.
- MP are Mind Points, representing mental integrity and sanity. Social combat erodes these, as well as various psychic attacks.

For humans, the only line of defense against taking damage is armor, which has a die roll associated with it that directly decreases incoming damage. For example, a suit of body armor 4 will reduce any incoming damage by a 4. Asuras and other supernatural characters can have DR, which represents their supernatural toughness. It stacks with armor.

If either HP or MP are 0, the character is taken out. He is not dead... yet. He is, however, entirely at the enemy's mercy, and things will likely go from bad to worse in short order. The good news is that HP and MP come back rather quickly, but the bad news is that HP and MP are generally quite low, even for powerful characters.

Fortunately, there is a way to mitigate some damage, called Consequences. Consequences are when a player opts for a character to suffer an appropriate condition as a result of damage, instead of taking HP or MP damage. This is, naturally, usually used to save the character from being taken out. Mitigating damage with Consequences doesn't necessarily take a character out of the fight, but the conditions imposed can be severe setbacks in their own right. Consequences come in three varieties: Mild, Moderate, and Severe. Each one can mitigate more damage, but comes with greater penalties. The exact amount mitigated by each level of consequence is written as three numbers separated by slashes, and is called the Mitigation Value or MV. For example, a character with Consequence values of 2/4/6 can mitigate 2 HP of damage with a Mild Consequence, 4 with a Moderate, or 6 with a Severe.  

Consequences carry with them certain penalties. However, these penalties do not stack. Simply take the worst one.

- A Mild Consequence imposes -1 to initiative. There is no other penalty, but the GM will likely make trouble for the character suffering the Consequence. They usually take a day or so of rest for a human to get over.
- A Moderate Consequence imposes a -1 to all skills and -2 to initiative, and the GM may also see fit to impose other penalties. Moderate Consequences can take from a few days to a week for a human to get over.
- A Severe Consequence imposes a -2 to all skills and -4 to initiative, and the GM will certainly also impose other situational penalties. Severe consequences can take a normal human weeks if not months to get over.

As a consolation (and to fit with the genre convention of characters getting up and fighting even harder after being beaten down), characters get Stunt Points back for taking a consequence: 1 SP for Mild, 2 SP for Moderate, and 3 SP for Severe.


[ic=Consequence Example]The barbarian isn't going to let the peasant off so easily. A round later, he hits the peasant again, this time landing a crushing blow for 6 HP of damage. Because he only has 3 HP left, this would be a KO. He instead opts to take a Moderate Consequence to mitigate 4 HP of damage. The peasant then only has to take 2 HP of damage, leaving him with 1 HP. The peasant gets 2 SP for suffering this consequence, at least-- or would, except the peasant is probably a boring NPC that can't use SP anyway.[/ic]

Whenever a character suffers damage in an attack that won't take him out, the player can offer a concession. A character who concedes still loses the conflict, but, the difference is, that character's player has a hand in deciding what happens to him after the conflict. It is still a decisive defeat, and will likely carry with it some bad things, but can spare him from death or whatever other horrors that being taken out would probably entail. Examples would be surrender, a hasty retreat, being knocked unconscious and left for dead, and other such things. Of course, the attacker is under no obligation to actually accept the concession, and if he's playing for keeps, he might not. The only consolation in this case is that if the GM decides that the refused concession was a reasonable one, the attacker loses a Stunt Point, and the character offering the concession gains one.

[ic=Concession Example]After receiving this second solid punch, the peasant decides enough is enough. His player offers a concession, in which the peasant surrenders and profusely apologizes for hassling the barbarian. The barbarian's player accepts, and the fight is over.[/ic]

The consequence system seems to imply that your system is designed to facilitate a fair amount of PvP... is that a fair assumption?

No, not necessarily. It can (and usually will!) just as easily apply in conflicts with the GM.
Maybe I shouldn't have phrased my example so that it sounded like PvP.

I like this system, simple yet powerful. I've been thinking of running a one off for Mare Eternus. Originally this was going to be a no-stats theater. However I kind of like this system and if its ok may steal it for my own nefarious purposes when that time comes.

Thanks, Nomadic. I would be interested to see how it works with someone else GMing it.

A few odds and ends:

In the previous explanation, I simplified the damage system a bit. Most weapons have an "Inherent Damage," which is added to the damage when a hit is good. In general, this is around 1 to 2 for small hand weapons, 3 to 5 for large hand weapons or firearms, and 6 and above for explosives and other nasty things. Additionally, a resounding hit (+6 or better) and a critical hit (+6 or better, and doubles on the positive dice) inflict bonus damage.

[ic=Full Damage Example]A trooper fires a pistol at a rampaging monster. His effectiveness is 4, and the monster's is 2. He rolls a +3, +2, -3, -1, so his result is 4 - 2 + (+3, +2, -3, -1) = +3. He scores a solid hit. His gun has an inherent damage of d6, and he rolls a 3. This means that the monster will suffer 6 HP of damage, minus armor, DR, and other protection ,if applicable.[/ic]

Stunt Points generally come back at plot checkpoints. Reaching a plot checkpoint should be worth an SP or two. Players can also receive Stunt Points via Aspects or Conditions when they are compelled. The GM offers a choice: give into the Aspect and gain one SP, or pay one SP and resist the temptation... for now.

On the topic of Consequences, a character may only have three Consequence conditions: one at each level. Any Consequence conditions that have not been healed by the time a new fight starts will remain! Physical or mental doesn't matter, nor does the original MV. The character must deal with them as well as any new ones that may be imposed. Once all three consequences have been assigned, the character must take all future damage directly to HP. In addition, for any given damage, only one Consequence can be taken. All other damage must go directly to HP. This means that the strongest hit a character with 6 HP and 2/4/6 consequences can sustain and still keep going is 11 HP.

The whole reverse-initiative predeclared actions thing is kind of neat in theory, but in practice, it ends up feeling superfluous for small groups and overly confusing for large ones. The "Sixsura" game was the largest game I'd run that used those rules and the combat felt pretty clunky. So, I'm going back to a more conventional initiative system for the time being, at least until I get some other crazy idea.  :yumm:

Given how little I had to change in the Asura rules to make this change, I obviously wasn't depending on it too heavily.  :grin:

From the game of Sixsura we did play (heh, that term caught on), that was my single complaint with the system - I'm glad to see you're doing away with it. :) Looking forward to doing more with this system, and yoinking heavily for inspiration for X20. :D

Bursts
A burst consists of a character taking two or more main actions during a turn. Only characters that have not yet acted and have not been attacked (or had any kind of combat maneuver attempted on them) can perform a burst. For each additional action, bursts impose a penalty of -2 on the action, as well as a -2 penalty on defense until the character's next normal turn. This means penalties of -2 for two actions, -4 for three actions, -6 for four actions, and so on. Any weapon that does not explicitly forbid it can be used in a burst, but most of the time the character must at least have +2 in the applicable skill to be skilled enough to carry out the burst.

[ic=Burst Example]A Faerie is staring down three zombies. They are slow and not much of a threat to her, unless they get close. She wants to blast them all if she can, so, having won the initiative, she opts to fire her crystalbeamer three times in a burst attack. Her attack suffers a -4 penalty, but she is a good shot: with a Senses of +4 and a Firearms skill of +4, her effectiveness is still 4, and the zombies' defense is only 2. She rolls three attacks, the dice showing +3, 0, and -4: resulting in a +5 hit, a +2 hit, and a -2 miss. So, with inherent damage of 4, one zombie suffers 9 damage, another suffers 6 damage, and both are taken out. Only one zombie remains to bother her![/ic]