------------------- I - GETTING STARTED ------------------- Each player starts with either 10 points or the group's weakest player, whichever is greater. These points may be spent immediately or stored for later use. ------------ II - CLASSES ------------ --Note on Ability Identification-- BLACK: Attribute Modifying powers GREEN: Group/Team powers RED: Tricks & Combat powers WHITE: Evolution-based powers These are the classifications of monsters and their interactions with humans. A - TAMER A Tamer is a human who has initiated the change in a Sphere, and thereby acquired a special bond with it that helps that Sphere grow. Tamers themselves possess little to know personal abilities, but their presence allows their monster partner (almost always a creation of their own imagination) to use many spectacular abilities. Tamers have one or more monsters with attributes and abilities, while the human has tools and special abilities to power up the monster. SKILL: White abilities are at half cost, rounded up. PENALTY: Black abilities are at double cost. POINTS: Attributes belong to monster partner. B - HUNTER Hunters are humans or humanoids who have taken the power of the Spheres into themselves at some point in their history. This could be via absorption of a willing or unwilling Sphere, birth from a Sphere-powered entity, or even severe levels of Sphere radiation. In the end, the Hunter is a lethal combination of Human and Monster with attributes and special abilities. SKILL: Black abilities are at half cost, rounded up. PENALTY: White abilities are at double cost. POINTS: Attributes belong to the "human". C - FREE MONSTER These are monsters who grow and exist by themselves with minimal human interaction. Unlike their supposedly "evil" counterpart, Free Monsters respect, like, or even love human beings the way they are and avoid causing them grief. SKILL: Green abilities are at half cost, rounded up. PENALTY: White abilities are at double cost. POINTS: Attributes belong to the monster. D - WILD MONSTER The randomly-created "soldiers" that the players encounter could be considered Wild Monsters, but the monsters made with this class are considered the strongest Sphere Monsters of their kind. To these monsters, Humans are prey, toys, or to a lesser extent just ignored. SKILL: Green abilities are at half cost, rounded up. PENALTY: Black abilities are at double cost. POINTS: Attributes belong to the monster. ---------------- III - ATTRIBUTES ---------------- These only apply to Monsters and Hunters primarily. Tamers themselves are assumed to be normal humans, and thus have attributes of 1 for purposes of combat. *HIT POINTS: This determines how much damage you must receive before fainting. For every POINT spent here, you gain 100 Hit Points. This attribute changes depending on level of evolution (see power for details). PERSPECTIVE: - HP of 1: Normal humans - HP of 5: Tough humans (firefighters, cops, olympians) - HP of 10-50: Martial artists, fantasy warriors - HP of 100-500: Average superheroes/supervillians - HP of 500-1000: Powerful superheroes/supervillians (Superman) - HP of 5,000+: Divine beings *ATTACK: This attribute determines how much damage you do in combat. It includes all your special attacks and normal attacks. Every POINT spent here equals 10 ATTACK. PERSPECTIVE: - ATTACK of 1: Normal human punch - ATTACK of 10: A hand gun - ATTACK of 100: A rocket launcher - ATTACK of 1000: Cruise missile - ATTACK of 10,000: A nuclear warhead *DEFENSE: This attribute shows how much damage is removed from all attacks done to you. Every POINT spent here equals 10 points of DEFENSE. PERSPECTIVE: - DEFENSE of 1: Normal human skin/clothing - DEFENSE of 10: A suit of kevlar - DEFENSE of 50: A full suit of metal armor - DEFENSE of 200-300: A standard military tank - DEFENSE of 1000: An average mountain *SPEED: This number is used to see which monster attacks first. That's all. 1 POINT equals 10 SPEED points. PERSPECTIVE: - SPEED of 1: Normal walk of human adult - SPEED of 10: Fast human at full run - SPEED of 100: Average vehicle on highway (60 mph, 100 kmh) - SPEED of 1000: Speed of Sound (sustained; some can break the sound barrier during combat) ----------------- IV - COMBAT RULES ----------------- This section is only for those who mediate combat between two players. For now, that are Gullwhacker, Majin Gojira, Omicron, and myself. You players don't have to know the following if you don't want to, but it'll give you an idea of what I'll do to determine who wins a battle. The monster with the highest SPEED goes first. That monster gets one attack/action. These attacks can be used to transform/digivolve if you do that, or attack. Damage is applied based on whether you use a STRONG attack, a NORMAL attack, or a WEAK attack. Here's an explanation of what each attack means. *STRONG ATTACK: Your ATTACK rating is doubled, but your DEFENSE is half. (yours, not your opponent's!) *NORMAL ATTACK: Your ATTACK and DEFENSE ratings are unmodified. *WEAK ATTACK: Your ATTACK rating is halved, but your DEFENSE rating is doubled. (That means your opponent will deal less damage to you in their next attack.) *COUNTER: ATTACK is unmodifed. If you can guess what attack your opponent will use, then that attack bounces off you and deals damage to them instead and their DEFENSE won't work against it! If you guess wrong though, you receive damage as if you had no DEFENSE. Risky, but useful in a tight situation. This can only be used if you attack after the monster you're trying to counter, so if you have a higher speed you'll still go second if you use a COUNTER. Countering a COUNTER just nulls the attack for both monsters, so no damage is dealt to either monster. *SPECIAL ATTACKS: You may use any ability that requires a turn to complete, such as evolution. *BURN-OUT: An ability that is saved only for real emergencies. BURN-OUT is when a Sphere-powered entity triggers a power surge that can have spectacular effects. A "Burn-Out" can only be done once a battle, and the effects only last until the end of that battle. Burning out means that the monster or hunter gains one level in one ability (even one they haven't purchased, in which case it is considered level one). The ability must be one the being could normally purchase. The downside of this action is that a Sphere Mark is gained as a result, with all the penalties involved. (Thus, an evolved monster who does a burn out gains a Sphere Mark, which is multiplied appropriately.) Use with caution, and save it for when you REALLY need it! Since NPC's don't have Sphere Marks, they cannot use this ability for any reason. NOTE: Burn-out cannot be used to gain Passive abilities. Each attack is compared to the DEFENSE separately, so a weak monster could hit a monster with a high DEFENSE a million times, but still not do any damage. Assuming the slower monster survives, it gets to attack next in the same manner. This continues until a monster reaches 0 HP, at which point it faints or is unable to fight. 1 - MULTIPLE MONSTERS IN A BATTLE: Every action occurs in the order of Speed. Attacks can only affect one target, chosen upon declaring the attack, unless the monster has Area Effect or Divided Attack. Every action is compared individually, unless certain Team Powers are used. Counters only work if the target(s) of the attack does the counter. This also means that one Area Effect/Divided Attack can be countered by all the monsters at the same time, and thus deal a lot of damage. Multiple monsters that win a battle as a team get the same credit as the survivors. Resultant XP is determined by adding all TP of the opponents and comparing it to the total TP of winners. If a monster is healed between these battles, they are considered separate battles (and thus may not provide credit due to the one battle per day limit). 2 - KILLING: In order to destroy/kill an opponent, a player must announce that they're trying to do so. Then, they must beat the opponent to the negative of their maximum amount of hit points. So that means if a monster has 80 hit points at full health, then killing it would require beating it to -80 hit points. That's difficult, but not impossible. It's suggested that you not try to kill an enemy unless it's important or necessary. When trying to kill a monster, they may still battle even if they are at negative HP. 3 - PROTECTING: Anyone can choose to block an attack for another monster or human, but you must have a higher speed than your opponent to accomplish this during a battle. Otherwise, you cannot attack and perform the block at the same time. Normal damage and Defense is applied during a block. (Blocks made by the slow monsters use unmodified Defense.) 4 - ABSORBING POWER OF SPHERES: When an opponent is killed, monsters have the option of absorbing the power of the destroyed monster's Sphere. The monster that dealt the most damage in the battle is the only one with this option. The total Points of the destroyed monster are added to the victor, or the victor's Points are doubled, whichever is LESSER. These points MUST be spent on the monster that did the absorption. - ABSORBING POWER OF A PLAYER: If a player's monster (or the player themself if appropriate) is absorbed, gain all their points or double your own, whichever is GREATER (instead of lesser like the previous description said). Every time a Sphere is absorbed, the absorber(s) gains a Sphere Mark. ---------------- Challenge Points ---------------- Every player in the game will possess 5 Challenge Points, which are used to determine who you can challenge to an official battle, and how likely it is that you'll win. Challenge Points replenish automatically every Saturday morning at Midnight Pacific Standard Time (doesn't really matter, but just in case). Every time you want to do an official battle against anyone or anything (including MOTD's), you must choose a variable amount of points for the battle. A challenger must spend a minimum of 1 point, but the challengee isn't required to spend any. If the challengee spends as many points as the challenger or more, they may refuse to battle if they wish. Otherwise, the challenger forces the player/monster into battle. Players who stubbornly refuse to battle but fail to pay more points than necessary will automatically lose the battle. Sphere Absorption cannot occur in battles where a player automatically loses, but the other player(s) still gets the appropriate point rewards for the win. This automatic loss also occurs when a player leaves the playing area for more than 30 minutes for ANY reason, or for players in a mail-only battle who don't reply within 4 days (again, for ANY reason). Another added bonus of Challenge Points is that whoever pays the most points gets a special power-up to their attributes called "Guts". Basically, all the attributes of all the character's monsters (and themself if appropriate) are multiplied by the total number of Challenge Points spent, automatically and for the entire battle! "Guts" cannot be Disabled, so it's a valuable tool for those who simply MUST win a battle at all costs, or for those who are facing a powerhouse villian. Note that the Guts bonus only works for the player/monster who spends the most Challenge Points on that battle. The other player(s) gets no bonus whatsoever, so it's important for even willing players to consider how many points are spent. For sake of orderliness, the challenger must declare how many Challenge Points they wish to spend. The opponent(s) then declare a total of their own. The challenger can increase his/her bid, as can the other players in order until one player decides the bidding is done, or until everyone runs out of points to bid. A player that finishes the bidding cannot have increased their points that turn. Challenge Points will help clear up rules about how many times a player can battle in a day or week, and helps heroes actually feel like heros when they want to be. MOTDs/Random monsters (including other player's supposedly temporary creations) are always assumed not to have any Challenge Points. In battles vs. MOTDs, guts bonus does not apply. Monsters created with the NPC pool have points just like everyone else. Thus, all the above rules apply to them as well, for good or for ill. Challenge Points will be tracked in the Tamers database. The database will always be assumed to be correct if players' ideas of their own total are different. Referees are responsible for keeping track of these points, so those who fail to update them appropriately and consistently will be reprimanded severely. NOTE: Challenge Points are only necessary for official battles (which provide points). Unofficial battles can be done as many times as players wish. Also note that because of Challenge Points, the "two official battles per day" rule has been scratched. You can battle as many official battles as you wish, as long as you have Challenge Points. ----------- V - REWARDS ----------- Here's the section you really want to pay attention to. If you want to increase your power and the power of your monsters, your best bet is to do the following. These points can be stored for later use, or used immediately. Just don't forget to inform me of any points you want to spend, or else it won't happen. 1- BATTLING. Every time you participate in a battle that was properly refereed, (Right now, I'm the only referee.) you gain a Point. The winner's additional reward depends on your strength and the strength of the opponent. Divide the opponent's Total Points by the winner's own total, and round UP to determine the reward. This method gives new players a chance to catch up with veterans if they're crafty and careful, and prevents super-powered individuals from dominating for a length period of time. 2- WRITING. Every time you write 2 decent posts (not too many spelling/grammar errors, easy to follow, about 700 words per submission), or 1 post of 1400 words, you get 1 Point. I'll check each and every submission before it's posted, so don't try anything sneaky! These posts can be background stories, stories relating to whatever events are going on, or side stories involving you and your monster (humor is definitely accepted ^_^). -------------------- VI - CHARACTER DEATH -------------------- 1) KILLING A MONSTER or SUPPORT: The monster or support is gone forever, and the points spent on them are erased permanently. The Tamer/Hunter can earn points as normal. If this leaves a Tamer with no monsters, they can either join with another Tamer until they get enough points to buy a new monster, or just start over and lose ALL their points and abilities. 2) KILLING A HUNTER: Since Hunters can be absorbed, this makes it difficult to "start over". If a Hunter dies, all their supports become NPCs in the NPC pool under the control of the player. The player must make a new character, losing ALL their points and abilities. 3) KILLING A TAMER: Just like above, a Tamer that is killed causes all their monsters to become NPCs in the NPC pool, under the player's control. They lose ALL their abilities and points, and must start over. ----------------------- VII - MONSTER HIERARCHY ----------------------- NOTE: A monster/character can only have one caste at any one time. 1) QUEEN (FIRST EARTH: Regina) - Born very powerful - Commands the Soldiers 2) KING (FIRST EARTH: Tyranto) - Strongest Prince - Gives Queen the power to create Knights (see below) 3) EMPEROR & EMPRESS - King and Queen at godlike levels. - Draws on the power of their absorped Spheres more fully. 4) SOLDIER (the random encounters, etc.) - Relatively weak, but plentiful and replaceable - Used primarily against enemies of the species (i.e., humans/the military) 5) PRINCESSES (female Tamer monsters) - Weak as Soldiers at first - Have capacity to grow and evolve into Queens, or higher. - Expected to replace Queen and usurp powers, or die trying. 6) PRINCES (male Tamer monsters) - Weak as Soldiers at first - Have the capacity to grow and evolve into Kings, or higher. - Potential mates for the Queen, and food if they don't make the cut. 7) KNIGHTS & HALF-KNIGHTS (FIRST EARTH: Mewtwo) - Monsters born of the King and Queen. - Possess more power than any other monster (we're talking 100's of TP and high levels of advantage...VERY bad). 8) SUPER-KNIGHTS - "The Knight beyond the Knight". - Two types, each very strong. 9) BISHOPS & SUPER-BISHOPS (FIRST ANYWHERE: Omicron) - Monsters whose power is keyed to Purity. - Never seen anywhere; Earth is the first place with Bishops. ----------- VIII - NPCs ----------- 1) "MONSTER OF THE DAY" - The term was coined in another game system, but it basically refers a monster that is only used for one battle against the hero(es). Here, it will refer to monster NPCs that are weak enough to not be a part of the NPC Pool. An MOTD is limited to a point total of anywhere between 1 and twice the total of your strongest monster. Thus, an MOTD differs from player to player, and cannot be used without the express permission of the player that created it. Any number of MOTD's may be used without limit, except for the normal rules for creating monsters. NOTE: A moderator or referee may always restrict the use of MOTDs for a player if this player abuses this privilege. MOTDs are thought to exist for only a short time, and are (mostly) single monsters. An example of abuse would be a 250 TP player creating, say, 50 MOTDs with 500 TP who would then fuse in battle to a 25,000 TP Ancient Knight. 2) The "NPC Pool" is a total Point pool that must be drawn from to make an exceptionally powerful NPC. The pool total is equal to the total Points of all the Hunter points (that they've spent) and all the (tamed) Monster points. This promotes a slightly forced but still bendable balance in the system. WHO GETS TO USE THE NPC POOL? - People who wish to use parts of the NPC pool must defeat the monster (s) using up points in an official battle to the death (or another permanent solution). As players get stronger, the NPC pool will gain more points. Every 3 months, a mini-tournament will be held involving all parties who want these new points for their NPC. The battles will be unofficial, but the winner will receive all the points added to the pool that month. I will use the Calendar function of the group to remind everyone of the date. The first NPC Pool tournament will start December 1st, if you're interested. Everyone except those with NPCs in the pool already may enter. 3) CAN NPCs TAKE POOL POINTS FROM OTHER NPCs? - Yes. I won't lie when I say I'm borrowing a little bit of Highlander and "The One" for the NPC Pool rule. If two NPCs enter battle and one absorbs the Sphere of another, they automatically gain all the points belonging to that NPC, no questions asked. Thus, it's possible for one player to control the entire NPC pool for at least some period of time. (Those will be dark times... ^_^)