• Member Since 9th Nov, 2012
  • offline last seen Nov 8th, 2015

Froborr


More Blog Posts5

  • 554 weeks
    Pony BESM Attribute: Musical Number!

    First bit of new Pony BESM stuff, the most complex new attribute I created. Fittingly, it was made for Pinkie Pie.

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    0 comments · 470 views
  • 555 weeks
    Been a while, huh?

    Sorry about that. The overwhelming majority of my pony-related energies have been going to my analysis blog, My Little Pomo. Especially lately, since I've been working on a (massively expanded--it's about twice as long as the original posts) book version of my coverage of the first season. Speaking of which, the

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    3 comments · 378 views
  • 590 weeks
    BESM Ponies 1: Cutie Marks and Blank Flanks

    Big Eyes, Small Mouths Second Edition is an out-of-print anime RPG known for being extremely flexible and adaptable, but easy to break. It has fairly involved character creation, but the actual gameplay is pretty simple (character creation is about 4/5 of the rule book). I love it, and I've decided to develop some rules for playing ponies in it. To do this, I'm creating some custom attributes and

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    0 comments · 504 views
  • 591 weeks
    Progressing Pony Projects

    Current status of stories (all Lunaverse):

    Jackelope Valley Festival: I just put up chapter three. Ended up only meeting one Daughter of Discord. Next chapter we'll meet the rest and the story will really start rolling.

    Untitled 1: No progress on giant spider story. Still uncertain about writing it or how to approach it.

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    0 comments · 541 views
  • 592 weeks
    Blogging!

    I'm going to use this to track my progress on stories for FiMFiction as well as other pony-related projects.

    Current status of stories (all Lunaverse):

    Jackelope Valley Festival: I just put up chapter two. Next chapter we'll meet the Daughters of Discord, and then the chapter after that the story really gets started.

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    0 comments · 382 views
Dec
1st
2012

BESM Ponies 1: Cutie Marks and Blank Flanks · 11:05am Dec 1st, 2012

Big Eyes, Small Mouths Second Edition is an out-of-print anime RPG known for being extremely flexible and adaptable, but easy to break. It has fairly involved character creation, but the actual gameplay is pretty simple (character creation is about 4/5 of the rule book). I love it, and I've decided to develop some rules for playing ponies in it. To do this, I'm creating some custom attributes and templates. For this project, I'm assuming you have a copy of the book; if not, I'm sure you can find the rules online somewhere. I found a quick guide that has the basics here, but you'd really need a copy of the full rulebook to run a game.

Today I'm going to discuss cutie marks, which I'm implementing as an Attribute.

Cutie Mark (1-5 character points per level): You possess a special talent in which you excel. On taking the Cutie Mark, identify both the talent and the mark which symbolizes it (both subject to GM approval). Subtract your level of Cutie Mark from any rolls involving your special talent. (Remember, lower rolls are better in BESM).

The cost per level of Cutie Mark varies depending on how widely applicable the special talent is:
• 1/level: The special talent is usually only applicable to a few non-combat rolls which only rarely come up in normal play, such as apple farming.
• 2/level: The special talent is applicable to a variety of non-combat rolls, none of which occur frequently, or applicable to a narrow selection of rolls which come up frequently, such as carpentry.
• 3/level: The special talent is applicable to a variety of non-combat rolls, some or all of which come of frequently, such as parties.
• 4/level: The special talent is applicable to a variety of non-combat rolls and/or a narrow selection of combat rolls, such as stunts.
• 5/level: The special talent is applicable to a wide variety of combat and non-combat rolls, and/or is deemed very powerful by the GM, such as speed or magic.

Note that the specific cost of a talent may vary according to the type of game. In a game focused on competing in agricultural fairs, Cutie Mark (Apple Farming) might be 5 points per level!

In the show, cutie marks are an important and powerful feature of pony life. Every adult pony has one, and they symbolize a special talent in which that pony excels. For gameplay purposes, I merged the mark and the special talent into a single attribute, with the cost varying according to how useful the GM thinks your special talent is.

Note that (unlike a similarly prominent tattoo on a human) cutie marks do NOT automatically give you the Marked defect, because everypony has a cutie mark, and some ponies even have the same cutie mark. However, if you had a very distinctive cutie mark, that might justify taking Marked (the 1-BP version, since it's relatively easy to conceal).

Now, what if you want to play a pony that hasn't yet found her cutie mark?

Blank Flank (4 character points per level): You have not yet discovered your special talent. All ponies with this attribute must take Marked -1 (Blank Flank) and Ageism -1 to represent that ponies regard acquiring a cutie mark as a rite of passage. At some point during the game, the GM identifies your special talent, but does not tell the player (it is recommended for the GM to wait at least a couple of sessions, in order to get to know the character and identify an appropriate talent). At this point, the GM begins applying the talent to rolls as appropriate (see the Cutie Mark attribute), again without telling the player. If the player guesses the talent (or something suitably close to have received the same bonuses), then after a successful roll that receives the Blank Flank bonus, the attribute is removed and replaced by the Cutie Mark attribute. For each level of Blank Flank the character possesses, the player receives 4 points; the first two must be spent to remove the Marked (Blank Flank) and Ageism defects, and all others must be spent on the Cutie Mark attribute. Any leftover points can be combined with future character advancement points, but only for purposes of increasing the level of the Cutie Mark attribute.

This one's a bit complicated, I'm afraid. It's modeled on the Unknown Superhuman Power attribute from (IIRC) the El Hazard supplement, but tweaked to take into account the fact that blank flanks face prejudice. Basically, this is a way of putting character points in storage to spend on your cutie mark later. So, for example, imagine if the show were a BESM game, and Sweetie Bell were a player character. When her player first made her character, he put four points in Blank Flank. As he plays, he has Sweetie Bell sing a lot, so the GM secretly decides that's her special talent and starts sneakily giving her bonuses on singing rolls. Eventually, the player correctly guesses singing as her talent, and replaces the Blank Flank attribute with Cutie Mark (Singing), with a microphone as her cutie mark.

Since singing isn't that critical to the campaign, it costs 1 point per level, so after spending two points to get rid of her Marked and Ageism defects, her player is able to get her Level 2. From now on, Sweetie Bell gets a -2 bonus to any roll involving singing.

It's important for the GM to make sure that, whatever the blank flank's special talent is, they have enough points to buy at least one level of Cutie Mark once they discover it. For example, if they have Blank Flank level 1, they will only get 2 points to spend on Cutie Mark after they buy off their defects, so they can't have a special talent that costs more than 2 points per level. If they had Blank Flank level 2, however, that would be 6 points, which is enough to buy 1 level of even the most expensive special talent.

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