Editing Lost Tribes: Workshop: Mechanics

What we have here is a low end supers game, with a power level equal to a pulp superhero/ character. There are some quasi-mystical powers, but they are rare and under-reliable.

Some basics depending on the totem...
Augmented Strength
Augmented Constitution
Augmented Dexterity
Augmented Agility
Super Balance
Enhanced Running
Enhanced Leaping
Enhanced Perceptions
Animal level perceptions
Enhanced Luck
Enhanced Charisma

Super skills, usually physical ones.
Pulp abilities like hypnosis skill, contortion, etc.

Mask: This is a basic focus for all abilities. A requirementment to tap higher level abilities. This ability is for reducing energy costs, so many basics can be used for free. Several levels of mask ability (the first one is free for any Totem being that is aware of their nature), increase the efficiency. Higher level of masks require the more elaborate ritual masks.

Fur: Related to masks. This is a cat skill, but other totems use it. This is one of the reasons cat girls are so sexy and wear those smashing coats. When wearing a fur coat, or fur lined item (even if they are syth fur at a minus), the totem beast gets bonuses to using the totem abilities. At a level up, the cats have a mastery that let them wear normal clothing associated with the animal (i.e. a woman wearing a catsuit). The next level up allows "Furry effect". You can wear an animal costume and get some effect. Really this level is not worth the effect (cost to effecect). Reptile totems need skins. Other animals require such materials. Synthetics can be used, but you don't get the full bonuses.

Worn Tail, like Fur, just wearing a mock tail. Prereq is Fur.

Glide (You can't have wings and actually fly, but you can fall with with style and sometimes get some lift.. At advanced levels and with a shapeshifting prerequisite, you might get actual wings).

Tail. Tails don't actually do much. However they do give incredible bonuses to the totem abilities. Again, requires shapeshifting prerequsite.

Claw: The ability to make cutting strikes with just your have. Some of these are enhanced hand to hand strikes, but at higher levels there are actual cuts. (They also don't heal well). Bite is also an option.

The Sight: Ability to see the totem of a person. At the next level up, allows you to see spirits and such. Take a level up from there and you can communicate with them. A side step in this gift tree would be aura sight - the ability to read people.

Offuscate- None of the actual paranormal abilities in this game are full power. So this is not invisability. The most basic level is the one most common, the "someone elses problem", people's eyes just slide off the totem warrior. They see a guy in a suit, not a guy wearing a cat mask and carrying a gun. People just won't see what is out of the ordinary. At the next levels up this is either an enhancement to stealth, allowing for hiding in edges of things - not quite plain sight or deceptive bit. More levels, more cool effects.
Restart (Nine Lives). You might die, but if you can avoid too much follow up damage, your system can restart. Cats are known for this ability and buy it a lot of times.

Pull (Infinite Pocket, Immortal's Sheath, et). The totem beast has has space in the astreal field that is there. (2nd level of sight will let you see the items, if you look.). Thus you can tuck things away (like your mask). Sure it takes energy to pull them, but it does allow you to pull that gun through airport security.

Slip- To slide into the spirit realm. This expensive power (or requires some serious prerequisites) allows you to move yourself into the astreal totem realm. This would allow you to move through the walls (or if you stand still, you can invisiably move out of phase). The more you take it, the longer you can go slip. At higher levels, you can move incredible distances at one. (Keep in mind that The Totem War in the US is very different. There the Coyotes are masters of this ability. Wolves, Bears, etc. There are very different fights for the rural and the urban nodes).

Shapeshift: An expensive power that allows you to transform into your totem. Expensive for smaller animals.. massively expensive for bigger animals (tigers). In short a power that only NPCS with their bonus points given by the GM for free can really afford it.

Echo: The ability to hear/sense when someone uses a paranormal totem ability. The range increases as more levels of this cheap power are purchased (hence the reason for stealthy people to avoid using last 10 powers). As the level goes up, you can stop and try to hear echos in the past. (Hmm, the cat died here and restarted. So we are looking for a fully healed cat). At really high levels (usually only available to Ravens and Crows), you can feel echos from the future.

Dogs would have a charisma bonus when dealing with humans. They can turn it on and get people to believe them.

Rats have skill bonsues for various skills. They can also contort their body in odd ways allowing them to get through various small areas.

So each totem will have one or two free abilities. Some abilities are cheaper for a given totem warrior group. The rest are purchasable.

So does this answer your question?



See, I don't see this as a 'superhero' (or even pulp hero) power level. The power of the ttoems has been severely stripped over the years (at least, after the purge of the Eagle Kings and the Dark Times); these are people with an edge, or maybe (maybe) low-level supernatural abilities, and all more symbolic than literal 'animal powers'. So a Dog doesn't have the ability to smell like a bloodhound, but they have an uneering talent to find people, even in the most crowded city. Pigs, as well, can get rid of bodies, and can be the biggest gluttons with little effects (so they can, for example, never overdose). Rats, Crows and Ravens have hoards, so there's a good chance they have just the right item at their house, but it might be a little dirty.

I also think there shouldn't be an ability to see someone's totem, unless they're wearing their Mask. That means that anyone could potentially be an enemy, but you don't recognize Lazy Sue the Cat because she isn't wearing her pearl-studded cat mask.

I also don't think there should be an ability to actually turn into your totem; that's blasphemy.



Subtly and the possiblity that everyone involved is in fact, a fucking lunatic who wears animal masks and beats the crap out of people wearing a differnt animal mask.

Ritual Magic is where the big effects come from, and no one knows quite how it actually works;

'So you need a circle-'
'Bollocks. First you get a live totem animal-'
'Nah, mate, you see, there's this plant, right-'

Swirling around everything is the fear that it's all a bunch of rubbish. Sure, you did manage to find Big Lemmy when you really needed to, but maybe it was just a coincidance? People who rubbish the Totems either get rubbed out or isolated quickly, no one wants doubt to spread.

Everyone has seen really weird things happen, but which can't be explained by going back to the Totems- a theif walks through a wall, laughing, a campsite in Wales is torn apart by invisible claws in the night- so people know that there is power out there, and the Totems don't just give you a boost- they protect you.



Just poking my head in for a sec here. I got to side with Moon[above] here so far as power level is concerned. I'm thinking street level pulp superhero is the sweet spot for a game like this. A perfect balance between the shamanistic magic feel of totemic masks and the reservoir dogs vibe from the actual commercial.

Now I do not think cats, rats and dogs are slinging spells at each other or anything but certain spritual personal enhancements are certainly not out of the question. I mean if I were playing a modern day Maori gangbanger shark totem on the streets of Auckland and you told me I couldn't breathe underwater I'd be pissed. Likewise if I'm a falcon totem and don't have access to a flight ability I'd call foul.

You need to think now just of a particular animals physical abilites IE: a cat's dexterity and stealth but also of it's mystical abilities as well. Cats are the consorts of witches, they are closer to the spirit world than most other tribes, they are blessed with a preternatural luck and nine lives etc etc. Ravens are esoteric lore masters with a gift for prophecy and divination. You get the idea.

Now certainly there are folks in game who are spell slingers: The Unicorn, the Dragon and the Royal Lion and possibly the supreme leaders of the various tribes, but that's a level of power the PCs don't have access to at least at the start.

Oh and shapeshift is a must IMO, I mean we ate talking about the people who gave rise to the legends of werewolves and selkies and swan maids after all.



See, I see the whole power thing more in a symbolic light; the shapeshifting, the flight, the aquitic powers were once held by the more powerful members of the Tribes, but these are lost now. However, if I may posit a compromise; the more impressive powers can be available, but only in places of power (which is, of course, where most of the 'action' is held), which is part of reason they're so hotly contested.

But, on the other hand, can we not have a spirit world? Spirits should be egnimatic and, above all, almost impossible to talk to (even your totem spirit is hardly talkative, most of the time). I find spirit worlds a little cliche, to be honest



Crunchwise, I'm cool with "low level supers", but shapeshifting goes to far, at least routine shapeshifting. It turns "Totem Warriors" into "Weres", and makes the masks seem weak. Physical shape shifting might be possible after a lengthy ritual at just the right place and just the right time, but not as a common thing. Instead, maybe use the idea of a "Fetch": when a mask-wearer sleeps, their spirit can leave their body and take the form of their totem.



I reckon there should only be two 'stats' in a pure Lost Tribes game

Face: This is what you use for mundane tasks
Mask: This is what you use when you're 'in the game'

You can't use Face (or the skills you have under it) when In the Game, and you can't use Mask when you're not wearing it.



Okay, so a design consideration for everything is... Power/ Magic has a price. Your totem flaw is the price for any of the more notable abilities. (There is also a list of recomended flaws (and gifts) for each totem tribe.

Your spell has a price.. and the price might change from casting to casting depending on the phase of the moon, the position of planets, the target of the spell, and the winking of the god of magic. To cover your bases, you are going to have all the "expected costs" ready to go (candles, sacrifices, burnt scents, personal power invested in runes, and so on. It is when some other cost is requred that your life ges screwy. So magic can be really bad and screw you over too, but it will allow you to do things you otherwise could not.

Bigger Powers (like real shapeshifts, rather than the half step access gift, will take a huge proportion of your personal power (i.e. the points you are built on). If you take such a gift, you sacrifice other things (like the points to learn how to drive a car, the points to have good social skills, the points to have a good dexterity "I would of been quick as the wind in human form, except I had to sacrifice that so I could become a hawk."). This will lead to a mini flaw that will be called "a regret".
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 Bigger Powers (like real shapeshifts, rather than the half step access gift, will take a huge proportion of your personal power (i.e. the points you are built on). If you take such a gift, you sacrifice other things (like the points to learn how to drive a car, the points to have good social skills, the points to have a good dexterity "I would of been quick as the wind in human form, except I had to sacrifice that so I could become a hawk."). This will lead to a mini flaw that will be called "a regret".
-As far as the Mask goes I see it as a relic. It is a physical manifestation of a spirtual reality. It is the outward representation of your inward nature. It just so happens to also be a powerful magic device which allows you to tap into and invoke your totem's power.
-Otherwise the only thing that defines you as cat, dog, lion, rat or unicorn is whatever mask you decide to put on that day.
-Point taken. In game terms, then, this would define your Origin. We'd need another splat, then, something that the Tribesman can choose. In other words, while a Sidereal is and always will be a Sidereal, they can choose to be of the Golden or Bronze Faction.
-They can be specific to each tribe, but Paths are still needed.
-Off the top of my head, these could be the Paths for the Tribe of the Fox. They're inspired by Renard the Fox's four children and the meaning of their names:
-The Sons of Malperduys Reynardine:
-The heart-thieves. The seducers extraordinaire of the Fox Tribe.
-Rossel: The red ones. The keepers of Fox's Rites and Tricks.
-Percehaie: The hedge-piercers. Opportunists and survivalists.
-Malebranche: The evil claws. Fox's smiling killers.
-The choosable splat would be different aspects of the animal? For a brief example, a Cat may wear the mask of the Hunter, or the mask of the Seer, but first and formost they are Cats.
-Exactly. Though we could go with general splats, I think every Totem has its own identifiable qualities, which most don't overlap. Yes, Lions, Cats, Dogs and Foxes are hunters, but what they stand for varies too much. That's why I suggest something like 4 Aspects (Cardinal Aspects?) defining the 4 most basic archetypes
-Maybe both. The Aspects that an individual totem warrior can use are unlocked by Spirit quests maybe? Some are well known, the challenges and their answers well documented - they're no less dangerous for that though.
-"So, you wish to walk the path of the Hunter? Then drink deep, sleep and dream.. and you will know the Prey you must bring down."
-But there are other hidden Aspects; spirits who do not willingly or easily hand out their gifts to just any petitioner who asks.
-I don't see the Aspect as defining your Normal skills - Aspect is something you choose and can change when needed.
-Yes, you'd normally be following an aspect that backs up your skills, but if needed, the Leopard can change its spots. As it were.
-Okay now maybe I'm starting to get a feel for what you're saying [About Aspects]. To bring it back to cats since I'm all about the felines (which is quite funny actually since in real life I'm totally a dog person) in life 6 my cat was a high priestess, in life 7 a thrill seeking race car driver while in life 8 a refined gallery owner and in life 9 an award winning celeberity chef. In each life she explored some different aspect of her cat-dom.
-I think defining what an Aspect is would be useful
-Within each Tribe there are Aspects. These are the most basic archetypes of what each Tribe is. This is not to be taken that this creates stereotypes. An Aspect refines the nature of the Tribesman, it shows what specific archetype he/she is most attuned to.
-Just my thoughts:
-An Aspect is something earned - not every totem warrior follows an Aspect.
-An Aspect grants you power, but requires sacrifices and the following of geas.
-E.g. A Protector (one of the Dog Aspects) must never abandon their charge.