The Book of Ninjak

[Tornado]

Originally Posted by Ronin

I like Tactical Improv a lot. I feel like most of his gadgets are subtle rather than flashy and I don't mind them being baked into a movement power.

I would make the Boots, Gloves and Reflectors into a single power and drop Improv personally.

[MrNobody]

I’m pro-Improv. Tells me a lot about who this character is, vs just having another guy who can’t be attacked from range or can climb stuff.

[LordVenoc]

To give some insight on where I'm at with trying to reconcile:

I dislike the "Combat Movement" mismash. The name is super bland (not a dealbreaker). It feels complex in trying to combine three different things, which I feel we actively discourage in essentially all other cases. And the attempt to include the heel bomb from the glyph loses the effect and feels tacked on with the lack of ability to convey theme.

Tactical Improv is not one I'm comfortable ditching. When I looked at the movement power and the Shurikens sans Improv, my immediate response was "Bulkier Catwoman." I have no interest in this just feeling like a slightly modified version of another design we have.

To cycle back, Ninjak isn't Batman. And by that I mean, this is realistically the only shot he's going to have here. The "simplified" version you have there no longer feels close enough to the Ninjak of the solo title I loved, so I may completely reapproach everything but the Improv.

[IAmBatman]

I think the designs folks tend to gravitate towards and appreciate the most out of our 850 so far tend to be the most elegant ones rather than the ones that do everything a character could do.

(Discounting Weapon X, which came years and years after) Wolverine has only had one version so far, despite the incredibly long history of that character, yet his is one of the most elegant takes we have. He's boiled down to the essentials and presented cleanly.

I agree that my take on Battle Movement had too much going on. I agreed with Ronin that it could be further cut.

I'm not sure what the unique hook is on this guy yet that truly expresses his essence. Is he just a pile of gadgets? Is he a self-important type (improv?)? What makes him truly him and how simply can you express it?

If you had to write him in only one power, what would it be? What about if you had to do it in only two? Let's see how much we can get to the core of who he is and reduce the piles of mechanics.

[Yodaking]

Just a general statement here because I've fallen a bit behind in the conversation, but generally I prefer equipment glyph be something that can easily be handed off to someone else. I struggle to make sense of, for example, someone stopping to unlace another persons boots then taking their own shoes off and putting the new boots on in a matter of a few seconds while actively participating in a raging combat encounter. Something that is just part of a persons personal gear should show up in the card powers, something that can be stolen from them by a pickpocket (ala Blackcat/Vulture) can be turned into equipment glyphs as long as handing them to someone else on your team while in the start zone doesn't create competitive concerns.

[LordVenoc]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

I think the designs folks tend to gravitate towards and appreciate the most out of our 850 so far tend to be the most elegant ones rather than the ones that do everything a character could do.

(Discounting Weapon X, which came years and years after) Wolverine has only had one version so far, despite the incredibly long history of that character, yet his is one of the most elegant takes we have. He's boiled down to the essentials and presented cleanly.

I agree that my take on Battle Movement had too much going on. I agreed with Ronin that it could be further cut.

I'm not sure what the unique hook is on this guy yet that truly expresses his essence. Is he just a pile of gadgets? Is he a self-important type (improv?)? What makes him truly him and how simply can you express it?

If you had to write him in only one power, what would it be? What about if you had to do it in only two? Let's see how much we can get to the core of who he is and reduce the piles of mechanics.

I feel the need to be clear that this is where I'm coming from with my rewrite thoughts. I feel like the changes and differing visions are because I haven't quite nailed it yet. I definitely understand the consensus on the Glyphs thing. I liked that they helped the Spy feel, but agree that they didn't make perfect sense as Utility glyphs.

[IAmBatman]

Agreed. Hopefully the second half of my post can help you get there.

[johnny139]

I think Tactical Improv is the most "cut-able" of his initial powerset. It does tell a great story, and it does fit the character perfectly, but it's superfluous - you can get the "action figure" version of the character without it.

"James Bond but a ninja." That's your elevator pitch.

[IAmBatman]

That makes me want Phantom Walk on the card.

[Lazy Orang]

Originally Posted by LordVenoc

I think I'm going to have to take some time to think more on the direction I want here, as it sounds like a lot of people wanting some directions that I think lose something of what was exciting me about the design. I stymied my initial instinct when I wrote this up to give him free reign of the Utility picks because there were unthematic ones I didn't care for. I liked when we were heading more secret agent, but now it feels like we are stepping back.

Appreciate the feedback and I'm gonna see what I can maybe reconcile it into.

Honestly, I really liked the direction you were going in. First power says gadget-y secret agent, the second gives him ninja stars, the third gives him some personality. I feel like representing his gear with glyphs feels right here.


With the whole 'elegance is best' angle, I think it's best to look at that more completely. Wolverine is a design everyone's happy with, but, fundamentally, he's a pretty simple character - heal, claws, rage, what else would you really want him to do? I suppose you could make an argument for Expert Climbing if you really wanted to, but that's about all - that's his power, his 'equipment' and his personality all summed up quickly and cleanly, with a power each, and it's the fact that all of them come across, and come across well, that makes him work so brilliantly.


Other characters' capabilities... aren't so simple. Take Batman. His first design was an elegant representation of him, and one that I, as a non-Bat-fan, still really like... and yet, enough people who knew the character wanted more that we ended up with a second card and whole new - decidedly cool but not quite so elegant - glyph system. Since Ninjak's only ever realistically going to get one card, isn't it fair enough to err on the side of capturing him fully?

[LordVenoc]

Originally Posted by johnny139

I think Tactical Improv is the most "cut-able" of his initial powerset. It does tell a great story, and it does fit the character perfectly, but it's superfluous - you can get the "action figure" version of the character without it.

"James Bond but a ninja." That's your elevator pitch.

Yeah, but the best action figures have cool catch phrases. That's what this is here.

Reread Siege of King's Castle last night, the Ninjak arc where he gets burned (in the spy sense) and is on the run. Thought that would be a good reread to help make sure I'm capturing the character and wasn't wrong. Just gotta convert the idea to gameplay...

[Margloth]

I know nothing of the character at all, and the power would be somewhat niche, but you could do something like this:

BURNED or BURN NOTICE or DISAVOWED
Start the game with a [color] Burned (Burn Notice/Disavowed) marker. If an order marker is moved or removed from this card, you may place the [title] marker on this card. While the [title] marker is on this card, whenever you reveal an order marker, you may first move Ninjak. After moving Ninjak with this special power, you may choose up to 3 figures he moved through and, one at a time, roll an unblockable attack die against each chosen figure. At the end of the round, remove the [title] marker from this card (the game?).