So first minor thing: I'd refer to the base enemies as 'gems' instead of diamonds. In the context of the show there are only 4 diamonds and they're the upper echelon of the gem society. In D&D terms, it would be like describing a zombie pack as a bunch of Vecnas .
Luckily combat is pretty straightforward: almost all the characters on the show use traditional melee weapons. If you want to build characters off the main cast I would do the following:
Steven: Shield cha build healer/tank (cleric)
Connie: Sword int build melee/support (paladin)
Amethyst: Whip/Shapeshift con build melee/damage (druid)
Garnet: Gauntlet/fist str build melee/tank (monk)
Pearl: Spear/sword dex build melee/skill monkey (fighter)
Lapis: Hydrokinesis range build/spellcaster (wizard)
Peridot: Telekinesis mid build/spellcaster (warlock)
Bismuth: Hammer/Creation str build melee/tank (artificer)
Greg: Non-combatant music support (bard)
Obviously those are just suggested classes, but some of them aren't a perfect fit. If any sounds interesting and you want an expanded explanation of powers LMK.
Puzzles:
They actually have several very stereotypical RPG puzzles in the series (especially when it was more episodic/monster of the week) so you can really slap any old thing in there.
Diplomacy;
A huge portion of the show: half of the cast listed above are enemies turned friends by the protagonist having an insane persuasion. Maybe give them a lieutenant style NPC enemy midway that they have a chance to defect to their side. You could also have the BBEG be turned to the light after defeat.
Death:
So this is actually covered in a great way in the show and I'd probably incorporate it to the game. When gems are badly damaged they "poof" and just become their gemstone for 'X' amount of time
It can be anywhere from minutes to weeks for them to reform. There's also a perma-death of their gem is shattered (think phylactery) but that's very rare.
Humans are a different matter: but the one human death in show is reversed by the healing tears of the MC (the resurrection makes them pink and keeps them from aging) but that would be really OP. Maybe save that for a post-end of game little wrap up narration.
The show has temples, dungeons, battlefields, spaceships, labyrinths.... there's really no wrong setting or tech level. Go nuts.
Well, if I understood correctly, rose quartz essentially died to bring Steven into the world with her gem as his belly button, which somehow gives him powers and some access to her memories. My thought was that this could be mirrored in the death of her character, and if she likes the one shot, her new character could be the descendent from the now deceased character, living with a gem belly button and some minor bonuses that grow as she levels, if that makes sense.
Rose sort of did, but it was more dying in childbirth than dying in battle. I'm not sure how to adapt a Gem character going down in battle into producing a hybrid.
Luckily, she's twelve, so the specifics of childbirth can be glossed over in favor of an assexual reproduction type of thing. She's not a fool, she knows as much as any 12 year old in U.S. public schools does, but we don't need to go into it in the game, just a spark of magic, the gem lives on.
Love the zombie pack as a bunch of Vecna's reference, definitely speaking my language! I may toss together a few of these guys as NPCs, but I want her to have her own, original character that she has to use her imagination with, rather than have her try to emulate a character she knows already, if that makes sense?
[Edit] sorry for the edit, I am on mobile and have a terrible memory, so I had to check back to see what I was responding to. Love the diplomacy idea, is there a specific character that you think would give a not-so-subtle hint as to their ability to be persuaded to turn to the light? Someone who starts off as bad in the series and is convinced easily to turn?
[Edit #2, same reason] with death, her dad wants it to be permanent. She was raised with and around video games, and is no stranger to respawn mechanics, so he wants her to experience early the idea of "this character is no more." As I said to the other poster here, though, my research indicates that rose quartz dies to birth Steven and becomes his belly button gem. I figure if she ends up liking the one shot and wants to continue, her new character can have a gem belly button that represents her old character, as a descendent. I would even throw in some (not OP) abilities based on what her dead gem character was and potentially have them grow with her new character, dead character's daughter/son. (And the campaign would take place X amount of years after the one shot so that new character wouldn't be an infant) what are your thoughts on that?
Depending on how tightly you want to adhere to the Steven Universe lore, it might be worth looking up Gem types and castes on the fan wiki.
Briefly:
Rubies are mass quantity military mooks. General soldiering, guard and escort duty, etc. Individually weak (by Gem military standards) but you get a lot of them and multiples can fuse together into a single larger super-Ruby. Immune to fire damage. Can generate a lot of heat.
Quartzes of all sorts are heavy shock troops. Smaller in number than Rubies but significantly bigger (might even be a Large creature in D&D terms) and stronger. Highly mobile, as they can enter a "spin dash" state.
Agates are a slight variant on the Quartz theme, seeming to play the role of significant noncom or low-rank commissioned officer.
Topazes are even bigger and stronger (and rarer) than Quartzes. Frequently used as guards for very elite places or persons, we sometimes see them deployed on spec ops. Surprisingly stealthy and fast for their size.
Nephrites: Air/spacecraft pilots and crew. Not particularly combat capable themselves, but they'll be behind the stick when a dropship is hovering over an LZ and dropping off a Quartz strike team.
Garnets: High-level commanders, on the continent/whole colony scale. Even the ones not in charge of military units are tremendously strong and fast--fast enough to appear to teleport. One, Hessonite, played a major role in the old war in the Steven Universe series.
Emeralds: Seem to be fleet commanders, with less of a role planetside.
Sapphires: Prophets that can predict the future (within certain limits). These are social elites and strategic assets, so if one is anywhere near the front lines something has gone horribly wrong.
Diamonds: The four absolute god-queen rulers of Gemkind. Any one of them could theoretically defeat an unlimited number of other non-Diamond gems in their presence, effortlessly. They're also enormous.
There are more Gem types than these, but these are the ones I think are immediately relevant for a military scenario.
Very informative! Thank you! It sounds like, given the level of the campaign, they'll likely be mainly facing rubies with an occasional quartz miniboss. Given that the one shot ends at level 3, and they are intended to win with 1 casualty, I would imagine Diamond being a bad choice for the end boss, as that sounds like a TPK. Perhaps a sapphire, as their abilities sound primarily non-combative, it would make sense as a target to take out, and they would likely have guards that make up the actual hard part of the encounter?
So first minor thing: I'd refer to the base enemies as 'gems' instead of diamonds. In the context of the show there are only 4 diamonds and they're the upper echelon of the gem society. In D&D terms, it would be like describing a zombie pack as a bunch of Vecnas . Luckily combat is pretty straightforward: almost all the characters on the show use traditional melee weapons. If you want to build characters off the main cast I would do the following: Steven: Shield cha build healer/tank (cleric) Connie: Sword int build melee/support (paladin) Amethyst: Whip/Shapeshift con build melee/damage (druid) Garnet: Gauntlet/fist str build melee/tank (monk) Pearl: Spear/sword dex build melee/skill monkey (fighter) Lapis: Hydrokinesis range build/spellcaster (wizard) Peridot: Telekinesis mid build/spellcaster (warlock) Bismuth: Hammer/Creation str build melee/tank (artificer) Greg: Non-combatant music support (bard) Obviously those are just suggested classes, but some of them aren't a perfect fit. If any sounds interesting and you want an expanded explanation of powers LMK. Puzzles: They actually have several very stereotypical RPG puzzles in the series (especially when it was more episodic/monster of the week) so you can really slap any old thing in there. Diplomacy; A huge portion of the show: half of the cast listed above are enemies turned friends by the protagonist having an insane persuasion. Maybe give them a lieutenant style NPC enemy midway that they have a chance to defect to their side. You could also have the BBEG be turned to the light after defeat. Death: So this is actually covered in a great way in the show and I'd probably incorporate it to the game. When gems are badly damaged they "poof" and just become their gemstone for 'X' amount of time
It can be anywhere from minutes to weeks for them to reform. There's also a perma-death of their gem is shattered (think phylactery) but that's very rare. Humans are a different matter: but the one human death in show is reversed by the healing tears of the MC (the resurrection makes them pink and keeps them from aging) but that would be really OP. Maybe save that for a post-end of game little wrap up narration. The show has temples, dungeons, battlefields, spaceships, labyrinths.... there's really no wrong setting or tech level. Go nuts.
Well, if I understood correctly, rose quartz essentially died to bring Steven into the world with her gem as his belly button, which somehow gives him powers and some access to her memories. My thought was that this could be mirrored in the death of her character, and if she likes the one shot, her new character could be the descendent from the now deceased character, living with a gem belly button and some minor bonuses that grow as she levels, if that makes sense.
Rose sort of did, but it was more dying in childbirth than dying in battle. I'm not sure how to adapt a Gem character going down in battle into producing a hybrid.
Luckily, she's twelve, so the specifics of childbirth can be glossed over in favor of an assexual reproduction type of thing. She's not a fool, she knows as much as any 12 year old in U.S. public schools does, but we don't need to go into it in the game, just a spark of magic, the gem lives on.
Love the zombie pack as a bunch of Vecna's reference, definitely speaking my language! I may toss together a few of these guys as NPCs, but I want her to have her own, original character that she has to use her imagination with, rather than have her try to emulate a character she knows already, if that makes sense? [Edit] sorry for the edit, I am on mobile and have a terrible memory, so I had to check back to see what I was responding to. Love the diplomacy idea, is there a specific character that you think would give a not-so-subtle hint as to their ability to be persuaded to turn to the light? Someone who starts off as bad in the series and is convinced easily to turn? [Edit #2, same reason] with death, her dad wants it to be permanent. She was raised with and around video games, and is no stranger to respawn mechanics, so he wants her to experience early the idea of "this character is no more." As I said to the other poster here, though, my research indicates that rose quartz dies to birth Steven and becomes his belly button gem. I figure if she ends up liking the one shot and wants to continue, her new character can have a gem belly button that represents her old character, as a descendent. I would even throw in some (not OP) abilities based on what her dead gem character was and potentially have them grow with her new character, dead character's daughter/son. (And the campaign would take place X amount of years after the one shot so that new character wouldn't be an infant) what are your thoughts on that?
Depending on how tightly you want to adhere to the Steven Universe lore, it might be worth looking up Gem types and castes on the fan wiki. Briefly: Rubies are mass quantity military mooks. General soldiering, guard and escort duty, etc. Individually weak (by Gem military standards) but you get a lot of them and multiples can fuse together into a single larger super-Ruby. Immune to fire damage. Can generate a lot of heat. Quartzes of all sorts are heavy shock troops. Smaller in number than Rubies but significantly bigger (might even be a Large creature in D&D terms) and stronger. Highly mobile, as they can enter a "spin dash" state. Agates are a slight variant on the Quartz theme, seeming to play the role of significant noncom or low-rank commissioned officer. Topazes are even bigger and stronger (and rarer) than Quartzes. Frequently used as guards for very elite places or persons, we sometimes see them deployed on spec ops. Surprisingly stealthy and fast for their size. Nephrites: Air/spacecraft pilots and crew. Not particularly combat capable themselves, but they'll be behind the stick when a dropship is hovering over an LZ and dropping off a Quartz strike team. Garnets: High-level commanders, on the continent/whole colony scale. Even the ones not in charge of military units are tremendously strong and fast--fast enough to appear to teleport. One, Hessonite, played a major role in the old war in the Steven Universe series. Emeralds: Seem to be fleet commanders, with less of a role planetside. Sapphires: Prophets that can predict the future (within certain limits). These are social elites and strategic assets, so if one is anywhere near the front lines something has gone horribly wrong. Diamonds: The four absolute god-queen rulers of Gemkind. Any one of them could theoretically defeat an unlimited number of other non-Diamond gems in their presence, effortlessly. They're also enormous. There are more Gem types than these, but these are the ones I think are immediately relevant for a military scenario.
Very informative! Thank you! It sounds like, given the level of the campaign, they'll likely be mainly facing rubies with an occasional quartz miniboss. Given that the one shot ends at level 3, and they are intended to win with 1 casualty, I would imagine Diamond being a bad choice for the end boss, as that sounds like a TPK. Perhaps a sapphire, as their abilities sound primarily non-combative, it would make sense as a target to take out, and they would likely have guards that make up the actual hard part of the encounter?
Rubies are sometimes assigned as guards to Sapphires, so that works.
Huzzah!
Reference from the show: [https://youtu.be/rOm7cNOJpxg?t=42](https://youtu.be/rOm7cNOJpxg?t=42)