17.14 PSYCHODRAMA

Psychodrama, otherwise known as Ikon Battles, is a game that is played at stages across Lusternia. Players collect ikons, place them into their Gestalt, and battle others using the power of their ikons as characters, props, and scenes!


Ikons
=====
   IKON LIST [<type>]
   IKON SHOW <ikon>
   IKON TRADE <ikon> TO <player> [FOR [<amount> GOLD|IKON <ikon]]
   IKON CONSUME <ikon>

Ikons are small images representing an idea or image. They are primarily collected by completed quests but can also be purchased with credits. Ikons have the following properties:

o Group:
  Which group, or set, the ikon belongs to.

o Type: Describes whether the ikon is considered a character, prop, or scene.

o Quality: How rare this ikon is considered. Ikons can be common, uncommon, rare, epic, or legendary.

o Initiative: Determines the order in which ikons activate. Lower initiatives activate first.

o Strength: This value reflects how powerful an ikon's effect is.

o Effect: What the ikon does in a battle. See the Ikon Effects section.

o Power Cost: Shows how much power is required for the ikon to activate.

Ikons can be traded to others, allowing collectors or psychodrama fanatics to more easily find ikons they desire. Ikons can also be consumed to provide a bonus to experience gained while influencing that will last for 12 Lusternian days. The strength of this bonus is affected by the rarity of the ikon, with rarer ikons providing a stronger bonus.


Gestalts
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   GESTALT CREATE <ikon> <ikon 2> <ikon 3> [...]
   GESTALT SHOW [INFO]
   GESTALT REPLACE <position> <ikon>
   GESTALT REDUCE
   GESTALT DISASSEMBLE

Through the skill of dramatics, each Lusternian is able to create a gestalt for themselves in which they place between three and nine of their ikons. Gestalts provide a bonus defence to specific types of influence depending upon how skilled in Dramatics one is. However, the true power of gestalts shines in the game of Psychodrama.

Gestalts do, however, have limitations. A gestalt can hold, at maximum, no more than three of the same TYPE of ikon. Therefore, the largest gestalt will only hold three characters, three props, and three scene ikons. Likewise, a gestalt cannot form from incompatible ikons. All ikons of the same TYPE must also be of the same GROUP. Thus, all character ikons must be from the same group of ikons to be placed into a gestalt, though the groups used for props or scenes may be different than the group used for characters! The only exception to this are that some ikons, like Eternal ikons and those received from special events, may be of such a unique nature that they can be used in a gestalt even if their group is not compatible.


Types of Battles
================
   GESTALT CHALLENGE <opponent> [PRACTISE|POWER|TOURNAMENT]
   GESTALT ACCEPT <challenger>
   GESTALT DECLINE

There are three types of battles you can engage in. They are:

Practice: A friendly game where nothing is won or lost (except pride!)

Power: The loser of this game must give 5% of their power reserves to the winner.

Tournament: Matches of this type enter you into the annual Ikon Tourmanent, run by Jal Czigany. By playing tournament matches against others you accumulate points to rise through the rankings (see RANKINGS PSYCHODRAMA). At the end of the year, the player with the highest points will emerge victorious!

Gestalts can only manifest on a stage and so all battles must take place in a room with a stage.


Psychodrama
===========
   GESTALT PLAY <1-9>
   GESTALT SHOW [INFO] [<person>]
   GESTALT CONCEDE

Once a battle has been initiated at a stage, players have 45 seconds to select up to three ikons to use that turn. Only one ikon of each TYPE (one character, one prop, and one scene) can be played per side in a single turn. Each turn proceeds as follows:

o Each player is given 5 power in their gestalt power pool to use at the start of the turn. Any unused power will roll over to the next turn.

o The "advantage" is assigned to one player. This advantage will alternate between players each turn.

o Any ikons with an initiative of 1 will perform their effects if they have the required power.

o Any ikons with an initiative of 2 will perform their effects if they have the required power.

...and so on until each ikon has been played.


Some things to keep in mind:
o If ikons have the same initiative but different types, scenes will activate first, followed by props, then characters.

o If both players play an ikon of the same initiative and the same type, the player who has the advantage will have their ikon activate first.

o Effects only work if the ikon activates while the effect is relevant. For example, a defence ikon has no use if it activates after the attack has already happened. Likewise, a scene that boosts attack power does nothing if that attack has already happened.

GESTALT SHOW INFO will show you details such as the effect, initiative, and power cost of the ikons of you or your opponent. Your opponent's ikons will only be revealed as they play them.

The battle ends when one player loses by having their life points fall to zero, or if one player concedes. Conceding is considered a loss and the conceding player will lose power if they are playing a power game.


Ikon Effects: Characters
========================
o Damage: The character ikon directly attacks the life points of the opponent. Damage types are physical, arcane, and spirit.

o Healing: The character ikon will heal the life points the person who played it.

o Stun: the character ikon has a chance to stun the opposing player, preventing them from playing any ikons on the next turn.

Ikon Effects: Props
===================
o Defence: The prop ikon reduces incoming damage of the same type, either physical, arcane, or spirit.

o Neutralise: The prop targets one of the opposing players ikons, either a character, prop, or scene, and will attempt to block it from activating.

Ikon Effects: Scenes
====================
o Buff Damage: The scene ikon boosts any damage of the same type.

o Buff Defence: The scene ikon boosts any defence of the same type.

o Drain Power: The scene drains power from the opposing player's gestalt power pool.

o Boost Power: The scene adds power to the gestalt power pool of its own player. If an Ikon with this effect has a power cost, the power is only a minimum requirement for activation and is not actually consumed during use.

o Absorb Power: The scene drains power from the opposing player and adds it to its own player's gestalt power pool.

o Vampiric Environment: The scene restores life to its player if the player's ikon deals damage to the opposing player.

o Timefield: The scene distorts time around the opposing player, causing damage to him or her to be delayed until the next turn. The timefield will release the damage before any ikons activate on the next turn and will amplify or detract from the amount of damage caused based on the scene's strength.