Geoff Bottone's Blog, page 23
January 30, 2017
Exciting Crossover Event! Part One!
Back when I started pumping out Star Trek characters, I mentioned that, should gumption win out and the stars align, I might feature an EXCITING CROSSOVER EVENT between two big themes on this blog: character creation and Boldly Go!
Oh, looky! That day has arrived!
Those of you who have been following along (and many, many thanks that you have and continue to do so), may have noticed one thing that is common to all of the Star Trek games that I own and have made characters for. They are all extremely fiddly and also have loads and loads (and also loads) of skills.
Boldly Go isn't like that at all, and not because of any conscious decision on my part to run as far away from the other Star Trek RPGs as I possibly could. I didn't wind up looking at any of them until well after I had started working on Boldly Go and had this odd idea to just go back and see if my ideas dovetailed at all with any of the ideas that had been previously published. It turns out that the answer was a big no.
Boldly Go's first system was something I cobbled together after watching about half of The Original Series episodes of Star Trek. I was, maybe, four episodes in when I decided that I might want to write an RPG, based on the show, and so I continued watching with a notebook and pen beside me, so that I could write down anything that was either obvious or repeated that needs to be in the rules.
One of the earliest ones (and a perennial favorite), is the Torn Uniform Rule. To wit: In the event that you suffer damage from an attack, you may instead tear your uniform to ignore the effects of that attack. So, for all of you who have been wondering just how Kirk can fend off Gorn, solid-light holograms of his Academy nemesis, and unruly children without suffering much more than a scratch, now you know!
And, yes, this rule is silly. This is because I am silly, and also because Star Trek can be, has been, and (thank you, CBS) will be silly in future episodes. It's not silly all the time, certainly, but it's not a deadly-serious, hard-SF series all the time in which there are no jokes and weird/surreal things and no laughing. That's one thing that makes my game slightly different from other games that have come before--the acceptance that some things in Star Trek are just goofy, and that that's okay.
The other big thing about my version of the rules, which is what I wanted to talk about here, is that my first version of a Star Trek game had very few stats or skills. In fact, there were exactly five stats, each of which each stat had four associated skills. This made a stat/skill chart that fit nicely on a character sheet and looked a bit like this:
Strength Dexterity Mental Personality Technical Athletics Agility Culture Charm Medicine HtH Combat Dodge Cunning Intimidate Pilot Might Rng Combat Intellect Trick Repair Resilience Stealth Science Willpower Use Tech
Where other games have, say, the Science skill broken down into a dozen different sub-categories (Astrogation, Astrophysics, Geology, etc., etc.), I only have the one skill. Why is that? Two reasons!
Reason #1: I hate lists of things so, so very much. The fewer lists I have to deal with, the better.Reason #2: Because, in the show, just about every character knows some science. Spock knows the most, of course (unsurprisingly, his character wold have high scores in both Mental and Science, which would be representative of that knowledge), but Kirk, McCoy, and the others also know some science.
During character creation, the player gets to assign some points to their stats and some points to their skills. Whenever something happens in the game that requires a skill roll, the player gets a number of d6s equal to stat + skill and rolls them. Any result of 5 or 6 counts as a success.
There's two paths to take at this juncture, and I decided to take the one that resulted in fewer lists. To wit: Rather than say, "here are a dozen different science skills. Spock has high ratings in most of them. Kirk has moderate ratings in, let's say two," I said, "there is one science skill that should properly be pronounced, 'SCIENCE!' Spock's score in it is amazing. Kirk may have one point in it, so he's familiar with science, but not particularly good at it."
Anyone who has played the game recently will look at the above and realize that this isn't actually how Boldly Go works. And that's true! That's because, with the help of Bob Dunham, I came up with an even better idea that makes even more sense in the context of the show.
I'll talk about that...next time!
Oh, looky! That day has arrived!
Those of you who have been following along (and many, many thanks that you have and continue to do so), may have noticed one thing that is common to all of the Star Trek games that I own and have made characters for. They are all extremely fiddly and also have loads and loads (and also loads) of skills.
Boldly Go isn't like that at all, and not because of any conscious decision on my part to run as far away from the other Star Trek RPGs as I possibly could. I didn't wind up looking at any of them until well after I had started working on Boldly Go and had this odd idea to just go back and see if my ideas dovetailed at all with any of the ideas that had been previously published. It turns out that the answer was a big no.
Boldly Go's first system was something I cobbled together after watching about half of The Original Series episodes of Star Trek. I was, maybe, four episodes in when I decided that I might want to write an RPG, based on the show, and so I continued watching with a notebook and pen beside me, so that I could write down anything that was either obvious or repeated that needs to be in the rules.
One of the earliest ones (and a perennial favorite), is the Torn Uniform Rule. To wit: In the event that you suffer damage from an attack, you may instead tear your uniform to ignore the effects of that attack. So, for all of you who have been wondering just how Kirk can fend off Gorn, solid-light holograms of his Academy nemesis, and unruly children without suffering much more than a scratch, now you know!
And, yes, this rule is silly. This is because I am silly, and also because Star Trek can be, has been, and (thank you, CBS) will be silly in future episodes. It's not silly all the time, certainly, but it's not a deadly-serious, hard-SF series all the time in which there are no jokes and weird/surreal things and no laughing. That's one thing that makes my game slightly different from other games that have come before--the acceptance that some things in Star Trek are just goofy, and that that's okay.
The other big thing about my version of the rules, which is what I wanted to talk about here, is that my first version of a Star Trek game had very few stats or skills. In fact, there were exactly five stats, each of which each stat had four associated skills. This made a stat/skill chart that fit nicely on a character sheet and looked a bit like this:
Strength Dexterity Mental Personality Technical Athletics Agility Culture Charm Medicine HtH Combat Dodge Cunning Intimidate Pilot Might Rng Combat Intellect Trick Repair Resilience Stealth Science Willpower Use Tech
Where other games have, say, the Science skill broken down into a dozen different sub-categories (Astrogation, Astrophysics, Geology, etc., etc.), I only have the one skill. Why is that? Two reasons!
Reason #1: I hate lists of things so, so very much. The fewer lists I have to deal with, the better.Reason #2: Because, in the show, just about every character knows some science. Spock knows the most, of course (unsurprisingly, his character wold have high scores in both Mental and Science, which would be representative of that knowledge), but Kirk, McCoy, and the others also know some science.
During character creation, the player gets to assign some points to their stats and some points to their skills. Whenever something happens in the game that requires a skill roll, the player gets a number of d6s equal to stat + skill and rolls them. Any result of 5 or 6 counts as a success.
There's two paths to take at this juncture, and I decided to take the one that resulted in fewer lists. To wit: Rather than say, "here are a dozen different science skills. Spock has high ratings in most of them. Kirk has moderate ratings in, let's say two," I said, "there is one science skill that should properly be pronounced, 'SCIENCE!' Spock's score in it is amazing. Kirk may have one point in it, so he's familiar with science, but not particularly good at it."
Anyone who has played the game recently will look at the above and realize that this isn't actually how Boldly Go works. And that's true! That's because, with the help of Bob Dunham, I came up with an even better idea that makes even more sense in the context of the show.
I'll talk about that...next time!
January 28, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Star Trek (Decipher)
To finish out the Star Trek section of the character library, I made a character for the most recent, officially-licensed Star Trek game (at least, until Modiphius releases their game, unless it's already released, in which case, I'm at least one game behind). This version was published by Decipher Roleplaying & Miniatures Studio in 2002, and it allows you to play a character from any era of Star Trek except for Enterprise. It also boasts, "Original Star Trek canon consistent with previous versions of the Star Trek RPG."
There are quite a lot of similarities between this game and the version of the game made by Last Unicorn Games, though the rules are different enough that you couldn't easily switch a character between the two without serious reworking. Comparing the two, I like the Last Unicorn Games version a bit better because it's a lot more dialed-in on what you can play and where (and when) you're playing. Decipher's version allows you to play anything from any era and, because of this, adds in a lot of complexity and a lot of explanation.
As an aside: Last Unicorn's game is complete in one book. The Decipher book, while a bit smaller than the LU book, is just the player's guide, meaning I need at least one more book in order to properly play this game.
I won't say that the breadth of what you can do in this game is bad, necessarily, just daunting. This is also the first Star Trek RPG that explicitly allows you to play someone who doesn't work for Starfleet. I can understand the allure, but I also don't understand why you would do this. In my limited experience with Boldly Go, making a character that doesn't fit into the ship's hierarchy tends to leave one a bit outside of, and without a clearly-defined role in, the player group. Still, though, I suppose it's nice to have options.
Character creation sort of follows Last Unicorn Games. You pick your species, which gives you bonus skills, edges, and powers. You generate your stats. You pick a Personal Development template, which gives you some skills and edges. You pick a Professional Development template, which involves picking, say, "Rogue," and the one of the three options given under "Rogue," which gives you more skills and edges. If you want to be a member of Starfleet, you need to take one of the "Starship X Officer" development templates, which include: Command, Operations, and Science. Each of these covers way more than three templates, allowing you a lot of leeway in picking what you want to do.
As has become tradition with these games, the species you can pick from in the Decipher version is different from any species list in any of the other games. Decipher lets you pick from: Bajoran, Betazoids, Cardassians, Ferengi, Humans, Klingons, Ocampa, Talaxians, Trill, and Vulcans. They also have rules to allow you to make a Mixed Species character and, though they are a bit clunky, they are a welcome addition to the game.
Amused and encouraged by the idea that I could literally make anything I wanted, I went ahead and made a Klingon who was a Starfleet ship's counselor. I gave him the Nomadic Childhood Personal Development, explaining why he's met so many different people and why he may not think about things the same way as more "typical" Klingons. I suspect much of his therapy involves forcing the patient to confront their problems head on and, possibly, using pain sticks whenever necessary.
Also: The character sheets provided in the book are very pretty and done up to look like something printed on a Starfleet computer in LCARS. Not all that easy to photocopy and probably very easily mangled once you had to change your character, but top-notch in the looks department.
T’ang the Intractable
Klingon, Starship Officer (Starfleet), Ship’s Counselor with a Nomadic Childhood
Strength 7 Quickness +0 Defense 7 Intellect 7 Savvy +2* Health 5 Agility 5 Stamina +0 Courage 3 Vitality 5 Willpower +0 Renown 0 Presence 11
Perception 5
*Favored Reaction
Abilities: Pathos (Make people feel comfortable. Ignore all social penalties when making an Inquire (Interview) roll.)Edges: High Pain Threshold, Skill Focus (Persuasive), Brak’lul (Extra bones and organs. +2 Stamina reaction bonus. Half effect from stun weapons), Ferocity: RAMPAGE! (+2 Armed Combat +2 Unarmed Combat +1 Health. Spend 1 Courage point to break out of it prior to the end of the duration), Honor (Add Renown modifier when interacting with Klingons.)Fluent Languages: Klingon, Federation Standard
SkillsArmed Combat (Klingon Traditional Weapons) +3Athletics: +1Computer Use (Retrieve) +1Culture (Ferengi) +2Culture (Earth) +2Energy Weapon +1First Aid +2History (The Klingon Empire) +3Influence (Charm) +1Inquire (Interview) +4Language (Ferengi) +2Language (Vulcan) +1Medicine (Psychology) +3Negotiate +1Politics (Federation) +3Repair: +1 Specific World (Ferenginar) +2 Specific World (Earth) +3Specific World (Vulcan) +1 Survival: +1System Operation (Command) +1Unarmed Combat (Shat-Fu) +1
There are quite a lot of similarities between this game and the version of the game made by Last Unicorn Games, though the rules are different enough that you couldn't easily switch a character between the two without serious reworking. Comparing the two, I like the Last Unicorn Games version a bit better because it's a lot more dialed-in on what you can play and where (and when) you're playing. Decipher's version allows you to play anything from any era and, because of this, adds in a lot of complexity and a lot of explanation.
As an aside: Last Unicorn's game is complete in one book. The Decipher book, while a bit smaller than the LU book, is just the player's guide, meaning I need at least one more book in order to properly play this game.
I won't say that the breadth of what you can do in this game is bad, necessarily, just daunting. This is also the first Star Trek RPG that explicitly allows you to play someone who doesn't work for Starfleet. I can understand the allure, but I also don't understand why you would do this. In my limited experience with Boldly Go, making a character that doesn't fit into the ship's hierarchy tends to leave one a bit outside of, and without a clearly-defined role in, the player group. Still, though, I suppose it's nice to have options.
Character creation sort of follows Last Unicorn Games. You pick your species, which gives you bonus skills, edges, and powers. You generate your stats. You pick a Personal Development template, which gives you some skills and edges. You pick a Professional Development template, which involves picking, say, "Rogue," and the one of the three options given under "Rogue," which gives you more skills and edges. If you want to be a member of Starfleet, you need to take one of the "Starship X Officer" development templates, which include: Command, Operations, and Science. Each of these covers way more than three templates, allowing you a lot of leeway in picking what you want to do.
As has become tradition with these games, the species you can pick from in the Decipher version is different from any species list in any of the other games. Decipher lets you pick from: Bajoran, Betazoids, Cardassians, Ferengi, Humans, Klingons, Ocampa, Talaxians, Trill, and Vulcans. They also have rules to allow you to make a Mixed Species character and, though they are a bit clunky, they are a welcome addition to the game.
Amused and encouraged by the idea that I could literally make anything I wanted, I went ahead and made a Klingon who was a Starfleet ship's counselor. I gave him the Nomadic Childhood Personal Development, explaining why he's met so many different people and why he may not think about things the same way as more "typical" Klingons. I suspect much of his therapy involves forcing the patient to confront their problems head on and, possibly, using pain sticks whenever necessary.
Also: The character sheets provided in the book are very pretty and done up to look like something printed on a Starfleet computer in LCARS. Not all that easy to photocopy and probably very easily mangled once you had to change your character, but top-notch in the looks department.
T’ang the Intractable
Klingon, Starship Officer (Starfleet), Ship’s Counselor with a Nomadic Childhood
Strength 7 Quickness +0 Defense 7 Intellect 7 Savvy +2* Health 5 Agility 5 Stamina +0 Courage 3 Vitality 5 Willpower +0 Renown 0 Presence 11
Perception 5
*Favored Reaction
Abilities: Pathos (Make people feel comfortable. Ignore all social penalties when making an Inquire (Interview) roll.)Edges: High Pain Threshold, Skill Focus (Persuasive), Brak’lul (Extra bones and organs. +2 Stamina reaction bonus. Half effect from stun weapons), Ferocity: RAMPAGE! (+2 Armed Combat +2 Unarmed Combat +1 Health. Spend 1 Courage point to break out of it prior to the end of the duration), Honor (Add Renown modifier when interacting with Klingons.)Fluent Languages: Klingon, Federation Standard
SkillsArmed Combat (Klingon Traditional Weapons) +3Athletics: +1Computer Use (Retrieve) +1Culture (Ferengi) +2Culture (Earth) +2Energy Weapon +1First Aid +2History (The Klingon Empire) +3Influence (Charm) +1Inquire (Interview) +4Language (Ferengi) +2Language (Vulcan) +1Medicine (Psychology) +3Negotiate +1Politics (Federation) +3Repair: +1 Specific World (Ferenginar) +2 Specific World (Earth) +3Specific World (Vulcan) +1 Survival: +1System Operation (Command) +1Unarmed Combat (Shat-Fu) +1
January 26, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Star Trek: The Next Generation (Last Unicorn Games)
As previously mentioned, I have multiple different versions of Star Trek roleplaying games. The one I'm covering in this installment of ye blog is the one produced by Last Unicorn Games. It is specifically set in the era of The Next Generation (it's right there in the title!), with show-appropriate species to choose from and whatnot.
Of the three Star Trek systems that I have, I liked this one the best. That's not to say it was easy--by no means, no--but in comparison, it turned out to be significantly less work than FASA's game and...I guess differently convoluted than the one I'll be reviewing next time. I will say that it covers everything that you would need to make a Starfleet character, and even has some hints on how to make a non-Starfleet character--if you want to make an ambassador, or merchant, or something.
It starts out simple enough: Pick a species template. Add a professional overlay. These snap together in a satisfying way with stats and skills already filled out.
It gets a bit more complicated when we move on to backgrounds. This is a life path system where you decide how your character grew up, where they studied, who they know, and so on. You get a different number of points to spend on each step of your background, and you may either use these points to pick and choose skill bonuses, advantages, and disadvantages. Or, if you're lazy, like I am, you can use your points to buy one of the pre-built packages. This is actually much faster, less fiddly, and still allows you to create an interesting character. I'd imagine I'd use the other method once I was familiar enough with the system to know how everything works.
And that's...pretty much it. Much less hideous when compared to the FASA system, though it does have rather large bits of kludge stuck to it. Do you want to see the biggest one? Okay! Here it is.
It is possible for you to get the same skill from two (or more) different sources during character creation. There is a half-page table that explains that this is something to be expected, that it's normal, and that you don't need to see a doctor, probably. It also tells you how to resolve it.
If both sources provide the same skill with different specializations, I know two specializations. So I'd get History (Tellar) 1 (2) and (Federation) (2).If both sources provide the same skill with different specializations at different levels, I take the higher skill and know two specializations.If both sources provide the same skill with the same specialization at the same level, I add one point to either the skill or the specialization.If both sources provide the same skill with the same specialization at different levels, I take the higher skill level, then add one point to either my skill level or my specialization.Skills without specializations (such as Dodge), simply add together.For those following along, the skill number (what my skill currently is) is the first number. My specialization is in the parentheses. I'm still not 100% sure how that works, since I read the character creation rules and not the "how to do things" rules. That said, it only took me about 40 minutes to make a character that might a) be correct and b) be ready to play.
I find it interesting which species make it into which Star Trek games. This one, being set in the Next Gen era, allows Andorians, Betazoids, Bolians, Centaurans, Humans, Tellarites, and Vulcans. I guess, since Worf was the only Starfleet Klingon in canon in this era, I can't play a Klingon.
Don't worry, though. I'm going to scratch that itch...next time!
Lieutenant Bashlan Cov, Tellarite Engineer
Fitness 3 (6) Strength +0 Courage 3 Vitality +1 Coordination 2 (5) Dexterity +0 Renown 1 in Skill Reaction +1 Intellect 3 (5) Logic +0 Rank Lieutenant Perception +0 Presence 2 (5) Empathy -1 Wound Levels 4 Willpower +0 Psi 0 (5) Focus +0
Range +0
Advantages: Alertness +2, Commendation +2 (Famous Incident), Infrared Vision +2, Promotion to Lieutenant +3Disadvantages: Argumentative -1, Intolerant of Poor Maintenance Procedures -1, Slow Healing -2, Vengeful (Frigging Cardassians) -1
Early Life: Failed ColonyAcademy Life: Advanced Research EngineeringTour of Duty: Hostile Frontier Defense Mission
SkillsAthletics (Parrises Squares) 1 (2) Dodge 2Computer (Modeling) 1 (2) Culture (Tellarite) 2 (3)Energy Weapon (Phaser) 1 (2)Engineering, Propulsion (Impulse) 2 (3), (Warp Drive) (3) (Ion) (3)Engineering, Systems (Environmental) 2 (3), (Transporter/Replication) (3)Engineering, Material (Mechanical) 1 (2) (Starship Design) (2)Material Engineering (Starship Design) 1 (2)History (Federation) 1 (2) (Tellarite) 1 (2)Language (Federation Standard) 1 (2), Tellarite (2)Law (Starfleet Regs) 1 (2)Persuasion (Debate) 2 (3)Personal Equipment (Communicator) 1 (2)Science, Physical (Computer) 1 (2)Planetside Survival (Arctic) 1 (2) (Mountain) (2)Shipboard Systems (Envi) 2 (3) (Transporter) (3) (Tactical) (3) Sensors (3)Starship Tactics (Cardassian) 1 (2)Vehicle Operations (Shuttlecraft) 1 (2) Ground Vehicles (2)World Knowledge (Tellar) 1 (2)
Of the three Star Trek systems that I have, I liked this one the best. That's not to say it was easy--by no means, no--but in comparison, it turned out to be significantly less work than FASA's game and...I guess differently convoluted than the one I'll be reviewing next time. I will say that it covers everything that you would need to make a Starfleet character, and even has some hints on how to make a non-Starfleet character--if you want to make an ambassador, or merchant, or something.
It starts out simple enough: Pick a species template. Add a professional overlay. These snap together in a satisfying way with stats and skills already filled out.
It gets a bit more complicated when we move on to backgrounds. This is a life path system where you decide how your character grew up, where they studied, who they know, and so on. You get a different number of points to spend on each step of your background, and you may either use these points to pick and choose skill bonuses, advantages, and disadvantages. Or, if you're lazy, like I am, you can use your points to buy one of the pre-built packages. This is actually much faster, less fiddly, and still allows you to create an interesting character. I'd imagine I'd use the other method once I was familiar enough with the system to know how everything works.
And that's...pretty much it. Much less hideous when compared to the FASA system, though it does have rather large bits of kludge stuck to it. Do you want to see the biggest one? Okay! Here it is.
It is possible for you to get the same skill from two (or more) different sources during character creation. There is a half-page table that explains that this is something to be expected, that it's normal, and that you don't need to see a doctor, probably. It also tells you how to resolve it.
If both sources provide the same skill with different specializations, I know two specializations. So I'd get History (Tellar) 1 (2) and (Federation) (2).If both sources provide the same skill with different specializations at different levels, I take the higher skill and know two specializations.If both sources provide the same skill with the same specialization at the same level, I add one point to either the skill or the specialization.If both sources provide the same skill with the same specialization at different levels, I take the higher skill level, then add one point to either my skill level or my specialization.Skills without specializations (such as Dodge), simply add together.For those following along, the skill number (what my skill currently is) is the first number. My specialization is in the parentheses. I'm still not 100% sure how that works, since I read the character creation rules and not the "how to do things" rules. That said, it only took me about 40 minutes to make a character that might a) be correct and b) be ready to play.
I find it interesting which species make it into which Star Trek games. This one, being set in the Next Gen era, allows Andorians, Betazoids, Bolians, Centaurans, Humans, Tellarites, and Vulcans. I guess, since Worf was the only Starfleet Klingon in canon in this era, I can't play a Klingon.
Don't worry, though. I'm going to scratch that itch...next time!
Lieutenant Bashlan Cov, Tellarite Engineer
Fitness 3 (6) Strength +0 Courage 3 Vitality +1 Coordination 2 (5) Dexterity +0 Renown 1 in Skill Reaction +1 Intellect 3 (5) Logic +0 Rank Lieutenant Perception +0 Presence 2 (5) Empathy -1 Wound Levels 4 Willpower +0 Psi 0 (5) Focus +0
Range +0
Advantages: Alertness +2, Commendation +2 (Famous Incident), Infrared Vision +2, Promotion to Lieutenant +3Disadvantages: Argumentative -1, Intolerant of Poor Maintenance Procedures -1, Slow Healing -2, Vengeful (Frigging Cardassians) -1
Early Life: Failed ColonyAcademy Life: Advanced Research EngineeringTour of Duty: Hostile Frontier Defense Mission
SkillsAthletics (Parrises Squares) 1 (2) Dodge 2Computer (Modeling) 1 (2) Culture (Tellarite) 2 (3)Energy Weapon (Phaser) 1 (2)Engineering, Propulsion (Impulse) 2 (3), (Warp Drive) (3) (Ion) (3)Engineering, Systems (Environmental) 2 (3), (Transporter/Replication) (3)Engineering, Material (Mechanical) 1 (2) (Starship Design) (2)Material Engineering (Starship Design) 1 (2)History (Federation) 1 (2) (Tellarite) 1 (2)Language (Federation Standard) 1 (2), Tellarite (2)Law (Starfleet Regs) 1 (2)Persuasion (Debate) 2 (3)Personal Equipment (Communicator) 1 (2)Science, Physical (Computer) 1 (2)Planetside Survival (Arctic) 1 (2) (Mountain) (2)Shipboard Systems (Envi) 2 (3) (Transporter) (3) (Tactical) (3) Sensors (3)Starship Tactics (Cardassian) 1 (2)Vehicle Operations (Shuttlecraft) 1 (2) Ground Vehicles (2)World Knowledge (Tellar) 1 (2)
January 13, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Star Trek (FASA)
This is the first post in what may turn out to be an EXCITING CROSSOVER EVENT between two of the big themes on this here blog: my continuing quest to make characters for every RPG I own and my continuing quest to get Boldly Go, my Star Trek-inspired game, released to the general public. Here's the plan so far--I'm going to make characters for every version of the Star Trek RPG that I own, many of which I picked up so that I could have inspiration for Boldly Go. Then, once those are all done, I'll talk about how Boldly Go works and describe my design decisions and why I made them.
I may also just make up a character for Boldly Go, too, since it is an RPG I own, this is my blog, and self-aggrandizement is literally a thing I do.
We're starting off this event with the oldest version of the Star Trek game, which was made by FASA in the early '80s. This version came out well before TNG was a twinkle in Gene Roddenberry's eye, so it uses only the Original Series and the Animated Series (you can play a Caitian if you want, or whatever the hell Arex is, so that's exciting).
Being an RPG from the early period means that the game is filled with crunchy bits. I believe that, since this game was made at around the same time as Starfleet Battles was made, it was designed to interface with the rules for that wargame, which explains where some of the crunch comes from.
After character generation (which took me three different attempts on three different days), I wound up with a character that looks very much like a Call of Cthulhu character or something of that ilk--some stats, some derived stats, and a whole heaping pile of skills at a wide range of percentages. Getting to that point, however, required me to do enough bookkeeping that it made me feel like I was doing my taxes.
Here's how it all came together. NB: People who actually know how to play this game, please bear with me; it's entirely possible that I did some or all portions of character generation incorrectly.
I decided to make a female Andorian. I started out generating my seven primary stats. Luck and Psi are rolled straight percentile. The rest are rolled with 3d10+10. Then I added in my racial modifiers. Then I get to roll percentile die, take 50% of the result, and spend the remainder on anything but Psi. I rolled a 94, did an even split between the other stats, and dumped the remaining 6 points in Luck.
Secondary stats are derived in the usual way (mods to other stats), though some of them are averages of stats and certain skills, and one of them (bare hand damage), I had to look up on a table.
Good so far! Now it comes time to pick skills, and this is where things get hairy. I start of with Background Skills from my childhood times. I get a number of skills equal 1/10th of my Int, which I have to split between Education and Personal. I roll 1d10 for each to get the skill's rating. If I want, I may pick skills twice to show my deep commitment to them, getting a second roll.
Right. Now I get a bunch of basic skills, presumably from my early days in Starfleet. I get them at the listed amounts. I also get 5 elective skills that I can get +5 in, but I can't double up those skills (to get +10 or +15 in one skill). After that I get 6 (1/10th my Int) + 5 skills that I can improve with a d10 roll. I think you can double up on these.
It's about this point that I started to miss how skills worked in Top Secret.
Okay. Now I pick a branch of service and pick those skills. I went with Communications, because why not? I also get two more elective skills, picking two and boosting them by 1d10 each. Then I get to train two more of my branch skills equal to my (Int - 50)/10. So one more skill gets another 1d10 roll.
So I'm done now, right? Hahaha. No. Now I have to go on my cadet cruise. If nothing happens on my cruise, I won't get evaluated and will have to go out for another one. I roll randomly for everything and find out that I was on an Exploration Command ship, and I passed my cruise with high honors, allowing me to be promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade.
Great, so we're done! No! I have to go to Department Head school next. I get a bunch of administrative-type skills for free and get six more skills (Int/10) that I can improve with a d10 roll.
So now I'm...wait...no. Now I have to go to Command School. *deep breath* All right. I get a bunch of leadership and political-type skills, plus six more skills with six more improvement rolls.
And now I'm done. Except that I have to roll to figure out my post-Academy experience. I have to do a number of tours equal to 1d10/2, plus mods. Also, since I went to Command school, I'm destined to be a captain or first officer, so I add +2 tours.
The tables were especially confusing in this part, so I probably screwed this up badly. The gist of it is that I got an Outstanding evaluation at my first post, then a bunch of Average evaluations at my other posts. My final tour, the one where I was destined to be promoted to Lieutenant Commander, earned me a Poor rating, because all of this is based on random rolls and there are always going to be outliers.
But now I'm do...Wait! I have to roll 1d10/2 for each tour to see how many years I served in it. This makes me 34 years old (I think, there was some confusion as to what my starting age was). I get a bunch more skills that I'm allowed to improve based on how many years I've served, so by calculating my Int and my...
Forget it. Here's my character.
Lt. Commander Othrivo Zh'izalel
Female Andorian, Communications/Damage Control
STR 77 Action Points 10 END 71 Ranged Weapons 53 INT 60 Unarmed Combat 52 DEX 67 Bare Hand Dmg 2d10 CHA 58
LUC 41
PSI 62
Maximum Operating Endurance: 71Current Operating Endurance: 71Inaction Save: 20Unconsciousness Threshold: 5Wound Healing Rate: 3Fatigue Healing Rate: 7
Skill # Skill # Comm Systems Operation 66 Personal Weapons Technology 16 Comm Systems Technology 39 Physical Science (Chemistry) 10 Computer Operation 28 Racial/Cultural (Klingon) 20 Computer Technology 20 Racial/Cultural (Romulan) 17 Damage Control Procedures 80 Shuttlecraft Pilot 17 Environmental Suit Operation 13 Small Equip Sys Operation 24 Gaming (Arcade Games) 14 S Science (Fed Culture/History) 21 General Medicine (First Aid) 25 Social Science (Fed Law) 25 Instruction 10 Space Science (Astronomy) 10 Language (Klingon) 40 Space Science (Geology) 10 Language (Romulan) 16 Space Science (Hydrology) 10 Leadership 54 Starship Combat 53 Life Science (Biology) 10 Starship Sensors 20 Marksman (Modern Weapon) 40 Transporter Operation 15 Negotiation/Diplomacy 32 Trivia (Arcade Games) 9 Personal Combat (Armed) 8 Zero-G Operations 10 Personal Combat (Unarmed) 38
I may also just make up a character for Boldly Go, too, since it is an RPG I own, this is my blog, and self-aggrandizement is literally a thing I do.
We're starting off this event with the oldest version of the Star Trek game, which was made by FASA in the early '80s. This version came out well before TNG was a twinkle in Gene Roddenberry's eye, so it uses only the Original Series and the Animated Series (you can play a Caitian if you want, or whatever the hell Arex is, so that's exciting).
Being an RPG from the early period means that the game is filled with crunchy bits. I believe that, since this game was made at around the same time as Starfleet Battles was made, it was designed to interface with the rules for that wargame, which explains where some of the crunch comes from.
After character generation (which took me three different attempts on three different days), I wound up with a character that looks very much like a Call of Cthulhu character or something of that ilk--some stats, some derived stats, and a whole heaping pile of skills at a wide range of percentages. Getting to that point, however, required me to do enough bookkeeping that it made me feel like I was doing my taxes.
Here's how it all came together. NB: People who actually know how to play this game, please bear with me; it's entirely possible that I did some or all portions of character generation incorrectly.
I decided to make a female Andorian. I started out generating my seven primary stats. Luck and Psi are rolled straight percentile. The rest are rolled with 3d10+10. Then I added in my racial modifiers. Then I get to roll percentile die, take 50% of the result, and spend the remainder on anything but Psi. I rolled a 94, did an even split between the other stats, and dumped the remaining 6 points in Luck.
Secondary stats are derived in the usual way (mods to other stats), though some of them are averages of stats and certain skills, and one of them (bare hand damage), I had to look up on a table.
Good so far! Now it comes time to pick skills, and this is where things get hairy. I start of with Background Skills from my childhood times. I get a number of skills equal 1/10th of my Int, which I have to split between Education and Personal. I roll 1d10 for each to get the skill's rating. If I want, I may pick skills twice to show my deep commitment to them, getting a second roll.
Right. Now I get a bunch of basic skills, presumably from my early days in Starfleet. I get them at the listed amounts. I also get 5 elective skills that I can get +5 in, but I can't double up those skills (to get +10 or +15 in one skill). After that I get 6 (1/10th my Int) + 5 skills that I can improve with a d10 roll. I think you can double up on these.
It's about this point that I started to miss how skills worked in Top Secret.
Okay. Now I pick a branch of service and pick those skills. I went with Communications, because why not? I also get two more elective skills, picking two and boosting them by 1d10 each. Then I get to train two more of my branch skills equal to my (Int - 50)/10. So one more skill gets another 1d10 roll.
So I'm done now, right? Hahaha. No. Now I have to go on my cadet cruise. If nothing happens on my cruise, I won't get evaluated and will have to go out for another one. I roll randomly for everything and find out that I was on an Exploration Command ship, and I passed my cruise with high honors, allowing me to be promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade.
Great, so we're done! No! I have to go to Department Head school next. I get a bunch of administrative-type skills for free and get six more skills (Int/10) that I can improve with a d10 roll.
So now I'm...wait...no. Now I have to go to Command School. *deep breath* All right. I get a bunch of leadership and political-type skills, plus six more skills with six more improvement rolls.
And now I'm done. Except that I have to roll to figure out my post-Academy experience. I have to do a number of tours equal to 1d10/2, plus mods. Also, since I went to Command school, I'm destined to be a captain or first officer, so I add +2 tours.
The tables were especially confusing in this part, so I probably screwed this up badly. The gist of it is that I got an Outstanding evaluation at my first post, then a bunch of Average evaluations at my other posts. My final tour, the one where I was destined to be promoted to Lieutenant Commander, earned me a Poor rating, because all of this is based on random rolls and there are always going to be outliers.
But now I'm do...Wait! I have to roll 1d10/2 for each tour to see how many years I served in it. This makes me 34 years old (I think, there was some confusion as to what my starting age was). I get a bunch more skills that I'm allowed to improve based on how many years I've served, so by calculating my Int and my...
Forget it. Here's my character.
Lt. Commander Othrivo Zh'izalel
Female Andorian, Communications/Damage Control
STR 77 Action Points 10 END 71 Ranged Weapons 53 INT 60 Unarmed Combat 52 DEX 67 Bare Hand Dmg 2d10 CHA 58
LUC 41
PSI 62
Maximum Operating Endurance: 71Current Operating Endurance: 71Inaction Save: 20Unconsciousness Threshold: 5Wound Healing Rate: 3Fatigue Healing Rate: 7
Skill # Skill # Comm Systems Operation 66 Personal Weapons Technology 16 Comm Systems Technology 39 Physical Science (Chemistry) 10 Computer Operation 28 Racial/Cultural (Klingon) 20 Computer Technology 20 Racial/Cultural (Romulan) 17 Damage Control Procedures 80 Shuttlecraft Pilot 17 Environmental Suit Operation 13 Small Equip Sys Operation 24 Gaming (Arcade Games) 14 S Science (Fed Culture/History) 21 General Medicine (First Aid) 25 Social Science (Fed Law) 25 Instruction 10 Space Science (Astronomy) 10 Language (Klingon) 40 Space Science (Geology) 10 Language (Romulan) 16 Space Science (Hydrology) 10 Leadership 54 Starship Combat 53 Life Science (Biology) 10 Starship Sensors 20 Marksman (Modern Weapon) 40 Transporter Operation 15 Negotiation/Diplomacy 32 Trivia (Arcade Games) 9 Personal Combat (Armed) 8 Zero-G Operations 10 Personal Combat (Unarmed) 38
January 7, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Cyborg Commando
Cyborg Commando makes me sad. It has a wonderful premise that gets bogged down and ultimately suffocated by poor organization, random tangents, and unfortunate game design. I mean, here's the elevator pitch: You're a psychically-sensitive individual whose brain has been placed in a robot body so that you can fight the bugs invading earth from outer space? How cool is that?!
Not terribly, unfortunately.
Much of this can be laid squarely at the feet of the GM's guide, which contains scientific minutiae about how the cyborgs work, that the aliens are made up of super-large, geometrically-shaped cells that link together Tangrams style, and what sort of commando bases can be found on which continent. It's all terribly dry with none of the fluff that would make the game interest. I guess the age of fluff was still to come (the game was released in the '80s), but even contemporary games like Star Frontiers or Top Secret gave you some idea of what the world was like and what you could expect while adventuring through it.
Character creation in this game proved to be a lukewarm spill (not a hot mess, but close), requiring me to jump back and forth between sections repeatedly, hunting for obscure rules, and squinting and saying, "what" in disbelief at one sentence or another. I should also point out that I used the basic character generation rules. There's a more complicated one, but I don't recommend that for anyone, ever.
How does the basic character generation system work? Well, I'll tell you. It starts off innocently enough: You get 60 points to spend on your character, of which you use some number to purchase stats and the remainder to purchase skills. The game doesn't go out of its way to give concrete numbers, saying only that a character should spend 20-50 points on stats. I went with the top end of that spread and spent 50.
You have three stats, Mental, Neural, and Physical. I soon learned that Physical referred to your organic body which, by this point in your character's career, is sitting in a bacta tank somewhere for when the alien menace has finally passed. Your cyborg body is equal to your organic physical rating + 100 (because a brain in a jar counts for a lot when compared to the exoskeleton containing it). Based on that, and on the fact that Neural heavily influences your secondary stats, I went with high Neural, moderate mental, and minimal Physical.
At this point, the game mentions that Psychogenics could be a stat if you and the GM wanted it to be. All characters are, by their nature, somewhat psychically-inclined, because it's your mental powers that allows your brain in a jar to use their robot body. I went full-bore and said, "Yes, my GM has allowed Psychogenics, so I will put points in that," only to not find any rules on how to calculate or use Psychogenics. It turns out those rules are in the Advanced Character Generation section.
Moving on!
My secondary stats were calculated as follows: I can have a maximum number of Skills (but not really), equal to 1/3 my Mental. I will Train a point in a skill by spending 100 - Mental hours in study. My rather high Neural allows me to take 3 actions per round, function for three days without rest or sleep (despite being in a cybernetic body), and move three hexes per combat round.
I also do 11 damage in unarmed combat, have 210 Integrity (or Hit) Points, and heal 11 points of damage per day--wait, no--I heal 11 points per damage on any organic parts that I have remaining. So if my brain takes damage, I can heal it. If my cyborg body takes damage...well, presumably there's rules for that somewhere.
Fine. I also get to calculate my Throw, Carry, and Lift values. The system gives me the option of using Imperial or Metric units, but then states that using Metric gives me an advantage, so I use Metric. This ain't my first RPG, son.
And, again, how much I can throw, carry, and lift is based partly on my starting Physical stat, because that body that's floating in a tank of preservative is really helping out with its muscle power, here.
Okay, now for skills. All untrained skills have a rating of 1. I get to pick any five skills of my choice and distribute my remaining 10 points between them. There are skills for art history, science, and for appreciating the classics, but this is also Cyborg Commando, so I specialized in all of the fighting skills. Because, duh.
Then, on top of that, the game gives you a handful of other skills that your character gets from basic training. If you didn't train these skills, you get them at a rating of 10. If you did train them, you get them at a rating of 9 + your current rating. This leads me to believe that I didn't leave enough points for skills and that I'm relatively unskilled at the skills that I purchased.
But no! It turns out that Cyborg Commando uses the d10x system, in which you roll 2d10 and multiply the results together. If the final result is less than your stat or skill, you succeed. This creates a freaky probability curve that I don't quite understand, but it does seem to make rolling against my relatively low stats and skills somewhat more likely.
The last part of character creation involves copying down a big long list of things that my character's cyborg body provides. I note that I have a 200 power unit battery, and that I can slowly recharge by touching an outlet (I get back 7 PU per minute). The body is equipped with numerous functions, including on-board weaponry, that cost variable amounts of PU to use.
Or I could buy a gun, use that, and save my PU for other stuff. I mean, the characters in all of the game art are equipped with pistols or rifles are whatever, so that makes sense. Except that nowhere in any of the books are any tables that tell you how guns work, how much damage they do, or what they cost.
All that being said, here's my character.
Steve, the Cyborg Commando Mental: 15Neural: 30Physical: 5/105
Skills: 5 Train: 85Actions: 3/roundRest: Function for 3 days until rest or sleep is requiredSpeed: 3 hexes per time unit
Damage: 11 damage from punches or kicks.Heal: 11 points of damage healed per day, organic parts (brain) only.Integrity Points: 210 HP
Throw: 53 kgCarry: 1,050 kgLift: 2,100 kg
SkillsAll unlisted Skill Fields have a rating of 1.
Vehicles: 4Personal Movement: 4Strategy & Tactics: 13Personal Weapons: 4Unarmed Combat: 13Energy Sciences: 10Communications: 10 Power Units: 200
Defenses: Resistant to corrosion, shielded versus electricity, create an Emmer Net at a cost of 1 PU per turn to deflect radiation and scramble radio symbols, effectively have a bulletproof vest all over my body, convert 10 points of impact damage to 1 PU, so shooting at me makes me stronger, eyes are not affected by bright lights or glare, I can reflect lasers with a mirror I carry, I think, smoke blocks my vision, I can use conductive material in the area to cleanse an area of smoke--10 cm/5 cm of material per minute.
Ultraspeed: Costs 20 PU per combat turn. X5 to Speed and Number of Actions. No apparent effect on Initiative. My onboard computer uses all means necessary to stop incoming projectiles.
Electrostat: 10 PU, Range 3 meters. Lightning bolt that does massive Neural damage.
"Laser": 5 PU, Range 1 km, damage d10x. Pew pew! I can spend more to burn holes in things.
Microwave: X PU equal to range, Range 1-100 meters, damage d10x.
Sonic: 10 PU per combat cycle, Range 50 meters, damage d10x. Fire off a pulse wave from the diaphragms in my hands.
Not terribly, unfortunately.
Much of this can be laid squarely at the feet of the GM's guide, which contains scientific minutiae about how the cyborgs work, that the aliens are made up of super-large, geometrically-shaped cells that link together Tangrams style, and what sort of commando bases can be found on which continent. It's all terribly dry with none of the fluff that would make the game interest. I guess the age of fluff was still to come (the game was released in the '80s), but even contemporary games like Star Frontiers or Top Secret gave you some idea of what the world was like and what you could expect while adventuring through it.
Character creation in this game proved to be a lukewarm spill (not a hot mess, but close), requiring me to jump back and forth between sections repeatedly, hunting for obscure rules, and squinting and saying, "what" in disbelief at one sentence or another. I should also point out that I used the basic character generation rules. There's a more complicated one, but I don't recommend that for anyone, ever.
How does the basic character generation system work? Well, I'll tell you. It starts off innocently enough: You get 60 points to spend on your character, of which you use some number to purchase stats and the remainder to purchase skills. The game doesn't go out of its way to give concrete numbers, saying only that a character should spend 20-50 points on stats. I went with the top end of that spread and spent 50.
You have three stats, Mental, Neural, and Physical. I soon learned that Physical referred to your organic body which, by this point in your character's career, is sitting in a bacta tank somewhere for when the alien menace has finally passed. Your cyborg body is equal to your organic physical rating + 100 (because a brain in a jar counts for a lot when compared to the exoskeleton containing it). Based on that, and on the fact that Neural heavily influences your secondary stats, I went with high Neural, moderate mental, and minimal Physical.
At this point, the game mentions that Psychogenics could be a stat if you and the GM wanted it to be. All characters are, by their nature, somewhat psychically-inclined, because it's your mental powers that allows your brain in a jar to use their robot body. I went full-bore and said, "Yes, my GM has allowed Psychogenics, so I will put points in that," only to not find any rules on how to calculate or use Psychogenics. It turns out those rules are in the Advanced Character Generation section.
Moving on!
My secondary stats were calculated as follows: I can have a maximum number of Skills (but not really), equal to 1/3 my Mental. I will Train a point in a skill by spending 100 - Mental hours in study. My rather high Neural allows me to take 3 actions per round, function for three days without rest or sleep (despite being in a cybernetic body), and move three hexes per combat round.
I also do 11 damage in unarmed combat, have 210 Integrity (or Hit) Points, and heal 11 points of damage per day--wait, no--I heal 11 points per damage on any organic parts that I have remaining. So if my brain takes damage, I can heal it. If my cyborg body takes damage...well, presumably there's rules for that somewhere.
Fine. I also get to calculate my Throw, Carry, and Lift values. The system gives me the option of using Imperial or Metric units, but then states that using Metric gives me an advantage, so I use Metric. This ain't my first RPG, son.
And, again, how much I can throw, carry, and lift is based partly on my starting Physical stat, because that body that's floating in a tank of preservative is really helping out with its muscle power, here.
Okay, now for skills. All untrained skills have a rating of 1. I get to pick any five skills of my choice and distribute my remaining 10 points between them. There are skills for art history, science, and for appreciating the classics, but this is also Cyborg Commando, so I specialized in all of the fighting skills. Because, duh.
Then, on top of that, the game gives you a handful of other skills that your character gets from basic training. If you didn't train these skills, you get them at a rating of 10. If you did train them, you get them at a rating of 9 + your current rating. This leads me to believe that I didn't leave enough points for skills and that I'm relatively unskilled at the skills that I purchased.
But no! It turns out that Cyborg Commando uses the d10x system, in which you roll 2d10 and multiply the results together. If the final result is less than your stat or skill, you succeed. This creates a freaky probability curve that I don't quite understand, but it does seem to make rolling against my relatively low stats and skills somewhat more likely.
The last part of character creation involves copying down a big long list of things that my character's cyborg body provides. I note that I have a 200 power unit battery, and that I can slowly recharge by touching an outlet (I get back 7 PU per minute). The body is equipped with numerous functions, including on-board weaponry, that cost variable amounts of PU to use.
Or I could buy a gun, use that, and save my PU for other stuff. I mean, the characters in all of the game art are equipped with pistols or rifles are whatever, so that makes sense. Except that nowhere in any of the books are any tables that tell you how guns work, how much damage they do, or what they cost.
All that being said, here's my character.
Steve, the Cyborg Commando Mental: 15Neural: 30Physical: 5/105
Skills: 5 Train: 85Actions: 3/roundRest: Function for 3 days until rest or sleep is requiredSpeed: 3 hexes per time unit
Damage: 11 damage from punches or kicks.Heal: 11 points of damage healed per day, organic parts (brain) only.Integrity Points: 210 HP
Throw: 53 kgCarry: 1,050 kgLift: 2,100 kg
SkillsAll unlisted Skill Fields have a rating of 1.
Vehicles: 4Personal Movement: 4Strategy & Tactics: 13Personal Weapons: 4Unarmed Combat: 13Energy Sciences: 10Communications: 10 Power Units: 200
Defenses: Resistant to corrosion, shielded versus electricity, create an Emmer Net at a cost of 1 PU per turn to deflect radiation and scramble radio symbols, effectively have a bulletproof vest all over my body, convert 10 points of impact damage to 1 PU, so shooting at me makes me stronger, eyes are not affected by bright lights or glare, I can reflect lasers with a mirror I carry, I think, smoke blocks my vision, I can use conductive material in the area to cleanse an area of smoke--10 cm/5 cm of material per minute.
Ultraspeed: Costs 20 PU per combat turn. X5 to Speed and Number of Actions. No apparent effect on Initiative. My onboard computer uses all means necessary to stop incoming projectiles.
Electrostat: 10 PU, Range 3 meters. Lightning bolt that does massive Neural damage.
"Laser": 5 PU, Range 1 km, damage d10x. Pew pew! I can spend more to burn holes in things.
Microwave: X PU equal to range, Range 1-100 meters, damage d10x.
Sonic: 10 PU per combat cycle, Range 50 meters, damage d10x. Fire off a pulse wave from the diaphragms in my hands.
January 3, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Mazes and Minotaurs
I have been delighted by this game ever since I acquired it and hope to either play a game or run a game someday.
The premise of the game is as follows: This is the modern-day reprint of the 1970s-era version of the World's First RPG(tm), except that this RPG comes from an alternate timeline where, instead of being about swords and sorcery and high fantasy, it's about Greek myths and legends.
And it's great!
There are some parts that don't really work all that well, of course: All of the graphics are clearly more modern Ancient Greek clipart instead of crudely drawn images by someone who is not an artist, and it preserves the rather dubious sexist traditions of real early RPGs, but overall it's an elegantly designed, clever, and well-written game.
The author also adds in a bit of flavor text as annotated commentary of the history of the game, its numerous versions, other (fake) contemporary games, and behind-the-scenes snippets. One particularly amusing one involves the fact that the original version of the game, despite being set in the Mediterranean, had one page of rules for ship combat. There's a lot of back and forth about how angry the fans were, about homebrew kludges to the system, and about a much-promised expansion (I think it was Tritons & Triremes) that was, of course, never published.
The character generation mechanic is one that most role-players have seen before: Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest. Do this six times. Place the results where you would like them to go. There are six stats: Might, Skill, Luck, Wits, Faith, and Charm. Each of these stats is important to one of the six character classes: Barbarian, Spearman (and only men!), Noble, Sorcerer (or Sorceress, who are more common and get to start out younger and hotter), Priest (or Priestess), and Nymph (only women, and there are six sub-types).
The game explicitly states that you should pick the class you want to play and then assign stats so that that class has their favored stat as the highest. I was going to do Sorcerer (again), but decided to mix things up a bit and try for a Spearman.
Your character also gets a special ability, some starting equipment, and some starting coins (Nobles get the most, Nymphs get nothing). My Spearman started fully outfitted for battle, which helped out dramatically, and a decent amount of coin to help me buy other supplies, if I wanted to.
Some rules notes: My Basic Defense is improved by +2 for every piece of armor I wear (and, according to the rules, I start with all of the armor pieces that exist, so that's pretty good). Danger Evasion is a save versus various forms of peril, like avoiding the gaze of a Medusa or realizing that your new, centaur-made sweater is poisoned. First Reaction is that Charisma roll that no one makes to see if strangers like you. Mystic Fortitude is my save versus spells.
In closing, I would really love to play this game at some point. I'd probably ditch the age requirements for Sorcerers, allow Spearwomen, and use the much maligned alternate rules that allow Satyrs. I'm sure it'll be just as fun!
Xelor of KyrosClass: SpearmanLevel: 1Glory: 0 (Local Hero)Race: GreekGender: MaleAge: 19
Might: 11 (+0)Skill: 16 (+2)Luck: 13 (+1)Wits: 15 (+1)Faith: 9 (+0)Grace: 13 (+1)
Melee Attack: +2Missile Attack: +3Initiative: +3
Basic Defense: 13Total Defense: 19Hits Total: 12
Danger Evasion: +2First Reaction: +2Mystic Fortitude: +2
Special: Fight Defensively--When fighting with spear and shield, they add their Skill modifier to their Defense Class (DC) against all melee attacks. This bonus does not apply against surprise or missile attacks.
Equipment: Spear, sword, dagger, shield, helmet, breastplate.
Wealth: 140 silver pieces.
The premise of the game is as follows: This is the modern-day reprint of the 1970s-era version of the World's First RPG(tm), except that this RPG comes from an alternate timeline where, instead of being about swords and sorcery and high fantasy, it's about Greek myths and legends.
And it's great!
There are some parts that don't really work all that well, of course: All of the graphics are clearly more modern Ancient Greek clipart instead of crudely drawn images by someone who is not an artist, and it preserves the rather dubious sexist traditions of real early RPGs, but overall it's an elegantly designed, clever, and well-written game.
The author also adds in a bit of flavor text as annotated commentary of the history of the game, its numerous versions, other (fake) contemporary games, and behind-the-scenes snippets. One particularly amusing one involves the fact that the original version of the game, despite being set in the Mediterranean, had one page of rules for ship combat. There's a lot of back and forth about how angry the fans were, about homebrew kludges to the system, and about a much-promised expansion (I think it was Tritons & Triremes) that was, of course, never published.
The character generation mechanic is one that most role-players have seen before: Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest. Do this six times. Place the results where you would like them to go. There are six stats: Might, Skill, Luck, Wits, Faith, and Charm. Each of these stats is important to one of the six character classes: Barbarian, Spearman (and only men!), Noble, Sorcerer (or Sorceress, who are more common and get to start out younger and hotter), Priest (or Priestess), and Nymph (only women, and there are six sub-types).
The game explicitly states that you should pick the class you want to play and then assign stats so that that class has their favored stat as the highest. I was going to do Sorcerer (again), but decided to mix things up a bit and try for a Spearman.
Your character also gets a special ability, some starting equipment, and some starting coins (Nobles get the most, Nymphs get nothing). My Spearman started fully outfitted for battle, which helped out dramatically, and a decent amount of coin to help me buy other supplies, if I wanted to.
Some rules notes: My Basic Defense is improved by +2 for every piece of armor I wear (and, according to the rules, I start with all of the armor pieces that exist, so that's pretty good). Danger Evasion is a save versus various forms of peril, like avoiding the gaze of a Medusa or realizing that your new, centaur-made sweater is poisoned. First Reaction is that Charisma roll that no one makes to see if strangers like you. Mystic Fortitude is my save versus spells.
In closing, I would really love to play this game at some point. I'd probably ditch the age requirements for Sorcerers, allow Spearwomen, and use the much maligned alternate rules that allow Satyrs. I'm sure it'll be just as fun!
Xelor of KyrosClass: SpearmanLevel: 1Glory: 0 (Local Hero)Race: GreekGender: MaleAge: 19
Might: 11 (+0)Skill: 16 (+2)Luck: 13 (+1)Wits: 15 (+1)Faith: 9 (+0)Grace: 13 (+1)
Melee Attack: +2Missile Attack: +3Initiative: +3
Basic Defense: 13Total Defense: 19Hits Total: 12
Danger Evasion: +2First Reaction: +2Mystic Fortitude: +2
Special: Fight Defensively--When fighting with spear and shield, they add their Skill modifier to their Defense Class (DC) against all melee attacks. This bonus does not apply against surprise or missile attacks.
Equipment: Spear, sword, dagger, shield, helmet, breastplate.
Wealth: 140 silver pieces.
December 30, 2016
The RPG Character Library: Dungeon ADVENTURE!
My friend Joe is also doing this here character library thing. For his first entry, he decided to make a character across multiple versions of the same system or franchise. For those of you who didn't click the hypertext, Joe picked Star Wars.
I'm stealing Joe's idea, partly because I think it will save a whole lot of time (who has just about every edition of D&D ever? This guy!), but also because it's interesting to see how and why changes occur from system to system or from edition to edition. And also, since it's been a whole ten minutes before I flogged the, "Geoff Makes Games!" horse, I I decided to steal Joe's idea and apply it to one of my own game systems. So without further ado:
Dungeon ADVENTURE! (and yes, I'm going to keep capitalizing it, because I've done so for literally years and I can't seem to stop) was a rules-light fantasy system that I started cobbling together around about the year 2000. At the time, I thought it was a great, new innovation in gaming. A coup d'etat, to coin a Norman phrase. Hindsight and a mild increase in maturity has proved me wrong--there wasn't anything innovative about it--it was a D&D clone and that's pretty much it.
But it was my D&D clone, goddamn it.
It might not have been a good game, but it was a game I spent a lot of time on. Of all the RPGs I've made, it was definitely the one I've played the most. Sadly, I don't have the original-original version of the rules, but I do have the final version of the original version of the rules (if that makes sense), a game that was very briefly published under the Game Hermits imprint.
For those who are interested, the game goes a little something like this: You roll 3d6 for your stats and place them wherever. You get stat bonuses from your race and your class. Your race and class also provide you with bonuses to certain skills. Then you get five skill points to buy whatever skills you want. You would also get a class bonus at fifth level and every five levels thereafter, which would slowly but surely turn you into the ultimate badass.
Dungeon ADVENTURE! was made during the time period where I was heavily influenced by games that were both rules-light and funny, and it shows. Some of the jokes still work sort of okay, but the rest, like most humor, was appropriate to the time in which it was written and has not aged well. It also relied very heavily on what I like to call Hackmaster humor (and not just because I was reading Hackmaster at the time). The GM is a jerk. The players are jerks. They fight all the time in the example text. Ha ha! Isn't this hilarious? Don't you want to play this game with your argumentative friends? No?
The layout of the first edition rules are super-wonky and kind of hard to follow, even for me, the guy who made the game. I was able to make a character in about fifteen minutes, though, which isn't too bad. Here he is!
Navino the Blue, Human Wizard
Racial Bonuses: +1 Strength, +1 Health, +1 to attack and dodge in combat
Class Bonuses: +2 Resist Wizardry, +2 Wizardry
Class Penalties: -2 all Combat rolls, cannot wear armor with a Agility Penalty
Strength 9 Mod +0 Level 1 Agility 9 Mod +0 Experience 0 Mind 15 Mod +1 AP 3 Health 14 Mod +1 Life 29 Charisma 14 Mod +1 Mana 31 Luck 14 Mod +1 Karma 0
Specialties: Recall Obscure Bit of Trivia +2, Haltingly Translate Obscure Texts +2, Huck Javelin +1
Gold: 61
Wizardry: Elements (15), Energy (13), Mental (11), Spirit (9)
EquipmentClothes and Shoes 0 GBasic Adventurer’s Kit 8 G (Backpack, tinder box, dry rations 1xweek, waterskin, 25’ rope, 3 torches, 50’ twine)Hard Leather Armor 40 GBuckler 7 GQuiver 2 G
Javelin (6) 12 G
From here, we enter a twelve-year phase of endless revisions. You see, I brought Dungeon ADVENTURE! with me when I left Game Hermits for SlugFest Games, thinking that the simple, straightforward design and goofy humor would be a good fit for our company products. Unfortunately, the powers that be passed on every version of the game I made (and there were a lot of them), worried that they were either too complex, not complex enough, too goofy, too not goofy, didn't model reality well enough, were too abstract, and so on.
This culminated in the very last version of the game that I wrote in 2012. I wrote this game for me and no one else. It is written in a much more serious and straightforward style and, though a lot of the rules have changed, the character is still recognizable as a Dungeon ADVENTURE! character if you squint.
My biggest problem with making this version of the character was that it took so damn long. On the one hand, the character is more fleshed out with skills and equipment due to the much more comprehensive rules. On the other hand, it had lost the fun and free-wheeling feel of the earlier edition. It almost felt like I took Tunnels & Trolls and turned it into Chivalry & Sorcery (much love in advance to the handful of people who understood that reference).
Navino the Blue, Human Sorcerer
Human: +1 to any Stat (Will). Knack (Explorer): +2 Survival.
Sorcerer: Important stat: Will. +1 Rank to 2 Domains, +1 Rank to 2 Powers, The Sight, +2 bonus to Power and Domain skills, Have 2 Active Spells at once.
Race Human Class Sorcerer Body 2 Speed 3/30’ Fighting 2 Status 7 (Landowner) Intellect 4 Wealth 0 Will 6 Life 7 Luck 2 Fate 2
SkillsAwareness: 1Defense: 1Diplomacy: 1Domain <Animal>: 2Domain <Body>: 2Domain <Water>: 2Job <Land Manager>: 2Power <Control:> 2Power <Strengthen>: 2Power <Weaken>: 2Ride <Mule>: 1Spellcraft: 3Survival <Wilderness>: 3Weapon <Daggers>: 1Willpower: 1
Sorcerous PowerActive Spells: 2Range: 60’Damage: 1d6+2Healing: +2Stat/Skill Change: +/-2Volume: 4’ diameter sphere
EquipmentFine ClothingDaggerMap of His DomainMule (Percy)SaddlebagsFlint and TinderLanternLamp Oil
This is one of the few times where I compared the latest version of something I made to the earliest version of something I've made and realized that I liked the earliest version better. In fact, I was so enamored with the earlier version that I've decided to try and revise it, creating a new iteration of Dungeon ADVENTURE! that uses everything I've learned up until now.
It will probably still be funny (though not as antagonistic) and easy to play (without being too simplistic). It will have structure where it's needed and no structure where it doesn't. It will be fun and flexible and it will come out eventually...
So long as I don't get distracted by something else first!
I'm stealing Joe's idea, partly because I think it will save a whole lot of time (who has just about every edition of D&D ever? This guy!), but also because it's interesting to see how and why changes occur from system to system or from edition to edition. And also, since it's been a whole ten minutes before I flogged the, "Geoff Makes Games!" horse, I I decided to steal Joe's idea and apply it to one of my own game systems. So without further ado:
Dungeon ADVENTURE! (and yes, I'm going to keep capitalizing it, because I've done so for literally years and I can't seem to stop) was a rules-light fantasy system that I started cobbling together around about the year 2000. At the time, I thought it was a great, new innovation in gaming. A coup d'etat, to coin a Norman phrase. Hindsight and a mild increase in maturity has proved me wrong--there wasn't anything innovative about it--it was a D&D clone and that's pretty much it.
But it was my D&D clone, goddamn it.
It might not have been a good game, but it was a game I spent a lot of time on. Of all the RPGs I've made, it was definitely the one I've played the most. Sadly, I don't have the original-original version of the rules, but I do have the final version of the original version of the rules (if that makes sense), a game that was very briefly published under the Game Hermits imprint.
For those who are interested, the game goes a little something like this: You roll 3d6 for your stats and place them wherever. You get stat bonuses from your race and your class. Your race and class also provide you with bonuses to certain skills. Then you get five skill points to buy whatever skills you want. You would also get a class bonus at fifth level and every five levels thereafter, which would slowly but surely turn you into the ultimate badass.
Dungeon ADVENTURE! was made during the time period where I was heavily influenced by games that were both rules-light and funny, and it shows. Some of the jokes still work sort of okay, but the rest, like most humor, was appropriate to the time in which it was written and has not aged well. It also relied very heavily on what I like to call Hackmaster humor (and not just because I was reading Hackmaster at the time). The GM is a jerk. The players are jerks. They fight all the time in the example text. Ha ha! Isn't this hilarious? Don't you want to play this game with your argumentative friends? No?
The layout of the first edition rules are super-wonky and kind of hard to follow, even for me, the guy who made the game. I was able to make a character in about fifteen minutes, though, which isn't too bad. Here he is!
Navino the Blue, Human Wizard
Racial Bonuses: +1 Strength, +1 Health, +1 to attack and dodge in combat
Class Bonuses: +2 Resist Wizardry, +2 Wizardry
Class Penalties: -2 all Combat rolls, cannot wear armor with a Agility Penalty
Strength 9 Mod +0 Level 1 Agility 9 Mod +0 Experience 0 Mind 15 Mod +1 AP 3 Health 14 Mod +1 Life 29 Charisma 14 Mod +1 Mana 31 Luck 14 Mod +1 Karma 0
Specialties: Recall Obscure Bit of Trivia +2, Haltingly Translate Obscure Texts +2, Huck Javelin +1
Gold: 61
Wizardry: Elements (15), Energy (13), Mental (11), Spirit (9)
EquipmentClothes and Shoes 0 GBasic Adventurer’s Kit 8 G (Backpack, tinder box, dry rations 1xweek, waterskin, 25’ rope, 3 torches, 50’ twine)Hard Leather Armor 40 GBuckler 7 GQuiver 2 G
Javelin (6) 12 G
From here, we enter a twelve-year phase of endless revisions. You see, I brought Dungeon ADVENTURE! with me when I left Game Hermits for SlugFest Games, thinking that the simple, straightforward design and goofy humor would be a good fit for our company products. Unfortunately, the powers that be passed on every version of the game I made (and there were a lot of them), worried that they were either too complex, not complex enough, too goofy, too not goofy, didn't model reality well enough, were too abstract, and so on.
This culminated in the very last version of the game that I wrote in 2012. I wrote this game for me and no one else. It is written in a much more serious and straightforward style and, though a lot of the rules have changed, the character is still recognizable as a Dungeon ADVENTURE! character if you squint.
My biggest problem with making this version of the character was that it took so damn long. On the one hand, the character is more fleshed out with skills and equipment due to the much more comprehensive rules. On the other hand, it had lost the fun and free-wheeling feel of the earlier edition. It almost felt like I took Tunnels & Trolls and turned it into Chivalry & Sorcery (much love in advance to the handful of people who understood that reference).
Navino the Blue, Human Sorcerer
Human: +1 to any Stat (Will). Knack (Explorer): +2 Survival.
Sorcerer: Important stat: Will. +1 Rank to 2 Domains, +1 Rank to 2 Powers, The Sight, +2 bonus to Power and Domain skills, Have 2 Active Spells at once.
Race Human Class Sorcerer Body 2 Speed 3/30’ Fighting 2 Status 7 (Landowner) Intellect 4 Wealth 0 Will 6 Life 7 Luck 2 Fate 2
SkillsAwareness: 1Defense: 1Diplomacy: 1Domain <Animal>: 2Domain <Body>: 2Domain <Water>: 2Job <Land Manager>: 2Power <Control:> 2Power <Strengthen>: 2Power <Weaken>: 2Ride <Mule>: 1Spellcraft: 3Survival <Wilderness>: 3Weapon <Daggers>: 1Willpower: 1
Sorcerous PowerActive Spells: 2Range: 60’Damage: 1d6+2Healing: +2Stat/Skill Change: +/-2Volume: 4’ diameter sphere
EquipmentFine ClothingDaggerMap of His DomainMule (Percy)SaddlebagsFlint and TinderLanternLamp Oil
This is one of the few times where I compared the latest version of something I made to the earliest version of something I've made and realized that I liked the earliest version better. In fact, I was so enamored with the earlier version that I've decided to try and revise it, creating a new iteration of Dungeon ADVENTURE! that uses everything I've learned up until now.
It will probably still be funny (though not as antagonistic) and easy to play (without being too simplistic). It will have structure where it's needed and no structure where it doesn't. It will be fun and flexible and it will come out eventually...
So long as I don't get distracted by something else first!
December 20, 2016
The RPG Character Library: Dragonball Z RPG
I never got into Dragon Ball, or any of it's spinoff shows, despite kind of wanting to. Every episode turned into people standing around in a desert, or similar, screaming, comparing their power levels, and powering up. I think a case could be made that if you cut out the episodes and just showed the teasers (Last Time/Next Time...on Dragon Ball), you could have a very briskly-paced series that hits the same beats but isn't quite as tedious. If I ever have a large window uninterrupted time and some editing software, I might test this theory to see how it goes. Until then...
I picked up the Dragonball Z RPG at a con just on a whim. I remember having a vague desire to create a game kind of like Dragon Ball, in which the characters had one attribute (POWER!) that they parceled out in different ways to do different things. The game never came to fruition, in part because the DBZ RPG (OMG!) already exists, in part because I'm easily distracted, and in part because I don't love anime nearly as much as I love Star Trek.
In the game, you can pick from any three species provided you roll well enough (3 or less on 2d6 to be a Namekian, 2 or less to be a Saiyan). In practice, this mean that I was playing a human. Humans can look like pig people or dog people or whatever, because Dragon Ball, but in the end, their stats are the same.
The rulebook is laid out in a weird way, which made character creation a bit of a challenge. In the first place, stats and skills are listed in one order in the book, but in another order on the character sheet. In the second place, there's nowhere in the rules (that I could find) that tells you how to calculate your Power Level and Power Up stats. Fortunately, the dice mechanics to determine these stats are listed on the sample character sheets, so I was able to actually make a character.
One thing that I found rather strange was that Power Level isn't actually indicative of anything. I had assumed, prior to making a character, that it was more like XP in Dungeons & Dragons 5E, where a sixth level character would be powerful enough to trigger meme-like screaming from Vegeta. It's not. It's actually randomly rolled. Presumably it improves with character advancement, but I'm probably never playing this game, so I didn't read that part of the rules.
In true Geoff fashion, I rolled and got the lowest possible result for my Power Level, so my character would likely be a one-scene comic relief wonder before being stomped into the dirt by the actual fighters in the series.
This is the first game that I'm doing for the library that features a point buy character creation system. While I'm all for point buy creation in theory, in practice it's a little tricky. I tend to gravitate to "normal" characters with have average stats in everything, especially if I don't know what I'm doing yet and don't really know the ins and outs of the system. I started out doing that for this game, only to realize that Combat is the most important stat (it modifies four skills), followed by Physical (which determines your Hits). For a game that's all about fighting, dumping points into those seemed like the logical way to go.
I was glad that the character generation section offered up character hooks (Personality, Important Value, etc.) that I could pick from to round out my character. Those, plus the off-handed mention in the rules that said my character could maybe be a wrestler if I wanted, allowed me to crystallize my concept and create former pro wrestler "The Flying Triangle."
I'm not sure if I did Fighting Techniques right. There's seemingly no limit to the number you can have or how high they can go, except that your FT rating adds to your damage dice when you hit with the Technique, but subtract from your attack dice, making you less likely to hit. They may be wrong, is what I'm saying, but I do have fewer of them than most of the sample characters, so at least I'm not a munchkin.
And yeah, that's right. Most of those numbers on my character sheet are dice pools.
The Flying Triangle
Power Level 110 Power Up 200 Mental 8 Combat 15 Physical 12 Move 5 Defense 60 Hits 120 Fighting 15 +Combat 30 Evasion 15 +Combat 30 Weapon 5 +Combat 20 Power 5 +Combat 20 Body 5 +Physical 18 Mind 5 +Mental 13
Species: HumanPersonality: Silly and Fluff-HeadedImportant Value: Having a Good TimeValued Person: MyselfHistory: Mentored by the Penultimate Fighter in the Encircled SquareShtick: Drinks Lots of Soda, Belches, Hates Universe Man, Hates Particle Man
My New Fighting Technique is UnstoppableThe Flying Triangle: 5Triple Suplex!: 3Particle Pile Driver: 4Belch from Dantien: 2
I picked up the Dragonball Z RPG at a con just on a whim. I remember having a vague desire to create a game kind of like Dragon Ball, in which the characters had one attribute (POWER!) that they parceled out in different ways to do different things. The game never came to fruition, in part because the DBZ RPG (OMG!) already exists, in part because I'm easily distracted, and in part because I don't love anime nearly as much as I love Star Trek.
In the game, you can pick from any three species provided you roll well enough (3 or less on 2d6 to be a Namekian, 2 or less to be a Saiyan). In practice, this mean that I was playing a human. Humans can look like pig people or dog people or whatever, because Dragon Ball, but in the end, their stats are the same.
The rulebook is laid out in a weird way, which made character creation a bit of a challenge. In the first place, stats and skills are listed in one order in the book, but in another order on the character sheet. In the second place, there's nowhere in the rules (that I could find) that tells you how to calculate your Power Level and Power Up stats. Fortunately, the dice mechanics to determine these stats are listed on the sample character sheets, so I was able to actually make a character.
One thing that I found rather strange was that Power Level isn't actually indicative of anything. I had assumed, prior to making a character, that it was more like XP in Dungeons & Dragons 5E, where a sixth level character would be powerful enough to trigger meme-like screaming from Vegeta. It's not. It's actually randomly rolled. Presumably it improves with character advancement, but I'm probably never playing this game, so I didn't read that part of the rules.
In true Geoff fashion, I rolled and got the lowest possible result for my Power Level, so my character would likely be a one-scene comic relief wonder before being stomped into the dirt by the actual fighters in the series.
This is the first game that I'm doing for the library that features a point buy character creation system. While I'm all for point buy creation in theory, in practice it's a little tricky. I tend to gravitate to "normal" characters with have average stats in everything, especially if I don't know what I'm doing yet and don't really know the ins and outs of the system. I started out doing that for this game, only to realize that Combat is the most important stat (it modifies four skills), followed by Physical (which determines your Hits). For a game that's all about fighting, dumping points into those seemed like the logical way to go.
I was glad that the character generation section offered up character hooks (Personality, Important Value, etc.) that I could pick from to round out my character. Those, plus the off-handed mention in the rules that said my character could maybe be a wrestler if I wanted, allowed me to crystallize my concept and create former pro wrestler "The Flying Triangle."
I'm not sure if I did Fighting Techniques right. There's seemingly no limit to the number you can have or how high they can go, except that your FT rating adds to your damage dice when you hit with the Technique, but subtract from your attack dice, making you less likely to hit. They may be wrong, is what I'm saying, but I do have fewer of them than most of the sample characters, so at least I'm not a munchkin.
And yeah, that's right. Most of those numbers on my character sheet are dice pools.
The Flying Triangle
Power Level 110 Power Up 200 Mental 8 Combat 15 Physical 12 Move 5 Defense 60 Hits 120 Fighting 15 +Combat 30 Evasion 15 +Combat 30 Weapon 5 +Combat 20 Power 5 +Combat 20 Body 5 +Physical 18 Mind 5 +Mental 13
Species: HumanPersonality: Silly and Fluff-HeadedImportant Value: Having a Good TimeValued Person: MyselfHistory: Mentored by the Penultimate Fighter in the Encircled SquareShtick: Drinks Lots of Soda, Belches, Hates Universe Man, Hates Particle Man
My New Fighting Technique is UnstoppableThe Flying Triangle: 5Triple Suplex!: 3Particle Pile Driver: 4Belch from Dantien: 2
December 18, 2016
The RPG Character Library: Stuperheroes
Stuperheroes is one of the games that I purchased and devoured many years ago when I was very much into making funny, niche role-playing games. It is a game in which you play a third-rate superhero with terrible powers going up against actual, albeit still silly, supervillains.
Some of the mechanics in the game are interesting. Bullets fired from guns technically do 3 Hurt if they hit you. However, most bullets in the game use what's known as the "A-Team Rule," which means that a) you only have to dodge once per round no matter how many bullets are flying at you and b) if you do get hit, you only get winged in the shoulder for 1 Hurt.
The rest of the system isn't particularly workable, however. Everything is decided on coin flips (heads you win, tails you lose), with automatic successes occurring every time you make the GM (or BMD--Big Mac Daddy) laugh. You can Rock/Paper/Scissors the BMD to get things to go your way, and you can also play Truth or Dare in order to heal yourself.
There aren't stats or skills to speak of. You get three randomly rolled stuperpowers and that's pretty much it. The deluxe edition allows you to randomly roll your origin story. I also randomly rolled my battle cry, because they listed six examples and I have a plethora of d6s.
So, here's my character.
Origin StoryFrom an eccentric aunt, you inherited some bionic chitlins!
Battle Cry"For the glory of pants!"
Stuperpowers Drop 60’ Toilets from the Sky!Twenty-Three Car Pileup!Mentally Tie Shoelaces Together!
I think I might have been more satisfied with this character if I had gotten powers that gelled together in some way. I'm not sure what sort of character this is, and there simply isn't enough there for me to come up with something.
As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the things I like about the old school games is that random dice rolls can inform things about your character. This can be as basic as the old D&D standby, "my Strength is high, so I'm playing a warrior," or it can be a little bit more subtle, like Harry Christmas' high Fingerprinting skill indicating that maybe he worked for a police lab before becoming a PI.
With this, I don't know. The game says to base my character off of one of my powers, but I'm not...
Oh wait. I just realized I rolled up Mayhem from the Allstate commercials.
The city's in good hands, I guess!
Some of the mechanics in the game are interesting. Bullets fired from guns technically do 3 Hurt if they hit you. However, most bullets in the game use what's known as the "A-Team Rule," which means that a) you only have to dodge once per round no matter how many bullets are flying at you and b) if you do get hit, you only get winged in the shoulder for 1 Hurt.
The rest of the system isn't particularly workable, however. Everything is decided on coin flips (heads you win, tails you lose), with automatic successes occurring every time you make the GM (or BMD--Big Mac Daddy) laugh. You can Rock/Paper/Scissors the BMD to get things to go your way, and you can also play Truth or Dare in order to heal yourself.
There aren't stats or skills to speak of. You get three randomly rolled stuperpowers and that's pretty much it. The deluxe edition allows you to randomly roll your origin story. I also randomly rolled my battle cry, because they listed six examples and I have a plethora of d6s.
So, here's my character.
Origin StoryFrom an eccentric aunt, you inherited some bionic chitlins!
Battle Cry"For the glory of pants!"
Stuperpowers Drop 60’ Toilets from the Sky!Twenty-Three Car Pileup!Mentally Tie Shoelaces Together!
I think I might have been more satisfied with this character if I had gotten powers that gelled together in some way. I'm not sure what sort of character this is, and there simply isn't enough there for me to come up with something.
As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the things I like about the old school games is that random dice rolls can inform things about your character. This can be as basic as the old D&D standby, "my Strength is high, so I'm playing a warrior," or it can be a little bit more subtle, like Harry Christmas' high Fingerprinting skill indicating that maybe he worked for a police lab before becoming a PI.
With this, I don't know. The game says to base my character off of one of my powers, but I'm not...
Oh wait. I just realized I rolled up Mayhem from the Allstate commercials.
The city's in good hands, I guess!
December 16, 2016
The RPG Character Library: Gangbusters
Gangbusters is a game from TSR that is set in the Roaring Twenties in Chicago Lakefront City, USA! You can play cops, private investigators, gangsters, and intrepid reporters. Will you be on the side of law and order, or will you be a bootlegger or a cop on the take? You decide.
This is a game that I have always wanted to play, in part because the time period fascinates me, and in part because I have big old nostalgia goggles for this game thanks to my friend Kevin. He and his brother used to play the game when they were kids and Kevin kept careful notes about their adventures. He would regale me with tales of bank shootouts, smokey gin joints, and of the one time his gangster died in a 40 mph car chase on the mean streets of the city.
ME: It feels like you'd have to create a really good city map in order to play this game.
KEVIN: Or you could just use a map of Chicago?
ME: Oh yeah!
I have the first and third edition rule books of this game, but wound up using the third edition rules to create my character. The system is similar to the one used in Top Secret. Well, let me take that back--the dice mechanics are identical, but the names of the stats and how you configure your secondary stats are totally different.
Gangbusters has an interesting method of skill selection which is vaguely reminiscent of, but not identical to, Top Secret. You get all general skills at 20%. At first level, you get to pick a low-cost skill and roll to see how good it is (I lucked out with Fingerprinting at 92%). As you go up in level, you gain points that you can use to improve skills that you already have or buy new skills. Quick and simple!
I was ready to roll up a gangster character, but decided at the last minute that I wanted to be a private investigator, instead. Something-something Geoff always winds up playing mostly good guys so he can sleep better at night.
Characters start off with $50 in pocket money, an upkeep cost (which must be paid weekly) that covers food and housing and similar, and some clothes. Private investigators must spend money to buy their license, and that license costs exactly $50, so I start the game with no money. Thematically appropriate!
As with most of the games of this period, all stats and skills must be randomly rolled. In a way, I kind of hate this, because if I don't roll well, I can't make the character that I want to make. On the other hand, I kind of like this, because my writer brain tries to make logical sense of the rolls that I've made. As a result, I have an idea that my character was a lab guy who worked for the Lakefront City PD, until he got wind of just how corrupt the force was. He then quit his job to become a PI and clean up the streets.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
Name Haroldo Navidad Alias/Nickname Harry Christmas Profession Private Investigator Salary Highly Variable Level/XP 1/0 HP 18 Muscle 67 Luck 23 Agility 56 Driving 66 Observation 76 Punching 4 Presence 9
Skills
Fingerprinting: 92%General Skills: 20%
Vital StatisticsHeight: 5’9”Weight: 180 lbsAge: 25Features, Marks, and Scars: Handsome, heterochromia (green eye, blue eye), badly set noseEthnicity: Spanish
EquipmentCash: $0
Two suits of clothesAny items normally obtained from employerInvestigator license ($50)
Basic expenses: $20 per week.
This is a game that I have always wanted to play, in part because the time period fascinates me, and in part because I have big old nostalgia goggles for this game thanks to my friend Kevin. He and his brother used to play the game when they were kids and Kevin kept careful notes about their adventures. He would regale me with tales of bank shootouts, smokey gin joints, and of the one time his gangster died in a 40 mph car chase on the mean streets of the city.
ME: It feels like you'd have to create a really good city map in order to play this game.
KEVIN: Or you could just use a map of Chicago?
ME: Oh yeah!
I have the first and third edition rule books of this game, but wound up using the third edition rules to create my character. The system is similar to the one used in Top Secret. Well, let me take that back--the dice mechanics are identical, but the names of the stats and how you configure your secondary stats are totally different.
Gangbusters has an interesting method of skill selection which is vaguely reminiscent of, but not identical to, Top Secret. You get all general skills at 20%. At first level, you get to pick a low-cost skill and roll to see how good it is (I lucked out with Fingerprinting at 92%). As you go up in level, you gain points that you can use to improve skills that you already have or buy new skills. Quick and simple!
I was ready to roll up a gangster character, but decided at the last minute that I wanted to be a private investigator, instead. Something-something Geoff always winds up playing mostly good guys so he can sleep better at night.
Characters start off with $50 in pocket money, an upkeep cost (which must be paid weekly) that covers food and housing and similar, and some clothes. Private investigators must spend money to buy their license, and that license costs exactly $50, so I start the game with no money. Thematically appropriate!
As with most of the games of this period, all stats and skills must be randomly rolled. In a way, I kind of hate this, because if I don't roll well, I can't make the character that I want to make. On the other hand, I kind of like this, because my writer brain tries to make logical sense of the rolls that I've made. As a result, I have an idea that my character was a lab guy who worked for the Lakefront City PD, until he got wind of just how corrupt the force was. He then quit his job to become a PI and clean up the streets.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
Name Haroldo Navidad Alias/Nickname Harry Christmas Profession Private Investigator Salary Highly Variable Level/XP 1/0 HP 18 Muscle 67 Luck 23 Agility 56 Driving 66 Observation 76 Punching 4 Presence 9
Skills
Fingerprinting: 92%General Skills: 20%
Vital StatisticsHeight: 5’9”Weight: 180 lbsAge: 25Features, Marks, and Scars: Handsome, heterochromia (green eye, blue eye), badly set noseEthnicity: Spanish
EquipmentCash: $0
Two suits of clothesAny items normally obtained from employerInvestigator license ($50)
Basic expenses: $20 per week.
