Post by logan9a on Jan 22, 2019 21:35:17 GMT
INTRO AND ROLEPLAY
NUMBER OF BOOKS
This is a simple system, especially compared to other books whose publishing companies rely on coming up with more and more filler to sell. There is no separate GM’s guide and players guide. To make a character, all that is needed is the character sheet for experienced players. There are instructions and such for the new players.
So just this book.
INTRODUCTION TO ROLEPLAY
If you don’t know what it is, your chances of picking this book up are almost nill. Since this is covered in literally every other rule book, I’m skipping it. If you picked up these rules by chance and have no idea what it is all about, good luck. And thanks for the money if we’re selling this.
ADVANCED ROLEPLAY
Be in character - always.
Bad: “My character does…”, “He heads out to the park.”, “I tell Bert’s character…”, “Look at that great roll!”
Good: “I shoot!”, “I head out to the park.”, “Hey, Ronnie (the character’s name) -…”, “You are kicking ass!”
METAGAMING
Don’t metagame. Metagaming is acting on knowledge your character doesn’t have.
Fred: “Do I know astrologically what the Maya think about this?”
GM: “Roll your astrology.”
Jim: (Rolling his astrology)
GM: “Jim, WTF are you doing? Just because Fred looks thoughtful doesn’t mean you suddenly get to roll your astrology skill.”
Note - this is a constant problem for some players. Just wait until the other player mentions what they are trying to find *then* roll. Otherwise, just move on.
Metagamey: “I have a low sanity - let’s do some good guy shit so I can gain some sanity.”
Better RP: “I’ve been having second thoughts about some of my life choices. Who can we help today?”
HOW THIS GAME IS DIFFERENT FROM D&D
Why is this section in here? Because most people who have done table top roleplaying games have done D&D. In fact it seems that there is a significant percentage of players who seem unaware that other games even exist. Hence, this section.
D&D is an adolescent power fantasy in which ‘killing solves everything’. If you still have a problem after killing, it is because you haven’t done enough killing. Your character becomes stronger and stronger from fighting.
In this game, enough fighting will drain your Hero Points (see below), leaving you weaker for future fights. Do this often enough and you will be totally drained and probably die in the next fight.
Also, many people play what I call ‘chess D&D’, moving minis around a grid and taking on ‘level appropriate’ opponents. Though I’ve heard many GM’s say they ‘don’t always run level appropriate encounters’ in my experience this is usually a defensive lie. Within most D&D, your character is meant to have the ‘strength of arms’ (or magic, whatever) to be able to power their way through a dungeon of monsters.
In this game, the characters are much much weaker. They cannot withstand prolonged combat. It will kill them. With a maximum hit points of twenty and a pistol able to do half of that on a hit, simple math should tell you that compared to many games.
Going at problems ‘head on’ is not desirable. Finding ways around combat helps players survive.
Generally, people seem poor at planning beyond ‘kick in door, kill everything’. Even those that make a better plan seem stumped when their plan falls apart. To paraphrase Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” Even fewer groups have a simple back up plan like “This is our fall back point.”
This game will help educate people to develop those skills.
GM’s who attempt to run this like a D&D campaign will probably find the characters dead, players frustrated and campaign in a shambles.
MAKING A CHARACTER
Before messing about with stats, points and the calculator which is probably on your phone, it is a good idea to think about what kind of character you would like to play, as well as what sorts of characters are acceptable within the GM’s campaign.
Keep in mind that they will have to be a people person in so far as they need get along well with the other PC's and have plenty of reasons to adventure with them. If you don't have those two things, try new character ideas until you do. Make someone who is not only fun to play but someone who is fun to play ‘with’. Be generous to your fellow players. An article I read had an excellent comment: “Very quick rule of thumb: If a player has to utter the phrase "but it's what my character would do" more than once the PC (and quite likely the player) is probably an asshole.” Here’s a rather long article on the subject if additional clarification is needed: tinyurl.com/ybj8e3bv
Figure out some sort of basic occupation. This will tell you generally what kind of skills you will be taking. You don't have to - you could have someone who has trained in how to fly a jet fighter and fight with a spear - it really does not matter.
Ponder what your character's hobbies are.
Now, you're ready to start messing with the points.
LOGAN'S WONDERFUL SHEET OF HOW TO OPERATE PETE'S CALCULATING SHEET
This is a wonderful artistic model. It is important not to let the number of skills on the sheet overwhelm you. After actually playing the game a time or two I challenge you to find a simpler system with a nuanced of starting characters. Note that obviously the skills continue on past the bottom of the page and for the next couple of pages past that. Plus write in skills, languages, etc.
STATISTICS
There are four statistics you may divide a total of ten points among. The statistics all start at ten with the exception of sanity which starts at 50.
Those statistics are: Willpower, Learning, Essence and Sanity.
Note that for every point put into Sanity gives you five.
Example: If the player put 2 points into Willpower, 3 into Learning, 1 into Essence and 4 into Sanity, their stats would look like this:
Willpower: 12
Learning: 13
Essence: 11
Sanity: 70
What the stats mean:
Willpower: Mental fortitude, your drive to get things done, etc. This is important as it is also your hit points - the amount of damage you can take before dying.
Learning: This is your base for all skills unless the base printed on the character sheet is higher. Any time you learn a new skill it starts at your learning expressed in a percentage.
Essence: Your Essence is the amount of magic points you have. This stat is useful only for casting - and in some cases resisting - spells. This is also your starting HERO Points. Note that becoming a competent mage is a hard thing that takes awhile to do within the campaign. The main thing starting with a high Essence will do for you is to give you more starting Hero Points - which are important.
Sanity: The more sanity you have, the more difficult it is for you to lose sanity. Once you get under 50% or so, it starts a 'slippery slope'. You can gain sanity through various things including 'good guy' acts - helping people, destroying bad things and so on. You lose sanity from a variety of things such as a messy break up, severe stress and mind blasting eldritch horrors. Once a character's sanity has been reduced to zero they either become an NPC or die at the GM's discretion. Often both. Either way, you will be making a new character.
For more information, see the ‘Stats’ section.
SKILLS
The player has 2000 points to distribute among their skills. For this campaign, the base of all the skills (unless the number in parenthesis listed behind the skill is greater) is equal to their 'Learning' statistic. [This applies to new character skills. Later, when picking up new skills, they start at LEARN.] Spend all your skill points and stat points - you cannot keep them to spend later.
Please note that as the game progresses these skills go up, you will pick up new skills and so on.
Example:
For the character above who has a Learning of 13, their base in Accounting (first skill, second sheet) would be 13%, not 10% listed. However, their base in Photography would still be 40% as that exceeds their Learning.
The most points (of the 2000) the character can put into any skill is enough to raise it to 60. If the player of this character wanted to raise both their Accounting and Photography to 60 it would take 47+20 = 67 total points. That would leave the player with 2000-67 = 1933 points.
It is not recommended to write your current Learning stat in blanks where that would become your new base as statistics can go up and down during the course of play.
Special rule - if someone wanted to put all of their starting statistic points into Sanity, rather than it being 100, it would be 99.
Note that the skills which are bold faced are the ones experienced players strongly recommend taking at 60%. They called these skills the “If you don’t max these out you are dumb and will die” skills.
Another strategy I personally recommend is to take a skill which is not commonly taken nor will come up very often.
There are also other skills it is wise to get as high as possible (60% for a starting character) as they are ‘all or nothing’ type of skills. Things like stealth, climb, SCUBA, swim, etc which can spell death for your character very easily if you don’t make the roll.
There are other strange skills (example: fly zeppelin or blimp, dog sledding) which rarely come up but when they do the players seem to grouse loudly about them.
Next, there are ‘write in skills’. These include any skill which you can think of including ‘lore - Dutch master painters’, ‘art - surreal, oil paint’, any thing you can think of. Just because it is not on the sheet does not mean it will not get called on. Consult with other players and the GM about your ideas for brand new skills until you are comfortable with the system and styles of GM’ing. Do not assume that the skill you have thought of is a good idea or will be allowed.
Lastly, there are your (the players' personal) skills. Many players who have skill in something in real life find it very frustrating if they cannot use at least some of that skill in the game. If you personally have a wide knowledge of 1980’s movies, buying some ‘1980’s movie trivia’ is probably a good idea. Otherwise, if you use your knowledge when your character doesn’t know anything about it, you are doing a crappy job of roleplaying.
For more information on the skills, see the ‘skills’ section.
A COUPLE IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER
First,
If you wrote a character and have played one time and decided that you messed up how you put the character together, you may rewrite it.
This is a one time thing. If you play a session and say "Well, this group of skills is useless" be advised that in the current campaign literally any skill may become vital in various areas. If you decide to lose all of your (for example) knight skills because the characters are in a cyberpunk realm then later go to a medieval realm, you will be stuck with the skills you have.
So you don't need to create a perfect character - you need to make one that is 'good enough' to get you through your first session. That's it.
Second,
Your character may end up going a totally different way than you envisioned. Just because you started him/her as a retired cop does not mean that will end up mattering much in the future. They may end up doing something totally different later. This is not like a level based game where everyone goes along a pre-determined track and takes certain skills. You may end up crazy different - and that's OK.
Your character's skill may go up during the campaign. They may pick up new skills. They may learn things not even on the sheet. They could end up learning spells or other weird things. Nobody knows ahead of time - and that's OK.
Third,
Don't stress this - the character building appears to be the most intimidating thing. After you know what you are doing it will literally take a couple of minutes or less to make a character. Don't agonize over it - just slap something together that works for a session and just have fun. I often tell people if they don't know what to make, make an idealized 'you' and mess about with it. The important thing is to get in on a game to learn how the campaign and character work.
CHARACTER BACKGROUND
Most character backgrounds I’ve heard (and I’ve seen literally hundreds) are either trite, dull, unhelpful or do not fit in to the campaign at all.
Seriously - wait to come up with any sort of background until you've played at least three sessions so you can get a feel for the campaign. Even then, I recommend talking to the other players and GM to find out if your background fits in. Once you are an experienced, regular player you will know what works.
You should still come up with at least a name. It doesn't have to be your character's real name - just something you are called. If it is silly ("Switchback", "Hoss", "Razor", etc) expect to be mocked often - or the other PC’s may assign you a new name.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR CHARACTER
There are no classes, occupations or levels. Everyone starts out with the same number of points.
Before thinking about where to put your points, it is advisable to envision your character and their background. It is strongly recommended that everyone put lots of points into the bold faced things as they are considered (by the players) to be the ‘skills that no adventurer can live without’.
Talking to the group ahead of time about your character is strongly encouraged.
PICK SKILLS APPROPRIATE TO THE CAMPAIGN
This is a generic system meaning that it can be used for literally any historical period. The GM may of course add skills appropriate to their game as well as having other skills not able to be purchased. Example: In a 1920’s game, computers would probably not be an appropriate skill.
Bold faced skills - if you don’t take them, you’ll either be unable to participate in certain things or be a huge drag on your team. Example: Stealth, for obvious reasons.
STARTING WITH SPELLS
In some campaigns, the GM may choose to let the players start with spells - ask the GM.
OTHER STRANGE SKILLS
Anything you can think of (”Painting lore: Dutch Masters”) can be a skill. Check with the GM before buying anything not on the character sheet. They may allow it, they may not.
FIRST CHARACTER
Too many choices can make some new player’s heads explode. To those people, I suggest making a souped up version of yourself, adjusted for whatever time period the campaign is taking place in.
For people who are more comfortable with choices, figure out what kind of role you want to do within the party and build accordingly.
WHAT IF YOU DON’T LIKE YOUR CHARACTER?
For brand new players, they are allowed to do a complete rewrite of their character after the first session they play.
For players who have played before, a bit of point shuffling is also allowed if they got dumb and forgot something obvious.
Generally speaking, this is a system that allows you to spend your points as you wish without any random rolls. Therefore, if you don’t ‘like’ your character, you shouldn’t have made them like that.
‘READY TO PLAY CHARACTERS’ AND WHY WE DON’T USE THEM
Seriously - once you’ve done it a time or two, making a character is a five or ten minute job. The hardest part for experienced players is often figuring out what kind of character they want to play.
If a new player does not want to spend a little time coming up with a new character, chances are good their heart really isn’t into playing.
MALE VS FEMALE
Stats and skill points for both are exactly the same.
AGE
Pick somewhere between 18 and 50. People outside of that age range are generally not believable as adventurers. Note that in some campaigns (or parts of the campaign) a character’s age may be briefly outside of those ranges for plot reasons.
STARTING WITH SPELLS
Some GM’s may allow starting characters to spend skill points on spells.
FOR NEW PLAYERS
For all new players, I suggest making a character from approximately ‘now’ (it’s easy to know what sort of tech and such you are use to whereas if you find say a 1920’s character who is good with computers you know they’ve either been playing for awhile and learned it in game or they are shitty roleplayers) and have both a melee and ranged weapon. While not everyone wants to do combat, it is dull to sit around unable to do combat while everyone else indulges themselves in it.
STARTING GEAR
This varies by campaign. Consult the GM. Hopefully, they will have a pre-prepared list.
THE STATISTICS
WHAT THEY REPRESENT
Willpower is how much strength of will or resolution you have. It also is used to determine the character’s ‘hit points’ or ‘how much damage the character can take before going unconscious or dying’.
Learning represents the starting level of all new skills. <If I get a skill at learn then later my ‘learn’ stat goes up, do I increase the skill I’d gotten at learn? No. Way too anal. Just use the skill a couple times and you should be easily able to get the skill over the max learn stat.>
Essence shows the character’s aptitude toward magic and other mystical things. Essence is also the starting level of the very important ‘hero points’.
Sanity gives a measurement of how far your character is from ‘barking mad’. Should your character’s sanity ever reach zero, you lose your character.
All of the statistics are important, there are no ‘dump stats’.
GETTING CHECKS IN THE STATS AND WHAT THAT MEANS
If you ‘have a check in a stat’, that means you have rolled a test against that stat that was difficult and you did it successfully. That means at the end of the adventure the statistic may go up or down.
The GM may call for a roll for one of the two ‘rollable’ stats - Willpower and Essence.
There are two types of rolls - ones where the GM gives a target multiplier and ones where he does not.
TARGET MULTIPLIER EXAMPLE (for these, the player has a 15 in the stat being asked for)
GM: "Give me a willpower x3."
Since the player has a 15 in willpower, that means that - for this roll - their skill is '45'. Hence, a critical would be a 4 or less, a fumble 94 or higher. Success 05-45 and failure 46-93.
If the target number was x3 or less of the stat, and you succeed, you get a check in the stat.
Example: GM says “Give me a Willpower x4 or better roll” and you roll an 01, you still don’t get a check in Willpower.
LOWER IS BETTER EXAMPLE
GM: "Give me a willpower roll."
Since the player has a 15 in willpower that means that - for this roll - if they roll a 01-15 they would say 'willpower x1'. A 16-30 is 'willpower x2', 31-45 is 'willpower x3', 46-60 is 'willpower x4', 61-75 is 'willpower x5'. A 76-96 would be a 'fail' and - since at willpower x5 (=75) a fumble would be 97-00.
If you get x3 or less in the stat on your roll, check with the GM to see if you get a check in the stat. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends on how the GM is feeling about the task.
THE OTHER TWO STATISTICS
HOW DO WE GET CHECKS IN LEARNING?
If the player has found something that seems appropriate to try out a new skill with (example: A banjo and they are in the bayou and want to pick out the first few notes of the ‘creepy inbred song’) if they try and succeed in a learning roll, they get a check in learning as well as picking up the new ‘banjo’ skill.
To pick up a skill, the character needs to see something that deals specifically with that skill. In other words, to know how to fly a helicopter, they need to see the helicopter - not just be asked about the helicopter.
HOW DO WE GET CHECKS IN SANITY?
You don't. Sanity generally goes down for seeing scary stuff or doing bad things. Sanity goes up for doing 'good' things. If you enjoy going on killing sprees of the innocent and happily wipe out say a town of them, this won't get you sanity even though you'd accomplished your goal. If you save a town of innocents from some horrible monster, you might gain sanity. It decreases through seeing anything ‘troubling’ or through doing things which the average mentally healthy person would consider ‘bad’ or ‘appalling’.
This is not a good campaign (or game system) for evil people. If the GM is purposefully making an ‘evil’ campaign, they may choose to give out less statistic points and just start everyone’s sanity at zero and ignore any sanity losses.
Note - if sanity losses cause a character to hit 0, that character then becomes a NPC. Usually, a very naughty one.
If the cyberware a character is recklessly installing cause sanity to hit zero, that character becomes an NPC and hits 'cyber psychosis' - usually a 'let's kill everyone' thing.
STAT DECREASES AND INCREASES
If you get a check in your stat, roll 2d6.
If you roll a 2 (snake eyes) the stat decreases by one. (Note, if someone uses a ‘hero point’ they can reroll this hence having statistics go down is actually quite rare. See the section on ‘hero points’ below.)
If you roll a 7, the stat may increase.
If you have rolled a 7, attempt to fail your STAT x5 - if you do, congratulations, your stat increases by one point.
Hero Points (and any remaining cards from the session) may be used to influence these rolls but generally it is a poor use of HERO Points - unless you rolled ‘snake eyes’.
STAT LOSSES
Because of various things (death, drugs, limb loss, etc) both skills and statistics may be 'permanently' lost.
For example:
Someone has an 14 in learning.
Some bastard cuts out part of their brain.
The GM gives the character a -2 permanent to learning.
This does not mean that the character's learning is now limited to 12. They can build it back up. Hopefully, they will get some sort of high tech cyber brain and then slowly learn to use it.
Or they might hop their way to victory. On their new brain.
Note, due to 'Logan’s rule 1' there are no temporary stat or skill negatives.
STATS
If any stat hits zero, your character dies permanently.
SKILLS
SKILLS
Some GM’s like having fewer skills, however the more skills you have within your campaign the less likely the PC’s are to all end up with exactly the same skills.
The question GM’s have to answer is how far down they wish to split up the skills. We have a ‘rifles’ skill which is usually understood to be ‘slug throwing rifles’. In my campaign, laser rifles (or generally futuristic plasma/laser/beam rifles) are a different skill. The GM may instead choose to have all ‘rifles’ be the same skill. Or, they may choose to break down rifles into even more specific groups such as heavy sniper rifles, etc.
Generally speaking, the more specific a skill used to gather information is, the more detailed information the player can glean from it with a successful roll. For example, a player with ‘art: Dutch masters’ should get a lot more information about a Vermeer paintings than someone with ‘art lore’.
Having some of the skills highly specific can allow much more diversification within player skills.
INCREASING YOUR SKILLS
The first time the GM asks you to roll a skill and you succeed at that skill, put a tick mark next to the skill. At the end of the game, all of the skills with tick marks have a chance of increasing.
To find out if they increase, roll and try to fail the skill roll. (Note - matching the skill with the roll is not failing it. If you have an 80% skill and roll an 80, your skill does not increase!) If you fail the skill roll, the skill increases by d6.
Example: You have an 80% sprint skill. You roll a 87. That means your sprint skill will increase. You roll a d6 and get a 3. You now have an 83% sprint skill.
Whether the skill goes up or not, the check is then erased.
The higher your skill is, the less likely it is to increase.
Special rule - skills over 96%: Any skill that is over 96% (ie 97% or higher) is allowed to make an ‘open ended’ roll to see if it increases. If you roll a 96 or higher, roll again and add the next percentage to what you just rolled. In this way it is possible (though unlikely) to get very high levels of skill.
Example: Jill has a 98% in sword. She rolls a 96 then rolls again and gets a 57. The total of those two is obviously greater than 98 so she rolls a d6 and gets a 6. Her sword skill is now 104. In the future, she will have to roll 105 or higher to increase that skill.
SKILLS OVER 100%
This is when you are really, really good at something. Although the fumble range (00) is unchanged no matter how high the skill gets, having a high skill not only allows you to do stupidly hard things more often but it increases your critical range.
Within Logan’s current campaign, the maximum a skill can go to (for PC’s and any NPC’s short of deities) is 200%.
SUPPORTERS
Sometimes, the players will all attempt to help each other in order to spread the blame for failure more evenly. This is called ‘supporting’.
How it works:
One person is designated as the ‘primary’. Let’s say the players are working on defusing the bomb. Unfortunately, the only person with demolitions skill doesn’t have it high - 30% so he is a bit nervous. The other two players have some strange aversion to being blown up and wish to help defuse the bomb.
The other players (who do not have demolitions skill) ask the GM if they can try to support with other skills. One has electronics which the GM agrees would help. The other has nothing applicable and decides this might be a way to attempt to build up their demolitions skill by using that (at base, in this case the character’s learn skill) as their supporting skill.
The primary must announce whether he is accepting their advice or aid or ignoring them and doing it himself. Despite heavy misgivings, he decides to accept both other people’s aid.
The lady with electronics rolls hers successfully - that gives a temporary bonus of +5% to the primaries ‘demolitions skill’. Had she rolled a critical on her electronics, she would have given the primary a temporary +10% instead. If she had failed her electronics, no bonus.
So the primary is currently sitting at (for this roll) a 35% demolitions skill. Then the other guy who has no demolitions rolls his and of course it is a fumble. This gives the primary a -10% to his chance knocking him down to a total 35-10=25% chance. He should have refused this person’s help but since he accepted and they rolled (do not roll until it is accepted or you’ll just have to roll again) he is going to have a rough day.
SKILL PENALTIES
If the skill is pretty hard, -30% or half
If the skill is super hard, -60% or quarter
If the GM thinks the player is crazy for even trying but there is a slim chance, ‘crit only’ or something crazy like ‘roll me two 01’s in a row’.
If the GM doesn’t think the skill can succeed, no roll is permitted.
WHAT THIS MEANS AND EXAMPLES
The -30% or half, when called for means that the player can choose if they want to have their skill at -30% or cut it in half to make the roll.
Example: Nancy has a 70% in a skill. If she chooses to go at -30%, that means she needs a 40 or less. If she chooses to go at half, she needs a 35% or less. Being able to figure out simple math problems helps. Roll first then figure it out.
Example: Fred has a 60% in a skill and agonizes about which he should choose, to go at half or at -30% from his skill. Nancy hits Fred.
The -60% or quarter works the same way but mathematically is challenging for some. Roll first, figure it out later. Nothing irritates everyone more than someone trying to figure out what a quarter of 32% is then they end up rolling an 84 anyway. Roll first - always.
Example: Nancy has a 70% in her skill and needs to do it at -60%. She rolls hoping to get over a 20% so she doesn’t have to do math.
You can always choose which (the flat minus or the half/quarter you want. For those with a grasp of basic math it will be obvious, for the rest a constant source of mystery.
NOTE that the new skill you are at (when your skill is penalized) affects your critical and fumble numbers as well!
Example:
Nancy is looking for clues. The bad guys have hidden them well, giving her a -30% (or half) to her skill. She normally has an 80% in ‘spot hidden’ so takes the -30%. At a 50% in spot hidden, her critical chance is reduced to needing a 5% or less on a roll and her fumble chance goes up to 95% or higher.
OPPOSED SKILLS
Compare the skills, difference plus or minus from 50.
Example 1: PC has a strength of 80 and wants to arm wrestle NPC with a strength of 70.
PC has 10% over the NPC. Add to 50 giving 60. Hence, PC has a 60% chance of winning - roll 60 or less.
Example 2: Godzilla has a strength of 150 and wants to grab the PC (strength of 80) to hold on to him so he can bite his head clean off. Assuming Godzilla already grabbed him (grapple skill) and the PC just wants to ‘strength his way out’, 150-80=70. That is more than 50% so if the GM is feeling nice, he can give the PC a 5% chance. Moral of the story, don’t get grabbed by Godzilla. That’s what ‘dodge’ is for.
Although this could be used for everything (PC has a dodge of 70, NPC has a pistol of 30, etc) I don’t use it because math sucks and also once you have a high enough dodge, mooks would never be able to effect you. So I use it for some things but not for others. That way, having a gaggle of say gunmen with 20%-30% skill are still somewhat of a potential threat.
THE FUMBLE DECK - the GM finally gets to have some fun
Once you get into the fumble deck, spending a Hero Point merely gets you a new card.
If you don’t want any fumble cards, spend Hero Points prior to drawing.
Reason - it’s pretty much like going to a different table, but in this case the table is represented by cards and the ‘roll’ on the table is which ever card you get.
SKILL DESCRIPTIONS
A note on all ‘talking skills’ (fast talk, etc): Unless the player is good at these, a simple roll (in this ‘talking game’) cannot replace their being able to actually do this skill. While it is necessary to replace real life skill for a rolled skill in most things (example: sword fighting) with talking skills (in this ‘talking game’) you are actually expected to be able to talk well. The skill is your characters ‘delivery’. Even saying something especially good can fail if the delivery (roll) falls flat (fails). Hence, talking skills (in this ‘talking game’) can be much more difficult to do. Different GM’s may have different standards for what ‘passes muster’.
Specific skills (note – only some of the skills are being covered below; pistols are like shotguns but have a lower range and do less damage, quick drawing a pistol is no different game mechanic wise from quick drawing a knife and so on)
Clubs/Brawling: If you don’t want to put a lot of points into combat skills, this is a great way to go. High base plus, you don’t need to carry anything around. You will spend a full combat action picking it up but then you have a weapon. Examples include the bottle you were just drinking out of, the chair you were just sitting in and so on.
Fast draw pistol: If successful, it takes no time at all to get your gun out of it’s holster; in other words it’s a free action. Now, this does not mean it is ‘instant’. If someone has a gun pointed at you and says ‘move and I shoot’ and you go for a fast draw he gets a shot off if he has held his action. (Note – all fast draws work like this but you must buy them for specific things – pistol, smg, arrow, knife, etc. Things which are big and can’t be holstered or slung conveniently you cannot buy fast draw for.)
Dodge - you need somewhere to dodge TO. If you are busy climbing a rope, perhaps on a catwalk (or in a narrow hallway) there may not be anywhere to dodge TO hence the skill either can't be used or only at a strong negative, see GM. This skill cannot be used to ‘dodge explosions’. The stuff in an explosion (regardless of what you’ve learned from movies) moves faster than you can.
Pistol: Allows you to hit if you shoot. With firearms (only) you can choose to evenly divide up your chance to hit if you are firing at multiple targets that are all ‘in front of you’. In other words if you have a 90% in pistol and want to shoot three shots – whether at three separate guys or two at this guy and one at that guy, whatever) then you divide up the skill 90/3 = 30% per shot. If you can’t do the math without help YOU MISS. Good to figure it out ahead of time. Holding up the game for poor math skills is reprehensible.
Submachine Gun: Any fully automatic weapon (SMG, Assault rifle, etc) has multiple ways of firing. Some have single shot capability, others don’t. Options often include short burst, long burst and ‘clip it’. (See combat below)
Held weapons (all): If you hit, you do the damage indicated by the weapon. Note that you can either have attack at full and parry at -30% or vice versa.
Parry/Block (all) notes: If the thing fighting you is man sized or less (assuming you are as well) you can attempt to parry their attack. If you are fighting a giant or some sort of large creature, you can’t really parry them. Imagine trying to parry a bear. Not really happening. But against humans, it’s great. A parry (generally speaking) will negate their attack. There are special rules on ‘fighting offensively’ (attack at full, parry at -30%) or ‘fighting defensively’ (parry at full, attack at -30%).
Heavy Weapon (fill in the blank): Think ‘mounted machine gun’ or ‘rocket launcher’ as examples. Note that many ‘heavy weapons’ are ‘crew served’ meaning if it’s just you, it isn’t happening. Ask the GM if you are uncertain.
Whip (see grapple, below if using the special attack).
Block (hand to hand): This works the same way as ‘parry’ (above) with one major caveat. If you are blocking someone else’s hand to hand attack, nothing special need be done. If the person is attacking you with a hand to hand weapon and you attempt to block it, you must also roll ‘martial arts’ skill. If you succeed in block but fail martial arts, you automatically take the damage whether the person would have hit or not.
Grapple: This is literally grabbing someone. If you are trying to grab something specific (gun, throat, etc) you are at half skill. The person grabbed has several different options to try to escape. They may choose grapple, DEX or STR. Grapple means you are doing things wrestlers do to try to get out of holds. DEX shows you are trying to worm your way out of the hold and STR shows you are just strong arming out of the hold. The grappling person may choose which they want to ‘hold on’ with. Example: Fred (grapple 60%) is fighting Tim (STR 15). Fred has successfully grappled Tim, and Tim wishes to use his huge strength to break free. It is then the normal skill vs skill check.
Martial arts: This must be specified by the weapon. You can specify ‘body’, ‘sword’, ‘club’, etc. No, you can’t have firearm martial arts. Success in this gives a bump in damage (see ‘damage track’). Martial arts is also handy if you want to ‘parry’ something barehanded. See ‘parry’ above.
Missile weapons: Any missile weapons use skill: dexterity to determine whether they get a bump in damage (see ‘damage track’).
Dexterity/Maneuver/Dodge: This is a useful skill that incorporates three different parts. Dexterity is a general indicator of the character’s hand eye coordination unless the GM wants to have the test go into a specific skill. Maneuver is used to determine whether the character goes at base speed during combat (3m/round) or is moving quickly (10m/round). The GM can also use it for such things as quickly moving through a crowd, etc. Dodge can be used only if the PC has done no other action yet. It is the ‘get out of the way’ skill. This is the only defense that may be used for things like avoiding a building falling on you or some sort of attack the GM deems ‘too big to parry’. If the Dexterity is high, any missile weapons will have their damage go up by a bump. If the Dexterity is 80 or better, +1 bump. If the Dexterity reaches 110 or better, +2 bumps total. Every 30 points above that, +1 bump.
Luck: If the GM doesn’t know (or care) if something is around (or not around) they may call on the PC to make a luck roll. For example, if the PC goes to a market and is looking for something difficult to find the GM may call for a luck roll. If the bad guy is wanting to shoot one of a group of PC’s, the GM may ask all of the PC’s to make a luck roll and the attack will be against whoever had the lowest luck result.
Strength: The raw brute force of the player. The GM may call upon it for things like attempting to hold a door closed while something tries to push its way in, etc. If the Strength is high, any hand held weapons will have their damage go up by a bump. If the Strength is 80 or better, +1 bump. If the Strength reaches 110 or better, +2 bumps total. Every 30 points above that, +1 bump.
Some examples, though the GM can set whatever difficulty they wish so long as they maintain some sort of consistency:
Normal internal door, STR roll or STR roll at a bonus.
External door, STR roll or STR roll at half.
Big fucker made of stout wood reinforced with metal bands, maybe a crossbar, STR roll at -60 or 'need a battering ram'.
Constitution/Endurance: For GM’s that wish to use effects like poison or disease, this is used to resist it. In addition, this shows the stamina of players. Example: After climbing up a cliff, the GM may call for an endurance roll. If the character fails it, all of their other skills are at a -30% until they have had time to rest.
Note on all weapons: Note that this is a ‘simple system’. Large weapons do a lot more damage than small weapons. While something like a dagger can kill you in real life, in this game system it takes forever to kill someone with a small weapon. Bigger is always better if you want to give out some serious damage.
Throw (general, grenade, rock): Base range is 30m. (Source - standard Army testing handbook on grenade ranges).
Second skill sheet:
Accounting: Good at going through books, find out where the bad guy is funneling money to, etc. Great for businessmen.
Acrobatics: This is a ‘spiff’ skill. You can add it to other skills to look great while you are doing it. For example, if you are using the jump skill to jump to a different building, acrobatics will allow you to put a flip in there. Some skills (like the modern day Parkour skill) the GM might require acrobatics rolled many times during its use. Doing ‘Jackie Chan’ style climbing might be a roll against climbing and acrobatics.
Acting: This skill is used to resist the Empathy skill.
Analyze Magic: This skill allows people who are able to see magic (through some means whether a spell or an item) to figure out what they think it does. Useful for analyzing items. Note that until your character has actually seen magic (not the effects of a spell being cast but the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff) you cannot put points into this skill. It is not a ‘starting skill’ unless the GM is playing some sort of high fantasy game. (Logan’s campaign, no.)
Animal Handling (specify animal)
Allows you to saddle, hook up to different things meant for the animal (plow, wagon, etc) and to calm it down when it is irritated or freaked out. Riding does not calm the animal. Once a snake goes for it your riding roll will probably be just to stay on the beast while it does something like run into a fire.
Also, this skill allows you to care for the animal. Unlike vehicles that we are able to get into today, turn the key and blithely go where we want and the only thing we have to remember to do is hopefully lock it and take it in for service occasionally, beasts are a huge daily pain in the ass.
If you don’t know how to take care of them (often twice per day) they will go lame, start missing patches of hair from the saddle rubbing because you don’t know how to adjust the flank cinch and so on. And the animal will come to hate you over time.
Also caring for the animal in adverse conditions.
Cars are easier.
How to get around having to worry about this skill:
In many medieval places, they often had inns/taverns every day of the normal journey length.
This is a great way (if you stay on the road) to just be able to toss the reins and some money to the stable person and say ‘take care of the horse!’ and go in to drink. Sure, they may screw up their roll but at least you didn’t have to roll it.
Or run everywhere like they did in the first Conan movie. See skill “Long Distance Running”.
Anthropology: Figuring out what a race was up to at a specific time. Possibly customs and such as well.
Appraisal: How much is this worth?
Archeology: We all know you want to be Indiana Jones.
Architecture: Does this structure have a basement? Where is a good place for a secret passage? Where should I set the explosives charge?
Art lore: You know about art and junk. Don’t see this come up too often but if you happen to find some Revere silverware and have this skill, ca-ching!
Art: This is actually MAKING the art. You need to specify your medium. Could be pencil drawing or painting or sculpting, etc.
Astronomy: Super useful if you are piloting a spacecraft.
Bargain: Getting a break on the prices; haggling. This is definitely the skill to have if you have some high priced merchandise. This is opposed by the NPC’s ‘bargain’ skill.
People who don’t bargain or have a good bargain skill are the ones who take what ever price is either on the sticker or what is offered.
People who have bargain haggle back and forth, look for quantity discounts, etc.
This skill can take anywhere from a minute to literally hours. I have personally taken about six hours bargaining over some stuff. Bought sodas for myself and the merchant - that’s when he knew he was in trouble.
Generally speaking, the more money that is changing hands, the more leverage you have.
In real life, most people don’t bargain because it is not part of the culture they grew up in and they ‘feel uncomfortable’ doing it and ‘just want to pay money and get something’. They make excuses like ‘it’s not that big of deal’ or ‘it’s not that much money’.
In many cultures, foreigners who do not bargain are seen as rich idiots who should be robbed.
In game terms, if you don’t want to use bargain, you have only two choices - take the price you are offered or don’t sell. Your offered price (especially on illegal or odd goods) will always be shit. If offered 300 and you say “I’m not selling for less than 500” - that is a part of bargaining.
When preparing missions, prices and such I often have the four different results written out and they are wildly different.
Example from a mission I am currently working on.
Bargain roll: Fumble: You get a couple of shiny new (stolen goods) for an easy job. Chumps.
Fail: 200! Shiny.
Success: 800.
Critical: 1500gu. You rock.
As you can see, big swing of money for this often underrated skill.
When bargaining is not used:
For many zones, I have a ‘standardized price sheet’. Since I could give a fuck less about many of the shopping trips (”I want to buy new underwear - how much are they?”) I just hand out a sheet with the standard prices on them. It is assumed that the PC’s go to several different merchants and buy little bits all over town. Most places adventurers hang out in do not have malls. The prices are base line and you are probably not buying much from any one merchant so I’m not worried about bargaining in those cases.
When bargaining is used:
Sometimes when negotiating how much money you will make from a job. Note that if you decide to make a bargain roll and fumble - you are stuck with that result. If you back out at that point, you are seen as someone who says one thing and does another. A liar, a cheat, etc. Your reputation will crumble in that town, possibly further.
If you are buying or selling something that a bargain roll will actually make a significant impact on finances. If you are saving less than the equivalent of $100, let’s not piss about with more rolls.
When the GM asks for a bargain roll - possibly someone else has initiated bargaining with you whether you wanted to or not.
Biology: If you are a doctor (unless you are ‘Dr. Nick’) you’d better have this. Tells you where things should be.
Boating: Specify type of boat.
Botany: You know more about plants and stuff than someone just getting by with ‘natural history’.
Bureaucracy: The paperwork skill.
Business/industry lore: Good for businessmen – who’s who and what’s what in the business world.
Carpentry/woodcraft: A surprisingly useful skill to make things out of wood.
Cartography: Usually just if you want to make a map; might be used to read a map if it is very complicated.
Special: Unless the maps are kept secret, the cartographer upon finding some unnamed area/feature in the landscape attempt to name it. If they succeed in a cartography roll, they may name it (with GM approval). If they fumble their cartography roll, the GM may substitute whatever stupid, silly or misleading name they wish. This reflects the fact that most cartographers are lazy people who copy the more successful maps from exploring cartographers who make good maps. An example of an excellent cartographer is Amerigo Vespucci who had not one but two continents named after him.
Chemistry/alchemy: This is the art of mixing stuff up to make something useful in a lab or alchemical workshop. If the player takes unidentified potions to a workshop (just tasting them is a horrible idea) they can use this skill to attempt to analyze what the potions do.
Climbing: If you don’t have this high and need to climb, chances are you won’t live to regret it.
Computer use, general: Good for very basic stuff.
Computer use, hacking: If your GM knows little about real life hacking, this skill probably won’t do you as much good as you think.
Conceal/camouflage/holdout: This is good for hiding things either on your person (like weapons) or hiding them out in the wilderness. The opposed skill is usually ‘spot hidden’.
Contortions: This allows you to slowly wriggle your way through the hole/gap. Failing this skill means you are probably stuck. A fumble means you are definitely stuck and will need help to get out.
Cooking: Yummy food! May be used for potion making and such as well.
Counter surveillance: You need to be *in motion* to use this skill. This is the ‘is there anyone following me’ skill. Note that this will reveal the presence of only amateur and under funded surveillance individuals or small teams. You will probably never know or suspect a professional team is there – depending on the circumstances. See skill ‘danger sense’.
Crafting: This is your ability to (if you have the supplies, tools, work space) create stuff. Specify what sort of crafting you are going for - be specific.
The more specialized of skill you have, the more your actual skill shows up and the less negatives you have when making something.
Specialized crafters attempting to make something not in their field get the word 'shitty' applied to what they make or it gets knocked down in quality.
Because we aren't dealing with armor/HP of items (tedious as fuck) it is mostly for the value and aesthetics.
Example:
Someone has smithing. They want to make a sword. They will be making 'shitty swords'.
Example 2:
Someone has 'sword making'. They want to make nails. They will be making 'shitty nails'.
Also, a critical means 'really well for someone of your skill level'.
Example:
A hobbyist sword maker gets a crit on making their sword - it's a GREAT sword - for a hobbyist sword maker to churn out.
Totally different from an expert or master getting a crit.
Cryptography: This is for breaking codes that the PC’s cannot be expected to break. Quite often this skill can be ‘supported’ with ‘advanced mathematics’. It often requires large computers. Note that from time to time the GM may choose to (sparingly) throw in easy codes - letter replacement, word jumble, etc. These the players have to work out for themselves. Note for GM’s - it is best to keep the use of things like codes very sparing because they may destroy the pacing of your game while the PC’s take minutes or hours trying to figure them out. In general, if a teenager can’t do it use cryptography skill instead.
Cthulhu Mythos: Depending on the campaign, this may or may not be something you can start with. In some campaigns, it is the limiter to keep you from learning too many spells. In Logan’s campaign, it is like a highly specialized ‘occult’ type skill. If you are very knowledgeable about the Cthulhu Mythos, it is less frustrating to max out your starting points in this skill. Rolls in this skill may not impart exact information but may give hints (guns don’t work well against this, but ice does) etc.
Current events: What is going on in the world today. This is the kind of stuff you find in the newspaper or other sources of media depending on the tech level. Note that this skill does not tell you about ‘illegal’ things (other than perhaps which criminals have been caught and are on trial, etc). If you have this skill but are not ‘climatized’ (acclimatized) to the world/dimension/etc you are in, you are at half.
Dance: Move without looking like a dork or injuring your dance partner.
Demolitions: If you are trying to use explosives without this skill you will probably kill yourself and others in a dramatic fashion. Note that you can use small amounts of explosives that cause a small amount of damage with this skill as well. It is much safer to get your skill up doing it in that manner.
Direction sense - that way is generally north. Also, if you go through some various tunnels (or a maze) underground, you can try to use this skill to generally say "I want to go in this general direction." Doing that works less well above ground where you want navigation. It allows you to move on various established routes (roads and shit) instead of 'this is the general direction toward the goal'. Also, if someone is using 'direction sense' they may say things like "Gosh, there is a big canyon here" where as the person with navigation would say "Yes, that is on the fucking map. We should have taken route 38 to go around it."
This skill also can replace that of a compass, especially in places where compasses do not work.
According to QI: “In the absence of visual clues (lost in a desert or a forest), people walk in circles as tight as 20m in diameter, believing they are walking in a straight line, nobody knows why.”
Disguise: Look like someone different. Opposed with ‘spot hidden’.
Dreaming: If the ‘dreamlands’ is being used this is your ‘get on the adventure’ skill. Within the dreamlands, it has other uses. Within the dreamlands, you can ‘dream up’ an item for a time. The MP the item costs and how long it stays around are generally up to the GM. Dreaming up an item takes about a minute hence this is foolish to attempt during combat. Check to see if this skill is being used before burning points on it.
Dream lore: Knowing about stuff inside of the dreamlands. The GM may require different dream lore for different major areas within the dreamlands. Check to see if this skill is being used before burning points on it.
Drive (specify; examples include air car, ground car, heavy truck, etc): Doing fancy stuff, attempting to avoid stupid people who don’t have the skill but are driving, etc. Note that sometimes an accident simply cannot be avoided. In those cases, a drive roll may merely be to try to mitigate damage or keep everyone alive. [NOTE - CURRENTLY THESE SKILLS ARE UNDER A NEW PLAY TEST - SEE THE PC SHEET FOR DETAILS.]
Drive motorcycle: As drive car but without the protection and airbags. [NOTE - CURRENTLY THESE SKILLS ARE UNDER A NEW PLAY TEST - SEE THE PC SHEET FOR DETAILS.]
Electronics/electronic repair: Fix that toaster!
Empathy: “Lie detection’s all about asking the right questions.” - “Lie To Me”, S1E7. This will get you the basic emotion that someone you are talking to is feeling or displaying, possibly with use of microexpressions. According to Dr. Paul Ekman, there are seven universal microexpressions: disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and contempt. They often occur as fast as 1/15 to 1/25 of a second. You need to be able to see the person's face. Hence if they sit around in darkness, with big sunglasses on and so on, it's an easy way to negate empathy skill. The empathy skill will tell you what general emotion (or, if the GM is feeling fancy, microexpression) the individual is displaying but not why. That is where asking the right questions comes in. If the target has no emotions, it doesn’t work. If the target is an unfamiliar creature, it won’t work or be at a negative. This skill is opposed by ‘acting’. If the actor wins, you get whatever emotion they want you to get. What makes this skill interesting in play is that the right questions must often be asked in order to get the microexpression to display. If you don't know what to ask, this skill is much less effective.
Etiquette: How to carry yourself well, possibly with style in a social environment.
Evidence analysis: What does it all mean? Unless the GM is doing a CSI type of module (where all of the evidence is spelled out and the PC’s get to put it together on their own) this will give you a general idea of what happened at the scene of the crime.
Fast talk: Your bullshitting skill. If you are going to use this, I’d definitely having acting. Otherwise, you spin a good yarn but look guilty as hell. Note that the player themselves must be able to BS a little bit in order to actually use this skill. TTRPG’s are a ‘talking’ game. You cannot say “I convince him that I’m nice.” And roll. You need to actually come up with something a bit plausible.
Since this game is all about speaking, you must be able to come up with something clever to say rather than just “I roll my fast talk to convince the guard I should be here!”
You need both parts to make it work - an agile clever mind in your own head as well as the skill. Having just one of those two pieces will not suffice.
Yes, this limits the tongue tied and dim from ever being able to role play someone clever - but again - speaking is really all we have for this game.
This is one of those ‘that’s the way it is and suck it up’ rules.
First aid: See HP/healing.
Forensics: You may gather evidence (finger prints, bullets, etc) or if you are a criminal you can hide evidence (put a bunch of bleach on the blood, etc). Note that this skill (either way) takes a LONG TIME to do. You may NOT do a quick forensics roll as you are fleeing the scene – just assume this skill takes HOURS.
Forgery: this skill assumes the most basic of stuff, shitty tech etc. With better tech, you often need people to sell you the blanks (ID's), computer skills, etc. But the basic forgery (assuming you have the right kind of paper, quills, an original document so you know what you are doing, a few other odds and ends) will allow you to make pre-WW2 ID's - the kind with no pictures, just some official looking writing.
Gambling: Attempt to win money. Better if you are ‘the house’. Note that you may actually lose more money than you wanted to bet. That’s just the way gambling often seems to work.
All of these assume in a casino and a night of play.
Pure luck games
Luck roll at -30%
Fumble: Lose wager
Fail: Lose half of wager
Success: Win 25% of wager
Critical: Win 50% of wager
Skill games (poker, blackjack, etc)
Gambling (main skill), attempt to support yourself with memory, math, luck.
This is usually an opposed roll (gambling vs gambling) between either the casino (normally at 60% unless they bring in someone ‘good’) or private individuals if you are playing ‘back room poker’.
Note - this doesn’t take in to account the ‘bet a small amount on a huge percentage chance and walk away with a ton of money’ - professional gamblers do not work like that. Also, casinos are weighted toward the casino winning. The highest pay out machines (small slots) are weighted so that they only suck up a couple percentages of what’s put in to them meaning you are paying about five dollars per hour (at the better ones) for ‘entertainment’.
This doesn’t also take in to account the normal human thing of ‘chasing bad money with good’ and actually losing more than you were wanting to wager.
Also, this isn’t to say that you won’t get banned from various gambling spots if you win too much money - which can happen at pretty much all of them, even today. Or you ‘get mugged’. Or buried in the desert.
Geography: Where is Canada on the map? Some surveys have showed most American’s can’t find it. With this skill, you just might.
Geology: Better than natural history, you know about rocks and stuff.
Gun-smith: This is good for fixing your gun, clearing a jam or if you have a workshop you might be able to modify your gun.
History: What happened previously.
Interrogation: This is NOT just tying up some unfortunate and beating them till they tell you what they think you want to hear. Actual interrogation has several different methods. Overused (and well known, hence not so good to use) methods are things like ‘good cop, bad cop’. Less known methods include the ‘we know all’, ‘time speed up’ and the ‘we have your family now talk’. Actual interrogation can take hours up to months. In the end, everybody breaks. But if using strong arm tactics, they will just tell you what they think you want to hear. Note that within Logan’s campaign, I don’t use this skill at all. I make people roleplay it out. If you and your plays know less about human motivations and such, you can substitute a skillful interrogation with this roll if desired.
Intimidation: Making the target feel nervous due to the possibility of impending physical violence. If you are a big guy with brass knuckles and a gun, it is a lot easier than if you are a short bald professor with a pot-belly.
Jump: This is a skill like climb – if you don’t have much in it, you probably won’t live to regret it if you roll it. This skill can negate d6 of falling damage if you were prepared to fall. If you weren’t and the fall took you by surprise, the GM may have you roll at half or some such.
Jury rig: This is the ‘make it work without the right stuff’. Note – you still needs stuff to attempt the roll and it should be feasible. Watch a lot of MacGuiver.
Law: This skill is required (as ‘does it as a living’) by law enforcement professionals (yes, that includes PI’s). It tells you what the law is regarding your secret illegal Swiss bank accounts, your unlicensed weapons and your breaking and entering.
Linguistics: This is your ‘what language is this I cannot understand’ skill. This does not allow you to speak or understand the language but it will tell you what it is so you can find someone who does.
Listen: Hear vital conversation or person sneaking up behind me skill.
Lip reading: You must be able to clearly see the persons lips.
Literature: Unless you have some sort of character concept that relies heavily upon this, just like in real life this is an utterly useless skill. If you have a doctorate in it and aren’t teaching it you probably work at Starbucks. Sorry.
Lock lore: This tells you what kind of lock, how many tumblers, etc. Good to use to support your lock-picking.
Lock-picking, electronic: If it has wires hooked to it! This takes under one minute to do.
Lock-picking, mechanical: If it has tumblers! (Note, if it has both wires and tumblers, the GM may have you roll both.) A professional lockpick told me that if he couldn’t pick the lock in under a minute it was time for the drill. This takes anywhere from 1 round (if you are prepared and know fancy stuff about it) to a minute to pull off. [Note: Unless modern day campaign, ‘bumping’ not allowed.] Side note: If you think that scratches on the exterior of the lock mean it has been picked, no, it means inept clumsy people picked or attempted to pick the lock. If the tumblers are out of synch it means your lock has been picked. (You can feel it when you insert the key.)
Mathematics (advanced): This very rarely comes up but everyone will look at you with awe in that one in one hundredth module where it comes up and oh, you happen to have it.
Medicine: See HP/healing.
Meditation: You can be at peace and harmony with all living things. In game mechanics, this is (usually) an utterly useless skill. No, you are not an elf who can meditate for just a couple hours to replace the need to sleep. Don’t even think about trying it.
Memory: If the GM still remembers and you were too dim/lazy to take notes, this skill will allow the GM to remind you of what you specifically ask about. It is not a ‘Gee – what was the important clue again? Can I make a memory roll?’ How about NO. Also, if you didn’t bother to ask about it at the time, you can’t say ‘Do I remember the license plate number on that get away car?’. No, you don’t. Take notes. Relying on the GM to remember and rolling this skill is lazy.
Mimicry: Sound like someone or something else. The human vocal cords must be able to do it and you must have heard it before.
Natural history: This is the ‘skate by’ skill for knowing about plants, animals, rocks and such. It won’t give you nearly as much information as the specific skill (botany, geology, zoology, etc) but you have a basic understanding.
Navigation: land: This is the ‘know where you are going on land’ skill. Works with a map and compass.
Navigation: sea/air: As above but for sea/air.
Occult: Occult is not a replacement for Cthulhu mythos but it can be handy if you are dealing with non mythos critters like witches. Or if you want to make your own flaming pentagram out in your yard to horrify your neighbors.
Operate Heavy Machinery: Allows the PC to operate many large types of equipment such as a crane or excavator. Unless the type of equipment is judged to require some sort of specialized knowledge (nuclear power factory) this skill allows it’s operation. If the thing being operated does require specialized knowledge (such as the nuclear power factory) the GM may allow the character to use this as a ‘supporting skill’.
Parachuting: Everyone can parachute - once. Gosh this is a great skill to have at least as a hobby. Yes, you need a real parachute, your bed sheets just will not cut it.
Pharmacy: Good skill for doctors to have to know what sort of expensive drugs to give their patients.
Philosophy: Rationalize away the existence of God but this probably won’t be of any use. Ever. See also, Starbucks job opportunities.
Physics: About the same as ‘advanced math’.
Pilot: Choose what kind of craft you want to fly. Glider, fixed wing aircraft, passenger jets, rotary wing aircraft, etc. Good to have at ‘does it as a living’ or better if you want to fly. Remember, you have to come in pretty low to land. [NOTE - CURRENTLY THESE SKILLS ARE UNDER A NEW PLAY TEST - SEE THE PC SHEET FOR DETAILS.]
Prestidigitation/pick pockets: Snagging little things without people noticing. This can go against spot or feel depending on situation. Keep in mind that real life teams of pickpockets work in teams of three or more so if you are on your own trying to make a living doing it, the GM can penalize your skill and tell you to go get a real job instead.
Psychoanalysis/psychology: This is knowing the fancy book stuff of these trades. This can be used to tone down someone’s insanity if their current sanity total has climbed up higher than the special number. See also ‘sanity’ section. Note that NPC’s are at a severe penalty to help out PC’s most of the time. If the PC starts talking about how scary monsters made them all crazy, they (PC's) might just get locked up.
Religion: General knowledge of religions. Specific religious rites may be at severely reduced score depending on the commonality of the religion.
Repair, mechanical: Fix it! Note - you need to have tools and spare parts.
Research: This is your ‘find information out’ skill. The information could be in a library or you could go out and ask people questions – depends on the type of information and how you want to go about finding it out. Note that succeeding on your skill does NOT mean that the information you get will be factual - just that you will get the information. It is up to the players to determine the information validity. Also, where you research will determine what sort of information you get - the information gained on the internet might be very different than talking to people or what might be found in a dusty historical society. Note that the ‘go and talk to people research’ (unless you have very specific contacts to go to and speak with that actually get roleplayed out) may alert targets that you are doing research into them. Example: The PC’s are doing some research on a street gang. They start with the newspaper morgue and library. Unless the gangbangers have people inside of those places, there is a very minimal or no chance the gang will be alerted to their ‘snooping’. If the PC’s talk to police who ‘work that beat’, the chance of the gang being alerted go up. If the PC’s wander around on the turf of the gang asking questions about the gang it is very likely that the gang will be alerted to their interest. It may often be wise to pick what sort of research to do and when to do it.
Ride: Specify what kind of mount. Riding camels is very different from horses. Definitely a good skill to get. Failing your riding roll means you might as well be leading it instead of riding it. Unless you get tossed into a tree upside-down. That hurts. Being able to ride an animal gives you no knowledge at all about care and upkeep of that animal. See also ‘animal handling’.
Running: long distance: Most folks only get sprinting but after a few hundred feet, this skill kicks in. There is nothing more satisfying than chasing down a bad guy for a mile or two and not even working hard at it. This is also a good skill for ‘I need to leave the area quickly and all my vehicles are disabled and mounts are dead.’
Running: sprinting: If you don’t have it, chances are the monster will eat YOU.
Safe-cracking: This skill is like lock-picking but for safes. Some safes take a long time to crack. This is NOT the ‘put my ear to the safe and spin the dial’. There may be drilling and high tech gadgets for seeing inside involved. It is often noisy.
Articles to read:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-cracking
home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/security/safecracking4.htm
www.wikihow.com/Crack-a-Safe
safeinflorida.com/content/cant-open-your-safe
With a crit, you’ll probably have it open in under an hour - one site lists twenty minutes as their minimum. Often, you have to work on the safe for hours.
Obviously, movies speed this up a lot.
SCUBA: Using fancy gear to dive and not die.
Security systems lore: Knowing about motion detectors, silent alarms, cameras, etc. This is pretty much a modern day skill although some pre-WW2 places might have crude electronic security.
Seduction: Making nice with someone else in hopes of a romantic interlude.
Singing: Comes up a surprising amount and can be darned useful.
Sixth sense/danger sense: In real life, you sometimes enter those situations that you ‘just get a feeling’ that it is dangerous. This is the skill for that. It does not tell you where the marksman is hidden or what the danger specifically is. This is the skill that would be rolled if the bad guys had rigged your door with a laser marker and a couple pounds of C4. There is no other legitimate way to know that opening your door will cause the hotel to explode – no ticking, no wires, no buzzing, nothing. This skill is your last chance to say “Hum. I feel in danger. Maybe I should go to a different hotel.” If you ask for a skill roll you get it at full, if the GM asks for it, you get it at half.
Skiing: Beware of trees! Play James Bond!
Signaling: This covers hand signals, Aldus lamps, smoke signals, etc.
Spot hidden/find: This is your generic ‘notice clue’, ‘notice bad guy sneaking up on you with a knife’ etc. Gets used all the time.
Feel: Your sense of touch, etc.
Smell/taste: Nose, tongue.
Spy lore: This skill is only really useful if the GM knows more about it than you do. In my campaign, this tells you what the ‘by the book’ procedure is for different circumstances. The ‘by the book’ procedure might not be the right one for the circumstance . For example, if you are being followed, what is the ‘by the book’ procedure? If you want to tail someone? If you want to send a secret message? What is a dead letter drop? Etc. [Note - Logan’s spy lore is mostly from the Cold War era.]
The difference between people with and without Spy Lore - as just one example:
GM: "You're being followed!"
Untrained: "We lose them!"
Trained: "We now have a few options. If we lose them, then they may assign different people to tail us who we won't know. We can also have them follow us until we can get them into a place where a third party can ambush them then we can ask some hard questions. Or, we can drive around with them following us till someone else gets on their tail, then lose them. Our other people will then follow them around to see where they go." Or, or or.
Stealth: Being sneaky. This is also known as the ‘don’t get left in the car while we go do stuff’ skill.
Even if people attempt to stealth to a target and ‘split up a bit’ if one of the sneaking people fails their stealth roll, generally all of them will get spotted. Finding one person in stealth will put everyone on their guard. It is much better to send one very sneaky person in for a ‘sneak and peek’ to find out what is going on then sneak back to inform others. This is fine for many situations. Due to the ‘don’t split up the party’, having one person do lots of stuff while in stealth - not acceptable. So keep it brief. Working on getting your stealth high should be a priority for everyone.
Also, stealth becomes much harder when you are sneaking up on a target. It is far easier to lie in wait for a target when they are coming to - or past - you. Since this requires a tiny bit of planning or something clever such as making a diversion, it is rarely used by the PC’s.
Streetwise: A lot of people always like to say things like “Oh, he’s book smart but he’s not *street smart*”. I respond “Do you know where to get an unlicensed Uzi in downtown Chicago right this instant? If not, you aren’t really street smart either.” This is that skill. It tells you where to get hold of illegal things, whose on the take, whose who in crime families, etc. Note that if you are not ‘climatized’ (acclimatized) in a zone/dimension/world you are at half skill.
Surveillance: After setting up somewhere that you can comfortably hang out for ONE WEEK and spending a week there then you get a roll on this skill. Better to have NPC’s do this unless you have a lot of time. Amateurs do this with one vehicle. Professionals use several at the same time and rotate them. Amateur tales are easy to spot unless they are tailing other amateurs. See ‘counter surveillance’.
Survival: A type of area must be specified (desert or arctic or other). This allows you to survive (barely) in that area for an extended time. Having other nifty skills like carpentry, natural history, etc really can make your life more comfortable.
Note that this skill doesn’t produce what is not there. It allows you to make a shitty shelter, get some berries (if they are around at all) that will hopefully keep you from starving, and will tell you the best place to go to find civilization is generally downhill.
If you are in a desert where there is literally no water (or on an alien planet where it is all poison) it will not keep you from dying - just make you slightly less uncomfortable while you do.
Also, some things the survival skill tells you - such as traveling by night through the desert is preferable because you don’t have the sun beating down on you - it may be at odds with the desert you are in. Especially if evil spirits of the dead hunt at night.
Generally, needing to use this skill means you have been thrust into a bad environment or have failed to plan ahead and will be reduced to ‘near death’ but hopefully not all the way dead - depending how long you are there.
Swim: If you don’t have it, you get to discover the drowning rules!
Tactics: Detailed planning, surprise, entry, speed and ‘violence of action’. Read more at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_quarters_combat Within the game, this also allows (assuming everyone has similar weapons and a decent plan) the PC’s not accidentally shoot each other and so on. If one person has a sword and the other two are using shotguns and the sword guy closes to engage while the others stand back and shoot, he is probably fucked and should have bought a shotgun. Or covered the back door. Note - this use to be split into ‘police’ and ‘military’ tactics but they have gotten close enough in recent years I’m happy to have the same skill cover all of them.
Generally, if you are doing an entry into a place with a team they are somewhat useful for not blocking each other's shots and such. Since we don't use maps and minis, the GM will often declare that other people are blocking your shot and such because untrained people plus guns are not a good mix. It also teaches you what 'slicing the pie' is, etc. Keep in mind that without this skill, your characters tactics are roughly equivalent to kids in horror movies. That being said, it doesn't get called on too often - possibly because the PC's aren't soldiers or cops, possibly because the GM forgets.
Teaching:
Due to the very high skill that players can potentially start with in all skills as well as the phenomenally fast rate they learn skills, teaching is only useful for PC’s as a way of passing spells.
A PC may attempt to teach two people per day a spell. Normally it would be one person per day per spell but since there is a max of three players per session, I upped it to two people per day for the spell. In that way, the PC could share the spell with both of his teammates if they so wished.
When you teach a spell, the only spell you can teach someone is the start of the tree - the lowest spell in that selection. That’s it. They then need to work their way up the tree themselves.
In order to teach the lowest tier of spell you must successfully roll your teaching as well as the spell you are trying to teach. A separate roll is required for each of your two students.
Tracking: If it isn’t humans and you don’t have natural history etc you probably won’t know what it is but you can tell where it went for at least a short way. If the tracks have been sitting around for a week or it’s rained in the meantime, you are probably out of luck.
Trapping: This is a good skill either if you are out in the wilds and need to eat or if you are one of the rare PC’s who plans ahead. Traps can take from minutes to hours to set up depending on what type. This covers anything from placement of trip wires to digging out a punji pit.
Zoology/animal lore: You know more about animals than someone skating by with natural history.
Third skill sheet:
Heavy weapon skills: I wouldn’t expect to find these sitting around. The police are pretty harsh on people who own rocket launchers or artillery. In ‘war torn’ countries you can probably get some of these through the ‘streetwise’ skill.
Languages: You start with your native language. This is always denoted by an “N” – I don’t make people roll to see if they can speak their native language. Any other language must be bought separately. I know several languages have the same base/root – I don’t care. Buy them separately. Also, if you have less than a 60% (do it as a living) you are not fluent. Any time you want to speak or understand it is a separate roll. If you have 60% or better, you roll once for the adventure. Good to have 60%. If you fumble in the language, you not only say/understand something extremely rude/insulting/vulgar but you are done attempting to roll that language for the entire adventure. In order to get around certain ‘cheesyness’, I require players to make some sort of hand sign/wear a special hat/something obvious when they are speaking in a different language. This keeps people from saying something highly inappropriate then attempting to cover their tracks by claiming they were saying it in a different language. I don’t allow the ‘oh, we are always speaking in Gaelic’. Nope. Go buy special ‘these are our Gaelic speaking hats’ and wear them. Watch NPC’s become confused when you address them in Gaelic! No end of fun.
Write in Skills:
These can really, really make your character SHINE. Nothing is better than having some odd write in skill that nobody knows about then – when that one in twenty adventure comes along that it is the ‘daddy’ skill for UNLEASHING it.
Any skill that can be done from golf, knitting, drinking beer with your feet (seen it) etc can be a write in skill. No, you can’t have ‘decapitate foe with one swift strike’ or any of that ‘I’ve played too much D&D silliness’. GM has the right to veto any write in skill. Certain write in skills may only become available after very specific things happen, GM’s discretion.
LANGUAGES
Write N in your native language - all others start at LEARN. This means you don’t have to spend skill points in your native language, nor make checks in it. IF you start with a native language that is not English (or whatever the common language in the campaign is), start with English at 60% or it will just drag everyone down.
For some campaigns, spoken and written are split up. For example, ‘Egyptian hieroglyphs’ would be ‘read Egyptian hieroglyphs’ because nobody knows how to speak Ancient Egyptian.
Unless you go there and learn it - which may be possible in some campaigns. That would then allow you to build the new skill ‘Speak Ancient Egyptian’.
Additionally, some GM’s might specify that for certain very complex languages which many people can speak but fewer can read (example Mandarin) that the player must buy spoken and written separately.
How languages work: First, you say what you are trying to say then you make your roll. This allows hilarity for the GM when you fail or fumble your roll.
If the player rolls a critical, the GM may not ask them to roll again for awhile.
For a success, the idea the player is attempting to communicate is passed.
Failure indicates they are either trying to make up words that nobody recognizes or garbling it so badly the listener cannot understand what they are saying.
Fumbles are hilarity for the GM. Maybe insulting the listener, maybe volunteering for something dangerous, whatever. Also, you are done attempting that language for the adventure or session - whichever ends first.
A special rule with languages is that once a player has a 60% or higher in a language, they need only succeed once per session to communicate for the entire session in that language. Conversely, if the roll is fumbled, you seem to have forgotten how to speak that language for the adventure or session - whichever ends first.
TRAINING
I normally don't have/allow PC's to train in skills other than spells. This system is way easy to get a check in. Also, spells have a maximum amount you can train in (MP) other skills don't.
Hence, I don't normally allow any training (except skills) unless there are special circumstances (magic school, strange studio supplied trainer, etc). If the PC's have certain habits (paint or play a musical instrument in the mornings) that is fine but generally they get one attempt at the skill and only one roll per day. There is a difference between trying to get plenty of diverse checks and 'gaming the system hard' and it's better to go light than have the GM roll his eyes and plan for a major terrorist attack on the players.
The 'golden rule' is that if the players can fit in a couple extra skill rolls (without going overboard) into the story and their character, it is OK. (See also ‘skill whoring’ below). If it seems they are just trying to pointlessly roll some extra skill rolls, the GM can say "And you're done with your training." or "You will need to be in a situation where rolling the skill matters before you can have a potential check in it."
PC's skills go up quite dramatically. Several times as fast as any NPC's. Example, assume a 4 year degree means you can do something as a living. Hence, four years to get that skill (and a couple others, like drinking) up to 60%. The PC's can do that within an action packed month, maybe less.
SKILL WHORING
Obviously, the more skills you can get checks in during a session, the better as multiple things will go up.
It is understood that the players will want to try rolling as many skills as possible during the game.
The trick is to keep it relevant. Rolling a skill for no reason and succeeding does not give you a check. If you can work it into the story, then it will not irritate the other players or GM.
Example: The players have become suspicious that a tapestry may be of more importance than they first thought. When discussing it with each other, they may all come up with various skills and such that could be relevant to the case to try to get more information. Tapestry lore, history, etc.
It is up to the players to be both creative and subtle. Generally, there are several good opportunities for a LOT of skill rolls during the campaign. Take your cue from those who have been playing longer rather than just trying to go down the list.
WHAT SKILLS CANNOT BE BOUGHT AT THE START?
The GM may have various skills listed on the sheet (or known about by the players) which cannot be purchased during character creation and are either not being used for the campaign or must be learned during the campaign.
ROLLS
CRITS AND FUMBLES
Before discussing that, we must discuss what the ‘ones digit’ and the ‘tens digit’ are in numbers as many countries (like the USA) have many shitty school systems and people might not know what these are.
Example: 74.
The ‘7’ is the ‘tens’ digit. The ‘4’ is in the ‘ones’ digit place.
Example: 138.
The ‘3’ is in the ‘tens’ digit, the ‘8’ is in the ‘ones’ digit.
Criticals:
Take the tens digit from your skill and put a zero in front of it (unless your skill is 100% or higher, see below). That is your chance of rolling a critical.
Example: 61% (skill). The ‘6’ is the tens digit. Put a ‘0’ in front of it (lose the ones digit, nobody likes it any way) and that gives you a 06. If you roll a 6% or less, you have rolled a critical.
Example: 128% (skill). In this case (since over 100%) keep the ‘12’. We don’t need to put a zero in front of it. You would roll a critical on a 12% or less.
Fumbles:
Take the tens digit and stick a ‘9’ in front of it. If you have a 100% or higher skill, you always fumble on a 100.
Example: 61% skill. Put a ‘9’ in front of the tens digit ‘6’ and that gives you a ‘96’. Hence you fumble on a 96 or higher.
Example: 98% skill. You drop the 8 and you only fumble on a 99 or higher.
Example: 128% skill. You only fumble on a 00 (or 100).
Note that in both cases, modifiers can affect your critical and fumble range.
Example: 61% is the fist skill. The character is at a +10%. For purposes of crits and fumbles, the character is now at an effective skill this round of a 71%. Hence, they would critical on a 7 or less and fumble on a 97 or higher instead of their usual of critting on a 6 or less and fumbling on a 96 or higher.
Example: 61% is their fist skill but their opponent is stunned giving them a +30% for this round. Their new crit range is 9% or less, fumble range is 99 or higher.
Or - for those that know formulas, crits = (skill/10)rounddown, fumble = 90+(skill/10)rounddown
ROLL RESULTS
Some players will say “I rolls a 47!” This is not useful information for the GM. The only results from a roll the GM needs to hear, from worst to best:
Fumble
Failed it
Made it
Made it at -30%
Made it at -60%
Critical
SKILL MODIFIERS
If the GM thinks that whatever the players are doing is harder than normal, they can slap whatever skill negative they want onto them.
-30% or half (players choice): What you’re doing is pretty hard.
-60% or quarter (players choice): What you’re doing is crazy hard.
Give me a crit buddy: What you’re doing is not going to work.
Roll me an 01 (or several 01 in a row): No.
If the GM thinks whatever the players are doing is easier than normal, they can give bonuses. Note that the bonuses are intentionally smaller than the negatives.
+5%: Someone is helping you! (Also see ‘supporters’).
+10%: Pretty easy.
+20%: Super easy.
+30%: If you can’t make this, you suck.
MODIFIER EXAMPLES
These are not hard and fast modifiers - just ideas for the GM.
-30: stunned/light cover (including crowds)/additional attempts at same task/bad lighting/long range.
-60: heavy cover (including crowds)/horrible lighting (aka 'I fire at the muzzle flash')/excessive range.
Note, all this stuff is cumulative. In other words, if you are stunned and doing a called shot (for some reason) you are at a -60.
If you shoot into a crowd and miss due to the negative modifier, you hit a random member of the crowd.
Firing into a crowd indiscriminately (IE you don't care who gets hit at all) the GM may give a bonus, depending on how tightly packed people are.
ADDITIONS AND SUBTRACTIONS TO SKILLS
Do them in the order that is best for you. If the GM gives you a +5% to disarm a bomb but that roll is at half, you can cut your skill in half then add five. If you can’t figure out which is best for you, simply do one. Again, not having basic math skills seems to be penalized harshly.
FAILING SOME SKILLS
Rolls don’t necessarily change what a player thinks, just what the character ‘knows’.
Example: If an NPC is acting friendly to a PC and the PC is suspicious of them and fumbles an ‘empathy’ check, the player does not need to invite this person home. The GM may tell them all sorts of weird crap. The player can still be suspicious of this NPC. The best roleplayers often go along with the roll, however, and play it up for humorous effect. “Hell, I like you. You can come over to my house and fuck my sister!” - (movie) Full Metal Jacket
Example: A player suspects the Indiana Jones fun house the GM has been lazy enough to copy straight from the movie is trapped. They fail or fumble their ‘spot hidden’ roll. This does not mean they need to blithely wander in. However, they have no clue what the traps are or what sets them off.
HP/DAMAGE/HEALING
HIT POINTS (’how much abuse you can withstand before unconsciousness or death’)
There are three different kinds of damage.
Real, stun and half and half. Half and half is half real, half stun - round to stun.
Example: Mikey takes a club to the head doing 5 points of half and half. Mikey takes 2 real and 3 stun.
Unlike real life, there are only two times when you are affected by missing HP.
When you have 0 HP remaining you are either dead or unconscious. Either way, you are knocked down and lying on the ground.
If you have negative HP and none of the damage is stun, you are dead.
If you have negative HP and some of the damage you have taken is stun, you are alive unless the amount of real damage you have taken would bring you to negative numbers.
Stun damage generally comes back after a good night of sleep.
To find out other ways ‘real’ damage comes back, see the section on ‘damage and healing’ below.
Reminder - when you are unconscious, you cannot use cards (aside from the ‘wake up’ card) nor Hero Points!
DAMAGE
See the ‘damage track’ table for various weapon damages and such.
FALLING DAMAGE
See also 'damage track'.
One story fall/3m: d6
Two story fall/6m: d12
Three story fall/10m: d8+d10
15m: 2d10+d12
25m: 4d12 (top of the damage track)
Falling damage - after 25m, humans die. Roll two ‘01’ results in a row two barely survive. Three ‘01’ results in a row mean you can just walk away. Four ‘01’ results in a row means your gear is undamaged, your clothing isn’t even dirty. You just emerge from a crater you made, pick off an invisible speck of lint from your clothing, check your phone for messages and walk away.
Note that you can use the ‘it’s a crit’ card to get an ‘01’ for this.
Note that in one combat round (about 5 seconds) the average human falls about 100m. If you are attempting to use a spell or ability that takes a round (or longer) to reduce or negate your falling damage, try to fall from much further up.
Special note - falling into water: If you fall into water that the GM judges deep enough (at least 10m for the kind of high dive that makes someone bother to look up this rule), half the distance fallen. In other words, you don't have to worry about 'auto-splat' until you dive 50m as opposed to 25m. While in real life people have survived this, I am doubting they do it while carrying as much gear as PC's insist they can carry and while fully dressed, etc.
UNCONSCIOUS
You can spend hero points when you are asleep but unless you take damage or make a difficult listen roll (unless the attacker is noisy) you continue to sleep until awakened. You can spend cards but not trade them. If you are unconscious (from being KO'ed, taken too much stun damage gone to zero MP, etc) even loud noises and taking damage will not allow you to wake up - but you can still spend cards and hero points."
If you attack a sleeping target, you get two bumps in damage for 'surprise' and another two bumps for 'helpless'.
While asleep or unconscious, you can spend cards but not trade them as you are not 'in communication' with the other PC's.
You can spend hero points when you are asleep but unless you take damage or make a difficult listen roll (unless the attacker is noisy) you continue to sleep until awakened. You can spend cards but not trade them. If you are unconscious (from being KO'ed, taken too much stun damage gone to zero MP, etc) even loud noises and taking damage will not allow you to wake up - but you can still spend cards and hero points.
If you attack a sleeping target, you get two bumps in damage for 'surprise' and another two bumps for 'helpless'.
The total of the stun damage and real damage represents lost HP.
If you lose all of your HP due to 'real' damage, you are dead. If some or all of that damage is stun (and the amount of real is less than your HP) you are unconscious until either eight hours has passed or you get some HP from spells, regeneration, first aid, etc.
If you're unconscious due to having lost all of your MP due to fumbles, over casting spells, etc you are unconscious either until eight hours has passed, someone gives you more MP or perhaps from some sort of spell. People falling unconscious from MP loss are very literally helpless and won't wake up, even if slowly crushed in a meat press.
Note that if you are unconscious and gain MP/HP that would allow you to become conscious, the GM has the choice between making waking up automatic or requiring some sort of roll every round (usually this takes place during combat) to wake up. It might be an endurance roll, willpower, or whatever roll their sadistic brain decides.
DAMAGE AND HEALING
HEALING - CURRENT CAMPAIGN
Every night the PC's sleep, the PC can call for a willpower roll. (If they do not, they stay wounded but need not roll - their choice).
Fumble: You stay wounded this week - try again seven days from now. Also, you are back at 'residual self image'. Any sort of implants, plastic surgery, etc - gone.
Fail: You stay wounded - try again tomorrow night.
WILLPOWER ROLL
x5: Heal 1 real HP.
x4: Heal 2 real HP.
x3: Heal 3 real HP.
x2: Heal 4 real HP.
x1 OR CRIT: You're fine. Total heal. Also, you are back at 'residual self image'. Any sort of implants, plastic surgery, etc - gone.
(Not sure if these are system or just the current campaign but they do seem to work well - note that NPC’s heal hella slower.)
Note that within the current campaign, usually the above is used. There may be times when ‘regular healing’ is used instead - consult GM.
HEALING - REGULAR (AKA ‘just lying around hoping to get better’)
You heal d3 per week.
If first aid is done regularly during that week, bump up one place. AKA having someone look after you.
If medicine is done regularly during that week, bump up one place. AKA being in a doctor’s care.
First aid and medicine stack. Additional things (magic, etc) may also stack, see GM.
HEALING - MEDICALLY
Note that you can use neither ‘first aid’ nor ‘medicine’ skills on yourself. Because this is not a ‘crunchy’ game where we have figured out the exact hit locations, just assume it is somewhere you can’t reach or see. Either have a PC or an NPC attempt it.
For first aid, there are some wounds (only given to NPC’s as the PC’s are basically a bag of HP) that cannot be helped at all. Example - being gut shot with your intestines and stomach draining into each other. For this, they probably won’t even survive in a hospital.
The HP regained from first aid/medicine are HOT (healing over time) not instantaneous. Generally the GM can choose between 1HP/hour up to 1HP/round, whatever the story needs. (For PC’s, unless the GM is being difficult it is generally regained at 1HP/round.)
First aid can be used once successfully. If successful, it regains d3 real HP to the target. Required materials include simple first aid supplies. The GM may allow for ‘ripping up someone’s clothing because the so called doctor is too inept to carry a small lightweight first aid kit with them’.
Note that if someone tries first aid and fails, the next person is at a -30% to succeed. The next person at a -60%. Better to have the person who is best at first aid actually attempt it.
Medicine has the exact same effect as first aid however requires 'doctor' skill and a lot more props. You need at minimum a ‘home operating theater’.
Successive tries in medicine work in the same way.
Because life is unfair, a fumble in either first aid or medicine will not heal any damage but will in fact reduce the target's HP by d6, possibly killing them. If both first aid and medicine are fumbled, 2d6 damage will be done to the unfortunate. At the GM's whim, he may also have them accidentally amputate a limb.
Because life is hard.
Example: Billy has been shot. He has taken 7 real of his 10 HP and is in a bad way with three HP left.
Phil attempts first aid, fumbles and inflicts another 2 HP of real damage. Billy is now sad. Rather than have someone else attempt first aid on the now critical patient, they take him to a doctor who also fumbles, killing Billy. This is what happens if you let NPC's do the work.
Example 2: Phil has been brutally clubbed by Fred for helping kill Billy. Phil normally has 12 HP. He took 12 points of half and half damage. That means that unless someone messes with him, he will lie there in a pool of his own blood for eight hours. When he eventually comes around, he will be at 6 HP, leaving him with 6 real HP of damage.
Bob decides to punish Phil by attempting first aid while Phil is still unconscious at 0 HP. Strangely, Bob succeeds, causing Phil to regain d3 HP. Bob rolls a 3. Phil is now awake and still has 6 stun and 3 real damage but at positive 3 HP.
After a screaming match between Fred and Bob, it is decided to take Phil to the same doctor that helped kill Billy. The stars align and the drunken doctor succeeds his medicine and rolls a 3 (for HP regained). All of Phil's real HP of damage are gone. His stun damage will go away at one per hour. After six hours of rest, he is again at full (12) HP and ready for a new savage beating.
Note that even the ‘laying around’ healing rate is much faster than real life.
COMBAT OVERVIEW AND PHILOSOPHY
Combat - how does it work?
Well, first you roll initiative, then you do the different phases of the -
No. Fuck that.
Nearly every roleplaying game out there drags out combat. Yes, it is more realistic but I'd rather do story than war gaming - which is what most RPG's are thin veneer for.
In this system, the GM points at the player and says "What do you do?"
If the player says "uh" or looks confused, the GM moves on. That character spends their time panicking during the round. Perfectly normal, perfectly natural.
[Note - does this discriminate against people who like to ponderously think and come up with ideas slowly? Yes. Combat does too. Those will be the guys standing there with a stupid look on their face getting filled with bullets while everyone diving for cover makes 'loot the dead guy' plans. Generally these kind of people don't last long in my groups. Yes, I've had people get stressed out during combat; imagine how their character feels. If ponderous person says "But I'm roleplaying someone who is cool under fire and great at combat" I respond "Obviously not well."]
If the player asks "How far is it to..." Great - they get to spend their round looking around, trying to figure out where they are and other things in relation to them. Combat rounds are fast.
Answering "Fire pistol at Captain Slash!" (possibly with 'bang bang' noises) while rolling dice is a fast (possibly correct) answer.
While in many RPG's you have the time to look around leisurely, maybe go through a list of possible weapons, maybe take out a weapon, examine it, take out poison, maybe apply it to the weapon then put back the poison via, gauge distances, maybe run through some scenarios in your head (IE discuss with the GM) - this is not that game. That is chess for people who kind of like RPG's.
If you want to say something, you get three words - choose them wisely. Other characters may or may not hear over explosions, gunfire and the GM yelling. There is no time to discuss plans. Common sense says if you need to discuss plans during combat, you have fucked up badly and should probably retreat and learn to plan better.
Combat may be entirely over before you have managed to take off your backpack, open it and rummage around inside of it to find an item. Round one - take off backpack, free action drop backpack on floor. Round two - open backpack. Round d6 or more later - find item you were looking for. [For those who say 'but my backpack is arranged' - I was a backpacker for seven years. Fuck off, shit never stays where you want it to and you have the added stress of being in combat.]
Combat rounds are fast and often deadly. Know what is in your character's hands. If you want to jump and grab the rope with both hands, stuff held in those hands is now lying on the floor where you dropped it.
Although it would be neat to say ‘long enough to pull a trigger or stab someone’, if you need to compute time it’s generally around five seconds.
WHAT YOU CAN DO DURING A COMBAT ROUND (types of actions)
During a round, the player may do one full action, one simple action and one free action at maximum.
Free actions: These are actions which don't take up any actions. You can generally do one of these and a normal action within the round.
Examples of free actions: Say your three words for the round, drop (not throw) something. At the GM's discretion, perhaps a spot hidden at a negative, etc.
A simple action is exclusively movement - see ‘movement speed’ below.
Actions: These are things which take up the entire round. Example: looking around - is the guy you are getting ready to shoot in the doorway your buddy or a bad guy? Taking a weapon out of a holster. Taking the pin out of a grenade. Not throwing it - just removing the pin. Pushing the large red button marked 'self destruct lair'. Honestly, if you are freaked out and don't know what to do 'taking cover' is often a fantastic idea. In this game, one way to spot the amateurs is to see at the beginning of combat who takes cover and who stands there, pulls out a weapon and starts shooting. I blame D&D for that sort of thinking. Though it is known you can shoot or stab someone a lot more during five seconds, you only get one try during a round.
Example of what someone can do in a combat round: Drop spent pistol, walk forward three meters and pull out a new pistol. This assumes they do not have ‘quick draw’ skill - see section ‘skills’ below.
WHY IS THE COMBAT ROUND AS IT IS?
Just like combat in real life, you have to make shitty decisions based on partial or no information.
Reasons why combat is simple, brutal and short: There are things TTRPG's do well and things they do horribly. Combat is always done horribly. If you want good fast combat that is remarkably detailed, play computer games. If you want detailed, individualized plot TTRPG's offer an experience a mass produced computer game cannot.
So I'm attempting to focus on the strengths of the medium (table top gaming) as I see them while skipping past the weaknesses.
Unlike in most TTRPG's I've seen in the last four decades, within this campaign it is quite possible to skip nearly all combat if you're clever enough. Having said that, sometimes the players enjoy getting their blood fix - take some combat skills for those times.
The limit on three words is because some players (wargamers or those who think they are wargamers) often try to make each brief round into a long tactical conversation in order to squeeze the most out of each round. Combat isn’t like that - it is short, scary and messy.
Also (in my personal game) I don’t use miniatures and maps during combat for reasons:
1. It gives a huge unfair tactical advantage to the players while stripping away the much more realistic ‘fog of war’.
2. Your game flow is completely destroyed while setting up miniatures maps and assorted paraphernalia.
3. It leads inevitably to people wanting more ‘crunch’.
4. The amount of time spent with combat in these sort of games (to me) is both ridiculous and completely unacceptable. If you want good combat, try a computer game.
INITIATIVE
With rare exception, figuring out who goes first is completely unnecessary. The only important thing is who goes first - the PC’s (and their allies) or their foes?
Figuring out the order of PC’s going is unnecessary and slows combat to a drag. If someone has in mind some special action that will affect the entire round and other PC’s actions, they can inject a quick ‘anyone mind if I go first this round?’
Example: Jarvis is going to set off a bomb. As the last round is brought to a close he says to his fellow PC’s “Anyone mind if I go first next round?” They agree and he does. This is - and should be - rare.
The best way to keep the combat speedy is for the GM to simply go around the table, point at each player and say ‘What do you do’. If they hesitate for more than five seconds, the answer is ‘nothing’ - they freeze up and stand there. That happens often in real combat. If the player has questions about the field of battle (”How far am I away from the crane?”) they spend their time piercing the fog of war - nothing else. The player must declare quickly what they are doing and preferably already have their dice results done.
Example:
“I shoot the nearest bad guy for eight points of damage.”
Many people (especially war gamers) will find this rapid fire combat style stressful. This is realistic as combat is highly stressful. It also allows huge combats to be resolved within minutes rather than hours.
ATTACKING
If you are using melee (hand to hand) you may both attack and parry within the same round.
The player must figure out if they are ‘using a strong attack’ or ‘fighting defensively’. Declare before you or the bad guys start rolling. If they are strongly attacking, their parry is at half/negative thirty. If they are fighting defensively, their attack is at half/negative thirty.
Example: Beth attempts to ‘attack the crap out of’ the orc. She attacks at full but if the orc attacks her back, her first parry starts at half/negative thirty and her second (if needed) is at a quarter/negative sixty. She doesn’t get more than two attempts at parrying.
Example: Frank is fighting the mushroom man defensively. He attacks at half/negative thirty but his first parry is at full. His second parry (if needed) is at half/negative thirty and his third (if needed) is at a quarter/negative sixty.
You only get one attempt to parry an incoming attack and not all types of attacks may be parried.
Example: A giant swings his club at Frank. Frank can either attack or dodge this round because a parry of something that size is not going to happen.
Dodge: This is used when the GM tells you parry is not a possibility. Note that there are times when dodging is unwise - you must be able to swiftly move backward or to one side to dodge. If you can’t, you may not dodge. Dodge is a full action skill. A character may not attack and dodge within the same round unless they are hasted (through a card or spell effect). See skill ‘dodge’.
AREA EFFECT STUFF
Why you can’t ‘save for half’ from explosive damage? Because this is not fucking D&D. The best you can hope for in this system is (aside from not being where the bomb is) rolling low on your damage. If you don’t, Hero Points may help reduce the amount of damage you take. Bombs and such are lethal.
In some cases (such as someone tossing a grenade into the room you are in) you might be able to dodge behind something to try to absorb some of the shrapnel. Consult the GM. It should be noted that the ‘pick up the grenade and toss it back’ only works if the person throwing them doesn’t know what they are doing. (Explanation - professionals throw it in such a way it is bouncing around prior to going off to keep someone from tossing it back or - if they have big stones - they may ‘cook off’ the grenade. Pull the pin, wait a bit then throw.)
Generally speaking, it is not a brilliant idea to annoy people who carry grenades.
Even if you declared dodging, if you are still in the explosive radius, you are fucked.
Unfortunately, stuff like large explosions are not normally survivable. Shit, even a hand grenade is ugly - especially if they are in a confined space.
The ‘danger sense’ has always been a kind of ‘you don’t want to go in there’ thing. It’s the warning the players get.
It is hard not to blow up the characters when the players often don’t practice even very basic OPSEC. The number of times PC’s have either led bad guys to their bases, gone to places they knew to be compromised, given away important data to bad guys - it’s amazing.
NO SAVING THROW
There are places that - if the PC's go - it is fully possible to die without taking damage, getting any sort of 'saving throw', etc. [Note - in general, this game does not have ‘saving throws’ - that’s some D&D shit there.]
It is the responsibility for all of these situations to have foreshadowing. If the PC's choose to ignore it, good for them. It shows they are brave and adventurous.
WEAPON DAMAGES
Listed on the PC sheet. Because this is a simple game, ‘bigger is better’.
While in real life, a short bladed knife or ice pick is a lethal weapon and professional assassins favor the .22 caliber pistol with silencer, in this simple game system those weapons are shitty. Bigger is better - though not for concealment nor silence.
HOW FAST TO GET THINGS DONE
"It ain't like D&D" - here's an example:
"Logan I get out my oil, light it on fire and throw it at him!"
In many D&D games I've sat through throughout the decades, this is a simple one round action. In this game system, you're looking at a 'fucking long time'.
Let's assume the oil is in an easy to open belt pouch.
Round 1: Open the belt pouch clasp. No clasp? How the fuck has it stayed in there with you doing active life stuff? Of course you need some sort of secure way to keep it in there.
Round 2: Pull out oil flask.
Round 3: Realize you need something to light it with and pull out the lighter.
Round 4: Realize you need a piece of cloth and panic because both your hands are holding things. So you pass the lighter to the hand holding the oil flask and try not to drop it. Remember, if the oil flask isn't the kind that may break while you're wearing it, it doesn't get weaker when you throw it at a target. It will probably just bounce off the target.
By now, you've already been pretty much inactive for several rounds. Let's try it with a grenade.
Round 1: Take out grenade.
Round 2: Pull pin with free hand. (Teeth? No. I've used real grenades. You are far more likely to lose teeth than to pull the pin. If not, just imagine how easily the pins can come out.)
Round 3: When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend so you throw it.
Round 4: (If you are smart) take cover.
Disclaimer: There are certain futuristic grenades that you can arm and throw all in the same round. Thousands of years of weapons tech for the win!
GUN RULES
RANGES OF FIREARMS (etc)
These are simplified rules to avoid 'gun porn' that so many rule books fall into. Also, if you have someone claim that 'a pistol range is much further', that is technically true but also shows that person hasn't spent much time at the gun range or in combat. These ranges are the 'normal effective ranges'. Just because some guy does a 1000m shot with a pistol does not mean your character can ever hope to do that.
Everything: 20m
Long arms: 100m
Scopes slow your rate of fire to half but double the range. If you have a scope on a pistol, it will probably get knocked out of alignment when holstering it and it is a stupid movie thing anyway. Note - if you don’t sight in a scope before using it (involves shooting off some rounds and making small adjustments), it won’t help.
Double the range, half the skill.
Example of ranges:
Rifle = 100m. Put a scope on it = 200m base range, half rate of fire. Hence:
0-200m = full skill.
Up to 400m = half skill.
Up to 800m = quarter skill.
FULL AUTO RULES
Full Auto on multiple targets (expending at least ten rounds of ammo - most clips have 20 or 30 rounds so you can do this two or three times).
One target +2 bump on damage track.
Two targets if the GM deems they are reasonably close, +1 bump damage track - roll separately for each target.
Three targets if the GM deems they are reasonably close, NO bump damage track - roll separately for each target.
EXAMPLE OF COMBAT
Three PC’s vs five NPC thugs.
Joe, Alice and Betty are taking on A, B, C, D, E. The terrain is open enough that everyone can easily get to everyone else.
GM: Give me a luck roll, let me know who gets the worst.
Joe: Made mine by 30.
Alice: Just made mine.
Betty: Crit!
GM: Joe, only one guy is attacking you, everyone else has two on them.
GM: Five thugs with a variety of hand held weapons emerge from the fog in the field you guys are in. Round one! (Flips a card) Normal combat - heroes are first, villains second, library research is approved.
Group reacting to the preferred action: /eyeroll
GM: Alice!
Alice: How many of them are there again?
GM: You spend your time counting! Joe!
Joe: Fast draw pistol and (rolls, fails, curses) slowly take out my gun this round.
GM: Betty!
Betty: If they are close enough I kick one otherwise I rush them!
GM: You rush them! Roll sprint!
Betty: Success!
GM: You are at them. Alice, there are five - you don’t see any more around at this time. The two coming for you - one has a chain and the other brass knuckles! Bad guys turn! Betty the two people at you begin to attack - the guy with the lead pipe takes a swing (rolls 78) and a miss. The other guy tries to stab you with a knife (rolls 15) and he hits for four real damage! The other three rush people (rolls sprint for each) but only Joe’s guy makes it to him. The other two are waddling toward Alice. Another two rounds of waddling and they’ll reach her! Next round! Heroes are first, villains are second, talking about a dream is approved! Alice!
Alice: “I had a dream just like this where two guys came out of the fog with weapons toward me!” Can I try fast draw pistol too?
GM: Take a card for discussing your dreams and sure, if you make it it’s your free action but if you don’t, then you just slap leather and that’s it.
Alice: Success!
GM: Excellent - you’ve got your gun out and got a card. Joe!
Joe: Shoot one of them - preferably whoever has a ‘non-club’ - taking real damage sucks.
GM: Fortunately, you’ve still only got the one guy on you and he has a hockey stick.
Joe: Bang! (Rolls 97, has a skill of 60) Well, shit. Fumble.
GM: (Draws a card from the fumble deck) Looks like you’re fucked. You got the ‘draw five’ card.
Joe: Gaaa! Can I spend a Hero Point for a new card?
GM: According to the text on this card, no. Open wide for chunky! Let’s see (draws ‘you fall down’, ‘gear gone’, ‘throw away hand items’, ‘drop everything’ and ‘wrong target - team’). /ponder. OK - here’s what happens Joe.
Joe: /covers face with hands.
GM: Alice and Betty - luck rolls if you please - Betty you’re at -30% since you rushed into the fray and Joe’s spray bullets into that same fray. Probably you.
Alice: Made it.
Betty: Nope.
GM: OK Joe - your gun does d8 normally?
Joe: It’s heavy - d10.
GM: Neat. Roll a d10 on Betty.
Joe: 7.
GM: Betty - you take 7 HP of damage as Joe shoots you in the back. Joe, the gun going off surprises you so much that it flips out of your hand and disappears forever into the long grasses, never to be seen again. Apparently, you got knocked down by the recoil as well.
Joe: Hate this so much.
Betty: Can I spend a Hero Point not to take the damage?
GM: If you want.
Betty: I do so. /glare at Joe.
GM: Betty, what do you do?
Betty: Take out my frustration on one of the guys! Success on fist, success on martial arts and I rolled a 2. Well, crap.
And so on. Note - made with drawing actual cards from the deck. You never can tell what you’re going to get. But as you can see from this example, combat should be short and brutal.
ARMOR
If you are wearing some sort of physical armor (furs, chain mail bikini, full plate mail - whatever), one place reduction in damage on the ‘damage track’.
If you are wearing some sort of magical armor (ring, underwear, fake arrow through the head - whatever), one place reduction in damage on the ‘damage track’.
If you have both (or magic physical armor like magic chain mail, etc) two places reduction in damage on the ‘damage track’.
Two places is the max. The minimum damage on the damage table is d3 (unless special damage - see GM).
Why:
KISS. Also, if the armor becomes too effective (like with a straight point reduction) then small attacks are completely ignored.
Example: If someone had physical, magical or both armor that reduced incoming damage by four, the person would be literally immune to daggers unless they scored some sort of critical.
LULL (combat)
In the movies, this is when the heroes have just gotten done smashing up some bad guys and are moving from here to there but the dramatic, tense music is still playing in the background.
If the GM hasn’t fucked up and not foreshadowed correctly, the players know they are going to be back in combat very soon. It comes as no surprise.
Example: The main bad guy has kidnapped a hostage and sends his mooks after the PC’s. The PC’s finish off all the mooks then turn to confront the bad guy who murders his hostage in rage then attacks the heroes. The time between the PC’s finishing off the mooks, heading over to the bad guy, listening to his monologue and entering combat with him is called the ‘lull’.
Often times this is not a big deal but some items and such are only able to be used once during a combat. A lull means that item (if used previously against the mooks) is not available.
A lull can be used by a GM to heighten suspense, mess with PC’s who have once per combat items/effects and so on.
At the end of the mook combat, the GM would simply announce “You’re in a combat lull.” Or “You’re in a lull.” Or “Lull”.
PVP
If the GM allows PVP, the combat type is normal and the aggressor(s) are the villains. Note that in games where PVP is encouraged, the GM may choose to have whoever initiated the combat be the 'heroes'.
SURPRISE ROUND
This is usually done by NPC’s as PC’s are notoriously bad at planning anything, even a simple ambush. Should one side ambush another, the GM may (or may not) wish to give some sort of rolls to notice things. The GM doesn’t have to - it’s perfectly acceptable to start a combat with NPC’s firing arrows, guns or rocket launchers at the PC’s to get their attention. Up to the GM.
If one side takes the other by surprise, then the round card is flipped as normal and on the first round the surprised side simply does not get an action. They don’t get any dodge, parry, nothing. They just stand there looking stupid. That’s it. Be sure to note on the damage track the bumps to damage that are given for complete surprise. The GM may also wish to give a bonus (up to +30%) to hit.
On the next round, the GM can have everyone who was surprised make some sort of roll (up to the GM) to ‘no longer be surprised’ such as a dexterity or willpower roll with those failing it being ‘stunned’ or the GM can have everyone just act normally.
HELD ACTIONS
These do not come up often fortunately.
Instead of going on your round, you can hold your action till later. You don’t do anything in the meantime, you just wait.
Example: During a combat round, instead of going the person points their gun at the person and says ‘move and I shoot!’ (Speaking is the free action, they then hold their held action.)
This held action can take place within the same round or in a later round. Upon a simple contingent the person gets to go first.
Example: The hero had gone first and decided to say ‘move and I shoot’ and held action. On the villain’s turn, the villain decides to move - therefore the hero shoots first.
The held actions need to be super simple and able (of course) to be accomplished in one round. Some things don’t work well for a held action.
Example: “I shoot the first bad guy through the door” would not work as a held action because you have to first figure out if it is a bad guy coming through the door or not. That slows you down enough that the GM will rule you lose your held action and initiative is determined normally.
Example: “I shoot the first person or whatever that comes through the door” would work and possibly lead to hilarity for the GM if it is a friendly party through the door.
Either way, however, your held action takes up your action for the round that it takes place in.
Example: PC’s were going last in the round and the PC does the ‘move and I shoot’ thing and ‘holds their action’. On the next round, the GM draws a card showing villains are first, heroes are second. The villain begins to move and bang - the PC shoots. The villain (assuming they survive) then gets their normal action. The PC has already taken their action as a held action from last round. If the initiative order was reversed (heroes first then villains) holding action didn’t really do the PC any good.
MOVEMENT
On foot, humans go at 3m/10m.
That means they can ‘simple action’ forward at 3m per round or if they successfully sprint forward (sprinting skill) they go ten meters per round. If they attempt to sprint forward and fail their roll, they move only at simple action speed (3m/round) despite using a round to try to move forward.
Example: Melissa ‘simple actions’ toward her target and attacks. She does not need to roll to move, only to attack and moves 3m toward her target.
Other movement speeds: Running speed /10 = combat speed (m/rnd). Sprint = combat speed x3 approx.
Example: According to Google, the running speed of a cheetah is 100-120 KPH. Let’s call it 100 KPH. Hence, in this game, they would move at 10m/30m per round.
Also, sometimes the person does not need to do anything active while traveling forward at a great velocity.
Example: Guy riding a horse. The ‘ride horse’ skill doesn’t make the horse sprint faster or slower - the horses ‘sprint’ skill does. Hence, using the formula above and assuming horses can sprint about 40 KPH, that would make their movement speed: 4m/12m (note - the horse is rolling their sprint, not the rider rolling their sprint). The rider can spend their full action shooting or just holding on (if they are not a great rider).
Example: Guy is a passenger in a car. The car is going 100 KPH. The GM may have the driver do a ‘drive auto’ roll if they’re trying to keep up speed and confronted with things that would slow down a car (terrain, other vehicles, etc). The GM might rule the movement speed is 10m. The car doesn’t need to sprint and can (aside from terrain and obstacles like other cars) keep a fairly consistent speed.
Note - some creatures have land speed and it is different from air speed or swim speed, etc.
THE CARD DECK
This is a deck of several hundred cards. Some have bad effects, many have either effects which are not useful or only useful in specific circumstances and most cards are useful.
One player gets eight cards. If there are two players, they each get six cards. For groups of three or more, four cards each. Note that this is the maximum amount of cards any of the players can have at any one time.
All players start with a number of cards based on how many players are present at the table. Should someone new join later, the players may have to discard some cards.
Example: Ted is playing solo and gets eight cards. Cindy joins the game. If Ted currently has more than six cards, he must reduce his hand immediately. If he does not, he need not discard any cards however his new maximum number of cards is six. If another player joins, everyone goes down to four cards and that is their new maximum.
Hence, if the player gets a card they wish to play at once, their remaining cards should be one under the maximum they can have after that is one less than the maximum they are allowed.
Example: Johnny has a great hand of four cards but pulls a ‘play when you want’ instant hero point card. He could trade that card to someone else discarding whatever he is given or discard one of his great cards in order to play the instant hero point card.
Drawing a ‘play immediately’ doesn’t cause any of your cards to automatically be removed from going over the number allowed, however the card itself may cause you to discard some or all of your cards.
Example: Johnny draws a card that causes everyone at the table to discard two cards. Johnny will have two cards remaining of his four.
The cards are set up in such a way that they are a small mini-game.
Players who want to hide their cards from others may do so but it will only hamper the team as a whole.
HOW TO GAIN CARDS
The GM’s can and should give cards for anything they consider praise worthy within the campaign. Good roleplay, being clever, being funny, helping to set the right mood, etc. In a normal session with three good players, going through 150+ cards is not at all unusual.
The reason for this is that it subtly gives an instant gratification reward to players who are doing things which the GM approves of.
Do not give out cards for things like ‘good rolls’.
Cards can also be given to subtly mislead a party. When someone begins to go in totally the wrong direction, the GM can begin giving that person cards to mess with the players.
It is also possible to get cards in combat - see below ‘preferred actions’.
When giving the players cards, it is recommended to do so in such a way that it does not break their flow. If they are in the midst of planning and being very clever, a good GM will simply add cards to players stacks.
At the end of a session (unless the GM is frustrated with their players sucking so badly) it is customary to give an ‘end of mission refill’.
TAKING AWAY CARDS
Although cards are given for positive things, it is not recommended to take them away for negative things. Players who come up with poor plans and such will simply not receive cards. If you have people who are humorless, poor roleplayers and destroy the mood you have been working on setting the question would be ‘why do you game with such people?’ Let them have a card drought.
The power level of the characters decreases without a constant influx of cards.
TRADING CARDS
Any time the characters are able to communicate they can trade cards. Hence, if all of the characters are together they can trade cards freely. Other examples include such things as being on the phone, psychic communication, possessing each other, etc.
Any time there is the ability to freely communicate, players can trade cards.
This is a great mechanic for incentivising ‘keep the party together’.
PREFERRED ACTIONS
Another time players (even the bad ones) can get cards is during combat.
Within most TTRPG’s, usually the only tactically sound thing to do within a round is ‘shoot’ or ‘move’. There are a few other rare things like ‘take out a different weapon’ or ‘reload’ but if the players are clever these don’t come up often.
The cards allow another thing to become tactically sound - the preferred action.
At the bottom of all of the cards is the ‘GM area’. This will read something like:
N: H V
H: V H
Falling down
Under initiative, we will explain the rest of the card however in this case ‘falling down’ is the preferred action. When reading off the round (see below) the GM tells the players ‘falling down is approved’.
Hence, if the players fall down rather than do any thing else during the combat round, they get a card.
Falling down - in that round - is a tactical action as it gets a card.
Some actions require successful rolls to be made to get cards and so forth.
There are lots of different preferred actions. Some are just silly but sometimes others may fit into what is going on during the combat. It is up to the players to decide whether gaining another card is worth giving up their full action.
See the section on combat below.
CARDS DURING COMBAT
The GM flips cards into their own special pile and just uses the bottom information. If the combat is normal, they use the N: part, if it is a ‘heroic’ combat (think ‘boss fight’) they use the bottom line H:.
The bottom of the cars may look something like this:
N: H V
H: V H (setback)
Library research
This means that during a normal combat, the heroes are first, villains are second. During a ‘heroic’ combat, the villains are first and the heroes are second and ‘setback’. The setback means that something bad is going on which adversely affects the heroes.
The preferred action this round is ‘library research’. This probably won’t come up unless not all of the players made it out to the combat and one is back at base (or a library or on the computer, etc) doing research. If so, that person gets a card and they’re not even involved with the combat. You can get cards for doing preferred actions even if not in the combat. That makes it more interesting for people rather than ‘just sit there and wait for the combat to conclude’.
END OF THE GAME/SESSION/MODULE
At the end of the module, if the game will continue going on, the GM may allow the PC’s to keep whatever cards they want and draw back up to a full hand.
At the end of the game/session, all the cards go back into the discard pile.
STATTING NPC’S
It’s very simple in this game. Generally, go with the 30/60/90 rule.
30% skill: They are somewhat inept and maybe only have some ‘basics’ in combat. Example: Thugs.
60% skill: They regularly do this. Example: Soldiers, well trained cops.
90% skill: They are experts at combat. Example: Ninjas, cyberpunk ‘solos’ etc.
Then, damage by weapon. Quick and easy.
HERO POINTS
STARTING HERO POINTS
As seen when generating a character, players receive a number of starting Hero Points equal to their starting Essence statistic.
HOW TO GAIN HERO POINTS
Hero Points are gained at the discretion of the GM and are awarded at the end of a session or a mission. For game sessions lasting six hours or less, it is recommended to award them at the end of the session. For marathon game sessions they might get awarded by the mission.
At the end of the mission, the GM awards all of the players the same number of Hero Points based on the success of the group as a whole during the mission.
1: It’s a participation trophy. The group showed up.
2: You tried really hard but the mission did not go well or little was actually achieved.
3: Mission success. Note that the GM can have very loose parameters of ‘success’ - finding out an important clue, meeting some important NPC, surviving, etc.
Everyone gets the same amount of Hero Points - do not award some people more and others less as this can create huge resentment. Also, the amount of Hero Points difference between a great player and a seat filler would only be two. Not worth the aggravation of hostile seat fillers. Don’t forget that as a GM you can award good actions with the cards throughout the session.
Also, at the end of the session after ‘end of mission card play’ (see section on card play) there are various cards that - if successfully held on to till the end of the session - award either the individual holding them or the entire group extra Hero Points. It is possible - though unlikely - to get over five Hero Points at the conclusion of a successful session.
The Hero Points gained are added to the total Hero Points left. Any Hero Points over twenty go in to the ‘overflow’ total. Depending on the type and power level of the campaign, the GM may wish to make special abilities available after players reach certain levels of overflow Hero Points.
Allowing the players to have over twenty Hero Points has proven (after a couple decades of play testing) to be a poor idea as some players will then be sitting on a heap of points and be nearly invincible. Restricting the number of Hero Points helps keep an element of danger.
HOW TO USE HERO POINTS
Note - for purposes of this, a person or target is considered them and or their vehicle/steed/transport.
Hero Points can be used for:
After finding out the damage (or before if the player wishes) the player may spend a Hero Point on an incoming attack that is directly against the Hero or their vehicle/steed/transport. This causes it to barely miss you (or your vehicle) instead of hitting.
After you fail a roll, you may spend a Hero Point to reroll. If you fail the roll again, you may spend another Hero Point and try again and so on until you have either made the roll, run out of Hero Points or given up your futile efforts. This includes both skill and statistic rolls.
Example: The GM asks for a willpower x3 roll.
John has a shit willpower of 10 so he needs a 30 or less. If he misses that, he can spend a Hero Point to try again.
Rerolling your sanity loss.
John sees a scary picture which scares him. The GM informs him that the sanity loss is 1/d6 - one if you succeed in the sanity roll, d6 should you fail it. John has a sanity of 55. He rolls, he misses with a roll of 76! If he wanted to he could spend a Hero Point to reroll but he is confident. Unfortunately, his confidence is ill placed as he then rolls 6 sanity loss. Rather than run the risk of freaking out in the art gallery, he spends a Hero Point and rerolls the d6. He gets a 4. John deducts 4 from his sanity and now has a 51 sanity.
Rerolling damage you take from an AOE attack. Since AOE attacks (usually bombs, grenades, etc. but some sorts of monsters and spells may be included at the GM’s discretion) are not directed against ‘you’ but the area, you cannot say they ‘missed’ with a Hero Point. You can attempt to take less damage. Spending a Hero Point allows you to reroll some or all of the damage. You can spend as many Hero Points as you wish to reduce this damage.
Example:
John is driving his car down the street when an IED left by Badassium explodes. It is a huge explosion resulting in 4d10 of damage.
The GM (or John, up to the GM) rolls and gets a 1, 10, 9, 9.
John spends a Hero Point and decides to reroll the 10, 9, 9 - he keeps the 1.
The reroll nets him a 4, 7, 3. Combined with the earlier 1 that would be 15 points of damage. If John can survive that, he may keep that result or he may choose to spend another Hero Point and try again. If John can’t survive that, he might keep the 3 and the 1 and choose to try to reroll the 4 and 7.
He rolls a pair of 8’s.
Fuming, he spends yet another Hero Point and gets a 2 and a 3. Combined with the earlier 3 and 1 he had, that would be 9 points of damage. Hopefully, he can survive that.
When attacking someone, you may spend a Hero Point to reroll an attack or damage. If the person you are attacking also has Hero Points, they may spend one to ‘counter’ your Hero Point. You may not spend any more Hero Points in that round for that same roll upon that person after being countered.
Example:
John is attacking Badassium (NPC villain).
John rolls his attack and misses. John spends a Hero Point.
Badassium spends a Hero Point to counter.
The attack misses.
Had the attack initially hit and John chosen to spend a Hero Point to reroll his damage, Badassium could have countered that as well.
Note that you don’t have to be the driver/controller of a vehicle you are in to spend Hero Points on it.
Example: Four PC’s are in a car. The forces of Badassium pull up and begin wildly shooting at the car attempting to disable it. Anyone within that car may spend a Hero Point in order to cause the bullet to miss. This allows the party to ‘share the load’ rather than piling it all onto the driver who may already be spending a lot of Hero Points attempting to drive the vehicle.
Note that if you had bonuses to the roll (through cards, other PC’s ‘rolling to support’ you, etc - those bonuses are all lost when a Hero Point is spent. Though you can have the other PC’s attempt new rolls to support you, to gain bonuses from cards and such new cards would need to be played upon you.
WHAT YOU CANNOT SPEND HERO POINTS ON
Other people.
Example: John is confronting Badassium who is using the ole ‘human shield’. After Badassium demands John drop his gun and John refuses, Badassium shoots the hostage in the head.
John cannot use a Hero Point to attempt to protect the hostage. Nor could he protect a person he was carrying on his back, etc.
Hero Points are just for you and a vehicle you are riding in.
Should John attempt to get around this rule by having the hostage give him a piggy back ride (thus making the hostage John’s steed) the GM is free to rule that John is full of shit and cannot spend Hero Points on it. This does get more tricky if John is in a living space ship or some such and the GM is free to make their own ruling on it.
Any roll after you’ve already made a new roll, or after any significant time has elapsed.
Example: Fred misses his skill roll. He then rolls for something else. He cannot then go back and spend a Hero Point on the skill roll he earlier missed.
Example: Fred misses a skill roll. The GM then continues narrating the scene based on that. Fred feels he is missing out and wants to go back and spend a Hero Point on the missed roll. The GM tells him it is too late and he will have to suck it up.
Hero Points can only be used to negate directed attacks against YOU or the vehicle you are in. However, they don’t work nearly so well against area of effect attacks such as explosions. You cannot have a bomb (etc) explode next to you, spend a Hero Point and negate the damage. The best you can do in that case is to spend a Hero Point to reroll damage. This allows you to reroll some or all of the dice.
Example: Billy wanders into a claymore mine and it explodes. This particular claymore mine does 3d10. The GM rolls 9, 9 and 10. This would turn Billy into liquid goo so he spends a Hero Point. The GM rerolls getting a 3, 9, 8. Obviously, the dice really want Billy dead. Billy decides to keep the three and reroll the other two dice. Those turn up as (3), 2, 9. Still too much for Billy so he spends another Hero Point just to reroll the 9. This time, the dice give him (3, 2), 4. Billy says he’s OK with that and takes his 9 points of all real damage after spending three Hero Points.
WHEN TO USE HERO POINTS
The advice for new players is to never spend Hero Points unless it is an immediate life or death situation. A stealth roll deep in enemy territory might qualify, or a climbing roll when at a great height or using a Hero Point to make an enemy ‘miss’ their strike or shot. Everything else probably doesn’t warrant a spending of this scarce resource.
NPC’S WITH HERO POINTS
There is a card which allows the players to ‘Hero Point rate an NPC’. Also, if the GM feels they are vital (avoid Mary Sue’s!) they can give Hero Points to NPC’s. Recommend doing this rarely.
VILLAINS WITH HERO POINTS
Sometimes the GM may choose to have a certain boss villain or some of his henchmen - or some random unimportant guy - have Hero Points. Again, it is recommended not to do this that often as it is usually not needed.
SANITY
LOSING SANITY
There are bunches of ways to lose sanity. Doing horrific acts, witnessing scary monsters, going to war, etc all cause people to lose sanity.
Sometimes, people will lose sanity based on what their party members do - whether they witness or condone it or not.
“Well, I’m going to go out and gather firewood because I suspect you might torture this guy for information…”
Yeah - you’re losing sanity toward ‘torture’ either way. Ways of trying to get around it don’t work.
Although in this game, PVP is strongly discouraged, we don’t have any players who are completely selfish dicks. Those sort of people don’t tend to last. Hence, if you want to try to talk someone out of an action that causes sanity loss, you generally can do it.
GAINING SANITY
Generally, doing actual ‘good guy’ stuff will help the PC’s gain sanity. Also, things like defeating the kind of monsters that cause you to lose sanity will gain some sanity back. (Defeating a bear won’t gain you sanity but killing a ghoul will.)
GETTING USE TO IT
When someone takes sanity loss, they can record it on their character sheet. Once they hit the ‘max’ number, they no longer lose sanity toward that specific thing, though they may still toward other related things until they max that out as well.
Example: A certain young lady likes to torture victims. They just wish she’d ask questions. Eventually, she and her companions lose enough sanity (20) to max that out. Unfortunately, she is super messy with the victims as they are being tortured, hence, everyone gets to work on maxing out their ‘human gore’ (20), maybe ‘gross out’ (20) and because she doesn’t like to leave any witnesses, ‘cold blooded killing/guilt’ (60).
THE SPECIAL NUMBERS
40, 30, 20. Once your sanity gets down to - or below - any of those numbers, you pick up a new ‘permanent’ insanity. Some examples - won’t use firearms, won’t use currency, beat anyone who screams, etc.
For new players, it is vital to talk to the GM and other players and bounce ideas off of them about what is and is not a good insanity.
Remember, your insanity should - in some way - fuck you at least once per session. If it doesn’t, you will get assigned a new insanity. Your insanity should not fuck the other characters.
A good way of ‘testing’ out insanities before you are stuck with them is to give your character ‘quirks’. These are not mandatory and are much less severe than insanities. Examples - dislikes using guns, doesn’t like to buy anything unless they have to (or always ‘forgets’ wallet at home), screams at people who are screaming to ‘be quiet’. You can pick these up and drop them as desired.
All insanities must be undoubtedly negative to the character. Preferably, just to the character. Ones that 'fuck the team' are discouraged. (Not sure how 'wanting to be clean' will fuck the character.
All insanities should come up at least once per adventure. If they don't, the GM finds as many ways to mess with the character as possible.
“Coming up with an insanity can be tricky as on one hand it should come up most sessions and have a detrimental effect, on the other hand it shouldn't be so detrimental as to stop your character from participating eg it shouldn't be so much of a road block that the party has to split up. Agoraphobia for example is one that would unlikely work in the campaign. If it is something that causes (the GM) amusement than it's likely to be a winner.” - Pete H.
Note that no insanity should have any possibility of giving a character any sort of advantage. Also, no sanity should ever call upon the GM to remember it. It should be 100% player run - the GM has enough other shit going on.
CURING YOUR CRAZY
If your sanity had dipped down to 38 (gaining you the insanity at 40) then risen back up over 40, it is possible to get psychoanalysis (skill) to move the insanity down to a ‘strong quirk’. Not nearly as severe. If you dip down again, you can pick it back up as an insanity. If your sanity has gotten high enough you don’t think you will be in danger of getting the insanity back, you can get more psychoanalysis and move it to a mild quirk or even remove it altogether. Then, if your insanity goes back down, you can either pick back up the same thing (relapse) or go for a new insanity.
MAKING SANITY ROLLS
Sanity is a slippery slope. The more sanity you have, the slower you lose it. The less you have, the quicker it goes. All creatures/actions/things that make you crazy have two different numbers. The first is if you succeed in your sanity roll, the second if you fail your sanity roll.
Example: Fred is forced to kill a guard, not in the heat of combat. He was just standing there. The GM asks for a sanity roll, 1/d6. That means if Fred’s character makes his sanity roll, he loses one point (probably toward cold blooded killing - the GM will let you know) but if he fails his sanity (see stat - sanity) he loses d6 sanity. If Fred fails his sanity roll and loses five or more sanity at once (or in a short time), he may ‘lose his shit’.
LOSING YOUR SHIT
Sometimes, you lose a bunch of sanity at once. The GM will ask for some sort of willpower roll to avoid ‘going crazy’. Generally, willpower x3. If this is failed, roll d20. That’s how many rounds you are not in much control (if any) of your character. Then, roll a d4: fight, flight, freak, freeze.
Fight: If there are bad guys around, you will go after them whether you want to or not. No bad guys? Someone else. Maybe the GM will roll at random, maybe you will attack a bystander, someone’s horse (you always hated that horse) or another PC. You don’t have to spend any Hero Points during the combat but you will use (at minimum) whatever weapon is in hand. If you have a loaded pistol in hand, you are going to start shooting - not try to knock someone out with your fist because it’s a PC. You’ve gone berserk.
Flight: You run. So long as it is ‘away’ from whatever made you crazy, the GM usually lets you pick your route.
Freak: You don’t get to do anything useful. You are freaking out. You can go at walk speed where ever you want, usually ranting about how the ‘lib dems are responsible for the flat earth’ and so on.
Freeze: You’re just fucked. You will stand there like a statue until your d20 rounds are done. If you were hiding when you saw whatever made you crazy this is the best possible result. Otherwise, not so good.
RUNNING OUT OF SANITY
If your character ever reaches zero sanity, they instantly, immediately and irrevocably become an NPC. Make a new character.
QUIRKS
These are basically 'mild insanities' that the character can have. The big difference between them and regular insanities is that the character isn't forced to have them. It's just some weirdness that the player has decided "I'm going to try this out either to liven up my character a bit or just in case I need an insanity."
If the quirk doesn't seem to be working out, you are free to drop it.
This is an excellent way of trying out (or play testing) various insanities well before you need them. That way, you're not stuck wishing you had a good insanity when you need an insanity.
SANITY THOUGHTS
It all depends on play style. Some people always seem to be between 90-99 sanity; others under 40. Figure out what is right for you.
No sanity bonus (COC) for getting a skill high. You’ll just have to be content with your high skill and being crazy.
Sanity Losses
For the general amount, see the ‘damage track’.
The maximum sanity loss is always the most you could lose if you failed your sanity roll doubled.
Some extra scary monsters cause sanity loss in a much smaller amount even if the sanity roll is made. This not only reflects the horror of the monsters but keeps people with exceptionally high sanity from never being scared of anything.
What happens if someone sees multiple monsters at the same time?
Bump up the sanity loss on the damage track equal to the number of monsters being seen with a max of say four bumps. The sanity maximum is still the same, however.
Example: Scary tentacle creatures have a sanity loss of d3/d10, 20 maximum. Fred walks in to three of them. He instead takes d6/2d8, 20 maximum. Had he walked into a crowd of these, say 50, the GM could give him a bump of four up for a total of d10/d8+d10, 20 maximum.
MAGIC
MAGIC POINTS
Your magic points are equal to your Essence stat.
After a good night of sleep, you gain them all back.
If you go down to 0 MP, you fall unconscious. If you go to negative MP, you die. Note that it is not possible for a caster to take themselves to negative MP. If they attempt to cast a spell that costs more MP than they have, it automatically fails. They then lose half of the MP of the spell - the normal cost for failing a spell. If this takes them to negative MP, they are instead at 0 MP and unconscious. They will regain consciousness in 8 hours. This is a great way to get to sleep when ever you want but you can’t be woken up until 8 hours go by.
CASTING SPELLS
All spells use your mouth and hands and it’s obvious you are casting them. No secret spell casting. Also, unless noted in the spell description, the caster must be able to see the targets with unaided vision.
Tied up and/or gagged means no spell casting.
Monstrous abilities might still work when people are tied up and gagged - best just to kill the monsters quickly.
Spell casting has a lot of rules. If the player does not know how part of spell casting works off the top of their head and holds up play with needing to look up something, the GM should rule their magic has failed for the day and move on.
Does this mean players who can’t memorize the magic system (or at least look it up and have it ready to go before they try to use it) can’t cast spells?
Yes. Stick to simpler stuff if you can’t remember how the system and your spells work.
NOISE MADE CASTING A SPELL AND FROM THE SPELL ITSELF
Ever seen those people every right minded person despises who believe their cell phone is actually a walkie-talkie? Yelling into it and causing everyone around them to hate them? That’s how loud you have to cast a spell.
Ever hear one of those stupidly loud ring tones that makes you think the person who set it up must need a hearing aid? That’s the spell going off.
Imagine someone desperately attempting an elaborate interpretive dance while having a seizure while yelling into your cell phone because they think it’s a walkie talkie. That guy is casting a spell.
Unless the individual spell description reads differently, that’s what all spell casting is like. Spells are NOT subtle nor stealthy.
RESISTING SPELLS
All spells which adversely affect a target have a resistance roll built in to the spell. (If you find one that doesn’t, please report it.) Some spells give a resistance roll every round, etc. Should a resistance roll succeed at any time, the spell and all of it’s effects immediately end.
MAGIC/TECH ITEMS
For some zones, magic (or tech) always works. In these zones those items can be used normally.
In other zones, a willpower roll is needed to try to get the magic item or tech item to work.
Making it work takes one round. Even for items which would be normally 'always on', in areas they don't work, you have to spend a round (and make the appropriate Willpower (stat) roll to 'make them work'. [The GM sets the difficulty at anything from 'make a crit' up to x5 depending on the zone.]
If you are trying to make a magic item work or cast a spell in an area that you need to make a willpower roll and you fail that willpower roll that is your whole round used up.
That makes some items pretty much useless. Example: A ring of feather fall. The average person (100kg) can fall a bit over 100m in five seconds. Hence, unless your fall is further than that, your ring of feather fall when not in a ‘high magic’ zone is simply jewelry.
If you are attempting to access a MAGICAL pocket in a non-magic zone, you need the willpower roll. If you fumble, the non-magic of the place has forever eaten your shit. And you'll get a fumble deck card.
If you have stuff in a magical pocket and go into a hard non-magical area (there are a few special ones) your shit in there may be permanently lost just from being there.
If you store valuable stuff in your magical pocket it is very iffy if you will get it back if you go exploring new zones. Or even if you go through a gate, get teleported to a new place, etc. The magical pocket is pretty reliable if you do it in a magic zone and stay within that zone. As soon as you leave it becomes either unreliable or 'at risk'. Since the players are often teleported to different zones with little or no warning it is NOT recommended to keep anything you love inside of a magic extra dimensional storage space.
FULL MAGIC RULES
COMPLEXITY
The spells are a very complicated (comparatively) part of the game. Simply put, if the player cannot understand the spells, know the rules and know their spells as well or better than the GM they should not be casting them. If you don’t get it, stick to melee or shooting stuff. You can still make a good contribution to any fight. If the player regularly causes combat to slow down due to arguing about spell effects or simply not knowing what their spells do, the character will soon lose the ability to cast spells. Does this mean that clever players can cast spells while ‘not as clever spells cannot’? Yes. Spell casting has long been the domain of the clever. There is no ‘intelligence’ stat for the characters - their intelligence is equal to the players. Sorry but I am not willing to slow down everyone for the sake of the slow trying to do complicated things. Stick with simpler stuff. Spells are complicated. If this causes only NPC’s to be casting spells, I can totally live with that - but don’t think it will actually happen.
DISCLAIMER
These magic rules apply to most of the zones. Should special zone rules be in place for certain zones, those take precedence. [For example: Wearing metal armor normally does not interfere with spell casting. If there is a special ‘D&D parody zone in which it does, then those zone rules apply.]
CASTING SPELLS WHERE YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO
The modifiers for each zone vary between ‘no roll needed’, some multiplier of willpower (will x3, etc) or ‘spells and magical effects do not work here period’.
CASTING TIMES
Anything with a casting time of more than two rounds is generally an idiotic spell to cast during combat. Better to cast it before or after combat. When casting a spell, ‘casting’ is your full action each round.
Casting time of one round - on your turn they are cast and the effect is done.
Casting time of instant - in the description it will say whether it goes off at the beginning of the round or beginning of your turn. (Though I should examine these spells and see if that can be standardized.)
DURATIONS
Some durations are a number of rounds or hours.
Till sunset or sunrise - this is whichever comes next. If you cast a spell an hour before sundown and it has this duration, your spell will only last for an hour.
Also, killing the caster of a spell (or knocking them out) is usually a great way to turn off any and all spells they have cast as those spells have no life of their own UNLESS Essence was sacrificed to give the spell life. (Or other special things were done, consult the GM).
Combat: This means the spell ends when there is a ‘lull’ in combat or the GM announces combat is over.
Concentration: Some spells require concentration. That takes one full action each and every round. Unless you are hasted (etc) aside from simple actions and free actions, that is your entire round. Should concentration be broken or given up, the spell ends and must be cast anew in the future. Note - you do not need to be able to speak to maintain concentration - just glare balefully. Note that (unless hasted) moving or being moved breaks concentration. Concentration means ‘you do nothing but keep the spell going’. BEING DAMAGED BREAKS CONCENTRATION. You can attempt to resist dropping your concentration spell by rolling a ‘Willpower x1’.
WEIRD DURATIONS
Certain spells may be broken by certain things - a rooster’s first call (which sucks because they actually often go all night - best to slit their throats ahead of time), first ray of light, water (crossing or getting splashed by), true love’s first kiss, etc.
These are usually odd spells NPC’s cast or special ‘zone specific’ spells.
DUMB VS SMART DEFENSES
These are categories of magical defense. Dumb automatically trigger. Smart defenses trigger when the caster wishes them to trigger.
FAILING OR FUMBLING SPELLS
Fail means half the MP of that spell are gone.
Fumble means you pay the full MP cost of that spell and you may not cast that spell again until the next sunup or sundown. In addition, the GM may have it go off, hit the wrong target, give bonuses to enemies, explode or whatever his sadistic mind comes up with.
LEARNING NEW SPELLS
One hour of someone telling them how a first rank spell works. Only the first spell from the chain may be taught.
The teacher must roll under their spell skill and under their ‘teaching’ skill. You can try once per day till you make it or fumble. Should either roll be fumbled (even if the other is crit) then you can never teach that skill to that student ever again.
Even if the teacher is teaching multiple students the same spell, they must make a teaching roll for each student. It is possible to have some get it and others not understand the material. Despite the teacher failing their teaching roll, it is best to blame the student.
[As always if the teacher forgets what stuff exactly they can’t teach to a particular student, then they can no longer teach ANYTHING to that student. Keep better notes.]
Should the roll succeed (crits don’t really matter) then the PC picks up the level 1 spell at their ‘learn’.
As normal, the only way to get higher ranking spells is to get a crit on casting the one they have. They either then get the next higher rank at ‘learn’ or if it is TBD, they have to (between game sessions) figure out a spell, get GM approval (on a probably nerfed version) then they get that one at learn when they next make a crit. You can’t save up crits. Best to work on the spell as soon as you find out it is a TBD.
One attempt may be made per day to learn a spell, whether that attempt is successful or not. You may not make multiple attempts to learn spells in a single day. One day, one attempt.
LIMITATIONS
In some more elemental lands, the caster can’t do the opposite element of their main and may be limited to half way up the chains on the other two.
Depending on the specific zone, a player that knew opposing magics might either have some of them (usually the lower skill ones) suppressed while they were there or they might be able to ignore the limitation all together.
MAGIC POINTS
When are the magic points spent? When you first begin your spell. Example: If you are casting a spell that requires ten magic points and ten rounds to cast it, you have lost five magic points (same amount as ‘failing’ a spell) even if you stop casting after the first round. If you continue through the whole spell and fail it, you are still down five magic points.
If you run out of MP (IE your MP=0) you fall unconscious and cannot be revived until your Magic Points regenerate (usually 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep). If this happens while casting a spell the spell does not go off. You can also be brought back to consciousness with a 'wake up' spell or card effect. This puts you at 1 magic point. Note - unless the specific zone rules differ, sleeping for four hours does not regenerate half of your MP. It’s an all or nothing thing. For this reason, it is not unheard of for people who imprison casters to have them woken up every few hours by the guards.
In some zones, there may be other ways to regain MP.
MAKING MAGIC ITEMS
Figure out what is needed to make an item that while holding it and using a particular type of spell (or a specific element spell or any damage spell) and it moves up the damage one place on the damage track. We can have it where the ‘wood carving’ (for a staff as an example) needs to be done with a certain type of wood and a ‘crit’ wood carving roll needs to be made to pull it off. Certain things might require an object with a lot of skills put in to it - maybe all of them needing a critical roll, or perhaps just normal successes, depending. Anyone who wants to make magic items (in the event those spells ever get done) will need to get great at lots of crafting skills. Lots and lots. Making magic items (for obvious reasons) will be a huge pain in the ass of such a magnitude that only the most stubborn players even bother with it. If the rules ever get done for it.
Given how often the players lose all of their possessions within the campaign, I doubt this is going to become a huge thing. Unless the players learn what ‘cache’ means.
MERGING SCHOOLS
When someone has two different schools at ‘do it as a living’ they might start making hybrid styles of magic. It is important though to make sure one spell has one and only one effect. (Water plus air might equal steam, for example).
Rules on this have not been made and if they are, it will probably be a ‘zone specific’ thing.
MP COST
Why are they all even numbers? Because if you fail, you lose half round up. Easier to make it so rounding is not required. [Why? Many PC’s suck at simple math.]
If your spell goes off successfully, but someone resists it, you are still stuck paying full MP cost for the spell - it was successfully cast.
SPELL EFFECTS YOU WON’T EVER SEE IN THE CAMPAIGN:
Divination: One day, all of the players may spontaneously decide they want to own, operate and stock a Pottery Barn store. I will then be stuck making Pottery Barn plots. There is no way I could know what the players are going to do ahead of time. Augury works well in books where the author knows what will happen and has a lot more control of the characters. They can then come up with some clever formula. Hell, some cryptic NPC may even give a prophecy from time to time within the campaign but I’m not going to have any magic for it. Within games it is often either useless or over powered. Also never going to happen include spells to locate things or people. Or figure out ‘who dun it’.
Illusion: Not happening. Anyone who has any subtly and brains will quickly make this over powered.
Memory alternating/annihilating: Nothing but fucking trouble and gas lighting down the road. Suck up your own actions and find different ways to get clever.
Spells that compel you to tell the truth. Holy shit does that put a dent in murder mystery adventures.
More effects will get added to this list as time goes on.
PLAYER RESPONSIBILITY
If the player has to stop and look up how their magic spell works - especially during combat - the spell just fails and costs the caster the MP. If they don’t even know how many MP it costs, congratulations the player has only 1MP left. That keeps you conscious and unable to cast more spells and we can all move on with our lives. There is nothing worse than some idiot who can’t remember their own spells dragging all of the action to a stand still because they need to look it up. If you can’t remember your spells without hesitation, use a sword or something instead.
The player must keep a copy of the spell at hand in case the GM wants them to read it or have a question on it. In other words, if you want to do something more complex than swing a sword, it’s your responsibility to be able to know your spells without hesitation.
During the game session is NOT the time to work on magic. This includes both asking questions about how a spell works or trying to develop new spells. Work on magic when the campaign is not going on - contact the GM privately.
RANGE
Unless otherwise stated in the spell, ‘touch’ spells may be cast on oneself. By…er…touching yourself.
Self is understood to mean ‘your self and a reasonable amount of gear’. Many spells will not work if you are holding on to someone else, even if they are dead or unconscious as they are not a ‘reasonable amount of gear’.
Touching someone else takes an action. If they are trying not to be touched, roll ‘unarmed’.
SPECIAL EFFECTS
The GM may choose to add in whatever special effects to any spell they wish. These may change depending on their whim.
No spell may be cast covertly. Otherwise, we get NPC’s sitting around and ‘staring daggers’ at the PC, the PC dying and not even knowing who was attacking them. Or vice versa. Not a good fit. Magic is always obvious. Sometimes super obvious. Some magicians of sufficient power may even be able to tell when someone starts throwing around magic within their area.
Note that in some zones, casting any spell will result in problems - even if you are casting them at hostiles with no neutral parties around. The experienced players know what sort of problems. In general, casting spells is best done in private to avoid these problems.
SPELL CAPABILITIES
All spells have one effect. [Later or in certain zones, there might be some wild chain casting of various spells in order to have different effects but that is down the road a ways.]
SPELL CASTING
All spells have verbal and gesture components. Few have material components as well.
Also, be sure to note that you can always tell who is doing a spell against you - no hidden guy staring intently at you. Possible exception when someone is doing a ritual spell with a connecting thing - they’ve got your hair or something. But those need to be much weaker like ‘your luck is fucked’ type spells.
Note that if you cannot speak and/or make gestures (your hands are tied up and/or you are gaged) you cannot cast spells. There may also be other things (a silence spell) which will keep you from being able to cast spells.
Different other things (Faraday cages, being bound with a silver chain, anti-magic collars, some circles of power, etc) may cause different problems. Anything from completely suppressing someone’s spell casting ability on to ‘if you try to cast a spell your head explodes’.
On the HC deck, some rounds are also marked ‘no magic’. No spells may be cast during those rounds. In addition, any ‘concentration’ or ongoing effects are turned off. Other magic (such as bonus damage which is ‘permanently’ on a weapon) may be suppressed for the round or destroyed permanently. Ask GM. Generally, stuff that has a duration of less than a year is destroyed, greater than a year is suppressed for a round.
SPELL CHAINS
Chain - this starts off with the least powerful spell of the type and leads to stronger spells. Chains may fork. Once a spell is unlocked, the player may be given a choice of two or more spells. If the player rolls a future critical on the same spell, they then get to learn another.
Example: Getting a critical on purple leads to three possible paths - dinosaur, case or soft. The player opts for soft. Later, they are using the spell purple again and get another critical. This time they choose dinosaur to unlock that chain as well.
Certain new spells will be come up with and put into various chains. For example - Let us say with have the chain:
Night - Fox - Ribbon - Ghost - Uncle - Meat
A new spell, Juice is come up with. The decision (GM and players, GM gets final word) is made to place it into this chain and the new chain becomes:
Night - Fox - Ribbon - Juice - Ghost - Uncle - Meat
If the player knew Night and Fox before then yes, Uncle is pushed a little further out. You’ll get over it. Since spells beyond the basic ones will be mostly player made we’re all hoping they’re useful and wanted.
Let’s say the player was up to Ghost however. They then get a choice of their personal chain looking like:
Night - Fox - Ribbon -Ghost - Juice - Uncle - Meat
Meaning they have to learn it next or they can simply ignore and not take Juice. No freebies but no punishment for creating a new spell.
Note that eventually, spells might become more standardized and even get assigned ranks and such. This may break already existing chains apart and make some of the spells unlearnable until some bright spark comes up with a new spell. Example:
Night - Fox - Ribbon -Ghost - Juice - Uncle - Meat
Let’s say the GM has decided Uncle is too powerful and wants to ramp it up two notches.
Night - Fox - Ribbon - Ghost - Juice - [Filler] - [Filler] - Uncle - Meat
Those that already have Uncle and Meat are unaffected but someone at Juice or earlier now needs to invent two spells which are agreed to fit into the sequence before Uncle or Meat may be learned. Yeah, it sucks but game balance and better design trump ‘fairness’.
At the GM’s discretion, new spells may be added to existing chains, branch from existing chains or become parts of new chains.
Spells which do not fit into existing chains but are too powerful to form their own chain will be undiscoverable until weaker spells are created to make the chain.
Some spells may be taken off of one chain and moved to a different chain - or even a whole new school by the GM if they feel it would fit better within a different school. This may prevent the character from working on the next spell in that chain though they will still keep the spell they have. Or, if they are able to learn the new chain, the GM may have them unlock all lower level spells before preceding in that new chain. Example:
Night - Fox - Ribbon - Ghost - Juice - [Filler] - [Filler] - Uncle - Meat
At some future point in the campaign it is felt that Juice would better fit into a different chain so it is removed from the above chain and put into:
Fliver - Nox - Juice - Roman - Roam - Rum
Before being able to learn Roman, the GM may decide the PC must learn Fliver - Nox.
The player may not learn a spell further along a chain unless some weird stuff has happened - see GM - or until they have unlocked it by working their way up the chain.
WHAT IF TWO DIFFERENT CHAINS HAVE THE SAME SPELL?
Though I try to avoid this, I’m sure it will come up. In that case, they already know it. There is no value to learning three different ways to do the same thing. Since all of the spells are meant to be single effect, meh. If you crit that spell, you can pick up the next spell on the chain.
SPELL LEVELS
Each spell has ten and only ten levels per spell. While some people may not consider level 10 to be powerful enough this is by design. Spells need to keep lower powered.
Because I’d rather spend my time working on plots than spells - and most PC’s are unwilling to work on anything unless it directly affects their character (and even then it might be iffy) the first release may have several ‘broken chains’. It will be up to the PC’s to forge new links in these chains if they want to continue on with the spells. If they don’t, then getting those spells may not be possible for PC’s. NPC’s will run around shooting flames out of their rears and so on.
What if spells from one chain are substantially stronger than spells from another? Submit ideas to build something more balanced that the GM likes.
TAKING DAMAGE WHILE CASTING A SPELL
You fail the spell and half the MP of the spell are gone.
TAKING DAMAGE WHILE MAINTAINING A SPELL THAT IS ‘CONCENTRATION’ DURATION
Spell effects end as soon as you take damage.
VARIOUS CREATURES AND MAGIC
Lots of creatures can only cast one school of magic and usually do so decently if not great. The PC’s can learn to cast whatever they can find if someone is willing and able to teach.
WHY SPELLS ARE LOW POWERED
In other systems, like D&D, the power curve is such that after the wizard starts casting third level or higher spells, the fighter is left well behind. That’s bad game design. The only solution? Keep spells low powered. Even then, you will have magic users become more powerful than those who don’t use magic. It will just be by (hopefully) a smaller degree.
Also, unlike that woefully designed system, in this one anyone can learn magic. Realizing that armor isn’t much of a balance to the ability to cast spells (especially when you have magic armor) it doesn’t matter if someone wears armor or not for casting spells in most zones.
In addition, all of my campaigns are fairly ‘low powered’. Magic (and ‘parkour’) are not solutions to everything.
UNLOCKING NEW SPELLS
In order to get the next spell up, the player must roll a critical on their spell. If they do, they unlock the next level at their ‘learn’ skill.
Example - if the spell chain is:
No smell -> No smell other -> Breath -> Breath; other -> Gust of wind -> Summon air elemental
If they have the ‘no smell’ spell and make a critical on it, they unlock ‘no smell other’ at ‘learn’. When they eventually get a critical at that, they pick up ‘breath’ at ‘learn’.
ACTIVATING MAGIC ITEMS
Unless otherwise stated, ‘activating’ a magical item (make rocket go now) costs 1 MP, usually doesn’t require a roll and takes one action (ie generally a round).
For some specific items, multiple MP, a roll may be required and it may take multiple rounds, minutes, hours, days, months, years or centuries.
For some zones, magic (or tech) always works. In these zones those items can be used normally.
In other zones, a willpower roll is needed to try to get the magic item or tech item to work.
Making it work takes one round.
That makes some items pretty much useless. Example: A ring of feather fall. The average person (100kg) can fall a bit over 100m in five seconds. Hence, unless your fall is further than that, your ring of feather fall when not in a ‘high magic’ zone is simply jewelry.
Note that attempting to make an item with charges work in a non-magic zone and failing the willpower causes a charge to be expended and the item does not work. Fumbling the willpower roll causes the item to be destroyed.
Note that this also works the same way with tech items in a non-tech zone though they don’t usually have charges. The item is rendered inert and useless in whatever creative way the GM comes up with should the willpower roll be fumbled.
GETTING DISPELLED
Spells whose duration is 'combat' are considered - for purposes of dispelling, etc - to be actively running on the mage whether they have begun to use them or not.
Example: Fred casts his 'throw lightning around duration combat' on himself then spends the day shopping. Suddenly, an evil shop keeper casts dispel on Fred. Now Fred can no longer trigger his 'lightning' stuff till he recasts the whole spell.
POSSESSIONS
10/20/40kg. Not encumbered, moderately encumbered, heavily encumbered.
Extended shopping trips often lead to time spent buying equipment that is often ignored and abandoned.
Why carrying more than what people usually do is not realistic unless it is ‘tool up time’.
CHARACTER DEATH
“Although, so far there's no known treatment for death's crippling effects, still everyone can acquaint himself with the three early warning signs of death: one, rigor mortis; two, a rotting smell; three, occasional drowsiness...It is also important to know what to do you when you die. 1) Don't try to drive a car. 2) Do not operate heavy machinery. 3) Do not talk.” - Kentucky Fried Movie
There are three types of death within the current campaign:
Temporary
Permanent (this isn’t detailed out, you simply die and need to make a new character; magic spells running on you as per ‘temporary’ below)
Soft
Which one you take depends upon where you are. Once the PC’s have figured out more about life, the universe and everything they can figure out which happens where. Or speculate now.
‘TEMPORARY DEATH’ RULES
Note that ‘temporary death’ is limited to certain areas only. If the PC’s go out of those areas (Shadow walking, etc) they can permanently die. Also sometimes the journey between one temporary death area and another may go outside of the ‘somewhat safe’ areas. To avoid this, stick to gates found within the ‘normal game world’.
STATS
-10 SAN (flat - note, you may pick up a normal insanity due to this but chances are very good you won't get a temporary insanity due to (special). Goes toward dying/death (self) maxes at 50. If this causes your sanity to reach zero, make a new character.
-2 from all the remaining stats. If any stat is zero, make a new character.
SKILLS
-10% from all skills above 80%. If they have only three skills above 80% they are the only ones affected. Should the character have no skills above 80%, they lose no skill points from that death. [If the skill is exactly 80% you dodged a fucking bullet there.]
GEAR
Assume it’s all gone. The GM might allow the player to choose three pieces of gear and do a willpower x3 for each to see if it is retained. If not then like all other gear on the PC at the time of their death it is gone forever. [Note that in some cases if the other PC’s are near the corpse of the PC before it goes to where ever corpses of PC’s go they may be able to save some or all of the gear if they immediately loot the corpse.] Note - if the PC is permanently dead you might have more time to loot their corpse.
MAGIC RUNNING ON YOU
All magic spells running on you cease. This includes any ‘pocketed’ (all spells from the ‘Pocket’ tree) items - those are gone forever. Again, don’t store valuable shit in there.
RESPAWN
The GM will let you know where and when you respawn. Due to Rule #2, it should be close and soon but subject to the needs of plot. (See Logan’s Rules, Rule #2). Note that the respawn point will be ‘as safe as Logan can get it’ given where ever you are. Figure if you just died, you’re probably already having a rough day. The GM should attempt to get the PC back into play as soon as possible. It is also recommended the players assist the GM by going to somewhere safe and such. This is a bit ‘metagamey’ but if we can prevent a player from sitting around waiting to play it is worth it.
Also, you respawn at ‘residual self image’. All of the stuff the PC’s had before (servitor of AI, cyberware, etc) - gone. The AI may (or may not) choose to again make the PC a servitor (if the PC seeks them out) but if they do not, the power(s) gained should be removed from the PC sheet. If the PC ever again gets into service with that same AI (assuming the AI has undergone no drastic changes), they pick up the exact same power as before, no rerolling.
STARTING HERO POINTS AFTER DEATH
Half remaining Essence (after deduction).
SOFT DEATH
This can only happen in zones where the day is reset over and over. Even if you ‘die’ you simply wake up the next day, like the movie ‘Groundhog Day’.
Every time you die, take SAN d6/d10, max 50
In the ‘soft death’ places you don’t lose stats and skills though gear loss is as per temporary death above.
PHILOSOPHY (LOGAN’S)
NOTES ON HOW I PREP
I’ve seen a lot of different posts from people asking how others prep. Maybe this will help someone or give someone ideas. Or, maybe someone will point out ‘hey, here are some other useful categories you might like’ (see below). I hope this is of use to someone out there.
I game very differently from a lot of people. My game is more of ‘let’s come together for a bit of collaborative art’ more than ‘getting together with friends’. I have become friends with many of the gamers I have/had but didn’t start out as friends with many. My game takes place via the internet and has gamers from three continents.
During my off game time (prep time) I have three months. This last time, I managed to get three of these zones done. That brings the approximate number of zones (including one off, experimental zones, etc) to 15. To give some examples of the different types of zones the players have run into: 1950’s sitcom, Wild West - with furries (Disney style), very gritty cyberpunk, modern day, fantasy, etc. Quite a lot of different places. And the same characters are tossed in to all of that. Even though the games are episodic, the campaign is not and the characters get extremely varied backgrounds and skill sets built up.
To clarify, my gaming schedule is (due to visas, etc) three months off then three months in which I will run around two hundred hours of games for 15-25 people. And yes, we are looking for a few more players. (Link to podcast/youtube for those who want to find out more - instructions on how to get involved can be found at these links as well - Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC2TZucbqPpz9Bx8rz57Wbmg/playlists Podcast: anchor.fm/ataw ) So I spend more time GM’ing in three months than many of the games I see advertised play for in an entire year. If they go for more than 5-10 sessions. Most of the games I’ve seen and heard about usually seem to go about three. Hence, the three months of prep helps. Plus, I do other things during that time - like travel the world. Anyway…
My game is comprised of the PC’s hopping around different times and spaces. Because I played too much Everquest (I’m old) back in the day, I call these different world/time/space areas ‘zones’.
Each of these zones I try to make very different including what sort of feel it has, the kind of missions people pick up, etc. One of the big challenges is to attempt to make it internally consistent. Doing a lot of heavy thinking about stuff is a chore.
I use Scrivener to organize everything. I use to use Word and notebooks with hand made notes. After messing with this product on it’s free trial I have never contemplated going back. Love it. (No, I don’t work for them. Very satisfied customer.)
The categories I make include, explanations in []:
Initial Arrival [There are different ways people travel between the zones of the campaign, and often some or all of the PC’s material possessions get stripped away. In addition to those instructions, descriptions]
Plots
Rumors
Street Scenes [When I was a ‘young GM’ I relied a lot on random encounter charts. I’ve switched to writing things up ahead of time.]
Various ‘mission givers’ [I’ve run a lot of ‘here is the plot, go’ type stuff in the past. Now, I am trying more of an ‘open world’ format. Although there is a lot of talk about this sort of thing in the gamer world, in reality few players seem to have actually been run in really open worlds. I think it kind of broke some of the players. So, now I try to build in ‘mission givers’ into the zones. In case the players don’t know what they should be doing or haven’t found a way to weasel into any of the big plots going on.]
Interesting Places
Organizations
NPC’s
Background [Why this place is as it is]
Magic/Tech/Special Zone Rules [Does magic work here? What level of tech works here?]
Money/Wages/COL [Amazing how much crap you end up putting onto a simple price sheet. For a game like this, it is important to also think about how balanced goods are in different zones. Clever players may find ways to take goods from one zone and sell them in another.]
Ideas [Miscellaneous ideas which may or may not ever become anything. I jot them down in this section and go back later to look at them again.]
Past Plots [Because I run a fairly large number of players, I try to keep track of ‘who has been on this module or adventure’ (if I made a module or adventure). After it has been run for as many fresh groups as possible, I will move it down here. Later, I might dig through it for follow up mods or other evil stuff. Or, in the future, if this world ever gets published (who knows) then there will be plenty of mods for GM’s.]
Future Plots [The PC’s have different ways to get back to places they have already been to. Future plots go here.]
GM PHILOSOPHY
People who do careful (D&D type with minis, terrain, etc) are essentially wargamers (at least part time wargamers) who have either 'some' or a 'thin veneer' of RP to add to their wargaming.
Which is fine. I'm not into wargaming. At all.
So - with combat in a TTRPG you can take hours (maybe even the whole session) doing it. Fine if that's how your group wants to spend it's time. Many do. Easier than coming up with complex plot.
If I want good quick combat of different levels of 'realism', computer games are my go to. It's quick and brutal and it's not all laid out on a flat (yeah, hills are still pretty flat) surface. You can do wild stuff with multiple levels inside of a computer game.
TTRPG's suck for combat.
What TTRPG's are good at is personalized and complex plot. You can't get that from a mass produced computer game. Even the best written plot is not going to take your individual character in mind unless you are on a pretty narrow railroad track.
Also, TTRPG's are much more 'open' than a computer game. If the players suddenly decide they want to run a hot dog stand and are really in to it, then within a session or two the GM can change around the entire course of the campaign to plots about that hot dog stand. Computer games cannot change that radically.
Those are just my opinions. I realize a lot of people like wargaming (though they may call it RP the stuff I've seen in the last four decades is at best a 50/50 mix) but I personally am on the other end of the spectrum. In my system, combat is brutal short and fatal. The players have to make decisions based on partial information and in a huge hurry. Much like real life combat.
MORE PHILOSOPHY - LOGAN’S RULES
Logan’s Rules
These ‘rules’ are either observations I’ve made or campaign rules for my game. The list has slowly shaped up after four decades of running twenty hour gaming weeks (or more).
Rule 1: Any negative - no matter how large or important will be forgotten about almost immediately by the player. Any bonus - no matter how slight - will be remembered forever. This seems to be human nature. All of the rules within my game are set up to reflect that.
Rule 2: Keep the party together. It’s not just for ‘massed firepower’ but the narrative can only be in one place at one time. If you split up, then you have one group active while the other group has to sit and wait. If it is impossible to keep the party together, the GM will try to keep it as brief as possible so that a group doesn’t have to sit around and wait.
Rule 3: Iron sharpens iron. Recruit clever people. Plus, in this style of game that I run, people who aren’t clever do not seem to have a good time. Lot of people seem to get butt hurt when reading this rule but I try to avoid hanging out with slow people. While my game is open to all nationalities, etc etc I seek out people who are smart, funny, etc.
Rule 4: Roll first, then figure it out. Making other people wait when you don’t have to is disrespectful and needlessly slows down the game. Plus, it breaks up the pacing and flow of the game.
Rule 5: Give the game your full attention. To do otherwise is disrespectful to the other players and the GM who may have spent hours preparing for your fun. If you are drinking strong drinks or on an electronic device doing something other than gaming, that shows you are not really into it. That is fine but we will find people who are willing to give this game their undivided attention.
Rule 6: Finding good players is difficult. Rare is the player who invests time in the game outside of simply playing it. Expecting otherwise is frustrating and futile. To the players that invest their time in the game outside of gaming as well as in it, know that you are making things better for everyone.
Rule 7: What it looks like Logan wants you to do within the campaign could be an elaborate set up for failure. Think sideways at a problem and try to come up with interesting workarounds.
Rule 8: Lots of problems look insurmountable and unsolvable. If obstacles were easy, chances are good some other person would have taken care of it already. See rule 7 for help.
Rule 9: Do not suffer fools nor ‘time vampires’. Life is too short.
CHARTS and why they suck
Within this game, there is only one relatively simple chart - the damage track. Through decades of gaming, I’ve discovered that the more charts and rules you have, the slower the game goes. Hence, we have just the one and it is pretty simple.
Avoid anything that needs more charts especially if those charts are needed during combat.
COMBAT
Dungeons and Dragons is primarily a ‘power fantasy’. The characters always face things beneath their combined party level and smash through combats on might alone.
This game is horrible for trying that.
First, you will spend all of your Hero Points, then you will die.
Like in real life, if you go head on at a combat (unless you are ambushed, etc) you are doing it WRONG.
Intelligence, creativity, tactics and planning are needed to thrive in combat. If you don’t have some or any of these, best to avoid combat.
CONAN
Conan, semi-Conan & clever.
Conan: We will do a head on attack!
Semi-Conan: I will fight the leader! They will not fight without the leader! Etc.
Clever: I will use a tank and blow up the leader or find some way to either get out of it diplomatically or use traps/explosives/ other people to fight for me, etc.
Now there are some times when you have to go full Conan. There is just no choice.
You get jumped in an alley and can't escape. Full Conan.
But if you know what the threat is, there isn't a good reason to go full Conan unless you are just needing to sate your blood lust.
Lots of little things can make the difference. Example: They sell 'escape rope ladders'. If you're going to a town that you might need to escape from later, take one in within a bag. Before going to sleep, hook it up to the window. When people are storming down the hallway, it's a lot easier to toss that out the window and climb down it than attempting to scale a building.
As an example.
IMO, games like D&D (power wish fulfillment) have gotten people into the 'Conan' mode of thinking. But in D&D, you've got two things going for you. First, your character is usually a lot tougher. Second, you normally only fight things less powerful than you. And often, they stay in their room.
I still remember running a dungeon and people freaked out because when they started fighting something, after awhile things started rushing in from other rooms. "They can leave their rooms?" Why the fuck wouldn't they? I asked.
CAMPAIGN SPECIFIC
THESE ARE THINGS WHICH ARE SPECIFIC TO LOGAN’S CAMPAIGN AND CAN PROBABLY NOT APPEAR IN THE MAIN RULE BOOK
MAKING A CHARACTER
Everyone is 'human'.
The most basic thing is to figure out the time period the character comes from. The time periods can generally be broken down to ancient, cowboy to 1920's, modern, cyberpunk, space. These aren't exact but gives a decent idea of a break down. For new players, I strongly recommend 'modern'. That way, you can take all of the skills that seem logical to you. You don't have to spend most of the session hiding from a talking box that is too small to have people in it, you don't have to wonder why supposed futuristic science is such shit. Obviously the occupation and skills are limited by the time period if you take earlier times. While it is possible to take 'flint napping' with a space character, it is not possible to take computer programming with an ancient one.
CHARACTER BACKGROUND
Unless you've played in three sessions or more of a campaign Logan has GM'ed before, do NOT worry about your character's background. Heck, if you want to come up with a name for your character that is OK. If not, that is OK as well.
You are going to be waking up missing large chunks of your memories in this campaign.
NOTES FOR PLAYERS
Note that this campaign needs all characters to be 'good'. (If you are saying ‘but I want to play a cold blooded murderous psychopath who betrays the other PC’s’, I would recommend finding a different group as it saves us time from kicking you out later. In short, this is the wrong group for PVP.)
They don't have to be good all the time but if they don't care about other people, they are not right for this campaign.
The characters have to want to find out why. How do things work? Why do they work as they do?
This is a major part of the campaign. Mystery. If nobody is interested in finding out the mysteries, those character's won't fit into the campaign.
Even if your character doesn’t ‘know’ another PC, you know it is your ‘buddy’. Why that is you don’t know. (Welcome to more mysteries.)
You'll need to be able to be quickly integrated onto a team and be a good, useful member of it quickly.
CREATION OF CHARACTERS FOR LOGAN’S CAMPAIGN IN SPECIFIC
Every 50 points of hero point overflow = a special power; if you play a lot you tend to get one per season if you hoard your hero points.
No memories or spotty memories when you start.
No PVP - though messing with each other a bit is normal
Within this campaign, it is possible to be from a wide variety of time periods. Be sure to generally state when your character is from. Medieval period, 1920’s, Cyberpunk, etc.
WHAT SKILLS CANNOT BE BOUGHT AT THE START?
'Dreaming' and 'dream lore' are not being used in this campaign. You can start with ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ if you wish but it is just a very specialized lore, like occult lore. Having CM does not make you crazy nor limit your sanity.
SEX
Some GM’s are simple creatures and ask everyone to play their own sex. After four decades of gaming I’ve not seen anyone able to convincingly play the opposite sex.
STARTING WITH SPELLS
Nope - though it is super easy to get the other players to teach you a few spells.
NPC’S VS PC’S
First Aid: PC's have it made here. They lose HP. First aid/medicine/healing magic regains HP. NPC's don't have it so easily. They might have a broken limb. Broken back. Internal bleeding. Ruptured organs. Things that if they're in a hospital medicine rolls might help with. First aid does not mend a broken back. Magic for the win if you have it.
Disease: PC's are more or less immune. There is nothing less interesting or heroic than a case of herpies. Or aids. Or the plague. However, NPC's might get various diseases. The PC's can either work on helping them (no, first aid is really not useful here nor is medicine) or wander through the world like medieval plague doctors. Or death ravens or whatever.
Poison: Due to 'Logan's Rule 1', if the PC's take poison damage it is immediate. Take d8 from the sword and a nasty d6 from poison. Roll them both now. If someone is trying to slowly poison a PC they will find that the PC's seem to enjoy small amounts of arsenic in their food. See also 'disease' above. Or the PC's might take random damage and not know why. But generally speaking, people don't use poison against the PC's (rule 1) or if they are the PC's have failed to notice.
Learning spells: Once the PC's pick up the tier 1 spell at learn, then they need to get a critical to advance to the tier 2 etc. Or have been on the team that used some of their off game time to develop the spell. This can lead to the players advancing very quickly in learning new spells. NPC's can be taught new tiers but it can take years and they may never be able to get above certain tiers due to lack of talent, etc. Essentially, the PC's (due to getting checks then rolling after an adventure or session) are freaky fast at learning things compared to NPC's.
Some skills and professions: Stuff like potion making etc are right now "NPC only" professions. I don't have the time to delve in and figure out a cool way to make sitting around mixing ingredients in a lab or making magic items interesting and balanced. There might be some fetch quests (go get me a bunch of these special leaves) you can do to get potions (and other stuff) but honestly, the making of those sorts of occupations is so far under 'making a lot more spells and finishing out a bunch of spell trees' that I can't even see it. And you need all of the effects (spells) before figuring out how to basically bottle that stuff (in potions, magic items, scrolls, whatever) for later. So if you're sad about not getting to do that, remember that only two people are really working with any regularity to get the spell trees done. Suck it up and go to someone who sells that stuff.
Joining organizations: Any organization that has regular hours and days you're suppose to be there (ie anything not 'self employed') is a really poor choice for the players. Remember Logan's Rule 2. Also, this game is episodic and the groups often change about a bit. It is never 'bring your friend to work' day. Hence, the PC's will never become police, join the military or work a standard 9-5 job. The first time you go through a gate and end up missing a month of work you will either be fired or slated to go to prison for being AWOL.
ADVANCED USES OF HERO POINTS FOR THE CURRENT CAMPAIGN
Once they finish a mission and are awarded HERO POINTS, anything over 20 gets sucked away and put into their bank.
'Siphoned HERO POINTS' is never 'spent' or 'deducted' - subtraction would only weaken your character. Instead, the players attempt to build up to higher levels.
Every 50 Hero Points in the bank the players have gives them a new ‘nifty power’ (GM has secret chart you can roll on).
It is important to note that if you are careful, horde your Hero Points and play regularly you can get approximately one new ‘nifty power’ per season. Or, you can burn through the Hero Points as you get them to try to get a more immediate pay off.
MONEY IN THE CAMPAIGN
If you can make it so that you win in the zone then money is no longer a worry in that zone (unless it is a plot device) otherwise the GM messes with you without mercy.
CYBERWARE
This is an extremely poor investment for the players for four reasons:
Getting it reduces your sanity.
If you roll a fumble or a critical (or both?) during healing while you sleep, you go back to ‘residual self image’ which never includes cyberware.
Passing through many of the gates strip you of possessions. If you lose your possessions (at times, even your whole body) you lose cyber/bio ware.
There are a lot of ‘cyberware fucks up’ cards in the ATAW Deck.
For these reasons, I’ve not come up with detailed Cyberware rules.
SPECIAL SORTS OF DAMAGE
There are some creatures out there which permanently drain Willpower, Strength, Endurance, etc.
These come right off of the PC's percentage and they don't try any skill up's at the new lower percentage. In other words, they're just fucked.
Fortunately, the PC's have MAD healing rates and they can even overcome permanent losses.
All they have to do is get 'residual self image'. This is either done by a willpower x1 when sleeping (difficult if your willpower has been sucked out) or a fumble when sleeping (slightly easier if your willpower has been sucked out).
In campaigns without ‘residual self image’ (or areas that do not have it), you’re just fucked. Your scores go down and then you can try normal skill ups (when appropriate) at your new, lower skill.
IF YOU SAY IT
You do it. This is a long time rule that has always been enforced. Don’t say stuff you don’t want to do. Or, if you say it, your character says it. It is totally the GM’s call.
Example:
Billy: “I think we should totally kill Ted.”
Ted the NPC: “What?”
Billy: “I was talking OOG to -”
GM: “No, you weren’t. Ted goes running off screaming for the cops.”
Billy: “I’m going to totally kill his ass.”
GM: “Your character says, ominously.”
Example:
Billy: “I’m going to snatch his sword and say ‘What you going to do now punk’! Just kidding.”
GM: Roll unarmed at half to grab the sword!
Billy: “But -”
GM: If you don’t want to roll, it is just a feeble attempt but she will probably react violently anyway.”
This may lead players to ask “How do we talk out of game?” The answer is ‘you fucking don’t while you’re in game.’ Experienced players will often seek out private areas to discuss certain illegal activities.
We don’t do ‘table talk’.
BUDDY SENSE
All PC’s can tell who their ‘buddy’ is - the other PC’s. You feel like you have saved their lives many times and they yours. You are all part of the same team. You can also tell (if separated and in the same ‘zone’) in which direction they are though not how far away they are.
This ‘buddy sense’ applies to all PC’s within the campaign, past present and future.
OOG this is done for a few reasons. It gives the group a reason to adventure together, it prevents PVP (as I do not want PVP within my game - it is nearly always destructive to the group and the few times it is not are simply not worth it) and since the players can tell generally in which direction their buddy is it helps keep the group together. The desire to split off for long periods of time from the group is generally a selfish one and again, the few times it pays off are simply not worth it to the campaign. Keep the group together.
The IG reason for this (there is indeed one) has not been discovered by the players in the last five seasons and is unlikely to be discovered any time soon.
NEW PLAYER ADVICE
Written by Matt L:
This world we play in is constantly evolving and changing, meaning things are never static. What you might find on one day, might have changed a year later, a month later, a week later or even a day later. Never presume that things will be the same if you have to go back to them.
Now, we can’t deal with everything we come up against straight away, there’s just too much going on, so to my next point, prioritize. It might take a while for some, but after some experience playing, you will start to recognize “important” plot lines and “not so important “ plot lines.
The not so important plot lines will still change depending on external stimuli, but generally if they are left for X amount of time, it will not impact the world too drastically. The important plot lines if left too long can fester into some world changing/ending situations. Last thing of note, on rare occasions, some not so important types can change into important types over time, so always good to check back on these when you can to make sure.
SHOULD YOU FIND YOURSELF SOLOING
Written by Peter H:
Play to your strengths, unless you want your hero points to drain out like a kid sucking on a juice box. There is no one there to rescue you if you fail to swim or fail your contortions roll - unless you find a competent NPC or group of NPC's to travel with. But remember they don't normally have hero points.
Take the time to explore and check things out if you can. You may find things others have missed or glossed over. There may be something that had come up previously that you were curious about, however because you were in a group did not get a chance to look into it.
If a quest/mission presents itself don't feel forced to take it if you don't think you have there skills to handle it. There will be other activities to be had/done.
No-brainer modules:
"No brainers" - Anyone who generally plays more than once a week will probably (unless they choose to 'free range' it instead of 'feed us with a mod') hit a 'no brainer'. The 'no brainer' is a module that you have already played through and it comes back like a TV rerun. While I personally dislike subjecting players to reruns, with this kind of gaming schedule and the players shifting about who they play with it is inevitable. I am simply unable to make scores of new modules every season.
So what happens during a 'no brainer module'? Let's say that Freddy has been on a module a time (or few) before and this time he is teamed up with Jeff and Marcus. That means that (concerning the module), Freddy is 'that guy who is coming up with no ideas'. He doesn't have any clue what should be done and is volunteering nothing toward the mod. However, there are other things he can do. For example, let's say there is a computer terminal that needs to be hacked and Jeff says "Hey Freddy - can you break the encryption on this?" Boom - Freddy is free to do so. If there is a bomb under the desk that he wouldn't know about he has to suck it up and sit down anyway - good roleplaying. The other players can also ask him to research various topics, etc. They can't ask him 'what's your opinion on this' or 'what should we do now' as he can just shrug and say "I don't know - what do YOU think you should do?"
What are the benefits to being the 'guy (or gal) without a brain on the module'? Well, a couple different things. Clever players can explore little side quests that they didn't check in to the first time, see how the mod changes a bit every time it is run, laugh as the other players go down in flames, etc.
Freddy says: "Another thing which sometimes you can do in a no-brainer is keep track of the ideas your party comes up with, then if they get stuck and don't really know what to do, you can say "hey didn't you want to do x?" Now x may or may not be useful, but it will at least keep things moving. You're not supposed to give any hints as to what's a good idea or not, just mention some of the stuff they had thought about earlier but hadn't followed up on yet because they forgot about it. Reminding them of what's already been told to them is also fine – such as reminding them of the location that you were given to go and visit a suspect. So long as the information has already been disclosed clearly and obviously, you can gently remind them of these things if they get stuck or start wondering what to do. I personally enjoy watching the different methods that people come up with to solve certain things. It gives you another perspective. You may also discover something you missed before which could be useful in the future. And, as Logan already mentioned, if there are any "side" things that you wanted to do, that can also be a good opportunity to do them. (On learning how Logan GM's through watching no-brainers) Sometimes you may have certain information put in certain places, but if the situation calls for it and to avoid having the players spend too much time running around looking for it in a specific place, you may just have the same information "pop up" in other logical areas. You may also tweak things a little bit in order to make them a bit more interesting or if something was too easy/difficult, change it a bit.”
Logan: As a final disclaimer on 'no brainers', pretty much the only time you run into those is if the PC's are doing a mod. There are some players that are capable of "I got shit to do - ain't got no time for no mods" and others which do not have that ability. If (for example) you are with someone like Chris Casey, unless he is burned out/stressed from work, he generally falls into the "Ain't nobody got time fo that" group.
If you are doing 'free range' then 'no-brainers' aren't a thing. If you are doing the 'feed me Seymore' (or with a group that is before you start developing your own stuff you want to go get done) then no-brainers night become a thing.
The easiest way to determine which kind of player is which is to ask them "What do you want to do this session?" If they respond "I don't know", they need feeding. If they respond with a fucking list of things, they are the 'self motivated' kind who want free range.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What game system is this?
"It's a heavily modified BRP system which utilizes something akin to fate points (we call them 'HERO points') and gives temporary skill buffs and such in the form of cards during the game as a reward for wit and cleverness. There are no levels or classes, it is a purely skill based system. Skills can increase over time from successful use in game."
Sadly, that explanation doesn't help that many people because they've only had experience with D&D. If reading that doesn't really enlighten you, I'd suggest just making a character. I'm confident that most will have a good idea what the system is like after doing so, more so after playing one session.
When I ask a question, I just keep getting referred back to these boards - why is that?
Finding new gamers is a lot like finding a qualified job applicant. The ones who seem to want to spend the most time chatting and such are never the ones who end up playing to see if they enjoy themselves. They seem to just have a lot of time on their hands and want to chat. I don't have a lot of time on my hands. If someone 'doesn't have time to go through the new player section' on the boards, they aren't going to have time to commit to playing. Hence, not something I want to invest time into.
What's this campaign about?
I've heard it referred to as Sliders meets a bunch of other stuff. Personally, I don't like that pigeon hole but people go with what they know.
Shouldn't I know what kind of campaign it is before making my character?
No. None of the starting players did. If you're looking for advice, I would personally make a 'modern day' (ie the time period you are now living your out of game life in) character that seems interesting to you. You could even make a stylized heroic version of yourself if you felt like it. Any skills you take can become very useful depending on where/when you find yourself. The more obscure of skill, the less often it will come up. 'Unarmed' will always come up more than say 'Accounting' - but there are times when the accounting skill is critical. Plus you get a free character rewrite after the first session though some players later regret changing their skills around based on the one place they were.
When do you start?
See the sign up sheet and use the time zone converter available there. The general answer: If you live in the USA, morning. If you live in Europe, afternoon. If you live in Australia, either amazingly late at night or very very early in the morning - depending how you look at it. We currently have players from those three continents.
Do you allow lurkers while the game is being played?
No. You can watch plenty of youtube videos of the game being played or listen to the games on podcast. We encourage people to get in there and play.
Anything special for the first game?
I'd recommend showing up fifteen or so minutes early. Get logged on then. There is generally a certain amount of coms testing and general computer fuckery to be dealt with. Better to have those extra minutes to take care of it than slow down the session more than we need to for everyone else.
Will Logan get in touch with me or come find me before game time?
No. It is the players responsibility to contact Logan. He is easy to find and generally at his computer before game time. Contact through Facebook or these Proboards. If you can't make it (emergency comes up or whatever) contacting me to let me know would be nice. If you don't show up on time (especially for your first session) your spot may be given to other people who are on time waiting to play. After you've played once, we give a fifteen minute grace period then attempt to fill the slot.
Why can we only sign up for one session?
Until someone has played, they are an unknown quantity. We don't know if we'll like them or if they'll like us. Also, new people are notoriously flighty. Of those who sign up for game sessions, only about 30% or less actually bother to show up. So, rather than rescheduling all of Bob's slots because he thought that he would show up a lot and signed up for ten games, we have Bob sign up for one. If Bob actually bothers to show up and everyone gets along and Bob has a good time, then we invite him (or her) to sign up for more slots.
What if I am unsure if I can make a session but would like to play?
Get sure before signing up. The sign up sheet does not deal in hope! Once you are sure if you can play then is the time to sign up - we'd love to have you try a game!
Do I need to contact you on Facebook for every game?
After the first game, you will have the roll20 information. Just log on to that at or before game time to find out the google hangouts address since that changes every time.
How long will it take before I feel I have a handle on what is going on in game?
According to one of our newer players, the first three sessions or so feel overwhelming and confusing. After that, you start to get a handle on some things. Keep in mind that a lot of this campaign is about finding out secrets (or maybe even making some) so the long time players often feel like they are put into the deep end of the pool.
Is there a shorter version of these rules somewhere?
If someone can't spend a half hour or hour to read the new players start here section of the board, I'm thinking it is unlikely they will devote five to seven hours every week or two toward gaming.
Why do you have new players go through the steps listed in the new players start here and watch a video on character creation instead of helping each individually?
It's a test. Can they follow simple instructions? Do they have enough dedication to do that then actually show up for the first session? Or the second? Most don't. Better to give them a manual and let them show who really wants to play and who is just out to waste time.
Why don't you publish your game system?
Not enough people are interested in it. If thousands of people were interested in it, it would still classify as a 'labor of love' meaning 'no money in publishing it'. There are enough game systems out there. What really seems to be lacking is good campaigns. I'm working on making a good campaign that people enjoy instead.
Why do you advertise only for smart people?
What's the thoughts behind this system?
Generally, I feel that the more you have to pay attention to the system, the more you are playing a system rather than immersing yourself into the character. Obviously, there are some finicky things (like spells) but overall, this system is dead simple. After someone has played a couple times the system goes into the background. Unlike 'crunchy' (or overly complex depending on your point of view) systems, we don't have 'rules lawyers' and such in this game. It's not all about figuring out a way to 'min/max'. That is a turn off for some people who want to spend hours tweaking the most powerful character they can. In this game, making the most of what you have and making an interesting entertaining story is the goal.
Are spells necessary?
No. Lots of people either don't have spells or have a couple and rarely bother to use them.
How can my character become a spell caster?
It is (intentionally) a pain in the ass. Unlike many RPG's you don't just get new spells tossed at you periodically. In order to get very basic spells, you have to first find someone (PC or NPC) to teach you some rank one (very weak) spells. Generally, it's much easier to get a PC to do it. Then, they have to impart the knowledge via a teaching (skill) roll and succeeding at the spell (skill) roll. When that eventually happens, you pick up a low level spell at your 'Learn' statistic. You can then cast that until you finally get a critical. Making a critical roll while casting a spell imparts you with the next spell up in that tree. The process continues in that fashion. It is (and is meant to be) a huge pain in the ass to get good at spell casting. Generally, this is a very low magic game.
Anything special I should be aware of about the recordings?
I don't recommend talking about anything personal until after the end of the session. By all means, visit then. The recordings are edited only in that I take out some of the long stretches of silence so if you end up giving out your credit card numbers - for some reason (why??) mid session, you should expect that in the final copy. Due to time constraints I don't go back and 're-edit' stuff later. So wait till after 'the cameras are off' before you discuss personal stuff you don't want the world to know.
When will I be able to watch the session I participated in?
Sessions are released one hour at a time daily. Therefore, we have quite a bit of backlog. Could be half a year or longer.
How much combat is there during a game?
In D&D, all good things (levels, loot, etc) comes from combat. Trying to train people out of that mindset is hard work. Generally, combat is more like in real life. If you have to do it, have overwhelming odds in your favor and try to get it over as fast as possible. If you are taking on a 'fair fight' (or one not in your favor) it is a series of poor choices which have brought you there.
So combat is always bad?
If you are 'relying on the strength of your character' to carry you through combat, yes, it is a poor choice. Buying a pistol which does d10 damage isn't that hard. Your character will have between 10-20 hit points. Simple math shows that combat is something best to be avoided. If you have to do it, having a superior plan, numbers, ambush, etc are advisable. Going toe to toe with all but the weakest foes is dumb.
Do I need to print out that long assed character sheet or can I just use my computer?
The best reason to print off a character sheet is that it sometimes becomes a 'prized memento' for some players. They have 15+ year old ones from my campaign they show off proudly. It's up to you.
Why is the character sheet so long?
Completeness. If you want a shorter version you are free to make one.
Why are the missions so hard?
In most games I've seen, it is your character's strength up against the lesser strength of the enemy in 'level appropriate' encounters. While all GM's claim that their players 'can run in to harder stuff than they can handle' I have found this is often nothing but defensive bravado. A huge majority of the encounters are 'level appropriate' and using the strength of ones spells and melee can bear them through the encounter. This bores the shit out of me. It's like playing chess against someone who has less pieces. Unless you are stupid or very unlucky of course you are going to win. Most things here are as they are and very little is a good idea to go up against in a straight line confrontation. Players will need to learn to come at problems from an unexpected angle ("Go at it sideways") to many things because characters in this system are super weak compared to most. Until untrained from 'my our characters are powerful' systems (usually D&D) it can be frustrating for new players. This is very much a 'information is more powerful than a magic sword' type of campaign.
Can I play cross-gender characters?
Not recommended. This is partially because the GM is dim and won't remember which gender you are playing.
What are the x2, x3 etc boxes near the statistics?
Those boxes long and long ago were named 'stupid boxes' for a variety of reasons.
How to fill them in: If your willpower is 11, the x2 number is 22, the x3 is 33, etc. They allow people mid game to rapidly figure out what a 14 x4 etc is.
Only the stat itself is ticked and then only once.
The reason they were called 'stupid boxes' include:
Players muttering darkly "Stupid boxes"
Boxes for people who were bad at math
Insults for people who were bad at math, didn't realize they were bad at math and too lazy to fill in the boxes (as in "Fill in the boxes, stupid")
Etc.
Note that if a stat goes up or down, all of the stupid boxes get changed.
Why don't you like having a conversation with potential players before the session or before they've made their character?
The last eight did not end up actually bothering to make a character - they were just 'time vampires'.
I have other exclusivity contracts that prohibit me from getting paid for this - do I need to worry?
Not even a little. We would need ten times the Youtube subscribers we have to even see a tiny income and I am keeping all of it until I pay back the hundreds of dollars I've put into the game. That may take longer than I'll be alive. Unless this all suddenly takes off. In that case I am happy to give any pay you would get to charity.
Is this a 'high fantasy' game?
This is definitely not a 'high fantasy' type game though I would say there are more than enough neat spells and magic toys which can be gained to keep you busy. It should (if you wish to try it) be a new and interesting experience for you. The reason (one of them) I don't run a high magic (HM) system is that I see HM as basically 'super heroes'. Super heroes defeating super villains is dull. It's their job. It is expected. In this system, people play characters who are very mortal, very vulnerable and must use brains - rather than relying on magic gizmos - to overcome challenges and obstacles. A 'mortal' defeating a super villain - now that's interesting!
NUMBER OF BOOKS
This is a simple system, especially compared to other books whose publishing companies rely on coming up with more and more filler to sell. There is no separate GM’s guide and players guide. To make a character, all that is needed is the character sheet for experienced players. There are instructions and such for the new players.
So just this book.
INTRODUCTION TO ROLEPLAY
If you don’t know what it is, your chances of picking this book up are almost nill. Since this is covered in literally every other rule book, I’m skipping it. If you picked up these rules by chance and have no idea what it is all about, good luck. And thanks for the money if we’re selling this.
ADVANCED ROLEPLAY
Be in character - always.
Bad: “My character does…”, “He heads out to the park.”, “I tell Bert’s character…”, “Look at that great roll!”
Good: “I shoot!”, “I head out to the park.”, “Hey, Ronnie (the character’s name) -…”, “You are kicking ass!”
METAGAMING
Don’t metagame. Metagaming is acting on knowledge your character doesn’t have.
Fred: “Do I know astrologically what the Maya think about this?”
GM: “Roll your astrology.”
Jim: (Rolling his astrology)
GM: “Jim, WTF are you doing? Just because Fred looks thoughtful doesn’t mean you suddenly get to roll your astrology skill.”
Note - this is a constant problem for some players. Just wait until the other player mentions what they are trying to find *then* roll. Otherwise, just move on.
Metagamey: “I have a low sanity - let’s do some good guy shit so I can gain some sanity.”
Better RP: “I’ve been having second thoughts about some of my life choices. Who can we help today?”
HOW THIS GAME IS DIFFERENT FROM D&D
Why is this section in here? Because most people who have done table top roleplaying games have done D&D. In fact it seems that there is a significant percentage of players who seem unaware that other games even exist. Hence, this section.
D&D is an adolescent power fantasy in which ‘killing solves everything’. If you still have a problem after killing, it is because you haven’t done enough killing. Your character becomes stronger and stronger from fighting.
In this game, enough fighting will drain your Hero Points (see below), leaving you weaker for future fights. Do this often enough and you will be totally drained and probably die in the next fight.
Also, many people play what I call ‘chess D&D’, moving minis around a grid and taking on ‘level appropriate’ opponents. Though I’ve heard many GM’s say they ‘don’t always run level appropriate encounters’ in my experience this is usually a defensive lie. Within most D&D, your character is meant to have the ‘strength of arms’ (or magic, whatever) to be able to power their way through a dungeon of monsters.
In this game, the characters are much much weaker. They cannot withstand prolonged combat. It will kill them. With a maximum hit points of twenty and a pistol able to do half of that on a hit, simple math should tell you that compared to many games.
Going at problems ‘head on’ is not desirable. Finding ways around combat helps players survive.
Generally, people seem poor at planning beyond ‘kick in door, kill everything’. Even those that make a better plan seem stumped when their plan falls apart. To paraphrase Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” Even fewer groups have a simple back up plan like “This is our fall back point.”
This game will help educate people to develop those skills.
GM’s who attempt to run this like a D&D campaign will probably find the characters dead, players frustrated and campaign in a shambles.
MAKING A CHARACTER
Before messing about with stats, points and the calculator which is probably on your phone, it is a good idea to think about what kind of character you would like to play, as well as what sorts of characters are acceptable within the GM’s campaign.
Keep in mind that they will have to be a people person in so far as they need get along well with the other PC's and have plenty of reasons to adventure with them. If you don't have those two things, try new character ideas until you do. Make someone who is not only fun to play but someone who is fun to play ‘with’. Be generous to your fellow players. An article I read had an excellent comment: “Very quick rule of thumb: If a player has to utter the phrase "but it's what my character would do" more than once the PC (and quite likely the player) is probably an asshole.” Here’s a rather long article on the subject if additional clarification is needed: tinyurl.com/ybj8e3bv
Figure out some sort of basic occupation. This will tell you generally what kind of skills you will be taking. You don't have to - you could have someone who has trained in how to fly a jet fighter and fight with a spear - it really does not matter.
Ponder what your character's hobbies are.
Now, you're ready to start messing with the points.
LOGAN'S WONDERFUL SHEET OF HOW TO OPERATE PETE'S CALCULATING SHEET
This is a wonderful artistic model. It is important not to let the number of skills on the sheet overwhelm you. After actually playing the game a time or two I challenge you to find a simpler system with a nuanced of starting characters. Note that obviously the skills continue on past the bottom of the page and for the next couple of pages past that. Plus write in skills, languages, etc.
STATISTICS
There are four statistics you may divide a total of ten points among. The statistics all start at ten with the exception of sanity which starts at 50.
Those statistics are: Willpower, Learning, Essence and Sanity.
Note that for every point put into Sanity gives you five.
Example: If the player put 2 points into Willpower, 3 into Learning, 1 into Essence and 4 into Sanity, their stats would look like this:
Willpower: 12
Learning: 13
Essence: 11
Sanity: 70
What the stats mean:
Willpower: Mental fortitude, your drive to get things done, etc. This is important as it is also your hit points - the amount of damage you can take before dying.
Learning: This is your base for all skills unless the base printed on the character sheet is higher. Any time you learn a new skill it starts at your learning expressed in a percentage.
Essence: Your Essence is the amount of magic points you have. This stat is useful only for casting - and in some cases resisting - spells. This is also your starting HERO Points. Note that becoming a competent mage is a hard thing that takes awhile to do within the campaign. The main thing starting with a high Essence will do for you is to give you more starting Hero Points - which are important.
Sanity: The more sanity you have, the more difficult it is for you to lose sanity. Once you get under 50% or so, it starts a 'slippery slope'. You can gain sanity through various things including 'good guy' acts - helping people, destroying bad things and so on. You lose sanity from a variety of things such as a messy break up, severe stress and mind blasting eldritch horrors. Once a character's sanity has been reduced to zero they either become an NPC or die at the GM's discretion. Often both. Either way, you will be making a new character.
For more information, see the ‘Stats’ section.
SKILLS
The player has 2000 points to distribute among their skills. For this campaign, the base of all the skills (unless the number in parenthesis listed behind the skill is greater) is equal to their 'Learning' statistic. [This applies to new character skills. Later, when picking up new skills, they start at LEARN.] Spend all your skill points and stat points - you cannot keep them to spend later.
Please note that as the game progresses these skills go up, you will pick up new skills and so on.
Example:
For the character above who has a Learning of 13, their base in Accounting (first skill, second sheet) would be 13%, not 10% listed. However, their base in Photography would still be 40% as that exceeds their Learning.
The most points (of the 2000) the character can put into any skill is enough to raise it to 60. If the player of this character wanted to raise both their Accounting and Photography to 60 it would take 47+20 = 67 total points. That would leave the player with 2000-67 = 1933 points.
It is not recommended to write your current Learning stat in blanks where that would become your new base as statistics can go up and down during the course of play.
Special rule - if someone wanted to put all of their starting statistic points into Sanity, rather than it being 100, it would be 99.
Note that the skills which are bold faced are the ones experienced players strongly recommend taking at 60%. They called these skills the “If you don’t max these out you are dumb and will die” skills.
Another strategy I personally recommend is to take a skill which is not commonly taken nor will come up very often.
There are also other skills it is wise to get as high as possible (60% for a starting character) as they are ‘all or nothing’ type of skills. Things like stealth, climb, SCUBA, swim, etc which can spell death for your character very easily if you don’t make the roll.
There are other strange skills (example: fly zeppelin or blimp, dog sledding) which rarely come up but when they do the players seem to grouse loudly about them.
Next, there are ‘write in skills’. These include any skill which you can think of including ‘lore - Dutch master painters’, ‘art - surreal, oil paint’, any thing you can think of. Just because it is not on the sheet does not mean it will not get called on. Consult with other players and the GM about your ideas for brand new skills until you are comfortable with the system and styles of GM’ing. Do not assume that the skill you have thought of is a good idea or will be allowed.
Lastly, there are your (the players' personal) skills. Many players who have skill in something in real life find it very frustrating if they cannot use at least some of that skill in the game. If you personally have a wide knowledge of 1980’s movies, buying some ‘1980’s movie trivia’ is probably a good idea. Otherwise, if you use your knowledge when your character doesn’t know anything about it, you are doing a crappy job of roleplaying.
For more information on the skills, see the ‘skills’ section.
A COUPLE IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER
First,
If you wrote a character and have played one time and decided that you messed up how you put the character together, you may rewrite it.
This is a one time thing. If you play a session and say "Well, this group of skills is useless" be advised that in the current campaign literally any skill may become vital in various areas. If you decide to lose all of your (for example) knight skills because the characters are in a cyberpunk realm then later go to a medieval realm, you will be stuck with the skills you have.
So you don't need to create a perfect character - you need to make one that is 'good enough' to get you through your first session. That's it.
Second,
Your character may end up going a totally different way than you envisioned. Just because you started him/her as a retired cop does not mean that will end up mattering much in the future. They may end up doing something totally different later. This is not like a level based game where everyone goes along a pre-determined track and takes certain skills. You may end up crazy different - and that's OK.
Your character's skill may go up during the campaign. They may pick up new skills. They may learn things not even on the sheet. They could end up learning spells or other weird things. Nobody knows ahead of time - and that's OK.
Third,
Don't stress this - the character building appears to be the most intimidating thing. After you know what you are doing it will literally take a couple of minutes or less to make a character. Don't agonize over it - just slap something together that works for a session and just have fun. I often tell people if they don't know what to make, make an idealized 'you' and mess about with it. The important thing is to get in on a game to learn how the campaign and character work.
CHARACTER BACKGROUND
Most character backgrounds I’ve heard (and I’ve seen literally hundreds) are either trite, dull, unhelpful or do not fit in to the campaign at all.
Seriously - wait to come up with any sort of background until you've played at least three sessions so you can get a feel for the campaign. Even then, I recommend talking to the other players and GM to find out if your background fits in. Once you are an experienced, regular player you will know what works.
You should still come up with at least a name. It doesn't have to be your character's real name - just something you are called. If it is silly ("Switchback", "Hoss", "Razor", etc) expect to be mocked often - or the other PC’s may assign you a new name.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR CHARACTER
There are no classes, occupations or levels. Everyone starts out with the same number of points.
Before thinking about where to put your points, it is advisable to envision your character and their background. It is strongly recommended that everyone put lots of points into the bold faced things as they are considered (by the players) to be the ‘skills that no adventurer can live without’.
Talking to the group ahead of time about your character is strongly encouraged.
PICK SKILLS APPROPRIATE TO THE CAMPAIGN
This is a generic system meaning that it can be used for literally any historical period. The GM may of course add skills appropriate to their game as well as having other skills not able to be purchased. Example: In a 1920’s game, computers would probably not be an appropriate skill.
Bold faced skills - if you don’t take them, you’ll either be unable to participate in certain things or be a huge drag on your team. Example: Stealth, for obvious reasons.
STARTING WITH SPELLS
In some campaigns, the GM may choose to let the players start with spells - ask the GM.
OTHER STRANGE SKILLS
Anything you can think of (”Painting lore: Dutch Masters”) can be a skill. Check with the GM before buying anything not on the character sheet. They may allow it, they may not.
FIRST CHARACTER
Too many choices can make some new player’s heads explode. To those people, I suggest making a souped up version of yourself, adjusted for whatever time period the campaign is taking place in.
For people who are more comfortable with choices, figure out what kind of role you want to do within the party and build accordingly.
WHAT IF YOU DON’T LIKE YOUR CHARACTER?
For brand new players, they are allowed to do a complete rewrite of their character after the first session they play.
For players who have played before, a bit of point shuffling is also allowed if they got dumb and forgot something obvious.
Generally speaking, this is a system that allows you to spend your points as you wish without any random rolls. Therefore, if you don’t ‘like’ your character, you shouldn’t have made them like that.
‘READY TO PLAY CHARACTERS’ AND WHY WE DON’T USE THEM
Seriously - once you’ve done it a time or two, making a character is a five or ten minute job. The hardest part for experienced players is often figuring out what kind of character they want to play.
If a new player does not want to spend a little time coming up with a new character, chances are good their heart really isn’t into playing.
MALE VS FEMALE
Stats and skill points for both are exactly the same.
AGE
Pick somewhere between 18 and 50. People outside of that age range are generally not believable as adventurers. Note that in some campaigns (or parts of the campaign) a character’s age may be briefly outside of those ranges for plot reasons.
STARTING WITH SPELLS
Some GM’s may allow starting characters to spend skill points on spells.
FOR NEW PLAYERS
For all new players, I suggest making a character from approximately ‘now’ (it’s easy to know what sort of tech and such you are use to whereas if you find say a 1920’s character who is good with computers you know they’ve either been playing for awhile and learned it in game or they are shitty roleplayers) and have both a melee and ranged weapon. While not everyone wants to do combat, it is dull to sit around unable to do combat while everyone else indulges themselves in it.
STARTING GEAR
This varies by campaign. Consult the GM. Hopefully, they will have a pre-prepared list.
THE STATISTICS
WHAT THEY REPRESENT
Willpower is how much strength of will or resolution you have. It also is used to determine the character’s ‘hit points’ or ‘how much damage the character can take before going unconscious or dying’.
Learning represents the starting level of all new skills. <If I get a skill at learn then later my ‘learn’ stat goes up, do I increase the skill I’d gotten at learn? No. Way too anal. Just use the skill a couple times and you should be easily able to get the skill over the max learn stat.>
Essence shows the character’s aptitude toward magic and other mystical things. Essence is also the starting level of the very important ‘hero points’.
Sanity gives a measurement of how far your character is from ‘barking mad’. Should your character’s sanity ever reach zero, you lose your character.
All of the statistics are important, there are no ‘dump stats’.
GETTING CHECKS IN THE STATS AND WHAT THAT MEANS
If you ‘have a check in a stat’, that means you have rolled a test against that stat that was difficult and you did it successfully. That means at the end of the adventure the statistic may go up or down.
The GM may call for a roll for one of the two ‘rollable’ stats - Willpower and Essence.
There are two types of rolls - ones where the GM gives a target multiplier and ones where he does not.
TARGET MULTIPLIER EXAMPLE (for these, the player has a 15 in the stat being asked for)
GM: "Give me a willpower x3."
Since the player has a 15 in willpower, that means that - for this roll - their skill is '45'. Hence, a critical would be a 4 or less, a fumble 94 or higher. Success 05-45 and failure 46-93.
If the target number was x3 or less of the stat, and you succeed, you get a check in the stat.
Example: GM says “Give me a Willpower x4 or better roll” and you roll an 01, you still don’t get a check in Willpower.
LOWER IS BETTER EXAMPLE
GM: "Give me a willpower roll."
Since the player has a 15 in willpower that means that - for this roll - if they roll a 01-15 they would say 'willpower x1'. A 16-30 is 'willpower x2', 31-45 is 'willpower x3', 46-60 is 'willpower x4', 61-75 is 'willpower x5'. A 76-96 would be a 'fail' and - since at willpower x5 (=75) a fumble would be 97-00.
If you get x3 or less in the stat on your roll, check with the GM to see if you get a check in the stat. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends on how the GM is feeling about the task.
THE OTHER TWO STATISTICS
HOW DO WE GET CHECKS IN LEARNING?
If the player has found something that seems appropriate to try out a new skill with (example: A banjo and they are in the bayou and want to pick out the first few notes of the ‘creepy inbred song’) if they try and succeed in a learning roll, they get a check in learning as well as picking up the new ‘banjo’ skill.
To pick up a skill, the character needs to see something that deals specifically with that skill. In other words, to know how to fly a helicopter, they need to see the helicopter - not just be asked about the helicopter.
HOW DO WE GET CHECKS IN SANITY?
You don't. Sanity generally goes down for seeing scary stuff or doing bad things. Sanity goes up for doing 'good' things. If you enjoy going on killing sprees of the innocent and happily wipe out say a town of them, this won't get you sanity even though you'd accomplished your goal. If you save a town of innocents from some horrible monster, you might gain sanity. It decreases through seeing anything ‘troubling’ or through doing things which the average mentally healthy person would consider ‘bad’ or ‘appalling’.
This is not a good campaign (or game system) for evil people. If the GM is purposefully making an ‘evil’ campaign, they may choose to give out less statistic points and just start everyone’s sanity at zero and ignore any sanity losses.
Note - if sanity losses cause a character to hit 0, that character then becomes a NPC. Usually, a very naughty one.
If the cyberware a character is recklessly installing cause sanity to hit zero, that character becomes an NPC and hits 'cyber psychosis' - usually a 'let's kill everyone' thing.
STAT DECREASES AND INCREASES
If you get a check in your stat, roll 2d6.
If you roll a 2 (snake eyes) the stat decreases by one. (Note, if someone uses a ‘hero point’ they can reroll this hence having statistics go down is actually quite rare. See the section on ‘hero points’ below.)
If you roll a 7, the stat may increase.
If you have rolled a 7, attempt to fail your STAT x5 - if you do, congratulations, your stat increases by one point.
Hero Points (and any remaining cards from the session) may be used to influence these rolls but generally it is a poor use of HERO Points - unless you rolled ‘snake eyes’.
STAT LOSSES
Because of various things (death, drugs, limb loss, etc) both skills and statistics may be 'permanently' lost.
For example:
Someone has an 14 in learning.
Some bastard cuts out part of their brain.
The GM gives the character a -2 permanent to learning.
This does not mean that the character's learning is now limited to 12. They can build it back up. Hopefully, they will get some sort of high tech cyber brain and then slowly learn to use it.
Or they might hop their way to victory. On their new brain.
Note, due to 'Logan’s rule 1' there are no temporary stat or skill negatives.
STATS
If any stat hits zero, your character dies permanently.
SKILLS
SKILLS
Some GM’s like having fewer skills, however the more skills you have within your campaign the less likely the PC’s are to all end up with exactly the same skills.
The question GM’s have to answer is how far down they wish to split up the skills. We have a ‘rifles’ skill which is usually understood to be ‘slug throwing rifles’. In my campaign, laser rifles (or generally futuristic plasma/laser/beam rifles) are a different skill. The GM may instead choose to have all ‘rifles’ be the same skill. Or, they may choose to break down rifles into even more specific groups such as heavy sniper rifles, etc.
Generally speaking, the more specific a skill used to gather information is, the more detailed information the player can glean from it with a successful roll. For example, a player with ‘art: Dutch masters’ should get a lot more information about a Vermeer paintings than someone with ‘art lore’.
Having some of the skills highly specific can allow much more diversification within player skills.
INCREASING YOUR SKILLS
The first time the GM asks you to roll a skill and you succeed at that skill, put a tick mark next to the skill. At the end of the game, all of the skills with tick marks have a chance of increasing.
To find out if they increase, roll and try to fail the skill roll. (Note - matching the skill with the roll is not failing it. If you have an 80% skill and roll an 80, your skill does not increase!) If you fail the skill roll, the skill increases by d6.
Example: You have an 80% sprint skill. You roll a 87. That means your sprint skill will increase. You roll a d6 and get a 3. You now have an 83% sprint skill.
Whether the skill goes up or not, the check is then erased.
The higher your skill is, the less likely it is to increase.
Special rule - skills over 96%: Any skill that is over 96% (ie 97% or higher) is allowed to make an ‘open ended’ roll to see if it increases. If you roll a 96 or higher, roll again and add the next percentage to what you just rolled. In this way it is possible (though unlikely) to get very high levels of skill.
Example: Jill has a 98% in sword. She rolls a 96 then rolls again and gets a 57. The total of those two is obviously greater than 98 so she rolls a d6 and gets a 6. Her sword skill is now 104. In the future, she will have to roll 105 or higher to increase that skill.
SKILLS OVER 100%
This is when you are really, really good at something. Although the fumble range (00) is unchanged no matter how high the skill gets, having a high skill not only allows you to do stupidly hard things more often but it increases your critical range.
Within Logan’s current campaign, the maximum a skill can go to (for PC’s and any NPC’s short of deities) is 200%.
SUPPORTERS
Sometimes, the players will all attempt to help each other in order to spread the blame for failure more evenly. This is called ‘supporting’.
How it works:
One person is designated as the ‘primary’. Let’s say the players are working on defusing the bomb. Unfortunately, the only person with demolitions skill doesn’t have it high - 30% so he is a bit nervous. The other two players have some strange aversion to being blown up and wish to help defuse the bomb.
The other players (who do not have demolitions skill) ask the GM if they can try to support with other skills. One has electronics which the GM agrees would help. The other has nothing applicable and decides this might be a way to attempt to build up their demolitions skill by using that (at base, in this case the character’s learn skill) as their supporting skill.
The primary must announce whether he is accepting their advice or aid or ignoring them and doing it himself. Despite heavy misgivings, he decides to accept both other people’s aid.
The lady with electronics rolls hers successfully - that gives a temporary bonus of +5% to the primaries ‘demolitions skill’. Had she rolled a critical on her electronics, she would have given the primary a temporary +10% instead. If she had failed her electronics, no bonus.
So the primary is currently sitting at (for this roll) a 35% demolitions skill. Then the other guy who has no demolitions rolls his and of course it is a fumble. This gives the primary a -10% to his chance knocking him down to a total 35-10=25% chance. He should have refused this person’s help but since he accepted and they rolled (do not roll until it is accepted or you’ll just have to roll again) he is going to have a rough day.
SKILL PENALTIES
If the skill is pretty hard, -30% or half
If the skill is super hard, -60% or quarter
If the GM thinks the player is crazy for even trying but there is a slim chance, ‘crit only’ or something crazy like ‘roll me two 01’s in a row’.
If the GM doesn’t think the skill can succeed, no roll is permitted.
WHAT THIS MEANS AND EXAMPLES
The -30% or half, when called for means that the player can choose if they want to have their skill at -30% or cut it in half to make the roll.
Example: Nancy has a 70% in a skill. If she chooses to go at -30%, that means she needs a 40 or less. If she chooses to go at half, she needs a 35% or less. Being able to figure out simple math problems helps. Roll first then figure it out.
Example: Fred has a 60% in a skill and agonizes about which he should choose, to go at half or at -30% from his skill. Nancy hits Fred.
The -60% or quarter works the same way but mathematically is challenging for some. Roll first, figure it out later. Nothing irritates everyone more than someone trying to figure out what a quarter of 32% is then they end up rolling an 84 anyway. Roll first - always.
Example: Nancy has a 70% in her skill and needs to do it at -60%. She rolls hoping to get over a 20% so she doesn’t have to do math.
You can always choose which (the flat minus or the half/quarter you want. For those with a grasp of basic math it will be obvious, for the rest a constant source of mystery.
NOTE that the new skill you are at (when your skill is penalized) affects your critical and fumble numbers as well!
Example:
Nancy is looking for clues. The bad guys have hidden them well, giving her a -30% (or half) to her skill. She normally has an 80% in ‘spot hidden’ so takes the -30%. At a 50% in spot hidden, her critical chance is reduced to needing a 5% or less on a roll and her fumble chance goes up to 95% or higher.
OPPOSED SKILLS
Compare the skills, difference plus or minus from 50.
Example 1: PC has a strength of 80 and wants to arm wrestle NPC with a strength of 70.
PC has 10% over the NPC. Add to 50 giving 60. Hence, PC has a 60% chance of winning - roll 60 or less.
Example 2: Godzilla has a strength of 150 and wants to grab the PC (strength of 80) to hold on to him so he can bite his head clean off. Assuming Godzilla already grabbed him (grapple skill) and the PC just wants to ‘strength his way out’, 150-80=70. That is more than 50% so if the GM is feeling nice, he can give the PC a 5% chance. Moral of the story, don’t get grabbed by Godzilla. That’s what ‘dodge’ is for.
Although this could be used for everything (PC has a dodge of 70, NPC has a pistol of 30, etc) I don’t use it because math sucks and also once you have a high enough dodge, mooks would never be able to effect you. So I use it for some things but not for others. That way, having a gaggle of say gunmen with 20%-30% skill are still somewhat of a potential threat.
THE FUMBLE DECK - the GM finally gets to have some fun
Once you get into the fumble deck, spending a Hero Point merely gets you a new card.
If you don’t want any fumble cards, spend Hero Points prior to drawing.
Reason - it’s pretty much like going to a different table, but in this case the table is represented by cards and the ‘roll’ on the table is which ever card you get.
SKILL DESCRIPTIONS
A note on all ‘talking skills’ (fast talk, etc): Unless the player is good at these, a simple roll (in this ‘talking game’) cannot replace their being able to actually do this skill. While it is necessary to replace real life skill for a rolled skill in most things (example: sword fighting) with talking skills (in this ‘talking game’) you are actually expected to be able to talk well. The skill is your characters ‘delivery’. Even saying something especially good can fail if the delivery (roll) falls flat (fails). Hence, talking skills (in this ‘talking game’) can be much more difficult to do. Different GM’s may have different standards for what ‘passes muster’.
Specific skills (note – only some of the skills are being covered below; pistols are like shotguns but have a lower range and do less damage, quick drawing a pistol is no different game mechanic wise from quick drawing a knife and so on)
Clubs/Brawling: If you don’t want to put a lot of points into combat skills, this is a great way to go. High base plus, you don’t need to carry anything around. You will spend a full combat action picking it up but then you have a weapon. Examples include the bottle you were just drinking out of, the chair you were just sitting in and so on.
Fast draw pistol: If successful, it takes no time at all to get your gun out of it’s holster; in other words it’s a free action. Now, this does not mean it is ‘instant’. If someone has a gun pointed at you and says ‘move and I shoot’ and you go for a fast draw he gets a shot off if he has held his action. (Note – all fast draws work like this but you must buy them for specific things – pistol, smg, arrow, knife, etc. Things which are big and can’t be holstered or slung conveniently you cannot buy fast draw for.)
Dodge - you need somewhere to dodge TO. If you are busy climbing a rope, perhaps on a catwalk (or in a narrow hallway) there may not be anywhere to dodge TO hence the skill either can't be used or only at a strong negative, see GM. This skill cannot be used to ‘dodge explosions’. The stuff in an explosion (regardless of what you’ve learned from movies) moves faster than you can.
Pistol: Allows you to hit if you shoot. With firearms (only) you can choose to evenly divide up your chance to hit if you are firing at multiple targets that are all ‘in front of you’. In other words if you have a 90% in pistol and want to shoot three shots – whether at three separate guys or two at this guy and one at that guy, whatever) then you divide up the skill 90/3 = 30% per shot. If you can’t do the math without help YOU MISS. Good to figure it out ahead of time. Holding up the game for poor math skills is reprehensible.
Submachine Gun: Any fully automatic weapon (SMG, Assault rifle, etc) has multiple ways of firing. Some have single shot capability, others don’t. Options often include short burst, long burst and ‘clip it’. (See combat below)
Held weapons (all): If you hit, you do the damage indicated by the weapon. Note that you can either have attack at full and parry at -30% or vice versa.
Parry/Block (all) notes: If the thing fighting you is man sized or less (assuming you are as well) you can attempt to parry their attack. If you are fighting a giant or some sort of large creature, you can’t really parry them. Imagine trying to parry a bear. Not really happening. But against humans, it’s great. A parry (generally speaking) will negate their attack. There are special rules on ‘fighting offensively’ (attack at full, parry at -30%) or ‘fighting defensively’ (parry at full, attack at -30%).
Heavy Weapon (fill in the blank): Think ‘mounted machine gun’ or ‘rocket launcher’ as examples. Note that many ‘heavy weapons’ are ‘crew served’ meaning if it’s just you, it isn’t happening. Ask the GM if you are uncertain.
Whip (see grapple, below if using the special attack).
Block (hand to hand): This works the same way as ‘parry’ (above) with one major caveat. If you are blocking someone else’s hand to hand attack, nothing special need be done. If the person is attacking you with a hand to hand weapon and you attempt to block it, you must also roll ‘martial arts’ skill. If you succeed in block but fail martial arts, you automatically take the damage whether the person would have hit or not.
Grapple: This is literally grabbing someone. If you are trying to grab something specific (gun, throat, etc) you are at half skill. The person grabbed has several different options to try to escape. They may choose grapple, DEX or STR. Grapple means you are doing things wrestlers do to try to get out of holds. DEX shows you are trying to worm your way out of the hold and STR shows you are just strong arming out of the hold. The grappling person may choose which they want to ‘hold on’ with. Example: Fred (grapple 60%) is fighting Tim (STR 15). Fred has successfully grappled Tim, and Tim wishes to use his huge strength to break free. It is then the normal skill vs skill check.
Martial arts: This must be specified by the weapon. You can specify ‘body’, ‘sword’, ‘club’, etc. No, you can’t have firearm martial arts. Success in this gives a bump in damage (see ‘damage track’). Martial arts is also handy if you want to ‘parry’ something barehanded. See ‘parry’ above.
Missile weapons: Any missile weapons use skill: dexterity to determine whether they get a bump in damage (see ‘damage track’).
Dexterity/Maneuver/Dodge: This is a useful skill that incorporates three different parts. Dexterity is a general indicator of the character’s hand eye coordination unless the GM wants to have the test go into a specific skill. Maneuver is used to determine whether the character goes at base speed during combat (3m/round) or is moving quickly (10m/round). The GM can also use it for such things as quickly moving through a crowd, etc. Dodge can be used only if the PC has done no other action yet. It is the ‘get out of the way’ skill. This is the only defense that may be used for things like avoiding a building falling on you or some sort of attack the GM deems ‘too big to parry’. If the Dexterity is high, any missile weapons will have their damage go up by a bump. If the Dexterity is 80 or better, +1 bump. If the Dexterity reaches 110 or better, +2 bumps total. Every 30 points above that, +1 bump.
Luck: If the GM doesn’t know (or care) if something is around (or not around) they may call on the PC to make a luck roll. For example, if the PC goes to a market and is looking for something difficult to find the GM may call for a luck roll. If the bad guy is wanting to shoot one of a group of PC’s, the GM may ask all of the PC’s to make a luck roll and the attack will be against whoever had the lowest luck result.
Strength: The raw brute force of the player. The GM may call upon it for things like attempting to hold a door closed while something tries to push its way in, etc. If the Strength is high, any hand held weapons will have their damage go up by a bump. If the Strength is 80 or better, +1 bump. If the Strength reaches 110 or better, +2 bumps total. Every 30 points above that, +1 bump.
Some examples, though the GM can set whatever difficulty they wish so long as they maintain some sort of consistency:
Normal internal door, STR roll or STR roll at a bonus.
External door, STR roll or STR roll at half.
Big fucker made of stout wood reinforced with metal bands, maybe a crossbar, STR roll at -60 or 'need a battering ram'.
Constitution/Endurance: For GM’s that wish to use effects like poison or disease, this is used to resist it. In addition, this shows the stamina of players. Example: After climbing up a cliff, the GM may call for an endurance roll. If the character fails it, all of their other skills are at a -30% until they have had time to rest.
Note on all weapons: Note that this is a ‘simple system’. Large weapons do a lot more damage than small weapons. While something like a dagger can kill you in real life, in this game system it takes forever to kill someone with a small weapon. Bigger is always better if you want to give out some serious damage.
Throw (general, grenade, rock): Base range is 30m. (Source - standard Army testing handbook on grenade ranges).
Second skill sheet:
Accounting: Good at going through books, find out where the bad guy is funneling money to, etc. Great for businessmen.
Acrobatics: This is a ‘spiff’ skill. You can add it to other skills to look great while you are doing it. For example, if you are using the jump skill to jump to a different building, acrobatics will allow you to put a flip in there. Some skills (like the modern day Parkour skill) the GM might require acrobatics rolled many times during its use. Doing ‘Jackie Chan’ style climbing might be a roll against climbing and acrobatics.
Acting: This skill is used to resist the Empathy skill.
Analyze Magic: This skill allows people who are able to see magic (through some means whether a spell or an item) to figure out what they think it does. Useful for analyzing items. Note that until your character has actually seen magic (not the effects of a spell being cast but the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff) you cannot put points into this skill. It is not a ‘starting skill’ unless the GM is playing some sort of high fantasy game. (Logan’s campaign, no.)
Animal Handling (specify animal)
Allows you to saddle, hook up to different things meant for the animal (plow, wagon, etc) and to calm it down when it is irritated or freaked out. Riding does not calm the animal. Once a snake goes for it your riding roll will probably be just to stay on the beast while it does something like run into a fire.
Also, this skill allows you to care for the animal. Unlike vehicles that we are able to get into today, turn the key and blithely go where we want and the only thing we have to remember to do is hopefully lock it and take it in for service occasionally, beasts are a huge daily pain in the ass.
If you don’t know how to take care of them (often twice per day) they will go lame, start missing patches of hair from the saddle rubbing because you don’t know how to adjust the flank cinch and so on. And the animal will come to hate you over time.
Also caring for the animal in adverse conditions.
Cars are easier.
How to get around having to worry about this skill:
In many medieval places, they often had inns/taverns every day of the normal journey length.
This is a great way (if you stay on the road) to just be able to toss the reins and some money to the stable person and say ‘take care of the horse!’ and go in to drink. Sure, they may screw up their roll but at least you didn’t have to roll it.
Or run everywhere like they did in the first Conan movie. See skill “Long Distance Running”.
Anthropology: Figuring out what a race was up to at a specific time. Possibly customs and such as well.
Appraisal: How much is this worth?
Archeology: We all know you want to be Indiana Jones.
Architecture: Does this structure have a basement? Where is a good place for a secret passage? Where should I set the explosives charge?
Art lore: You know about art and junk. Don’t see this come up too often but if you happen to find some Revere silverware and have this skill, ca-ching!
Art: This is actually MAKING the art. You need to specify your medium. Could be pencil drawing or painting or sculpting, etc.
Astronomy: Super useful if you are piloting a spacecraft.
Bargain: Getting a break on the prices; haggling. This is definitely the skill to have if you have some high priced merchandise. This is opposed by the NPC’s ‘bargain’ skill.
People who don’t bargain or have a good bargain skill are the ones who take what ever price is either on the sticker or what is offered.
People who have bargain haggle back and forth, look for quantity discounts, etc.
This skill can take anywhere from a minute to literally hours. I have personally taken about six hours bargaining over some stuff. Bought sodas for myself and the merchant - that’s when he knew he was in trouble.
Generally speaking, the more money that is changing hands, the more leverage you have.
In real life, most people don’t bargain because it is not part of the culture they grew up in and they ‘feel uncomfortable’ doing it and ‘just want to pay money and get something’. They make excuses like ‘it’s not that big of deal’ or ‘it’s not that much money’.
In many cultures, foreigners who do not bargain are seen as rich idiots who should be robbed.
In game terms, if you don’t want to use bargain, you have only two choices - take the price you are offered or don’t sell. Your offered price (especially on illegal or odd goods) will always be shit. If offered 300 and you say “I’m not selling for less than 500” - that is a part of bargaining.
When preparing missions, prices and such I often have the four different results written out and they are wildly different.
Example from a mission I am currently working on.
Bargain roll: Fumble: You get a couple of shiny new (stolen goods) for an easy job. Chumps.
Fail: 200! Shiny.
Success: 800.
Critical: 1500gu. You rock.
As you can see, big swing of money for this often underrated skill.
When bargaining is not used:
For many zones, I have a ‘standardized price sheet’. Since I could give a fuck less about many of the shopping trips (”I want to buy new underwear - how much are they?”) I just hand out a sheet with the standard prices on them. It is assumed that the PC’s go to several different merchants and buy little bits all over town. Most places adventurers hang out in do not have malls. The prices are base line and you are probably not buying much from any one merchant so I’m not worried about bargaining in those cases.
When bargaining is used:
Sometimes when negotiating how much money you will make from a job. Note that if you decide to make a bargain roll and fumble - you are stuck with that result. If you back out at that point, you are seen as someone who says one thing and does another. A liar, a cheat, etc. Your reputation will crumble in that town, possibly further.
If you are buying or selling something that a bargain roll will actually make a significant impact on finances. If you are saving less than the equivalent of $100, let’s not piss about with more rolls.
When the GM asks for a bargain roll - possibly someone else has initiated bargaining with you whether you wanted to or not.
Biology: If you are a doctor (unless you are ‘Dr. Nick’) you’d better have this. Tells you where things should be.
Boating: Specify type of boat.
Botany: You know more about plants and stuff than someone just getting by with ‘natural history’.
Bureaucracy: The paperwork skill.
Business/industry lore: Good for businessmen – who’s who and what’s what in the business world.
Carpentry/woodcraft: A surprisingly useful skill to make things out of wood.
Cartography: Usually just if you want to make a map; might be used to read a map if it is very complicated.
Special: Unless the maps are kept secret, the cartographer upon finding some unnamed area/feature in the landscape attempt to name it. If they succeed in a cartography roll, they may name it (with GM approval). If they fumble their cartography roll, the GM may substitute whatever stupid, silly or misleading name they wish. This reflects the fact that most cartographers are lazy people who copy the more successful maps from exploring cartographers who make good maps. An example of an excellent cartographer is Amerigo Vespucci who had not one but two continents named after him.
Chemistry/alchemy: This is the art of mixing stuff up to make something useful in a lab or alchemical workshop. If the player takes unidentified potions to a workshop (just tasting them is a horrible idea) they can use this skill to attempt to analyze what the potions do.
Climbing: If you don’t have this high and need to climb, chances are you won’t live to regret it.
Computer use, general: Good for very basic stuff.
Computer use, hacking: If your GM knows little about real life hacking, this skill probably won’t do you as much good as you think.
Conceal/camouflage/holdout: This is good for hiding things either on your person (like weapons) or hiding them out in the wilderness. The opposed skill is usually ‘spot hidden’.
Contortions: This allows you to slowly wriggle your way through the hole/gap. Failing this skill means you are probably stuck. A fumble means you are definitely stuck and will need help to get out.
Cooking: Yummy food! May be used for potion making and such as well.
Counter surveillance: You need to be *in motion* to use this skill. This is the ‘is there anyone following me’ skill. Note that this will reveal the presence of only amateur and under funded surveillance individuals or small teams. You will probably never know or suspect a professional team is there – depending on the circumstances. See skill ‘danger sense’.
Crafting: This is your ability to (if you have the supplies, tools, work space) create stuff. Specify what sort of crafting you are going for - be specific.
The more specialized of skill you have, the more your actual skill shows up and the less negatives you have when making something.
Specialized crafters attempting to make something not in their field get the word 'shitty' applied to what they make or it gets knocked down in quality.
Because we aren't dealing with armor/HP of items (tedious as fuck) it is mostly for the value and aesthetics.
Example:
Someone has smithing. They want to make a sword. They will be making 'shitty swords'.
Example 2:
Someone has 'sword making'. They want to make nails. They will be making 'shitty nails'.
Also, a critical means 'really well for someone of your skill level'.
Example:
A hobbyist sword maker gets a crit on making their sword - it's a GREAT sword - for a hobbyist sword maker to churn out.
Totally different from an expert or master getting a crit.
Cryptography: This is for breaking codes that the PC’s cannot be expected to break. Quite often this skill can be ‘supported’ with ‘advanced mathematics’. It often requires large computers. Note that from time to time the GM may choose to (sparingly) throw in easy codes - letter replacement, word jumble, etc. These the players have to work out for themselves. Note for GM’s - it is best to keep the use of things like codes very sparing because they may destroy the pacing of your game while the PC’s take minutes or hours trying to figure them out. In general, if a teenager can’t do it use cryptography skill instead.
Cthulhu Mythos: Depending on the campaign, this may or may not be something you can start with. In some campaigns, it is the limiter to keep you from learning too many spells. In Logan’s campaign, it is like a highly specialized ‘occult’ type skill. If you are very knowledgeable about the Cthulhu Mythos, it is less frustrating to max out your starting points in this skill. Rolls in this skill may not impart exact information but may give hints (guns don’t work well against this, but ice does) etc.
Current events: What is going on in the world today. This is the kind of stuff you find in the newspaper or other sources of media depending on the tech level. Note that this skill does not tell you about ‘illegal’ things (other than perhaps which criminals have been caught and are on trial, etc). If you have this skill but are not ‘climatized’ (acclimatized) to the world/dimension/etc you are in, you are at half.
Dance: Move without looking like a dork or injuring your dance partner.
Demolitions: If you are trying to use explosives without this skill you will probably kill yourself and others in a dramatic fashion. Note that you can use small amounts of explosives that cause a small amount of damage with this skill as well. It is much safer to get your skill up doing it in that manner.
Direction sense - that way is generally north. Also, if you go through some various tunnels (or a maze) underground, you can try to use this skill to generally say "I want to go in this general direction." Doing that works less well above ground where you want navigation. It allows you to move on various established routes (roads and shit) instead of 'this is the general direction toward the goal'. Also, if someone is using 'direction sense' they may say things like "Gosh, there is a big canyon here" where as the person with navigation would say "Yes, that is on the fucking map. We should have taken route 38 to go around it."
This skill also can replace that of a compass, especially in places where compasses do not work.
According to QI: “In the absence of visual clues (lost in a desert or a forest), people walk in circles as tight as 20m in diameter, believing they are walking in a straight line, nobody knows why.”
Disguise: Look like someone different. Opposed with ‘spot hidden’.
Dreaming: If the ‘dreamlands’ is being used this is your ‘get on the adventure’ skill. Within the dreamlands, it has other uses. Within the dreamlands, you can ‘dream up’ an item for a time. The MP the item costs and how long it stays around are generally up to the GM. Dreaming up an item takes about a minute hence this is foolish to attempt during combat. Check to see if this skill is being used before burning points on it.
Dream lore: Knowing about stuff inside of the dreamlands. The GM may require different dream lore for different major areas within the dreamlands. Check to see if this skill is being used before burning points on it.
Drive (specify; examples include air car, ground car, heavy truck, etc): Doing fancy stuff, attempting to avoid stupid people who don’t have the skill but are driving, etc. Note that sometimes an accident simply cannot be avoided. In those cases, a drive roll may merely be to try to mitigate damage or keep everyone alive. [NOTE - CURRENTLY THESE SKILLS ARE UNDER A NEW PLAY TEST - SEE THE PC SHEET FOR DETAILS.]
Drive motorcycle: As drive car but without the protection and airbags. [NOTE - CURRENTLY THESE SKILLS ARE UNDER A NEW PLAY TEST - SEE THE PC SHEET FOR DETAILS.]
Electronics/electronic repair: Fix that toaster!
Empathy: “Lie detection’s all about asking the right questions.” - “Lie To Me”, S1E7. This will get you the basic emotion that someone you are talking to is feeling or displaying, possibly with use of microexpressions. According to Dr. Paul Ekman, there are seven universal microexpressions: disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and contempt. They often occur as fast as 1/15 to 1/25 of a second. You need to be able to see the person's face. Hence if they sit around in darkness, with big sunglasses on and so on, it's an easy way to negate empathy skill. The empathy skill will tell you what general emotion (or, if the GM is feeling fancy, microexpression) the individual is displaying but not why. That is where asking the right questions comes in. If the target has no emotions, it doesn’t work. If the target is an unfamiliar creature, it won’t work or be at a negative. This skill is opposed by ‘acting’. If the actor wins, you get whatever emotion they want you to get. What makes this skill interesting in play is that the right questions must often be asked in order to get the microexpression to display. If you don't know what to ask, this skill is much less effective.
Etiquette: How to carry yourself well, possibly with style in a social environment.
Evidence analysis: What does it all mean? Unless the GM is doing a CSI type of module (where all of the evidence is spelled out and the PC’s get to put it together on their own) this will give you a general idea of what happened at the scene of the crime.
Fast talk: Your bullshitting skill. If you are going to use this, I’d definitely having acting. Otherwise, you spin a good yarn but look guilty as hell. Note that the player themselves must be able to BS a little bit in order to actually use this skill. TTRPG’s are a ‘talking’ game. You cannot say “I convince him that I’m nice.” And roll. You need to actually come up with something a bit plausible.
Since this game is all about speaking, you must be able to come up with something clever to say rather than just “I roll my fast talk to convince the guard I should be here!”
You need both parts to make it work - an agile clever mind in your own head as well as the skill. Having just one of those two pieces will not suffice.
Yes, this limits the tongue tied and dim from ever being able to role play someone clever - but again - speaking is really all we have for this game.
This is one of those ‘that’s the way it is and suck it up’ rules.
First aid: See HP/healing.
Forensics: You may gather evidence (finger prints, bullets, etc) or if you are a criminal you can hide evidence (put a bunch of bleach on the blood, etc). Note that this skill (either way) takes a LONG TIME to do. You may NOT do a quick forensics roll as you are fleeing the scene – just assume this skill takes HOURS.
Forgery: this skill assumes the most basic of stuff, shitty tech etc. With better tech, you often need people to sell you the blanks (ID's), computer skills, etc. But the basic forgery (assuming you have the right kind of paper, quills, an original document so you know what you are doing, a few other odds and ends) will allow you to make pre-WW2 ID's - the kind with no pictures, just some official looking writing.
Gambling: Attempt to win money. Better if you are ‘the house’. Note that you may actually lose more money than you wanted to bet. That’s just the way gambling often seems to work.
All of these assume in a casino and a night of play.
Pure luck games
Luck roll at -30%
Fumble: Lose wager
Fail: Lose half of wager
Success: Win 25% of wager
Critical: Win 50% of wager
Skill games (poker, blackjack, etc)
Gambling (main skill), attempt to support yourself with memory, math, luck.
This is usually an opposed roll (gambling vs gambling) between either the casino (normally at 60% unless they bring in someone ‘good’) or private individuals if you are playing ‘back room poker’.
Note - this doesn’t take in to account the ‘bet a small amount on a huge percentage chance and walk away with a ton of money’ - professional gamblers do not work like that. Also, casinos are weighted toward the casino winning. The highest pay out machines (small slots) are weighted so that they only suck up a couple percentages of what’s put in to them meaning you are paying about five dollars per hour (at the better ones) for ‘entertainment’.
This doesn’t also take in to account the normal human thing of ‘chasing bad money with good’ and actually losing more than you were wanting to wager.
Also, this isn’t to say that you won’t get banned from various gambling spots if you win too much money - which can happen at pretty much all of them, even today. Or you ‘get mugged’. Or buried in the desert.
Geography: Where is Canada on the map? Some surveys have showed most American’s can’t find it. With this skill, you just might.
Geology: Better than natural history, you know about rocks and stuff.
Gun-smith: This is good for fixing your gun, clearing a jam or if you have a workshop you might be able to modify your gun.
History: What happened previously.
Interrogation: This is NOT just tying up some unfortunate and beating them till they tell you what they think you want to hear. Actual interrogation has several different methods. Overused (and well known, hence not so good to use) methods are things like ‘good cop, bad cop’. Less known methods include the ‘we know all’, ‘time speed up’ and the ‘we have your family now talk’. Actual interrogation can take hours up to months. In the end, everybody breaks. But if using strong arm tactics, they will just tell you what they think you want to hear. Note that within Logan’s campaign, I don’t use this skill at all. I make people roleplay it out. If you and your plays know less about human motivations and such, you can substitute a skillful interrogation with this roll if desired.
Intimidation: Making the target feel nervous due to the possibility of impending physical violence. If you are a big guy with brass knuckles and a gun, it is a lot easier than if you are a short bald professor with a pot-belly.
Jump: This is a skill like climb – if you don’t have much in it, you probably won’t live to regret it if you roll it. This skill can negate d6 of falling damage if you were prepared to fall. If you weren’t and the fall took you by surprise, the GM may have you roll at half or some such.
Jury rig: This is the ‘make it work without the right stuff’. Note – you still needs stuff to attempt the roll and it should be feasible. Watch a lot of MacGuiver.
Law: This skill is required (as ‘does it as a living’) by law enforcement professionals (yes, that includes PI’s). It tells you what the law is regarding your secret illegal Swiss bank accounts, your unlicensed weapons and your breaking and entering.
Linguistics: This is your ‘what language is this I cannot understand’ skill. This does not allow you to speak or understand the language but it will tell you what it is so you can find someone who does.
Listen: Hear vital conversation or person sneaking up behind me skill.
Lip reading: You must be able to clearly see the persons lips.
Literature: Unless you have some sort of character concept that relies heavily upon this, just like in real life this is an utterly useless skill. If you have a doctorate in it and aren’t teaching it you probably work at Starbucks. Sorry.
Lock lore: This tells you what kind of lock, how many tumblers, etc. Good to use to support your lock-picking.
Lock-picking, electronic: If it has wires hooked to it! This takes under one minute to do.
Lock-picking, mechanical: If it has tumblers! (Note, if it has both wires and tumblers, the GM may have you roll both.) A professional lockpick told me that if he couldn’t pick the lock in under a minute it was time for the drill. This takes anywhere from 1 round (if you are prepared and know fancy stuff about it) to a minute to pull off. [Note: Unless modern day campaign, ‘bumping’ not allowed.] Side note: If you think that scratches on the exterior of the lock mean it has been picked, no, it means inept clumsy people picked or attempted to pick the lock. If the tumblers are out of synch it means your lock has been picked. (You can feel it when you insert the key.)
Mathematics (advanced): This very rarely comes up but everyone will look at you with awe in that one in one hundredth module where it comes up and oh, you happen to have it.
Medicine: See HP/healing.
Meditation: You can be at peace and harmony with all living things. In game mechanics, this is (usually) an utterly useless skill. No, you are not an elf who can meditate for just a couple hours to replace the need to sleep. Don’t even think about trying it.
Memory: If the GM still remembers and you were too dim/lazy to take notes, this skill will allow the GM to remind you of what you specifically ask about. It is not a ‘Gee – what was the important clue again? Can I make a memory roll?’ How about NO. Also, if you didn’t bother to ask about it at the time, you can’t say ‘Do I remember the license plate number on that get away car?’. No, you don’t. Take notes. Relying on the GM to remember and rolling this skill is lazy.
Mimicry: Sound like someone or something else. The human vocal cords must be able to do it and you must have heard it before.
Natural history: This is the ‘skate by’ skill for knowing about plants, animals, rocks and such. It won’t give you nearly as much information as the specific skill (botany, geology, zoology, etc) but you have a basic understanding.
Navigation: land: This is the ‘know where you are going on land’ skill. Works with a map and compass.
Navigation: sea/air: As above but for sea/air.
Occult: Occult is not a replacement for Cthulhu mythos but it can be handy if you are dealing with non mythos critters like witches. Or if you want to make your own flaming pentagram out in your yard to horrify your neighbors.
Operate Heavy Machinery: Allows the PC to operate many large types of equipment such as a crane or excavator. Unless the type of equipment is judged to require some sort of specialized knowledge (nuclear power factory) this skill allows it’s operation. If the thing being operated does require specialized knowledge (such as the nuclear power factory) the GM may allow the character to use this as a ‘supporting skill’.
Parachuting: Everyone can parachute - once. Gosh this is a great skill to have at least as a hobby. Yes, you need a real parachute, your bed sheets just will not cut it.
Pharmacy: Good skill for doctors to have to know what sort of expensive drugs to give their patients.
Philosophy: Rationalize away the existence of God but this probably won’t be of any use. Ever. See also, Starbucks job opportunities.
Physics: About the same as ‘advanced math’.
Pilot: Choose what kind of craft you want to fly. Glider, fixed wing aircraft, passenger jets, rotary wing aircraft, etc. Good to have at ‘does it as a living’ or better if you want to fly. Remember, you have to come in pretty low to land. [NOTE - CURRENTLY THESE SKILLS ARE UNDER A NEW PLAY TEST - SEE THE PC SHEET FOR DETAILS.]
Prestidigitation/pick pockets: Snagging little things without people noticing. This can go against spot or feel depending on situation. Keep in mind that real life teams of pickpockets work in teams of three or more so if you are on your own trying to make a living doing it, the GM can penalize your skill and tell you to go get a real job instead.
Psychoanalysis/psychology: This is knowing the fancy book stuff of these trades. This can be used to tone down someone’s insanity if their current sanity total has climbed up higher than the special number. See also ‘sanity’ section. Note that NPC’s are at a severe penalty to help out PC’s most of the time. If the PC starts talking about how scary monsters made them all crazy, they (PC's) might just get locked up.
Religion: General knowledge of religions. Specific religious rites may be at severely reduced score depending on the commonality of the religion.
Repair, mechanical: Fix it! Note - you need to have tools and spare parts.
Research: This is your ‘find information out’ skill. The information could be in a library or you could go out and ask people questions – depends on the type of information and how you want to go about finding it out. Note that succeeding on your skill does NOT mean that the information you get will be factual - just that you will get the information. It is up to the players to determine the information validity. Also, where you research will determine what sort of information you get - the information gained on the internet might be very different than talking to people or what might be found in a dusty historical society. Note that the ‘go and talk to people research’ (unless you have very specific contacts to go to and speak with that actually get roleplayed out) may alert targets that you are doing research into them. Example: The PC’s are doing some research on a street gang. They start with the newspaper morgue and library. Unless the gangbangers have people inside of those places, there is a very minimal or no chance the gang will be alerted to their ‘snooping’. If the PC’s talk to police who ‘work that beat’, the chance of the gang being alerted go up. If the PC’s wander around on the turf of the gang asking questions about the gang it is very likely that the gang will be alerted to their interest. It may often be wise to pick what sort of research to do and when to do it.
Ride: Specify what kind of mount. Riding camels is very different from horses. Definitely a good skill to get. Failing your riding roll means you might as well be leading it instead of riding it. Unless you get tossed into a tree upside-down. That hurts. Being able to ride an animal gives you no knowledge at all about care and upkeep of that animal. See also ‘animal handling’.
Running: long distance: Most folks only get sprinting but after a few hundred feet, this skill kicks in. There is nothing more satisfying than chasing down a bad guy for a mile or two and not even working hard at it. This is also a good skill for ‘I need to leave the area quickly and all my vehicles are disabled and mounts are dead.’
Running: sprinting: If you don’t have it, chances are the monster will eat YOU.
Safe-cracking: This skill is like lock-picking but for safes. Some safes take a long time to crack. This is NOT the ‘put my ear to the safe and spin the dial’. There may be drilling and high tech gadgets for seeing inside involved. It is often noisy.
Articles to read:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-cracking
home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/security/safecracking4.htm
www.wikihow.com/Crack-a-Safe
safeinflorida.com/content/cant-open-your-safe
With a crit, you’ll probably have it open in under an hour - one site lists twenty minutes as their minimum. Often, you have to work on the safe for hours.
Obviously, movies speed this up a lot.
SCUBA: Using fancy gear to dive and not die.
Security systems lore: Knowing about motion detectors, silent alarms, cameras, etc. This is pretty much a modern day skill although some pre-WW2 places might have crude electronic security.
Seduction: Making nice with someone else in hopes of a romantic interlude.
Singing: Comes up a surprising amount and can be darned useful.
Sixth sense/danger sense: In real life, you sometimes enter those situations that you ‘just get a feeling’ that it is dangerous. This is the skill for that. It does not tell you where the marksman is hidden or what the danger specifically is. This is the skill that would be rolled if the bad guys had rigged your door with a laser marker and a couple pounds of C4. There is no other legitimate way to know that opening your door will cause the hotel to explode – no ticking, no wires, no buzzing, nothing. This skill is your last chance to say “Hum. I feel in danger. Maybe I should go to a different hotel.” If you ask for a skill roll you get it at full, if the GM asks for it, you get it at half.
Skiing: Beware of trees! Play James Bond!
Signaling: This covers hand signals, Aldus lamps, smoke signals, etc.
Spot hidden/find: This is your generic ‘notice clue’, ‘notice bad guy sneaking up on you with a knife’ etc. Gets used all the time.
Feel: Your sense of touch, etc.
Smell/taste: Nose, tongue.
Spy lore: This skill is only really useful if the GM knows more about it than you do. In my campaign, this tells you what the ‘by the book’ procedure is for different circumstances. The ‘by the book’ procedure might not be the right one for the circumstance . For example, if you are being followed, what is the ‘by the book’ procedure? If you want to tail someone? If you want to send a secret message? What is a dead letter drop? Etc. [Note - Logan’s spy lore is mostly from the Cold War era.]
The difference between people with and without Spy Lore - as just one example:
GM: "You're being followed!"
Untrained: "We lose them!"
Trained: "We now have a few options. If we lose them, then they may assign different people to tail us who we won't know. We can also have them follow us until we can get them into a place where a third party can ambush them then we can ask some hard questions. Or, we can drive around with them following us till someone else gets on their tail, then lose them. Our other people will then follow them around to see where they go." Or, or or.
Stealth: Being sneaky. This is also known as the ‘don’t get left in the car while we go do stuff’ skill.
Even if people attempt to stealth to a target and ‘split up a bit’ if one of the sneaking people fails their stealth roll, generally all of them will get spotted. Finding one person in stealth will put everyone on their guard. It is much better to send one very sneaky person in for a ‘sneak and peek’ to find out what is going on then sneak back to inform others. This is fine for many situations. Due to the ‘don’t split up the party’, having one person do lots of stuff while in stealth - not acceptable. So keep it brief. Working on getting your stealth high should be a priority for everyone.
Also, stealth becomes much harder when you are sneaking up on a target. It is far easier to lie in wait for a target when they are coming to - or past - you. Since this requires a tiny bit of planning or something clever such as making a diversion, it is rarely used by the PC’s.
Streetwise: A lot of people always like to say things like “Oh, he’s book smart but he’s not *street smart*”. I respond “Do you know where to get an unlicensed Uzi in downtown Chicago right this instant? If not, you aren’t really street smart either.” This is that skill. It tells you where to get hold of illegal things, whose on the take, whose who in crime families, etc. Note that if you are not ‘climatized’ (acclimatized) in a zone/dimension/world you are at half skill.
Surveillance: After setting up somewhere that you can comfortably hang out for ONE WEEK and spending a week there then you get a roll on this skill. Better to have NPC’s do this unless you have a lot of time. Amateurs do this with one vehicle. Professionals use several at the same time and rotate them. Amateur tales are easy to spot unless they are tailing other amateurs. See ‘counter surveillance’.
Survival: A type of area must be specified (desert or arctic or other). This allows you to survive (barely) in that area for an extended time. Having other nifty skills like carpentry, natural history, etc really can make your life more comfortable.
Note that this skill doesn’t produce what is not there. It allows you to make a shitty shelter, get some berries (if they are around at all) that will hopefully keep you from starving, and will tell you the best place to go to find civilization is generally downhill.
If you are in a desert where there is literally no water (or on an alien planet where it is all poison) it will not keep you from dying - just make you slightly less uncomfortable while you do.
Also, some things the survival skill tells you - such as traveling by night through the desert is preferable because you don’t have the sun beating down on you - it may be at odds with the desert you are in. Especially if evil spirits of the dead hunt at night.
Generally, needing to use this skill means you have been thrust into a bad environment or have failed to plan ahead and will be reduced to ‘near death’ but hopefully not all the way dead - depending how long you are there.
Swim: If you don’t have it, you get to discover the drowning rules!
Tactics: Detailed planning, surprise, entry, speed and ‘violence of action’. Read more at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_quarters_combat Within the game, this also allows (assuming everyone has similar weapons and a decent plan) the PC’s not accidentally shoot each other and so on. If one person has a sword and the other two are using shotguns and the sword guy closes to engage while the others stand back and shoot, he is probably fucked and should have bought a shotgun. Or covered the back door. Note - this use to be split into ‘police’ and ‘military’ tactics but they have gotten close enough in recent years I’m happy to have the same skill cover all of them.
Generally, if you are doing an entry into a place with a team they are somewhat useful for not blocking each other's shots and such. Since we don't use maps and minis, the GM will often declare that other people are blocking your shot and such because untrained people plus guns are not a good mix. It also teaches you what 'slicing the pie' is, etc. Keep in mind that without this skill, your characters tactics are roughly equivalent to kids in horror movies. That being said, it doesn't get called on too often - possibly because the PC's aren't soldiers or cops, possibly because the GM forgets.
Teaching:
Due to the very high skill that players can potentially start with in all skills as well as the phenomenally fast rate they learn skills, teaching is only useful for PC’s as a way of passing spells.
A PC may attempt to teach two people per day a spell. Normally it would be one person per day per spell but since there is a max of three players per session, I upped it to two people per day for the spell. In that way, the PC could share the spell with both of his teammates if they so wished.
When you teach a spell, the only spell you can teach someone is the start of the tree - the lowest spell in that selection. That’s it. They then need to work their way up the tree themselves.
In order to teach the lowest tier of spell you must successfully roll your teaching as well as the spell you are trying to teach. A separate roll is required for each of your two students.
Tracking: If it isn’t humans and you don’t have natural history etc you probably won’t know what it is but you can tell where it went for at least a short way. If the tracks have been sitting around for a week or it’s rained in the meantime, you are probably out of luck.
Trapping: This is a good skill either if you are out in the wilds and need to eat or if you are one of the rare PC’s who plans ahead. Traps can take from minutes to hours to set up depending on what type. This covers anything from placement of trip wires to digging out a punji pit.
Zoology/animal lore: You know more about animals than someone skating by with natural history.
Third skill sheet:
Heavy weapon skills: I wouldn’t expect to find these sitting around. The police are pretty harsh on people who own rocket launchers or artillery. In ‘war torn’ countries you can probably get some of these through the ‘streetwise’ skill.
Languages: You start with your native language. This is always denoted by an “N” – I don’t make people roll to see if they can speak their native language. Any other language must be bought separately. I know several languages have the same base/root – I don’t care. Buy them separately. Also, if you have less than a 60% (do it as a living) you are not fluent. Any time you want to speak or understand it is a separate roll. If you have 60% or better, you roll once for the adventure. Good to have 60%. If you fumble in the language, you not only say/understand something extremely rude/insulting/vulgar but you are done attempting to roll that language for the entire adventure. In order to get around certain ‘cheesyness’, I require players to make some sort of hand sign/wear a special hat/something obvious when they are speaking in a different language. This keeps people from saying something highly inappropriate then attempting to cover their tracks by claiming they were saying it in a different language. I don’t allow the ‘oh, we are always speaking in Gaelic’. Nope. Go buy special ‘these are our Gaelic speaking hats’ and wear them. Watch NPC’s become confused when you address them in Gaelic! No end of fun.
Write in Skills:
These can really, really make your character SHINE. Nothing is better than having some odd write in skill that nobody knows about then – when that one in twenty adventure comes along that it is the ‘daddy’ skill for UNLEASHING it.
Any skill that can be done from golf, knitting, drinking beer with your feet (seen it) etc can be a write in skill. No, you can’t have ‘decapitate foe with one swift strike’ or any of that ‘I’ve played too much D&D silliness’. GM has the right to veto any write in skill. Certain write in skills may only become available after very specific things happen, GM’s discretion.
LANGUAGES
Write N in your native language - all others start at LEARN. This means you don’t have to spend skill points in your native language, nor make checks in it. IF you start with a native language that is not English (or whatever the common language in the campaign is), start with English at 60% or it will just drag everyone down.
For some campaigns, spoken and written are split up. For example, ‘Egyptian hieroglyphs’ would be ‘read Egyptian hieroglyphs’ because nobody knows how to speak Ancient Egyptian.
Unless you go there and learn it - which may be possible in some campaigns. That would then allow you to build the new skill ‘Speak Ancient Egyptian’.
Additionally, some GM’s might specify that for certain very complex languages which many people can speak but fewer can read (example Mandarin) that the player must buy spoken and written separately.
How languages work: First, you say what you are trying to say then you make your roll. This allows hilarity for the GM when you fail or fumble your roll.
If the player rolls a critical, the GM may not ask them to roll again for awhile.
For a success, the idea the player is attempting to communicate is passed.
Failure indicates they are either trying to make up words that nobody recognizes or garbling it so badly the listener cannot understand what they are saying.
Fumbles are hilarity for the GM. Maybe insulting the listener, maybe volunteering for something dangerous, whatever. Also, you are done attempting that language for the adventure or session - whichever ends first.
A special rule with languages is that once a player has a 60% or higher in a language, they need only succeed once per session to communicate for the entire session in that language. Conversely, if the roll is fumbled, you seem to have forgotten how to speak that language for the adventure or session - whichever ends first.
TRAINING
I normally don't have/allow PC's to train in skills other than spells. This system is way easy to get a check in. Also, spells have a maximum amount you can train in (MP) other skills don't.
Hence, I don't normally allow any training (except skills) unless there are special circumstances (magic school, strange studio supplied trainer, etc). If the PC's have certain habits (paint or play a musical instrument in the mornings) that is fine but generally they get one attempt at the skill and only one roll per day. There is a difference between trying to get plenty of diverse checks and 'gaming the system hard' and it's better to go light than have the GM roll his eyes and plan for a major terrorist attack on the players.
The 'golden rule' is that if the players can fit in a couple extra skill rolls (without going overboard) into the story and their character, it is OK. (See also ‘skill whoring’ below). If it seems they are just trying to pointlessly roll some extra skill rolls, the GM can say "And you're done with your training." or "You will need to be in a situation where rolling the skill matters before you can have a potential check in it."
PC's skills go up quite dramatically. Several times as fast as any NPC's. Example, assume a 4 year degree means you can do something as a living. Hence, four years to get that skill (and a couple others, like drinking) up to 60%. The PC's can do that within an action packed month, maybe less.
SKILL WHORING
Obviously, the more skills you can get checks in during a session, the better as multiple things will go up.
It is understood that the players will want to try rolling as many skills as possible during the game.
The trick is to keep it relevant. Rolling a skill for no reason and succeeding does not give you a check. If you can work it into the story, then it will not irritate the other players or GM.
Example: The players have become suspicious that a tapestry may be of more importance than they first thought. When discussing it with each other, they may all come up with various skills and such that could be relevant to the case to try to get more information. Tapestry lore, history, etc.
It is up to the players to be both creative and subtle. Generally, there are several good opportunities for a LOT of skill rolls during the campaign. Take your cue from those who have been playing longer rather than just trying to go down the list.
WHAT SKILLS CANNOT BE BOUGHT AT THE START?
The GM may have various skills listed on the sheet (or known about by the players) which cannot be purchased during character creation and are either not being used for the campaign or must be learned during the campaign.
ROLLS
CRITS AND FUMBLES
Before discussing that, we must discuss what the ‘ones digit’ and the ‘tens digit’ are in numbers as many countries (like the USA) have many shitty school systems and people might not know what these are.
Example: 74.
The ‘7’ is the ‘tens’ digit. The ‘4’ is in the ‘ones’ digit place.
Example: 138.
The ‘3’ is in the ‘tens’ digit, the ‘8’ is in the ‘ones’ digit.
Criticals:
Take the tens digit from your skill and put a zero in front of it (unless your skill is 100% or higher, see below). That is your chance of rolling a critical.
Example: 61% (skill). The ‘6’ is the tens digit. Put a ‘0’ in front of it (lose the ones digit, nobody likes it any way) and that gives you a 06. If you roll a 6% or less, you have rolled a critical.
Example: 128% (skill). In this case (since over 100%) keep the ‘12’. We don’t need to put a zero in front of it. You would roll a critical on a 12% or less.
Fumbles:
Take the tens digit and stick a ‘9’ in front of it. If you have a 100% or higher skill, you always fumble on a 100.
Example: 61% skill. Put a ‘9’ in front of the tens digit ‘6’ and that gives you a ‘96’. Hence you fumble on a 96 or higher.
Example: 98% skill. You drop the 8 and you only fumble on a 99 or higher.
Example: 128% skill. You only fumble on a 00 (or 100).
Note that in both cases, modifiers can affect your critical and fumble range.
Example: 61% is the fist skill. The character is at a +10%. For purposes of crits and fumbles, the character is now at an effective skill this round of a 71%. Hence, they would critical on a 7 or less and fumble on a 97 or higher instead of their usual of critting on a 6 or less and fumbling on a 96 or higher.
Example: 61% is their fist skill but their opponent is stunned giving them a +30% for this round. Their new crit range is 9% or less, fumble range is 99 or higher.
Or - for those that know formulas, crits = (skill/10)rounddown, fumble = 90+(skill/10)rounddown
ROLL RESULTS
Some players will say “I rolls a 47!” This is not useful information for the GM. The only results from a roll the GM needs to hear, from worst to best:
Fumble
Failed it
Made it
Made it at -30%
Made it at -60%
Critical
SKILL MODIFIERS
If the GM thinks that whatever the players are doing is harder than normal, they can slap whatever skill negative they want onto them.
-30% or half (players choice): What you’re doing is pretty hard.
-60% or quarter (players choice): What you’re doing is crazy hard.
Give me a crit buddy: What you’re doing is not going to work.
Roll me an 01 (or several 01 in a row): No.
If the GM thinks whatever the players are doing is easier than normal, they can give bonuses. Note that the bonuses are intentionally smaller than the negatives.
+5%: Someone is helping you! (Also see ‘supporters’).
+10%: Pretty easy.
+20%: Super easy.
+30%: If you can’t make this, you suck.
MODIFIER EXAMPLES
These are not hard and fast modifiers - just ideas for the GM.
-30: stunned/light cover (including crowds)/additional attempts at same task/bad lighting/long range.
-60: heavy cover (including crowds)/horrible lighting (aka 'I fire at the muzzle flash')/excessive range.
Note, all this stuff is cumulative. In other words, if you are stunned and doing a called shot (for some reason) you are at a -60.
If you shoot into a crowd and miss due to the negative modifier, you hit a random member of the crowd.
Firing into a crowd indiscriminately (IE you don't care who gets hit at all) the GM may give a bonus, depending on how tightly packed people are.
ADDITIONS AND SUBTRACTIONS TO SKILLS
Do them in the order that is best for you. If the GM gives you a +5% to disarm a bomb but that roll is at half, you can cut your skill in half then add five. If you can’t figure out which is best for you, simply do one. Again, not having basic math skills seems to be penalized harshly.
FAILING SOME SKILLS
Rolls don’t necessarily change what a player thinks, just what the character ‘knows’.
Example: If an NPC is acting friendly to a PC and the PC is suspicious of them and fumbles an ‘empathy’ check, the player does not need to invite this person home. The GM may tell them all sorts of weird crap. The player can still be suspicious of this NPC. The best roleplayers often go along with the roll, however, and play it up for humorous effect. “Hell, I like you. You can come over to my house and fuck my sister!” - (movie) Full Metal Jacket
Example: A player suspects the Indiana Jones fun house the GM has been lazy enough to copy straight from the movie is trapped. They fail or fumble their ‘spot hidden’ roll. This does not mean they need to blithely wander in. However, they have no clue what the traps are or what sets them off.
HP/DAMAGE/HEALING
HIT POINTS (’how much abuse you can withstand before unconsciousness or death’)
There are three different kinds of damage.
Real, stun and half and half. Half and half is half real, half stun - round to stun.
Example: Mikey takes a club to the head doing 5 points of half and half. Mikey takes 2 real and 3 stun.
Unlike real life, there are only two times when you are affected by missing HP.
When you have 0 HP remaining you are either dead or unconscious. Either way, you are knocked down and lying on the ground.
If you have negative HP and none of the damage is stun, you are dead.
If you have negative HP and some of the damage you have taken is stun, you are alive unless the amount of real damage you have taken would bring you to negative numbers.
Stun damage generally comes back after a good night of sleep.
To find out other ways ‘real’ damage comes back, see the section on ‘damage and healing’ below.
Reminder - when you are unconscious, you cannot use cards (aside from the ‘wake up’ card) nor Hero Points!
DAMAGE
See the ‘damage track’ table for various weapon damages and such.
FALLING DAMAGE
See also 'damage track'.
One story fall/3m: d6
Two story fall/6m: d12
Three story fall/10m: d8+d10
15m: 2d10+d12
25m: 4d12 (top of the damage track)
Falling damage - after 25m, humans die. Roll two ‘01’ results in a row two barely survive. Three ‘01’ results in a row mean you can just walk away. Four ‘01’ results in a row means your gear is undamaged, your clothing isn’t even dirty. You just emerge from a crater you made, pick off an invisible speck of lint from your clothing, check your phone for messages and walk away.
Note that you can use the ‘it’s a crit’ card to get an ‘01’ for this.
Note that in one combat round (about 5 seconds) the average human falls about 100m. If you are attempting to use a spell or ability that takes a round (or longer) to reduce or negate your falling damage, try to fall from much further up.
Special note - falling into water: If you fall into water that the GM judges deep enough (at least 10m for the kind of high dive that makes someone bother to look up this rule), half the distance fallen. In other words, you don't have to worry about 'auto-splat' until you dive 50m as opposed to 25m. While in real life people have survived this, I am doubting they do it while carrying as much gear as PC's insist they can carry and while fully dressed, etc.
UNCONSCIOUS
You can spend hero points when you are asleep but unless you take damage or make a difficult listen roll (unless the attacker is noisy) you continue to sleep until awakened. You can spend cards but not trade them. If you are unconscious (from being KO'ed, taken too much stun damage gone to zero MP, etc) even loud noises and taking damage will not allow you to wake up - but you can still spend cards and hero points."
If you attack a sleeping target, you get two bumps in damage for 'surprise' and another two bumps for 'helpless'.
While asleep or unconscious, you can spend cards but not trade them as you are not 'in communication' with the other PC's.
You can spend hero points when you are asleep but unless you take damage or make a difficult listen roll (unless the attacker is noisy) you continue to sleep until awakened. You can spend cards but not trade them. If you are unconscious (from being KO'ed, taken too much stun damage gone to zero MP, etc) even loud noises and taking damage will not allow you to wake up - but you can still spend cards and hero points.
If you attack a sleeping target, you get two bumps in damage for 'surprise' and another two bumps for 'helpless'.
The total of the stun damage and real damage represents lost HP.
If you lose all of your HP due to 'real' damage, you are dead. If some or all of that damage is stun (and the amount of real is less than your HP) you are unconscious until either eight hours has passed or you get some HP from spells, regeneration, first aid, etc.
If you're unconscious due to having lost all of your MP due to fumbles, over casting spells, etc you are unconscious either until eight hours has passed, someone gives you more MP or perhaps from some sort of spell. People falling unconscious from MP loss are very literally helpless and won't wake up, even if slowly crushed in a meat press.
Note that if you are unconscious and gain MP/HP that would allow you to become conscious, the GM has the choice between making waking up automatic or requiring some sort of roll every round (usually this takes place during combat) to wake up. It might be an endurance roll, willpower, or whatever roll their sadistic brain decides.
DAMAGE AND HEALING
HEALING - CURRENT CAMPAIGN
Every night the PC's sleep, the PC can call for a willpower roll. (If they do not, they stay wounded but need not roll - their choice).
Fumble: You stay wounded this week - try again seven days from now. Also, you are back at 'residual self image'. Any sort of implants, plastic surgery, etc - gone.
Fail: You stay wounded - try again tomorrow night.
WILLPOWER ROLL
x5: Heal 1 real HP.
x4: Heal 2 real HP.
x3: Heal 3 real HP.
x2: Heal 4 real HP.
x1 OR CRIT: You're fine. Total heal. Also, you are back at 'residual self image'. Any sort of implants, plastic surgery, etc - gone.
(Not sure if these are system or just the current campaign but they do seem to work well - note that NPC’s heal hella slower.)
Note that within the current campaign, usually the above is used. There may be times when ‘regular healing’ is used instead - consult GM.
HEALING - REGULAR (AKA ‘just lying around hoping to get better’)
You heal d3 per week.
If first aid is done regularly during that week, bump up one place. AKA having someone look after you.
If medicine is done regularly during that week, bump up one place. AKA being in a doctor’s care.
First aid and medicine stack. Additional things (magic, etc) may also stack, see GM.
HEALING - MEDICALLY
Note that you can use neither ‘first aid’ nor ‘medicine’ skills on yourself. Because this is not a ‘crunchy’ game where we have figured out the exact hit locations, just assume it is somewhere you can’t reach or see. Either have a PC or an NPC attempt it.
For first aid, there are some wounds (only given to NPC’s as the PC’s are basically a bag of HP) that cannot be helped at all. Example - being gut shot with your intestines and stomach draining into each other. For this, they probably won’t even survive in a hospital.
The HP regained from first aid/medicine are HOT (healing over time) not instantaneous. Generally the GM can choose between 1HP/hour up to 1HP/round, whatever the story needs. (For PC’s, unless the GM is being difficult it is generally regained at 1HP/round.)
First aid can be used once successfully. If successful, it regains d3 real HP to the target. Required materials include simple first aid supplies. The GM may allow for ‘ripping up someone’s clothing because the so called doctor is too inept to carry a small lightweight first aid kit with them’.
Note that if someone tries first aid and fails, the next person is at a -30% to succeed. The next person at a -60%. Better to have the person who is best at first aid actually attempt it.
Medicine has the exact same effect as first aid however requires 'doctor' skill and a lot more props. You need at minimum a ‘home operating theater’.
Successive tries in medicine work in the same way.
Because life is unfair, a fumble in either first aid or medicine will not heal any damage but will in fact reduce the target's HP by d6, possibly killing them. If both first aid and medicine are fumbled, 2d6 damage will be done to the unfortunate. At the GM's whim, he may also have them accidentally amputate a limb.
Because life is hard.
Example: Billy has been shot. He has taken 7 real of his 10 HP and is in a bad way with three HP left.
Phil attempts first aid, fumbles and inflicts another 2 HP of real damage. Billy is now sad. Rather than have someone else attempt first aid on the now critical patient, they take him to a doctor who also fumbles, killing Billy. This is what happens if you let NPC's do the work.
Example 2: Phil has been brutally clubbed by Fred for helping kill Billy. Phil normally has 12 HP. He took 12 points of half and half damage. That means that unless someone messes with him, he will lie there in a pool of his own blood for eight hours. When he eventually comes around, he will be at 6 HP, leaving him with 6 real HP of damage.
Bob decides to punish Phil by attempting first aid while Phil is still unconscious at 0 HP. Strangely, Bob succeeds, causing Phil to regain d3 HP. Bob rolls a 3. Phil is now awake and still has 6 stun and 3 real damage but at positive 3 HP.
After a screaming match between Fred and Bob, it is decided to take Phil to the same doctor that helped kill Billy. The stars align and the drunken doctor succeeds his medicine and rolls a 3 (for HP regained). All of Phil's real HP of damage are gone. His stun damage will go away at one per hour. After six hours of rest, he is again at full (12) HP and ready for a new savage beating.
Note that even the ‘laying around’ healing rate is much faster than real life.
COMBAT OVERVIEW AND PHILOSOPHY
Combat - how does it work?
Well, first you roll initiative, then you do the different phases of the -
No. Fuck that.
Nearly every roleplaying game out there drags out combat. Yes, it is more realistic but I'd rather do story than war gaming - which is what most RPG's are thin veneer for.
In this system, the GM points at the player and says "What do you do?"
If the player says "uh" or looks confused, the GM moves on. That character spends their time panicking during the round. Perfectly normal, perfectly natural.
[Note - does this discriminate against people who like to ponderously think and come up with ideas slowly? Yes. Combat does too. Those will be the guys standing there with a stupid look on their face getting filled with bullets while everyone diving for cover makes 'loot the dead guy' plans. Generally these kind of people don't last long in my groups. Yes, I've had people get stressed out during combat; imagine how their character feels. If ponderous person says "But I'm roleplaying someone who is cool under fire and great at combat" I respond "Obviously not well."]
If the player asks "How far is it to..." Great - they get to spend their round looking around, trying to figure out where they are and other things in relation to them. Combat rounds are fast.
Answering "Fire pistol at Captain Slash!" (possibly with 'bang bang' noises) while rolling dice is a fast (possibly correct) answer.
While in many RPG's you have the time to look around leisurely, maybe go through a list of possible weapons, maybe take out a weapon, examine it, take out poison, maybe apply it to the weapon then put back the poison via, gauge distances, maybe run through some scenarios in your head (IE discuss with the GM) - this is not that game. That is chess for people who kind of like RPG's.
If you want to say something, you get three words - choose them wisely. Other characters may or may not hear over explosions, gunfire and the GM yelling. There is no time to discuss plans. Common sense says if you need to discuss plans during combat, you have fucked up badly and should probably retreat and learn to plan better.
Combat may be entirely over before you have managed to take off your backpack, open it and rummage around inside of it to find an item. Round one - take off backpack, free action drop backpack on floor. Round two - open backpack. Round d6 or more later - find item you were looking for. [For those who say 'but my backpack is arranged' - I was a backpacker for seven years. Fuck off, shit never stays where you want it to and you have the added stress of being in combat.]
Combat rounds are fast and often deadly. Know what is in your character's hands. If you want to jump and grab the rope with both hands, stuff held in those hands is now lying on the floor where you dropped it.
Although it would be neat to say ‘long enough to pull a trigger or stab someone’, if you need to compute time it’s generally around five seconds.
WHAT YOU CAN DO DURING A COMBAT ROUND (types of actions)
During a round, the player may do one full action, one simple action and one free action at maximum.
Free actions: These are actions which don't take up any actions. You can generally do one of these and a normal action within the round.
Examples of free actions: Say your three words for the round, drop (not throw) something. At the GM's discretion, perhaps a spot hidden at a negative, etc.
A simple action is exclusively movement - see ‘movement speed’ below.
Actions: These are things which take up the entire round. Example: looking around - is the guy you are getting ready to shoot in the doorway your buddy or a bad guy? Taking a weapon out of a holster. Taking the pin out of a grenade. Not throwing it - just removing the pin. Pushing the large red button marked 'self destruct lair'. Honestly, if you are freaked out and don't know what to do 'taking cover' is often a fantastic idea. In this game, one way to spot the amateurs is to see at the beginning of combat who takes cover and who stands there, pulls out a weapon and starts shooting. I blame D&D for that sort of thinking. Though it is known you can shoot or stab someone a lot more during five seconds, you only get one try during a round.
Example of what someone can do in a combat round: Drop spent pistol, walk forward three meters and pull out a new pistol. This assumes they do not have ‘quick draw’ skill - see section ‘skills’ below.
WHY IS THE COMBAT ROUND AS IT IS?
Just like combat in real life, you have to make shitty decisions based on partial or no information.
Reasons why combat is simple, brutal and short: There are things TTRPG's do well and things they do horribly. Combat is always done horribly. If you want good fast combat that is remarkably detailed, play computer games. If you want detailed, individualized plot TTRPG's offer an experience a mass produced computer game cannot.
So I'm attempting to focus on the strengths of the medium (table top gaming) as I see them while skipping past the weaknesses.
Unlike in most TTRPG's I've seen in the last four decades, within this campaign it is quite possible to skip nearly all combat if you're clever enough. Having said that, sometimes the players enjoy getting their blood fix - take some combat skills for those times.
The limit on three words is because some players (wargamers or those who think they are wargamers) often try to make each brief round into a long tactical conversation in order to squeeze the most out of each round. Combat isn’t like that - it is short, scary and messy.
Also (in my personal game) I don’t use miniatures and maps during combat for reasons:
1. It gives a huge unfair tactical advantage to the players while stripping away the much more realistic ‘fog of war’.
2. Your game flow is completely destroyed while setting up miniatures maps and assorted paraphernalia.
3. It leads inevitably to people wanting more ‘crunch’.
4. The amount of time spent with combat in these sort of games (to me) is both ridiculous and completely unacceptable. If you want good combat, try a computer game.
INITIATIVE
With rare exception, figuring out who goes first is completely unnecessary. The only important thing is who goes first - the PC’s (and their allies) or their foes?
Figuring out the order of PC’s going is unnecessary and slows combat to a drag. If someone has in mind some special action that will affect the entire round and other PC’s actions, they can inject a quick ‘anyone mind if I go first this round?’
Example: Jarvis is going to set off a bomb. As the last round is brought to a close he says to his fellow PC’s “Anyone mind if I go first next round?” They agree and he does. This is - and should be - rare.
The best way to keep the combat speedy is for the GM to simply go around the table, point at each player and say ‘What do you do’. If they hesitate for more than five seconds, the answer is ‘nothing’ - they freeze up and stand there. That happens often in real combat. If the player has questions about the field of battle (”How far am I away from the crane?”) they spend their time piercing the fog of war - nothing else. The player must declare quickly what they are doing and preferably already have their dice results done.
Example:
“I shoot the nearest bad guy for eight points of damage.”
Many people (especially war gamers) will find this rapid fire combat style stressful. This is realistic as combat is highly stressful. It also allows huge combats to be resolved within minutes rather than hours.
ATTACKING
If you are using melee (hand to hand) you may both attack and parry within the same round.
The player must figure out if they are ‘using a strong attack’ or ‘fighting defensively’. Declare before you or the bad guys start rolling. If they are strongly attacking, their parry is at half/negative thirty. If they are fighting defensively, their attack is at half/negative thirty.
Example: Beth attempts to ‘attack the crap out of’ the orc. She attacks at full but if the orc attacks her back, her first parry starts at half/negative thirty and her second (if needed) is at a quarter/negative sixty. She doesn’t get more than two attempts at parrying.
Example: Frank is fighting the mushroom man defensively. He attacks at half/negative thirty but his first parry is at full. His second parry (if needed) is at half/negative thirty and his third (if needed) is at a quarter/negative sixty.
You only get one attempt to parry an incoming attack and not all types of attacks may be parried.
Example: A giant swings his club at Frank. Frank can either attack or dodge this round because a parry of something that size is not going to happen.
Dodge: This is used when the GM tells you parry is not a possibility. Note that there are times when dodging is unwise - you must be able to swiftly move backward or to one side to dodge. If you can’t, you may not dodge. Dodge is a full action skill. A character may not attack and dodge within the same round unless they are hasted (through a card or spell effect). See skill ‘dodge’.
AREA EFFECT STUFF
Why you can’t ‘save for half’ from explosive damage? Because this is not fucking D&D. The best you can hope for in this system is (aside from not being where the bomb is) rolling low on your damage. If you don’t, Hero Points may help reduce the amount of damage you take. Bombs and such are lethal.
In some cases (such as someone tossing a grenade into the room you are in) you might be able to dodge behind something to try to absorb some of the shrapnel. Consult the GM. It should be noted that the ‘pick up the grenade and toss it back’ only works if the person throwing them doesn’t know what they are doing. (Explanation - professionals throw it in such a way it is bouncing around prior to going off to keep someone from tossing it back or - if they have big stones - they may ‘cook off’ the grenade. Pull the pin, wait a bit then throw.)
Generally speaking, it is not a brilliant idea to annoy people who carry grenades.
Even if you declared dodging, if you are still in the explosive radius, you are fucked.
Unfortunately, stuff like large explosions are not normally survivable. Shit, even a hand grenade is ugly - especially if they are in a confined space.
The ‘danger sense’ has always been a kind of ‘you don’t want to go in there’ thing. It’s the warning the players get.
It is hard not to blow up the characters when the players often don’t practice even very basic OPSEC. The number of times PC’s have either led bad guys to their bases, gone to places they knew to be compromised, given away important data to bad guys - it’s amazing.
NO SAVING THROW
There are places that - if the PC's go - it is fully possible to die without taking damage, getting any sort of 'saving throw', etc. [Note - in general, this game does not have ‘saving throws’ - that’s some D&D shit there.]
It is the responsibility for all of these situations to have foreshadowing. If the PC's choose to ignore it, good for them. It shows they are brave and adventurous.
WEAPON DAMAGES
Listed on the PC sheet. Because this is a simple game, ‘bigger is better’.
While in real life, a short bladed knife or ice pick is a lethal weapon and professional assassins favor the .22 caliber pistol with silencer, in this simple game system those weapons are shitty. Bigger is better - though not for concealment nor silence.
HOW FAST TO GET THINGS DONE
"It ain't like D&D" - here's an example:
"Logan I get out my oil, light it on fire and throw it at him!"
In many D&D games I've sat through throughout the decades, this is a simple one round action. In this game system, you're looking at a 'fucking long time'.
Let's assume the oil is in an easy to open belt pouch.
Round 1: Open the belt pouch clasp. No clasp? How the fuck has it stayed in there with you doing active life stuff? Of course you need some sort of secure way to keep it in there.
Round 2: Pull out oil flask.
Round 3: Realize you need something to light it with and pull out the lighter.
Round 4: Realize you need a piece of cloth and panic because both your hands are holding things. So you pass the lighter to the hand holding the oil flask and try not to drop it. Remember, if the oil flask isn't the kind that may break while you're wearing it, it doesn't get weaker when you throw it at a target. It will probably just bounce off the target.
By now, you've already been pretty much inactive for several rounds. Let's try it with a grenade.
Round 1: Take out grenade.
Round 2: Pull pin with free hand. (Teeth? No. I've used real grenades. You are far more likely to lose teeth than to pull the pin. If not, just imagine how easily the pins can come out.)
Round 3: When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend so you throw it.
Round 4: (If you are smart) take cover.
Disclaimer: There are certain futuristic grenades that you can arm and throw all in the same round. Thousands of years of weapons tech for the win!
GUN RULES
RANGES OF FIREARMS (etc)
These are simplified rules to avoid 'gun porn' that so many rule books fall into. Also, if you have someone claim that 'a pistol range is much further', that is technically true but also shows that person hasn't spent much time at the gun range or in combat. These ranges are the 'normal effective ranges'. Just because some guy does a 1000m shot with a pistol does not mean your character can ever hope to do that.
Everything: 20m
Long arms: 100m
Scopes slow your rate of fire to half but double the range. If you have a scope on a pistol, it will probably get knocked out of alignment when holstering it and it is a stupid movie thing anyway. Note - if you don’t sight in a scope before using it (involves shooting off some rounds and making small adjustments), it won’t help.
Double the range, half the skill.
Example of ranges:
Rifle = 100m. Put a scope on it = 200m base range, half rate of fire. Hence:
0-200m = full skill.
Up to 400m = half skill.
Up to 800m = quarter skill.
FULL AUTO RULES
Full Auto on multiple targets (expending at least ten rounds of ammo - most clips have 20 or 30 rounds so you can do this two or three times).
One target +2 bump on damage track.
Two targets if the GM deems they are reasonably close, +1 bump damage track - roll separately for each target.
Three targets if the GM deems they are reasonably close, NO bump damage track - roll separately for each target.
EXAMPLE OF COMBAT
Three PC’s vs five NPC thugs.
Joe, Alice and Betty are taking on A, B, C, D, E. The terrain is open enough that everyone can easily get to everyone else.
GM: Give me a luck roll, let me know who gets the worst.
Joe: Made mine by 30.
Alice: Just made mine.
Betty: Crit!
GM: Joe, only one guy is attacking you, everyone else has two on them.
GM: Five thugs with a variety of hand held weapons emerge from the fog in the field you guys are in. Round one! (Flips a card) Normal combat - heroes are first, villains second, library research is approved.
Group reacting to the preferred action: /eyeroll
GM: Alice!
Alice: How many of them are there again?
GM: You spend your time counting! Joe!
Joe: Fast draw pistol and (rolls, fails, curses) slowly take out my gun this round.
GM: Betty!
Betty: If they are close enough I kick one otherwise I rush them!
GM: You rush them! Roll sprint!
Betty: Success!
GM: You are at them. Alice, there are five - you don’t see any more around at this time. The two coming for you - one has a chain and the other brass knuckles! Bad guys turn! Betty the two people at you begin to attack - the guy with the lead pipe takes a swing (rolls 78) and a miss. The other guy tries to stab you with a knife (rolls 15) and he hits for four real damage! The other three rush people (rolls sprint for each) but only Joe’s guy makes it to him. The other two are waddling toward Alice. Another two rounds of waddling and they’ll reach her! Next round! Heroes are first, villains are second, talking about a dream is approved! Alice!
Alice: “I had a dream just like this where two guys came out of the fog with weapons toward me!” Can I try fast draw pistol too?
GM: Take a card for discussing your dreams and sure, if you make it it’s your free action but if you don’t, then you just slap leather and that’s it.
Alice: Success!
GM: Excellent - you’ve got your gun out and got a card. Joe!
Joe: Shoot one of them - preferably whoever has a ‘non-club’ - taking real damage sucks.
GM: Fortunately, you’ve still only got the one guy on you and he has a hockey stick.
Joe: Bang! (Rolls 97, has a skill of 60) Well, shit. Fumble.
GM: (Draws a card from the fumble deck) Looks like you’re fucked. You got the ‘draw five’ card.
Joe: Gaaa! Can I spend a Hero Point for a new card?
GM: According to the text on this card, no. Open wide for chunky! Let’s see (draws ‘you fall down’, ‘gear gone’, ‘throw away hand items’, ‘drop everything’ and ‘wrong target - team’). /ponder. OK - here’s what happens Joe.
Joe: /covers face with hands.
GM: Alice and Betty - luck rolls if you please - Betty you’re at -30% since you rushed into the fray and Joe’s spray bullets into that same fray. Probably you.
Alice: Made it.
Betty: Nope.
GM: OK Joe - your gun does d8 normally?
Joe: It’s heavy - d10.
GM: Neat. Roll a d10 on Betty.
Joe: 7.
GM: Betty - you take 7 HP of damage as Joe shoots you in the back. Joe, the gun going off surprises you so much that it flips out of your hand and disappears forever into the long grasses, never to be seen again. Apparently, you got knocked down by the recoil as well.
Joe: Hate this so much.
Betty: Can I spend a Hero Point not to take the damage?
GM: If you want.
Betty: I do so. /glare at Joe.
GM: Betty, what do you do?
Betty: Take out my frustration on one of the guys! Success on fist, success on martial arts and I rolled a 2. Well, crap.
And so on. Note - made with drawing actual cards from the deck. You never can tell what you’re going to get. But as you can see from this example, combat should be short and brutal.
ARMOR
If you are wearing some sort of physical armor (furs, chain mail bikini, full plate mail - whatever), one place reduction in damage on the ‘damage track’.
If you are wearing some sort of magical armor (ring, underwear, fake arrow through the head - whatever), one place reduction in damage on the ‘damage track’.
If you have both (or magic physical armor like magic chain mail, etc) two places reduction in damage on the ‘damage track’.
Two places is the max. The minimum damage on the damage table is d3 (unless special damage - see GM).
Why:
KISS. Also, if the armor becomes too effective (like with a straight point reduction) then small attacks are completely ignored.
Example: If someone had physical, magical or both armor that reduced incoming damage by four, the person would be literally immune to daggers unless they scored some sort of critical.
LULL (combat)
In the movies, this is when the heroes have just gotten done smashing up some bad guys and are moving from here to there but the dramatic, tense music is still playing in the background.
If the GM hasn’t fucked up and not foreshadowed correctly, the players know they are going to be back in combat very soon. It comes as no surprise.
Example: The main bad guy has kidnapped a hostage and sends his mooks after the PC’s. The PC’s finish off all the mooks then turn to confront the bad guy who murders his hostage in rage then attacks the heroes. The time between the PC’s finishing off the mooks, heading over to the bad guy, listening to his monologue and entering combat with him is called the ‘lull’.
Often times this is not a big deal but some items and such are only able to be used once during a combat. A lull means that item (if used previously against the mooks) is not available.
A lull can be used by a GM to heighten suspense, mess with PC’s who have once per combat items/effects and so on.
At the end of the mook combat, the GM would simply announce “You’re in a combat lull.” Or “You’re in a lull.” Or “Lull”.
PVP
If the GM allows PVP, the combat type is normal and the aggressor(s) are the villains. Note that in games where PVP is encouraged, the GM may choose to have whoever initiated the combat be the 'heroes'.
SURPRISE ROUND
This is usually done by NPC’s as PC’s are notoriously bad at planning anything, even a simple ambush. Should one side ambush another, the GM may (or may not) wish to give some sort of rolls to notice things. The GM doesn’t have to - it’s perfectly acceptable to start a combat with NPC’s firing arrows, guns or rocket launchers at the PC’s to get their attention. Up to the GM.
If one side takes the other by surprise, then the round card is flipped as normal and on the first round the surprised side simply does not get an action. They don’t get any dodge, parry, nothing. They just stand there looking stupid. That’s it. Be sure to note on the damage track the bumps to damage that are given for complete surprise. The GM may also wish to give a bonus (up to +30%) to hit.
On the next round, the GM can have everyone who was surprised make some sort of roll (up to the GM) to ‘no longer be surprised’ such as a dexterity or willpower roll with those failing it being ‘stunned’ or the GM can have everyone just act normally.
HELD ACTIONS
These do not come up often fortunately.
Instead of going on your round, you can hold your action till later. You don’t do anything in the meantime, you just wait.
Example: During a combat round, instead of going the person points their gun at the person and says ‘move and I shoot!’ (Speaking is the free action, they then hold their held action.)
This held action can take place within the same round or in a later round. Upon a simple contingent the person gets to go first.
Example: The hero had gone first and decided to say ‘move and I shoot’ and held action. On the villain’s turn, the villain decides to move - therefore the hero shoots first.
The held actions need to be super simple and able (of course) to be accomplished in one round. Some things don’t work well for a held action.
Example: “I shoot the first bad guy through the door” would not work as a held action because you have to first figure out if it is a bad guy coming through the door or not. That slows you down enough that the GM will rule you lose your held action and initiative is determined normally.
Example: “I shoot the first person or whatever that comes through the door” would work and possibly lead to hilarity for the GM if it is a friendly party through the door.
Either way, however, your held action takes up your action for the round that it takes place in.
Example: PC’s were going last in the round and the PC does the ‘move and I shoot’ thing and ‘holds their action’. On the next round, the GM draws a card showing villains are first, heroes are second. The villain begins to move and bang - the PC shoots. The villain (assuming they survive) then gets their normal action. The PC has already taken their action as a held action from last round. If the initiative order was reversed (heroes first then villains) holding action didn’t really do the PC any good.
MOVEMENT
On foot, humans go at 3m/10m.
That means they can ‘simple action’ forward at 3m per round or if they successfully sprint forward (sprinting skill) they go ten meters per round. If they attempt to sprint forward and fail their roll, they move only at simple action speed (3m/round) despite using a round to try to move forward.
Example: Melissa ‘simple actions’ toward her target and attacks. She does not need to roll to move, only to attack and moves 3m toward her target.
Other movement speeds: Running speed /10 = combat speed (m/rnd). Sprint = combat speed x3 approx.
Example: According to Google, the running speed of a cheetah is 100-120 KPH. Let’s call it 100 KPH. Hence, in this game, they would move at 10m/30m per round.
Also, sometimes the person does not need to do anything active while traveling forward at a great velocity.
Example: Guy riding a horse. The ‘ride horse’ skill doesn’t make the horse sprint faster or slower - the horses ‘sprint’ skill does. Hence, using the formula above and assuming horses can sprint about 40 KPH, that would make their movement speed: 4m/12m (note - the horse is rolling their sprint, not the rider rolling their sprint). The rider can spend their full action shooting or just holding on (if they are not a great rider).
Example: Guy is a passenger in a car. The car is going 100 KPH. The GM may have the driver do a ‘drive auto’ roll if they’re trying to keep up speed and confronted with things that would slow down a car (terrain, other vehicles, etc). The GM might rule the movement speed is 10m. The car doesn’t need to sprint and can (aside from terrain and obstacles like other cars) keep a fairly consistent speed.
Note - some creatures have land speed and it is different from air speed or swim speed, etc.
THE CARD DECK
This is a deck of several hundred cards. Some have bad effects, many have either effects which are not useful or only useful in specific circumstances and most cards are useful.
One player gets eight cards. If there are two players, they each get six cards. For groups of three or more, four cards each. Note that this is the maximum amount of cards any of the players can have at any one time.
All players start with a number of cards based on how many players are present at the table. Should someone new join later, the players may have to discard some cards.
Example: Ted is playing solo and gets eight cards. Cindy joins the game. If Ted currently has more than six cards, he must reduce his hand immediately. If he does not, he need not discard any cards however his new maximum number of cards is six. If another player joins, everyone goes down to four cards and that is their new maximum.
Hence, if the player gets a card they wish to play at once, their remaining cards should be one under the maximum they can have after that is one less than the maximum they are allowed.
Example: Johnny has a great hand of four cards but pulls a ‘play when you want’ instant hero point card. He could trade that card to someone else discarding whatever he is given or discard one of his great cards in order to play the instant hero point card.
Drawing a ‘play immediately’ doesn’t cause any of your cards to automatically be removed from going over the number allowed, however the card itself may cause you to discard some or all of your cards.
Example: Johnny draws a card that causes everyone at the table to discard two cards. Johnny will have two cards remaining of his four.
The cards are set up in such a way that they are a small mini-game.
Players who want to hide their cards from others may do so but it will only hamper the team as a whole.
HOW TO GAIN CARDS
The GM’s can and should give cards for anything they consider praise worthy within the campaign. Good roleplay, being clever, being funny, helping to set the right mood, etc. In a normal session with three good players, going through 150+ cards is not at all unusual.
The reason for this is that it subtly gives an instant gratification reward to players who are doing things which the GM approves of.
Do not give out cards for things like ‘good rolls’.
Cards can also be given to subtly mislead a party. When someone begins to go in totally the wrong direction, the GM can begin giving that person cards to mess with the players.
It is also possible to get cards in combat - see below ‘preferred actions’.
When giving the players cards, it is recommended to do so in such a way that it does not break their flow. If they are in the midst of planning and being very clever, a good GM will simply add cards to players stacks.
At the end of a session (unless the GM is frustrated with their players sucking so badly) it is customary to give an ‘end of mission refill’.
TAKING AWAY CARDS
Although cards are given for positive things, it is not recommended to take them away for negative things. Players who come up with poor plans and such will simply not receive cards. If you have people who are humorless, poor roleplayers and destroy the mood you have been working on setting the question would be ‘why do you game with such people?’ Let them have a card drought.
The power level of the characters decreases without a constant influx of cards.
TRADING CARDS
Any time the characters are able to communicate they can trade cards. Hence, if all of the characters are together they can trade cards freely. Other examples include such things as being on the phone, psychic communication, possessing each other, etc.
Any time there is the ability to freely communicate, players can trade cards.
This is a great mechanic for incentivising ‘keep the party together’.
PREFERRED ACTIONS
Another time players (even the bad ones) can get cards is during combat.
Within most TTRPG’s, usually the only tactically sound thing to do within a round is ‘shoot’ or ‘move’. There are a few other rare things like ‘take out a different weapon’ or ‘reload’ but if the players are clever these don’t come up often.
The cards allow another thing to become tactically sound - the preferred action.
At the bottom of all of the cards is the ‘GM area’. This will read something like:
N: H V
H: V H
Falling down
Under initiative, we will explain the rest of the card however in this case ‘falling down’ is the preferred action. When reading off the round (see below) the GM tells the players ‘falling down is approved’.
Hence, if the players fall down rather than do any thing else during the combat round, they get a card.
Falling down - in that round - is a tactical action as it gets a card.
Some actions require successful rolls to be made to get cards and so forth.
There are lots of different preferred actions. Some are just silly but sometimes others may fit into what is going on during the combat. It is up to the players to decide whether gaining another card is worth giving up their full action.
See the section on combat below.
CARDS DURING COMBAT
The GM flips cards into their own special pile and just uses the bottom information. If the combat is normal, they use the N: part, if it is a ‘heroic’ combat (think ‘boss fight’) they use the bottom line H:.
The bottom of the cars may look something like this:
N: H V
H: V H (setback)
Library research
This means that during a normal combat, the heroes are first, villains are second. During a ‘heroic’ combat, the villains are first and the heroes are second and ‘setback’. The setback means that something bad is going on which adversely affects the heroes.
The preferred action this round is ‘library research’. This probably won’t come up unless not all of the players made it out to the combat and one is back at base (or a library or on the computer, etc) doing research. If so, that person gets a card and they’re not even involved with the combat. You can get cards for doing preferred actions even if not in the combat. That makes it more interesting for people rather than ‘just sit there and wait for the combat to conclude’.
END OF THE GAME/SESSION/MODULE
At the end of the module, if the game will continue going on, the GM may allow the PC’s to keep whatever cards they want and draw back up to a full hand.
At the end of the game/session, all the cards go back into the discard pile.
STATTING NPC’S
It’s very simple in this game. Generally, go with the 30/60/90 rule.
30% skill: They are somewhat inept and maybe only have some ‘basics’ in combat. Example: Thugs.
60% skill: They regularly do this. Example: Soldiers, well trained cops.
90% skill: They are experts at combat. Example: Ninjas, cyberpunk ‘solos’ etc.
Then, damage by weapon. Quick and easy.
HERO POINTS
STARTING HERO POINTS
As seen when generating a character, players receive a number of starting Hero Points equal to their starting Essence statistic.
HOW TO GAIN HERO POINTS
Hero Points are gained at the discretion of the GM and are awarded at the end of a session or a mission. For game sessions lasting six hours or less, it is recommended to award them at the end of the session. For marathon game sessions they might get awarded by the mission.
At the end of the mission, the GM awards all of the players the same number of Hero Points based on the success of the group as a whole during the mission.
1: It’s a participation trophy. The group showed up.
2: You tried really hard but the mission did not go well or little was actually achieved.
3: Mission success. Note that the GM can have very loose parameters of ‘success’ - finding out an important clue, meeting some important NPC, surviving, etc.
Everyone gets the same amount of Hero Points - do not award some people more and others less as this can create huge resentment. Also, the amount of Hero Points difference between a great player and a seat filler would only be two. Not worth the aggravation of hostile seat fillers. Don’t forget that as a GM you can award good actions with the cards throughout the session.
Also, at the end of the session after ‘end of mission card play’ (see section on card play) there are various cards that - if successfully held on to till the end of the session - award either the individual holding them or the entire group extra Hero Points. It is possible - though unlikely - to get over five Hero Points at the conclusion of a successful session.
The Hero Points gained are added to the total Hero Points left. Any Hero Points over twenty go in to the ‘overflow’ total. Depending on the type and power level of the campaign, the GM may wish to make special abilities available after players reach certain levels of overflow Hero Points.
Allowing the players to have over twenty Hero Points has proven (after a couple decades of play testing) to be a poor idea as some players will then be sitting on a heap of points and be nearly invincible. Restricting the number of Hero Points helps keep an element of danger.
HOW TO USE HERO POINTS
Note - for purposes of this, a person or target is considered them and or their vehicle/steed/transport.
Hero Points can be used for:
After finding out the damage (or before if the player wishes) the player may spend a Hero Point on an incoming attack that is directly against the Hero or their vehicle/steed/transport. This causes it to barely miss you (or your vehicle) instead of hitting.
After you fail a roll, you may spend a Hero Point to reroll. If you fail the roll again, you may spend another Hero Point and try again and so on until you have either made the roll, run out of Hero Points or given up your futile efforts. This includes both skill and statistic rolls.
Example: The GM asks for a willpower x3 roll.
John has a shit willpower of 10 so he needs a 30 or less. If he misses that, he can spend a Hero Point to try again.
Rerolling your sanity loss.
John sees a scary picture which scares him. The GM informs him that the sanity loss is 1/d6 - one if you succeed in the sanity roll, d6 should you fail it. John has a sanity of 55. He rolls, he misses with a roll of 76! If he wanted to he could spend a Hero Point to reroll but he is confident. Unfortunately, his confidence is ill placed as he then rolls 6 sanity loss. Rather than run the risk of freaking out in the art gallery, he spends a Hero Point and rerolls the d6. He gets a 4. John deducts 4 from his sanity and now has a 51 sanity.
Rerolling damage you take from an AOE attack. Since AOE attacks (usually bombs, grenades, etc. but some sorts of monsters and spells may be included at the GM’s discretion) are not directed against ‘you’ but the area, you cannot say they ‘missed’ with a Hero Point. You can attempt to take less damage. Spending a Hero Point allows you to reroll some or all of the damage. You can spend as many Hero Points as you wish to reduce this damage.
Example:
John is driving his car down the street when an IED left by Badassium explodes. It is a huge explosion resulting in 4d10 of damage.
The GM (or John, up to the GM) rolls and gets a 1, 10, 9, 9.
John spends a Hero Point and decides to reroll the 10, 9, 9 - he keeps the 1.
The reroll nets him a 4, 7, 3. Combined with the earlier 1 that would be 15 points of damage. If John can survive that, he may keep that result or he may choose to spend another Hero Point and try again. If John can’t survive that, he might keep the 3 and the 1 and choose to try to reroll the 4 and 7.
He rolls a pair of 8’s.
Fuming, he spends yet another Hero Point and gets a 2 and a 3. Combined with the earlier 3 and 1 he had, that would be 9 points of damage. Hopefully, he can survive that.
When attacking someone, you may spend a Hero Point to reroll an attack or damage. If the person you are attacking also has Hero Points, they may spend one to ‘counter’ your Hero Point. You may not spend any more Hero Points in that round for that same roll upon that person after being countered.
Example:
John is attacking Badassium (NPC villain).
John rolls his attack and misses. John spends a Hero Point.
Badassium spends a Hero Point to counter.
The attack misses.
Had the attack initially hit and John chosen to spend a Hero Point to reroll his damage, Badassium could have countered that as well.
Note that you don’t have to be the driver/controller of a vehicle you are in to spend Hero Points on it.
Example: Four PC’s are in a car. The forces of Badassium pull up and begin wildly shooting at the car attempting to disable it. Anyone within that car may spend a Hero Point in order to cause the bullet to miss. This allows the party to ‘share the load’ rather than piling it all onto the driver who may already be spending a lot of Hero Points attempting to drive the vehicle.
Note that if you had bonuses to the roll (through cards, other PC’s ‘rolling to support’ you, etc - those bonuses are all lost when a Hero Point is spent. Though you can have the other PC’s attempt new rolls to support you, to gain bonuses from cards and such new cards would need to be played upon you.
WHAT YOU CANNOT SPEND HERO POINTS ON
Other people.
Example: John is confronting Badassium who is using the ole ‘human shield’. After Badassium demands John drop his gun and John refuses, Badassium shoots the hostage in the head.
John cannot use a Hero Point to attempt to protect the hostage. Nor could he protect a person he was carrying on his back, etc.
Hero Points are just for you and a vehicle you are riding in.
Should John attempt to get around this rule by having the hostage give him a piggy back ride (thus making the hostage John’s steed) the GM is free to rule that John is full of shit and cannot spend Hero Points on it. This does get more tricky if John is in a living space ship or some such and the GM is free to make their own ruling on it.
Any roll after you’ve already made a new roll, or after any significant time has elapsed.
Example: Fred misses his skill roll. He then rolls for something else. He cannot then go back and spend a Hero Point on the skill roll he earlier missed.
Example: Fred misses a skill roll. The GM then continues narrating the scene based on that. Fred feels he is missing out and wants to go back and spend a Hero Point on the missed roll. The GM tells him it is too late and he will have to suck it up.
Hero Points can only be used to negate directed attacks against YOU or the vehicle you are in. However, they don’t work nearly so well against area of effect attacks such as explosions. You cannot have a bomb (etc) explode next to you, spend a Hero Point and negate the damage. The best you can do in that case is to spend a Hero Point to reroll damage. This allows you to reroll some or all of the dice.
Example: Billy wanders into a claymore mine and it explodes. This particular claymore mine does 3d10. The GM rolls 9, 9 and 10. This would turn Billy into liquid goo so he spends a Hero Point. The GM rerolls getting a 3, 9, 8. Obviously, the dice really want Billy dead. Billy decides to keep the three and reroll the other two dice. Those turn up as (3), 2, 9. Still too much for Billy so he spends another Hero Point just to reroll the 9. This time, the dice give him (3, 2), 4. Billy says he’s OK with that and takes his 9 points of all real damage after spending three Hero Points.
WHEN TO USE HERO POINTS
The advice for new players is to never spend Hero Points unless it is an immediate life or death situation. A stealth roll deep in enemy territory might qualify, or a climbing roll when at a great height or using a Hero Point to make an enemy ‘miss’ their strike or shot. Everything else probably doesn’t warrant a spending of this scarce resource.
NPC’S WITH HERO POINTS
There is a card which allows the players to ‘Hero Point rate an NPC’. Also, if the GM feels they are vital (avoid Mary Sue’s!) they can give Hero Points to NPC’s. Recommend doing this rarely.
VILLAINS WITH HERO POINTS
Sometimes the GM may choose to have a certain boss villain or some of his henchmen - or some random unimportant guy - have Hero Points. Again, it is recommended not to do this that often as it is usually not needed.
SANITY
LOSING SANITY
There are bunches of ways to lose sanity. Doing horrific acts, witnessing scary monsters, going to war, etc all cause people to lose sanity.
Sometimes, people will lose sanity based on what their party members do - whether they witness or condone it or not.
“Well, I’m going to go out and gather firewood because I suspect you might torture this guy for information…”
Yeah - you’re losing sanity toward ‘torture’ either way. Ways of trying to get around it don’t work.
Although in this game, PVP is strongly discouraged, we don’t have any players who are completely selfish dicks. Those sort of people don’t tend to last. Hence, if you want to try to talk someone out of an action that causes sanity loss, you generally can do it.
GAINING SANITY
Generally, doing actual ‘good guy’ stuff will help the PC’s gain sanity. Also, things like defeating the kind of monsters that cause you to lose sanity will gain some sanity back. (Defeating a bear won’t gain you sanity but killing a ghoul will.)
GETTING USE TO IT
When someone takes sanity loss, they can record it on their character sheet. Once they hit the ‘max’ number, they no longer lose sanity toward that specific thing, though they may still toward other related things until they max that out as well.
Example: A certain young lady likes to torture victims. They just wish she’d ask questions. Eventually, she and her companions lose enough sanity (20) to max that out. Unfortunately, she is super messy with the victims as they are being tortured, hence, everyone gets to work on maxing out their ‘human gore’ (20), maybe ‘gross out’ (20) and because she doesn’t like to leave any witnesses, ‘cold blooded killing/guilt’ (60).
THE SPECIAL NUMBERS
40, 30, 20. Once your sanity gets down to - or below - any of those numbers, you pick up a new ‘permanent’ insanity. Some examples - won’t use firearms, won’t use currency, beat anyone who screams, etc.
For new players, it is vital to talk to the GM and other players and bounce ideas off of them about what is and is not a good insanity.
Remember, your insanity should - in some way - fuck you at least once per session. If it doesn’t, you will get assigned a new insanity. Your insanity should not fuck the other characters.
A good way of ‘testing’ out insanities before you are stuck with them is to give your character ‘quirks’. These are not mandatory and are much less severe than insanities. Examples - dislikes using guns, doesn’t like to buy anything unless they have to (or always ‘forgets’ wallet at home), screams at people who are screaming to ‘be quiet’. You can pick these up and drop them as desired.
All insanities must be undoubtedly negative to the character. Preferably, just to the character. Ones that 'fuck the team' are discouraged. (Not sure how 'wanting to be clean' will fuck the character.
All insanities should come up at least once per adventure. If they don't, the GM finds as many ways to mess with the character as possible.
“Coming up with an insanity can be tricky as on one hand it should come up most sessions and have a detrimental effect, on the other hand it shouldn't be so detrimental as to stop your character from participating eg it shouldn't be so much of a road block that the party has to split up. Agoraphobia for example is one that would unlikely work in the campaign. If it is something that causes (the GM) amusement than it's likely to be a winner.” - Pete H.
Note that no insanity should have any possibility of giving a character any sort of advantage. Also, no sanity should ever call upon the GM to remember it. It should be 100% player run - the GM has enough other shit going on.
CURING YOUR CRAZY
If your sanity had dipped down to 38 (gaining you the insanity at 40) then risen back up over 40, it is possible to get psychoanalysis (skill) to move the insanity down to a ‘strong quirk’. Not nearly as severe. If you dip down again, you can pick it back up as an insanity. If your sanity has gotten high enough you don’t think you will be in danger of getting the insanity back, you can get more psychoanalysis and move it to a mild quirk or even remove it altogether. Then, if your insanity goes back down, you can either pick back up the same thing (relapse) or go for a new insanity.
MAKING SANITY ROLLS
Sanity is a slippery slope. The more sanity you have, the slower you lose it. The less you have, the quicker it goes. All creatures/actions/things that make you crazy have two different numbers. The first is if you succeed in your sanity roll, the second if you fail your sanity roll.
Example: Fred is forced to kill a guard, not in the heat of combat. He was just standing there. The GM asks for a sanity roll, 1/d6. That means if Fred’s character makes his sanity roll, he loses one point (probably toward cold blooded killing - the GM will let you know) but if he fails his sanity (see stat - sanity) he loses d6 sanity. If Fred fails his sanity roll and loses five or more sanity at once (or in a short time), he may ‘lose his shit’.
LOSING YOUR SHIT
Sometimes, you lose a bunch of sanity at once. The GM will ask for some sort of willpower roll to avoid ‘going crazy’. Generally, willpower x3. If this is failed, roll d20. That’s how many rounds you are not in much control (if any) of your character. Then, roll a d4: fight, flight, freak, freeze.
Fight: If there are bad guys around, you will go after them whether you want to or not. No bad guys? Someone else. Maybe the GM will roll at random, maybe you will attack a bystander, someone’s horse (you always hated that horse) or another PC. You don’t have to spend any Hero Points during the combat but you will use (at minimum) whatever weapon is in hand. If you have a loaded pistol in hand, you are going to start shooting - not try to knock someone out with your fist because it’s a PC. You’ve gone berserk.
Flight: You run. So long as it is ‘away’ from whatever made you crazy, the GM usually lets you pick your route.
Freak: You don’t get to do anything useful. You are freaking out. You can go at walk speed where ever you want, usually ranting about how the ‘lib dems are responsible for the flat earth’ and so on.
Freeze: You’re just fucked. You will stand there like a statue until your d20 rounds are done. If you were hiding when you saw whatever made you crazy this is the best possible result. Otherwise, not so good.
RUNNING OUT OF SANITY
If your character ever reaches zero sanity, they instantly, immediately and irrevocably become an NPC. Make a new character.
QUIRKS
These are basically 'mild insanities' that the character can have. The big difference between them and regular insanities is that the character isn't forced to have them. It's just some weirdness that the player has decided "I'm going to try this out either to liven up my character a bit or just in case I need an insanity."
If the quirk doesn't seem to be working out, you are free to drop it.
This is an excellent way of trying out (or play testing) various insanities well before you need them. That way, you're not stuck wishing you had a good insanity when you need an insanity.
SANITY THOUGHTS
It all depends on play style. Some people always seem to be between 90-99 sanity; others under 40. Figure out what is right for you.
No sanity bonus (COC) for getting a skill high. You’ll just have to be content with your high skill and being crazy.
Sanity Losses
For the general amount, see the ‘damage track’.
The maximum sanity loss is always the most you could lose if you failed your sanity roll doubled.
Some extra scary monsters cause sanity loss in a much smaller amount even if the sanity roll is made. This not only reflects the horror of the monsters but keeps people with exceptionally high sanity from never being scared of anything.
What happens if someone sees multiple monsters at the same time?
Bump up the sanity loss on the damage track equal to the number of monsters being seen with a max of say four bumps. The sanity maximum is still the same, however.
Example: Scary tentacle creatures have a sanity loss of d3/d10, 20 maximum. Fred walks in to three of them. He instead takes d6/2d8, 20 maximum. Had he walked into a crowd of these, say 50, the GM could give him a bump of four up for a total of d10/d8+d10, 20 maximum.
MAGIC
MAGIC POINTS
Your magic points are equal to your Essence stat.
After a good night of sleep, you gain them all back.
If you go down to 0 MP, you fall unconscious. If you go to negative MP, you die. Note that it is not possible for a caster to take themselves to negative MP. If they attempt to cast a spell that costs more MP than they have, it automatically fails. They then lose half of the MP of the spell - the normal cost for failing a spell. If this takes them to negative MP, they are instead at 0 MP and unconscious. They will regain consciousness in 8 hours. This is a great way to get to sleep when ever you want but you can’t be woken up until 8 hours go by.
CASTING SPELLS
All spells use your mouth and hands and it’s obvious you are casting them. No secret spell casting. Also, unless noted in the spell description, the caster must be able to see the targets with unaided vision.
Tied up and/or gagged means no spell casting.
Monstrous abilities might still work when people are tied up and gagged - best just to kill the monsters quickly.
Spell casting has a lot of rules. If the player does not know how part of spell casting works off the top of their head and holds up play with needing to look up something, the GM should rule their magic has failed for the day and move on.
Does this mean players who can’t memorize the magic system (or at least look it up and have it ready to go before they try to use it) can’t cast spells?
Yes. Stick to simpler stuff if you can’t remember how the system and your spells work.
NOISE MADE CASTING A SPELL AND FROM THE SPELL ITSELF
Ever seen those people every right minded person despises who believe their cell phone is actually a walkie-talkie? Yelling into it and causing everyone around them to hate them? That’s how loud you have to cast a spell.
Ever hear one of those stupidly loud ring tones that makes you think the person who set it up must need a hearing aid? That’s the spell going off.
Imagine someone desperately attempting an elaborate interpretive dance while having a seizure while yelling into your cell phone because they think it’s a walkie talkie. That guy is casting a spell.
Unless the individual spell description reads differently, that’s what all spell casting is like. Spells are NOT subtle nor stealthy.
RESISTING SPELLS
All spells which adversely affect a target have a resistance roll built in to the spell. (If you find one that doesn’t, please report it.) Some spells give a resistance roll every round, etc. Should a resistance roll succeed at any time, the spell and all of it’s effects immediately end.
MAGIC/TECH ITEMS
For some zones, magic (or tech) always works. In these zones those items can be used normally.
In other zones, a willpower roll is needed to try to get the magic item or tech item to work.
Making it work takes one round. Even for items which would be normally 'always on', in areas they don't work, you have to spend a round (and make the appropriate Willpower (stat) roll to 'make them work'. [The GM sets the difficulty at anything from 'make a crit' up to x5 depending on the zone.]
If you are trying to make a magic item work or cast a spell in an area that you need to make a willpower roll and you fail that willpower roll that is your whole round used up.
That makes some items pretty much useless. Example: A ring of feather fall. The average person (100kg) can fall a bit over 100m in five seconds. Hence, unless your fall is further than that, your ring of feather fall when not in a ‘high magic’ zone is simply jewelry.
If you are attempting to access a MAGICAL pocket in a non-magic zone, you need the willpower roll. If you fumble, the non-magic of the place has forever eaten your shit. And you'll get a fumble deck card.
If you have stuff in a magical pocket and go into a hard non-magical area (there are a few special ones) your shit in there may be permanently lost just from being there.
If you store valuable stuff in your magical pocket it is very iffy if you will get it back if you go exploring new zones. Or even if you go through a gate, get teleported to a new place, etc. The magical pocket is pretty reliable if you do it in a magic zone and stay within that zone. As soon as you leave it becomes either unreliable or 'at risk'. Since the players are often teleported to different zones with little or no warning it is NOT recommended to keep anything you love inside of a magic extra dimensional storage space.
FULL MAGIC RULES
COMPLEXITY
The spells are a very complicated (comparatively) part of the game. Simply put, if the player cannot understand the spells, know the rules and know their spells as well or better than the GM they should not be casting them. If you don’t get it, stick to melee or shooting stuff. You can still make a good contribution to any fight. If the player regularly causes combat to slow down due to arguing about spell effects or simply not knowing what their spells do, the character will soon lose the ability to cast spells. Does this mean that clever players can cast spells while ‘not as clever spells cannot’? Yes. Spell casting has long been the domain of the clever. There is no ‘intelligence’ stat for the characters - their intelligence is equal to the players. Sorry but I am not willing to slow down everyone for the sake of the slow trying to do complicated things. Stick with simpler stuff. Spells are complicated. If this causes only NPC’s to be casting spells, I can totally live with that - but don’t think it will actually happen.
DISCLAIMER
These magic rules apply to most of the zones. Should special zone rules be in place for certain zones, those take precedence. [For example: Wearing metal armor normally does not interfere with spell casting. If there is a special ‘D&D parody zone in which it does, then those zone rules apply.]
CASTING SPELLS WHERE YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO
The modifiers for each zone vary between ‘no roll needed’, some multiplier of willpower (will x3, etc) or ‘spells and magical effects do not work here period’.
CASTING TIMES
Anything with a casting time of more than two rounds is generally an idiotic spell to cast during combat. Better to cast it before or after combat. When casting a spell, ‘casting’ is your full action each round.
Casting time of one round - on your turn they are cast and the effect is done.
Casting time of instant - in the description it will say whether it goes off at the beginning of the round or beginning of your turn. (Though I should examine these spells and see if that can be standardized.)
DURATIONS
Some durations are a number of rounds or hours.
Till sunset or sunrise - this is whichever comes next. If you cast a spell an hour before sundown and it has this duration, your spell will only last for an hour.
Also, killing the caster of a spell (or knocking them out) is usually a great way to turn off any and all spells they have cast as those spells have no life of their own UNLESS Essence was sacrificed to give the spell life. (Or other special things were done, consult the GM).
Combat: This means the spell ends when there is a ‘lull’ in combat or the GM announces combat is over.
Concentration: Some spells require concentration. That takes one full action each and every round. Unless you are hasted (etc) aside from simple actions and free actions, that is your entire round. Should concentration be broken or given up, the spell ends and must be cast anew in the future. Note - you do not need to be able to speak to maintain concentration - just glare balefully. Note that (unless hasted) moving or being moved breaks concentration. Concentration means ‘you do nothing but keep the spell going’. BEING DAMAGED BREAKS CONCENTRATION. You can attempt to resist dropping your concentration spell by rolling a ‘Willpower x1’.
WEIRD DURATIONS
Certain spells may be broken by certain things - a rooster’s first call (which sucks because they actually often go all night - best to slit their throats ahead of time), first ray of light, water (crossing or getting splashed by), true love’s first kiss, etc.
These are usually odd spells NPC’s cast or special ‘zone specific’ spells.
DUMB VS SMART DEFENSES
These are categories of magical defense. Dumb automatically trigger. Smart defenses trigger when the caster wishes them to trigger.
FAILING OR FUMBLING SPELLS
Fail means half the MP of that spell are gone.
Fumble means you pay the full MP cost of that spell and you may not cast that spell again until the next sunup or sundown. In addition, the GM may have it go off, hit the wrong target, give bonuses to enemies, explode or whatever his sadistic mind comes up with.
LEARNING NEW SPELLS
One hour of someone telling them how a first rank spell works. Only the first spell from the chain may be taught.
The teacher must roll under their spell skill and under their ‘teaching’ skill. You can try once per day till you make it or fumble. Should either roll be fumbled (even if the other is crit) then you can never teach that skill to that student ever again.
Even if the teacher is teaching multiple students the same spell, they must make a teaching roll for each student. It is possible to have some get it and others not understand the material. Despite the teacher failing their teaching roll, it is best to blame the student.
[As always if the teacher forgets what stuff exactly they can’t teach to a particular student, then they can no longer teach ANYTHING to that student. Keep better notes.]
Should the roll succeed (crits don’t really matter) then the PC picks up the level 1 spell at their ‘learn’.
As normal, the only way to get higher ranking spells is to get a crit on casting the one they have. They either then get the next higher rank at ‘learn’ or if it is TBD, they have to (between game sessions) figure out a spell, get GM approval (on a probably nerfed version) then they get that one at learn when they next make a crit. You can’t save up crits. Best to work on the spell as soon as you find out it is a TBD.
One attempt may be made per day to learn a spell, whether that attempt is successful or not. You may not make multiple attempts to learn spells in a single day. One day, one attempt.
LIMITATIONS
In some more elemental lands, the caster can’t do the opposite element of their main and may be limited to half way up the chains on the other two.
Depending on the specific zone, a player that knew opposing magics might either have some of them (usually the lower skill ones) suppressed while they were there or they might be able to ignore the limitation all together.
MAGIC POINTS
When are the magic points spent? When you first begin your spell. Example: If you are casting a spell that requires ten magic points and ten rounds to cast it, you have lost five magic points (same amount as ‘failing’ a spell) even if you stop casting after the first round. If you continue through the whole spell and fail it, you are still down five magic points.
If you run out of MP (IE your MP=0) you fall unconscious and cannot be revived until your Magic Points regenerate (usually 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep). If this happens while casting a spell the spell does not go off. You can also be brought back to consciousness with a 'wake up' spell or card effect. This puts you at 1 magic point. Note - unless the specific zone rules differ, sleeping for four hours does not regenerate half of your MP. It’s an all or nothing thing. For this reason, it is not unheard of for people who imprison casters to have them woken up every few hours by the guards.
In some zones, there may be other ways to regain MP.
MAKING MAGIC ITEMS
Figure out what is needed to make an item that while holding it and using a particular type of spell (or a specific element spell or any damage spell) and it moves up the damage one place on the damage track. We can have it where the ‘wood carving’ (for a staff as an example) needs to be done with a certain type of wood and a ‘crit’ wood carving roll needs to be made to pull it off. Certain things might require an object with a lot of skills put in to it - maybe all of them needing a critical roll, or perhaps just normal successes, depending. Anyone who wants to make magic items (in the event those spells ever get done) will need to get great at lots of crafting skills. Lots and lots. Making magic items (for obvious reasons) will be a huge pain in the ass of such a magnitude that only the most stubborn players even bother with it. If the rules ever get done for it.
Given how often the players lose all of their possessions within the campaign, I doubt this is going to become a huge thing. Unless the players learn what ‘cache’ means.
MERGING SCHOOLS
When someone has two different schools at ‘do it as a living’ they might start making hybrid styles of magic. It is important though to make sure one spell has one and only one effect. (Water plus air might equal steam, for example).
Rules on this have not been made and if they are, it will probably be a ‘zone specific’ thing.
MP COST
Why are they all even numbers? Because if you fail, you lose half round up. Easier to make it so rounding is not required. [Why? Many PC’s suck at simple math.]
If your spell goes off successfully, but someone resists it, you are still stuck paying full MP cost for the spell - it was successfully cast.
SPELL EFFECTS YOU WON’T EVER SEE IN THE CAMPAIGN:
Divination: One day, all of the players may spontaneously decide they want to own, operate and stock a Pottery Barn store. I will then be stuck making Pottery Barn plots. There is no way I could know what the players are going to do ahead of time. Augury works well in books where the author knows what will happen and has a lot more control of the characters. They can then come up with some clever formula. Hell, some cryptic NPC may even give a prophecy from time to time within the campaign but I’m not going to have any magic for it. Within games it is often either useless or over powered. Also never going to happen include spells to locate things or people. Or figure out ‘who dun it’.
Illusion: Not happening. Anyone who has any subtly and brains will quickly make this over powered.
Memory alternating/annihilating: Nothing but fucking trouble and gas lighting down the road. Suck up your own actions and find different ways to get clever.
Spells that compel you to tell the truth. Holy shit does that put a dent in murder mystery adventures.
More effects will get added to this list as time goes on.
PLAYER RESPONSIBILITY
If the player has to stop and look up how their magic spell works - especially during combat - the spell just fails and costs the caster the MP. If they don’t even know how many MP it costs, congratulations the player has only 1MP left. That keeps you conscious and unable to cast more spells and we can all move on with our lives. There is nothing worse than some idiot who can’t remember their own spells dragging all of the action to a stand still because they need to look it up. If you can’t remember your spells without hesitation, use a sword or something instead.
The player must keep a copy of the spell at hand in case the GM wants them to read it or have a question on it. In other words, if you want to do something more complex than swing a sword, it’s your responsibility to be able to know your spells without hesitation.
During the game session is NOT the time to work on magic. This includes both asking questions about how a spell works or trying to develop new spells. Work on magic when the campaign is not going on - contact the GM privately.
RANGE
Unless otherwise stated in the spell, ‘touch’ spells may be cast on oneself. By…er…touching yourself.
Self is understood to mean ‘your self and a reasonable amount of gear’. Many spells will not work if you are holding on to someone else, even if they are dead or unconscious as they are not a ‘reasonable amount of gear’.
Touching someone else takes an action. If they are trying not to be touched, roll ‘unarmed’.
SPECIAL EFFECTS
The GM may choose to add in whatever special effects to any spell they wish. These may change depending on their whim.
No spell may be cast covertly. Otherwise, we get NPC’s sitting around and ‘staring daggers’ at the PC, the PC dying and not even knowing who was attacking them. Or vice versa. Not a good fit. Magic is always obvious. Sometimes super obvious. Some magicians of sufficient power may even be able to tell when someone starts throwing around magic within their area.
Note that in some zones, casting any spell will result in problems - even if you are casting them at hostiles with no neutral parties around. The experienced players know what sort of problems. In general, casting spells is best done in private to avoid these problems.
SPELL CAPABILITIES
All spells have one effect. [Later or in certain zones, there might be some wild chain casting of various spells in order to have different effects but that is down the road a ways.]
SPELL CASTING
All spells have verbal and gesture components. Few have material components as well.
Also, be sure to note that you can always tell who is doing a spell against you - no hidden guy staring intently at you. Possible exception when someone is doing a ritual spell with a connecting thing - they’ve got your hair or something. But those need to be much weaker like ‘your luck is fucked’ type spells.
Note that if you cannot speak and/or make gestures (your hands are tied up and/or you are gaged) you cannot cast spells. There may also be other things (a silence spell) which will keep you from being able to cast spells.
Different other things (Faraday cages, being bound with a silver chain, anti-magic collars, some circles of power, etc) may cause different problems. Anything from completely suppressing someone’s spell casting ability on to ‘if you try to cast a spell your head explodes’.
On the HC deck, some rounds are also marked ‘no magic’. No spells may be cast during those rounds. In addition, any ‘concentration’ or ongoing effects are turned off. Other magic (such as bonus damage which is ‘permanently’ on a weapon) may be suppressed for the round or destroyed permanently. Ask GM. Generally, stuff that has a duration of less than a year is destroyed, greater than a year is suppressed for a round.
SPELL CHAINS
Chain - this starts off with the least powerful spell of the type and leads to stronger spells. Chains may fork. Once a spell is unlocked, the player may be given a choice of two or more spells. If the player rolls a future critical on the same spell, they then get to learn another.
Example: Getting a critical on purple leads to three possible paths - dinosaur, case or soft. The player opts for soft. Later, they are using the spell purple again and get another critical. This time they choose dinosaur to unlock that chain as well.
Certain new spells will be come up with and put into various chains. For example - Let us say with have the chain:
Night - Fox - Ribbon - Ghost - Uncle - Meat
A new spell, Juice is come up with. The decision (GM and players, GM gets final word) is made to place it into this chain and the new chain becomes:
Night - Fox - Ribbon - Juice - Ghost - Uncle - Meat
If the player knew Night and Fox before then yes, Uncle is pushed a little further out. You’ll get over it. Since spells beyond the basic ones will be mostly player made we’re all hoping they’re useful and wanted.
Let’s say the player was up to Ghost however. They then get a choice of their personal chain looking like:
Night - Fox - Ribbon -Ghost - Juice - Uncle - Meat
Meaning they have to learn it next or they can simply ignore and not take Juice. No freebies but no punishment for creating a new spell.
Note that eventually, spells might become more standardized and even get assigned ranks and such. This may break already existing chains apart and make some of the spells unlearnable until some bright spark comes up with a new spell. Example:
Night - Fox - Ribbon -Ghost - Juice - Uncle - Meat
Let’s say the GM has decided Uncle is too powerful and wants to ramp it up two notches.
Night - Fox - Ribbon - Ghost - Juice - [Filler] - [Filler] - Uncle - Meat
Those that already have Uncle and Meat are unaffected but someone at Juice or earlier now needs to invent two spells which are agreed to fit into the sequence before Uncle or Meat may be learned. Yeah, it sucks but game balance and better design trump ‘fairness’.
At the GM’s discretion, new spells may be added to existing chains, branch from existing chains or become parts of new chains.
Spells which do not fit into existing chains but are too powerful to form their own chain will be undiscoverable until weaker spells are created to make the chain.
Some spells may be taken off of one chain and moved to a different chain - or even a whole new school by the GM if they feel it would fit better within a different school. This may prevent the character from working on the next spell in that chain though they will still keep the spell they have. Or, if they are able to learn the new chain, the GM may have them unlock all lower level spells before preceding in that new chain. Example:
Night - Fox - Ribbon - Ghost - Juice - [Filler] - [Filler] - Uncle - Meat
At some future point in the campaign it is felt that Juice would better fit into a different chain so it is removed from the above chain and put into:
Fliver - Nox - Juice - Roman - Roam - Rum
Before being able to learn Roman, the GM may decide the PC must learn Fliver - Nox.
The player may not learn a spell further along a chain unless some weird stuff has happened - see GM - or until they have unlocked it by working their way up the chain.
WHAT IF TWO DIFFERENT CHAINS HAVE THE SAME SPELL?
Though I try to avoid this, I’m sure it will come up. In that case, they already know it. There is no value to learning three different ways to do the same thing. Since all of the spells are meant to be single effect, meh. If you crit that spell, you can pick up the next spell on the chain.
SPELL LEVELS
Each spell has ten and only ten levels per spell. While some people may not consider level 10 to be powerful enough this is by design. Spells need to keep lower powered.
Because I’d rather spend my time working on plots than spells - and most PC’s are unwilling to work on anything unless it directly affects their character (and even then it might be iffy) the first release may have several ‘broken chains’. It will be up to the PC’s to forge new links in these chains if they want to continue on with the spells. If they don’t, then getting those spells may not be possible for PC’s. NPC’s will run around shooting flames out of their rears and so on.
What if spells from one chain are substantially stronger than spells from another? Submit ideas to build something more balanced that the GM likes.
TAKING DAMAGE WHILE CASTING A SPELL
You fail the spell and half the MP of the spell are gone.
TAKING DAMAGE WHILE MAINTAINING A SPELL THAT IS ‘CONCENTRATION’ DURATION
Spell effects end as soon as you take damage.
VARIOUS CREATURES AND MAGIC
Lots of creatures can only cast one school of magic and usually do so decently if not great. The PC’s can learn to cast whatever they can find if someone is willing and able to teach.
WHY SPELLS ARE LOW POWERED
In other systems, like D&D, the power curve is such that after the wizard starts casting third level or higher spells, the fighter is left well behind. That’s bad game design. The only solution? Keep spells low powered. Even then, you will have magic users become more powerful than those who don’t use magic. It will just be by (hopefully) a smaller degree.
Also, unlike that woefully designed system, in this one anyone can learn magic. Realizing that armor isn’t much of a balance to the ability to cast spells (especially when you have magic armor) it doesn’t matter if someone wears armor or not for casting spells in most zones.
In addition, all of my campaigns are fairly ‘low powered’. Magic (and ‘parkour’) are not solutions to everything.
UNLOCKING NEW SPELLS
In order to get the next spell up, the player must roll a critical on their spell. If they do, they unlock the next level at their ‘learn’ skill.
Example - if the spell chain is:
No smell -> No smell other -> Breath -> Breath; other -> Gust of wind -> Summon air elemental
If they have the ‘no smell’ spell and make a critical on it, they unlock ‘no smell other’ at ‘learn’. When they eventually get a critical at that, they pick up ‘breath’ at ‘learn’.
ACTIVATING MAGIC ITEMS
Unless otherwise stated, ‘activating’ a magical item (make rocket go now) costs 1 MP, usually doesn’t require a roll and takes one action (ie generally a round).
For some specific items, multiple MP, a roll may be required and it may take multiple rounds, minutes, hours, days, months, years or centuries.
For some zones, magic (or tech) always works. In these zones those items can be used normally.
In other zones, a willpower roll is needed to try to get the magic item or tech item to work.
Making it work takes one round.
That makes some items pretty much useless. Example: A ring of feather fall. The average person (100kg) can fall a bit over 100m in five seconds. Hence, unless your fall is further than that, your ring of feather fall when not in a ‘high magic’ zone is simply jewelry.
Note that attempting to make an item with charges work in a non-magic zone and failing the willpower causes a charge to be expended and the item does not work. Fumbling the willpower roll causes the item to be destroyed.
Note that this also works the same way with tech items in a non-tech zone though they don’t usually have charges. The item is rendered inert and useless in whatever creative way the GM comes up with should the willpower roll be fumbled.
GETTING DISPELLED
Spells whose duration is 'combat' are considered - for purposes of dispelling, etc - to be actively running on the mage whether they have begun to use them or not.
Example: Fred casts his 'throw lightning around duration combat' on himself then spends the day shopping. Suddenly, an evil shop keeper casts dispel on Fred. Now Fred can no longer trigger his 'lightning' stuff till he recasts the whole spell.
POSSESSIONS
10/20/40kg. Not encumbered, moderately encumbered, heavily encumbered.
Extended shopping trips often lead to time spent buying equipment that is often ignored and abandoned.
Why carrying more than what people usually do is not realistic unless it is ‘tool up time’.
CHARACTER DEATH
“Although, so far there's no known treatment for death's crippling effects, still everyone can acquaint himself with the three early warning signs of death: one, rigor mortis; two, a rotting smell; three, occasional drowsiness...It is also important to know what to do you when you die. 1) Don't try to drive a car. 2) Do not operate heavy machinery. 3) Do not talk.” - Kentucky Fried Movie
There are three types of death within the current campaign:
Temporary
Permanent (this isn’t detailed out, you simply die and need to make a new character; magic spells running on you as per ‘temporary’ below)
Soft
Which one you take depends upon where you are. Once the PC’s have figured out more about life, the universe and everything they can figure out which happens where. Or speculate now.
‘TEMPORARY DEATH’ RULES
Note that ‘temporary death’ is limited to certain areas only. If the PC’s go out of those areas (Shadow walking, etc) they can permanently die. Also sometimes the journey between one temporary death area and another may go outside of the ‘somewhat safe’ areas. To avoid this, stick to gates found within the ‘normal game world’.
STATS
-10 SAN (flat - note, you may pick up a normal insanity due to this but chances are very good you won't get a temporary insanity due to (special). Goes toward dying/death (self) maxes at 50. If this causes your sanity to reach zero, make a new character.
-2 from all the remaining stats. If any stat is zero, make a new character.
SKILLS
-10% from all skills above 80%. If they have only three skills above 80% they are the only ones affected. Should the character have no skills above 80%, they lose no skill points from that death. [If the skill is exactly 80% you dodged a fucking bullet there.]
GEAR
Assume it’s all gone. The GM might allow the player to choose three pieces of gear and do a willpower x3 for each to see if it is retained. If not then like all other gear on the PC at the time of their death it is gone forever. [Note that in some cases if the other PC’s are near the corpse of the PC before it goes to where ever corpses of PC’s go they may be able to save some or all of the gear if they immediately loot the corpse.] Note - if the PC is permanently dead you might have more time to loot their corpse.
MAGIC RUNNING ON YOU
All magic spells running on you cease. This includes any ‘pocketed’ (all spells from the ‘Pocket’ tree) items - those are gone forever. Again, don’t store valuable shit in there.
RESPAWN
The GM will let you know where and when you respawn. Due to Rule #2, it should be close and soon but subject to the needs of plot. (See Logan’s Rules, Rule #2). Note that the respawn point will be ‘as safe as Logan can get it’ given where ever you are. Figure if you just died, you’re probably already having a rough day. The GM should attempt to get the PC back into play as soon as possible. It is also recommended the players assist the GM by going to somewhere safe and such. This is a bit ‘metagamey’ but if we can prevent a player from sitting around waiting to play it is worth it.
Also, you respawn at ‘residual self image’. All of the stuff the PC’s had before (servitor of AI, cyberware, etc) - gone. The AI may (or may not) choose to again make the PC a servitor (if the PC seeks them out) but if they do not, the power(s) gained should be removed from the PC sheet. If the PC ever again gets into service with that same AI (assuming the AI has undergone no drastic changes), they pick up the exact same power as before, no rerolling.
STARTING HERO POINTS AFTER DEATH
Half remaining Essence (after deduction).
SOFT DEATH
This can only happen in zones where the day is reset over and over. Even if you ‘die’ you simply wake up the next day, like the movie ‘Groundhog Day’.
Every time you die, take SAN d6/d10, max 50
In the ‘soft death’ places you don’t lose stats and skills though gear loss is as per temporary death above.
PHILOSOPHY (LOGAN’S)
NOTES ON HOW I PREP
I’ve seen a lot of different posts from people asking how others prep. Maybe this will help someone or give someone ideas. Or, maybe someone will point out ‘hey, here are some other useful categories you might like’ (see below). I hope this is of use to someone out there.
I game very differently from a lot of people. My game is more of ‘let’s come together for a bit of collaborative art’ more than ‘getting together with friends’. I have become friends with many of the gamers I have/had but didn’t start out as friends with many. My game takes place via the internet and has gamers from three continents.
During my off game time (prep time) I have three months. This last time, I managed to get three of these zones done. That brings the approximate number of zones (including one off, experimental zones, etc) to 15. To give some examples of the different types of zones the players have run into: 1950’s sitcom, Wild West - with furries (Disney style), very gritty cyberpunk, modern day, fantasy, etc. Quite a lot of different places. And the same characters are tossed in to all of that. Even though the games are episodic, the campaign is not and the characters get extremely varied backgrounds and skill sets built up.
To clarify, my gaming schedule is (due to visas, etc) three months off then three months in which I will run around two hundred hours of games for 15-25 people. And yes, we are looking for a few more players. (Link to podcast/youtube for those who want to find out more - instructions on how to get involved can be found at these links as well - Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC2TZucbqPpz9Bx8rz57Wbmg/playlists Podcast: anchor.fm/ataw ) So I spend more time GM’ing in three months than many of the games I see advertised play for in an entire year. If they go for more than 5-10 sessions. Most of the games I’ve seen and heard about usually seem to go about three. Hence, the three months of prep helps. Plus, I do other things during that time - like travel the world. Anyway…
My game is comprised of the PC’s hopping around different times and spaces. Because I played too much Everquest (I’m old) back in the day, I call these different world/time/space areas ‘zones’.
Each of these zones I try to make very different including what sort of feel it has, the kind of missions people pick up, etc. One of the big challenges is to attempt to make it internally consistent. Doing a lot of heavy thinking about stuff is a chore.
I use Scrivener to organize everything. I use to use Word and notebooks with hand made notes. After messing with this product on it’s free trial I have never contemplated going back. Love it. (No, I don’t work for them. Very satisfied customer.)
The categories I make include, explanations in []:
Initial Arrival [There are different ways people travel between the zones of the campaign, and often some or all of the PC’s material possessions get stripped away. In addition to those instructions, descriptions]
Plots
Rumors
Street Scenes [When I was a ‘young GM’ I relied a lot on random encounter charts. I’ve switched to writing things up ahead of time.]
Various ‘mission givers’ [I’ve run a lot of ‘here is the plot, go’ type stuff in the past. Now, I am trying more of an ‘open world’ format. Although there is a lot of talk about this sort of thing in the gamer world, in reality few players seem to have actually been run in really open worlds. I think it kind of broke some of the players. So, now I try to build in ‘mission givers’ into the zones. In case the players don’t know what they should be doing or haven’t found a way to weasel into any of the big plots going on.]
Interesting Places
Organizations
NPC’s
Background [Why this place is as it is]
Magic/Tech/Special Zone Rules [Does magic work here? What level of tech works here?]
Money/Wages/COL [Amazing how much crap you end up putting onto a simple price sheet. For a game like this, it is important to also think about how balanced goods are in different zones. Clever players may find ways to take goods from one zone and sell them in another.]
Ideas [Miscellaneous ideas which may or may not ever become anything. I jot them down in this section and go back later to look at them again.]
Past Plots [Because I run a fairly large number of players, I try to keep track of ‘who has been on this module or adventure’ (if I made a module or adventure). After it has been run for as many fresh groups as possible, I will move it down here. Later, I might dig through it for follow up mods or other evil stuff. Or, in the future, if this world ever gets published (who knows) then there will be plenty of mods for GM’s.]
Future Plots [The PC’s have different ways to get back to places they have already been to. Future plots go here.]
GM PHILOSOPHY
People who do careful (D&D type with minis, terrain, etc) are essentially wargamers (at least part time wargamers) who have either 'some' or a 'thin veneer' of RP to add to their wargaming.
Which is fine. I'm not into wargaming. At all.
So - with combat in a TTRPG you can take hours (maybe even the whole session) doing it. Fine if that's how your group wants to spend it's time. Many do. Easier than coming up with complex plot.
If I want good quick combat of different levels of 'realism', computer games are my go to. It's quick and brutal and it's not all laid out on a flat (yeah, hills are still pretty flat) surface. You can do wild stuff with multiple levels inside of a computer game.
TTRPG's suck for combat.
What TTRPG's are good at is personalized and complex plot. You can't get that from a mass produced computer game. Even the best written plot is not going to take your individual character in mind unless you are on a pretty narrow railroad track.
Also, TTRPG's are much more 'open' than a computer game. If the players suddenly decide they want to run a hot dog stand and are really in to it, then within a session or two the GM can change around the entire course of the campaign to plots about that hot dog stand. Computer games cannot change that radically.
Those are just my opinions. I realize a lot of people like wargaming (though they may call it RP the stuff I've seen in the last four decades is at best a 50/50 mix) but I personally am on the other end of the spectrum. In my system, combat is brutal short and fatal. The players have to make decisions based on partial information and in a huge hurry. Much like real life combat.
MORE PHILOSOPHY - LOGAN’S RULES
Logan’s Rules
These ‘rules’ are either observations I’ve made or campaign rules for my game. The list has slowly shaped up after four decades of running twenty hour gaming weeks (or more).
Rule 1: Any negative - no matter how large or important will be forgotten about almost immediately by the player. Any bonus - no matter how slight - will be remembered forever. This seems to be human nature. All of the rules within my game are set up to reflect that.
Rule 2: Keep the party together. It’s not just for ‘massed firepower’ but the narrative can only be in one place at one time. If you split up, then you have one group active while the other group has to sit and wait. If it is impossible to keep the party together, the GM will try to keep it as brief as possible so that a group doesn’t have to sit around and wait.
Rule 3: Iron sharpens iron. Recruit clever people. Plus, in this style of game that I run, people who aren’t clever do not seem to have a good time. Lot of people seem to get butt hurt when reading this rule but I try to avoid hanging out with slow people. While my game is open to all nationalities, etc etc I seek out people who are smart, funny, etc.
Rule 4: Roll first, then figure it out. Making other people wait when you don’t have to is disrespectful and needlessly slows down the game. Plus, it breaks up the pacing and flow of the game.
Rule 5: Give the game your full attention. To do otherwise is disrespectful to the other players and the GM who may have spent hours preparing for your fun. If you are drinking strong drinks or on an electronic device doing something other than gaming, that shows you are not really into it. That is fine but we will find people who are willing to give this game their undivided attention.
Rule 6: Finding good players is difficult. Rare is the player who invests time in the game outside of simply playing it. Expecting otherwise is frustrating and futile. To the players that invest their time in the game outside of gaming as well as in it, know that you are making things better for everyone.
Rule 7: What it looks like Logan wants you to do within the campaign could be an elaborate set up for failure. Think sideways at a problem and try to come up with interesting workarounds.
Rule 8: Lots of problems look insurmountable and unsolvable. If obstacles were easy, chances are good some other person would have taken care of it already. See rule 7 for help.
Rule 9: Do not suffer fools nor ‘time vampires’. Life is too short.
CHARTS and why they suck
Within this game, there is only one relatively simple chart - the damage track. Through decades of gaming, I’ve discovered that the more charts and rules you have, the slower the game goes. Hence, we have just the one and it is pretty simple.
Avoid anything that needs more charts especially if those charts are needed during combat.
COMBAT
Dungeons and Dragons is primarily a ‘power fantasy’. The characters always face things beneath their combined party level and smash through combats on might alone.
This game is horrible for trying that.
First, you will spend all of your Hero Points, then you will die.
Like in real life, if you go head on at a combat (unless you are ambushed, etc) you are doing it WRONG.
Intelligence, creativity, tactics and planning are needed to thrive in combat. If you don’t have some or any of these, best to avoid combat.
CONAN
Conan, semi-Conan & clever.
Conan: We will do a head on attack!
Semi-Conan: I will fight the leader! They will not fight without the leader! Etc.
Clever: I will use a tank and blow up the leader or find some way to either get out of it diplomatically or use traps/explosives/ other people to fight for me, etc.
Now there are some times when you have to go full Conan. There is just no choice.
You get jumped in an alley and can't escape. Full Conan.
But if you know what the threat is, there isn't a good reason to go full Conan unless you are just needing to sate your blood lust.
Lots of little things can make the difference. Example: They sell 'escape rope ladders'. If you're going to a town that you might need to escape from later, take one in within a bag. Before going to sleep, hook it up to the window. When people are storming down the hallway, it's a lot easier to toss that out the window and climb down it than attempting to scale a building.
As an example.
IMO, games like D&D (power wish fulfillment) have gotten people into the 'Conan' mode of thinking. But in D&D, you've got two things going for you. First, your character is usually a lot tougher. Second, you normally only fight things less powerful than you. And often, they stay in their room.
I still remember running a dungeon and people freaked out because when they started fighting something, after awhile things started rushing in from other rooms. "They can leave their rooms?" Why the fuck wouldn't they? I asked.
CAMPAIGN SPECIFIC
THESE ARE THINGS WHICH ARE SPECIFIC TO LOGAN’S CAMPAIGN AND CAN PROBABLY NOT APPEAR IN THE MAIN RULE BOOK
MAKING A CHARACTER
Everyone is 'human'.
The most basic thing is to figure out the time period the character comes from. The time periods can generally be broken down to ancient, cowboy to 1920's, modern, cyberpunk, space. These aren't exact but gives a decent idea of a break down. For new players, I strongly recommend 'modern'. That way, you can take all of the skills that seem logical to you. You don't have to spend most of the session hiding from a talking box that is too small to have people in it, you don't have to wonder why supposed futuristic science is such shit. Obviously the occupation and skills are limited by the time period if you take earlier times. While it is possible to take 'flint napping' with a space character, it is not possible to take computer programming with an ancient one.
CHARACTER BACKGROUND
Unless you've played in three sessions or more of a campaign Logan has GM'ed before, do NOT worry about your character's background. Heck, if you want to come up with a name for your character that is OK. If not, that is OK as well.
You are going to be waking up missing large chunks of your memories in this campaign.
NOTES FOR PLAYERS
Note that this campaign needs all characters to be 'good'. (If you are saying ‘but I want to play a cold blooded murderous psychopath who betrays the other PC’s’, I would recommend finding a different group as it saves us time from kicking you out later. In short, this is the wrong group for PVP.)
They don't have to be good all the time but if they don't care about other people, they are not right for this campaign.
The characters have to want to find out why. How do things work? Why do they work as they do?
This is a major part of the campaign. Mystery. If nobody is interested in finding out the mysteries, those character's won't fit into the campaign.
Even if your character doesn’t ‘know’ another PC, you know it is your ‘buddy’. Why that is you don’t know. (Welcome to more mysteries.)
You'll need to be able to be quickly integrated onto a team and be a good, useful member of it quickly.
CREATION OF CHARACTERS FOR LOGAN’S CAMPAIGN IN SPECIFIC
Every 50 points of hero point overflow = a special power; if you play a lot you tend to get one per season if you hoard your hero points.
No memories or spotty memories when you start.
No PVP - though messing with each other a bit is normal
Within this campaign, it is possible to be from a wide variety of time periods. Be sure to generally state when your character is from. Medieval period, 1920’s, Cyberpunk, etc.
WHAT SKILLS CANNOT BE BOUGHT AT THE START?
'Dreaming' and 'dream lore' are not being used in this campaign. You can start with ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ if you wish but it is just a very specialized lore, like occult lore. Having CM does not make you crazy nor limit your sanity.
SEX
Some GM’s are simple creatures and ask everyone to play their own sex. After four decades of gaming I’ve not seen anyone able to convincingly play the opposite sex.
STARTING WITH SPELLS
Nope - though it is super easy to get the other players to teach you a few spells.
NPC’S VS PC’S
First Aid: PC's have it made here. They lose HP. First aid/medicine/healing magic regains HP. NPC's don't have it so easily. They might have a broken limb. Broken back. Internal bleeding. Ruptured organs. Things that if they're in a hospital medicine rolls might help with. First aid does not mend a broken back. Magic for the win if you have it.
Disease: PC's are more or less immune. There is nothing less interesting or heroic than a case of herpies. Or aids. Or the plague. However, NPC's might get various diseases. The PC's can either work on helping them (no, first aid is really not useful here nor is medicine) or wander through the world like medieval plague doctors. Or death ravens or whatever.
Poison: Due to 'Logan's Rule 1', if the PC's take poison damage it is immediate. Take d8 from the sword and a nasty d6 from poison. Roll them both now. If someone is trying to slowly poison a PC they will find that the PC's seem to enjoy small amounts of arsenic in their food. See also 'disease' above. Or the PC's might take random damage and not know why. But generally speaking, people don't use poison against the PC's (rule 1) or if they are the PC's have failed to notice.
Learning spells: Once the PC's pick up the tier 1 spell at learn, then they need to get a critical to advance to the tier 2 etc. Or have been on the team that used some of their off game time to develop the spell. This can lead to the players advancing very quickly in learning new spells. NPC's can be taught new tiers but it can take years and they may never be able to get above certain tiers due to lack of talent, etc. Essentially, the PC's (due to getting checks then rolling after an adventure or session) are freaky fast at learning things compared to NPC's.
Some skills and professions: Stuff like potion making etc are right now "NPC only" professions. I don't have the time to delve in and figure out a cool way to make sitting around mixing ingredients in a lab or making magic items interesting and balanced. There might be some fetch quests (go get me a bunch of these special leaves) you can do to get potions (and other stuff) but honestly, the making of those sorts of occupations is so far under 'making a lot more spells and finishing out a bunch of spell trees' that I can't even see it. And you need all of the effects (spells) before figuring out how to basically bottle that stuff (in potions, magic items, scrolls, whatever) for later. So if you're sad about not getting to do that, remember that only two people are really working with any regularity to get the spell trees done. Suck it up and go to someone who sells that stuff.
Joining organizations: Any organization that has regular hours and days you're suppose to be there (ie anything not 'self employed') is a really poor choice for the players. Remember Logan's Rule 2. Also, this game is episodic and the groups often change about a bit. It is never 'bring your friend to work' day. Hence, the PC's will never become police, join the military or work a standard 9-5 job. The first time you go through a gate and end up missing a month of work you will either be fired or slated to go to prison for being AWOL.
ADVANCED USES OF HERO POINTS FOR THE CURRENT CAMPAIGN
Once they finish a mission and are awarded HERO POINTS, anything over 20 gets sucked away and put into their bank.
'Siphoned HERO POINTS' is never 'spent' or 'deducted' - subtraction would only weaken your character. Instead, the players attempt to build up to higher levels.
Every 50 Hero Points in the bank the players have gives them a new ‘nifty power’ (GM has secret chart you can roll on).
It is important to note that if you are careful, horde your Hero Points and play regularly you can get approximately one new ‘nifty power’ per season. Or, you can burn through the Hero Points as you get them to try to get a more immediate pay off.
MONEY IN THE CAMPAIGN
If you can make it so that you win in the zone then money is no longer a worry in that zone (unless it is a plot device) otherwise the GM messes with you without mercy.
CYBERWARE
This is an extremely poor investment for the players for four reasons:
Getting it reduces your sanity.
If you roll a fumble or a critical (or both?) during healing while you sleep, you go back to ‘residual self image’ which never includes cyberware.
Passing through many of the gates strip you of possessions. If you lose your possessions (at times, even your whole body) you lose cyber/bio ware.
There are a lot of ‘cyberware fucks up’ cards in the ATAW Deck.
For these reasons, I’ve not come up with detailed Cyberware rules.
SPECIAL SORTS OF DAMAGE
There are some creatures out there which permanently drain Willpower, Strength, Endurance, etc.
These come right off of the PC's percentage and they don't try any skill up's at the new lower percentage. In other words, they're just fucked.
Fortunately, the PC's have MAD healing rates and they can even overcome permanent losses.
All they have to do is get 'residual self image'. This is either done by a willpower x1 when sleeping (difficult if your willpower has been sucked out) or a fumble when sleeping (slightly easier if your willpower has been sucked out).
In campaigns without ‘residual self image’ (or areas that do not have it), you’re just fucked. Your scores go down and then you can try normal skill ups (when appropriate) at your new, lower skill.
IF YOU SAY IT
You do it. This is a long time rule that has always been enforced. Don’t say stuff you don’t want to do. Or, if you say it, your character says it. It is totally the GM’s call.
Example:
Billy: “I think we should totally kill Ted.”
Ted the NPC: “What?”
Billy: “I was talking OOG to -”
GM: “No, you weren’t. Ted goes running off screaming for the cops.”
Billy: “I’m going to totally kill his ass.”
GM: “Your character says, ominously.”
Example:
Billy: “I’m going to snatch his sword and say ‘What you going to do now punk’! Just kidding.”
GM: Roll unarmed at half to grab the sword!
Billy: “But -”
GM: If you don’t want to roll, it is just a feeble attempt but she will probably react violently anyway.”
This may lead players to ask “How do we talk out of game?” The answer is ‘you fucking don’t while you’re in game.’ Experienced players will often seek out private areas to discuss certain illegal activities.
We don’t do ‘table talk’.
BUDDY SENSE
All PC’s can tell who their ‘buddy’ is - the other PC’s. You feel like you have saved their lives many times and they yours. You are all part of the same team. You can also tell (if separated and in the same ‘zone’) in which direction they are though not how far away they are.
This ‘buddy sense’ applies to all PC’s within the campaign, past present and future.
OOG this is done for a few reasons. It gives the group a reason to adventure together, it prevents PVP (as I do not want PVP within my game - it is nearly always destructive to the group and the few times it is not are simply not worth it) and since the players can tell generally in which direction their buddy is it helps keep the group together. The desire to split off for long periods of time from the group is generally a selfish one and again, the few times it pays off are simply not worth it to the campaign. Keep the group together.
The IG reason for this (there is indeed one) has not been discovered by the players in the last five seasons and is unlikely to be discovered any time soon.
NEW PLAYER ADVICE
Written by Matt L:
This world we play in is constantly evolving and changing, meaning things are never static. What you might find on one day, might have changed a year later, a month later, a week later or even a day later. Never presume that things will be the same if you have to go back to them.
Now, we can’t deal with everything we come up against straight away, there’s just too much going on, so to my next point, prioritize. It might take a while for some, but after some experience playing, you will start to recognize “important” plot lines and “not so important “ plot lines.
The not so important plot lines will still change depending on external stimuli, but generally if they are left for X amount of time, it will not impact the world too drastically. The important plot lines if left too long can fester into some world changing/ending situations. Last thing of note, on rare occasions, some not so important types can change into important types over time, so always good to check back on these when you can to make sure.
SHOULD YOU FIND YOURSELF SOLOING
Written by Peter H:
Play to your strengths, unless you want your hero points to drain out like a kid sucking on a juice box. There is no one there to rescue you if you fail to swim or fail your contortions roll - unless you find a competent NPC or group of NPC's to travel with. But remember they don't normally have hero points.
Take the time to explore and check things out if you can. You may find things others have missed or glossed over. There may be something that had come up previously that you were curious about, however because you were in a group did not get a chance to look into it.
If a quest/mission presents itself don't feel forced to take it if you don't think you have there skills to handle it. There will be other activities to be had/done.
No-brainer modules:
"No brainers" - Anyone who generally plays more than once a week will probably (unless they choose to 'free range' it instead of 'feed us with a mod') hit a 'no brainer'. The 'no brainer' is a module that you have already played through and it comes back like a TV rerun. While I personally dislike subjecting players to reruns, with this kind of gaming schedule and the players shifting about who they play with it is inevitable. I am simply unable to make scores of new modules every season.
So what happens during a 'no brainer module'? Let's say that Freddy has been on a module a time (or few) before and this time he is teamed up with Jeff and Marcus. That means that (concerning the module), Freddy is 'that guy who is coming up with no ideas'. He doesn't have any clue what should be done and is volunteering nothing toward the mod. However, there are other things he can do. For example, let's say there is a computer terminal that needs to be hacked and Jeff says "Hey Freddy - can you break the encryption on this?" Boom - Freddy is free to do so. If there is a bomb under the desk that he wouldn't know about he has to suck it up and sit down anyway - good roleplaying. The other players can also ask him to research various topics, etc. They can't ask him 'what's your opinion on this' or 'what should we do now' as he can just shrug and say "I don't know - what do YOU think you should do?"
What are the benefits to being the 'guy (or gal) without a brain on the module'? Well, a couple different things. Clever players can explore little side quests that they didn't check in to the first time, see how the mod changes a bit every time it is run, laugh as the other players go down in flames, etc.
Freddy says: "Another thing which sometimes you can do in a no-brainer is keep track of the ideas your party comes up with, then if they get stuck and don't really know what to do, you can say "hey didn't you want to do x?" Now x may or may not be useful, but it will at least keep things moving. You're not supposed to give any hints as to what's a good idea or not, just mention some of the stuff they had thought about earlier but hadn't followed up on yet because they forgot about it. Reminding them of what's already been told to them is also fine – such as reminding them of the location that you were given to go and visit a suspect. So long as the information has already been disclosed clearly and obviously, you can gently remind them of these things if they get stuck or start wondering what to do. I personally enjoy watching the different methods that people come up with to solve certain things. It gives you another perspective. You may also discover something you missed before which could be useful in the future. And, as Logan already mentioned, if there are any "side" things that you wanted to do, that can also be a good opportunity to do them. (On learning how Logan GM's through watching no-brainers) Sometimes you may have certain information put in certain places, but if the situation calls for it and to avoid having the players spend too much time running around looking for it in a specific place, you may just have the same information "pop up" in other logical areas. You may also tweak things a little bit in order to make them a bit more interesting or if something was too easy/difficult, change it a bit.”
Logan: As a final disclaimer on 'no brainers', pretty much the only time you run into those is if the PC's are doing a mod. There are some players that are capable of "I got shit to do - ain't got no time for no mods" and others which do not have that ability. If (for example) you are with someone like Chris Casey, unless he is burned out/stressed from work, he generally falls into the "Ain't nobody got time fo that" group.
If you are doing 'free range' then 'no-brainers' aren't a thing. If you are doing the 'feed me Seymore' (or with a group that is before you start developing your own stuff you want to go get done) then no-brainers night become a thing.
The easiest way to determine which kind of player is which is to ask them "What do you want to do this session?" If they respond "I don't know", they need feeding. If they respond with a fucking list of things, they are the 'self motivated' kind who want free range.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What game system is this?
"It's a heavily modified BRP system which utilizes something akin to fate points (we call them 'HERO points') and gives temporary skill buffs and such in the form of cards during the game as a reward for wit and cleverness. There are no levels or classes, it is a purely skill based system. Skills can increase over time from successful use in game."
Sadly, that explanation doesn't help that many people because they've only had experience with D&D. If reading that doesn't really enlighten you, I'd suggest just making a character. I'm confident that most will have a good idea what the system is like after doing so, more so after playing one session.
When I ask a question, I just keep getting referred back to these boards - why is that?
Finding new gamers is a lot like finding a qualified job applicant. The ones who seem to want to spend the most time chatting and such are never the ones who end up playing to see if they enjoy themselves. They seem to just have a lot of time on their hands and want to chat. I don't have a lot of time on my hands. If someone 'doesn't have time to go through the new player section' on the boards, they aren't going to have time to commit to playing. Hence, not something I want to invest time into.
What's this campaign about?
I've heard it referred to as Sliders meets a bunch of other stuff. Personally, I don't like that pigeon hole but people go with what they know.
Shouldn't I know what kind of campaign it is before making my character?
No. None of the starting players did. If you're looking for advice, I would personally make a 'modern day' (ie the time period you are now living your out of game life in) character that seems interesting to you. You could even make a stylized heroic version of yourself if you felt like it. Any skills you take can become very useful depending on where/when you find yourself. The more obscure of skill, the less often it will come up. 'Unarmed' will always come up more than say 'Accounting' - but there are times when the accounting skill is critical. Plus you get a free character rewrite after the first session though some players later regret changing their skills around based on the one place they were.
When do you start?
See the sign up sheet and use the time zone converter available there. The general answer: If you live in the USA, morning. If you live in Europe, afternoon. If you live in Australia, either amazingly late at night or very very early in the morning - depending how you look at it. We currently have players from those three continents.
Do you allow lurkers while the game is being played?
No. You can watch plenty of youtube videos of the game being played or listen to the games on podcast. We encourage people to get in there and play.
Anything special for the first game?
I'd recommend showing up fifteen or so minutes early. Get logged on then. There is generally a certain amount of coms testing and general computer fuckery to be dealt with. Better to have those extra minutes to take care of it than slow down the session more than we need to for everyone else.
Will Logan get in touch with me or come find me before game time?
No. It is the players responsibility to contact Logan. He is easy to find and generally at his computer before game time. Contact through Facebook or these Proboards. If you can't make it (emergency comes up or whatever) contacting me to let me know would be nice. If you don't show up on time (especially for your first session) your spot may be given to other people who are on time waiting to play. After you've played once, we give a fifteen minute grace period then attempt to fill the slot.
Why can we only sign up for one session?
Until someone has played, they are an unknown quantity. We don't know if we'll like them or if they'll like us. Also, new people are notoriously flighty. Of those who sign up for game sessions, only about 30% or less actually bother to show up. So, rather than rescheduling all of Bob's slots because he thought that he would show up a lot and signed up for ten games, we have Bob sign up for one. If Bob actually bothers to show up and everyone gets along and Bob has a good time, then we invite him (or her) to sign up for more slots.
What if I am unsure if I can make a session but would like to play?
Get sure before signing up. The sign up sheet does not deal in hope! Once you are sure if you can play then is the time to sign up - we'd love to have you try a game!
Do I need to contact you on Facebook for every game?
After the first game, you will have the roll20 information. Just log on to that at or before game time to find out the google hangouts address since that changes every time.
How long will it take before I feel I have a handle on what is going on in game?
According to one of our newer players, the first three sessions or so feel overwhelming and confusing. After that, you start to get a handle on some things. Keep in mind that a lot of this campaign is about finding out secrets (or maybe even making some) so the long time players often feel like they are put into the deep end of the pool.
Is there a shorter version of these rules somewhere?
If someone can't spend a half hour or hour to read the new players start here section of the board, I'm thinking it is unlikely they will devote five to seven hours every week or two toward gaming.
Why do you have new players go through the steps listed in the new players start here and watch a video on character creation instead of helping each individually?
It's a test. Can they follow simple instructions? Do they have enough dedication to do that then actually show up for the first session? Or the second? Most don't. Better to give them a manual and let them show who really wants to play and who is just out to waste time.
Why don't you publish your game system?
Not enough people are interested in it. If thousands of people were interested in it, it would still classify as a 'labor of love' meaning 'no money in publishing it'. There are enough game systems out there. What really seems to be lacking is good campaigns. I'm working on making a good campaign that people enjoy instead.
Why do you advertise only for smart people?
What's the thoughts behind this system?
Generally, I feel that the more you have to pay attention to the system, the more you are playing a system rather than immersing yourself into the character. Obviously, there are some finicky things (like spells) but overall, this system is dead simple. After someone has played a couple times the system goes into the background. Unlike 'crunchy' (or overly complex depending on your point of view) systems, we don't have 'rules lawyers' and such in this game. It's not all about figuring out a way to 'min/max'. That is a turn off for some people who want to spend hours tweaking the most powerful character they can. In this game, making the most of what you have and making an interesting entertaining story is the goal.
Are spells necessary?
No. Lots of people either don't have spells or have a couple and rarely bother to use them.
How can my character become a spell caster?
It is (intentionally) a pain in the ass. Unlike many RPG's you don't just get new spells tossed at you periodically. In order to get very basic spells, you have to first find someone (PC or NPC) to teach you some rank one (very weak) spells. Generally, it's much easier to get a PC to do it. Then, they have to impart the knowledge via a teaching (skill) roll and succeeding at the spell (skill) roll. When that eventually happens, you pick up a low level spell at your 'Learn' statistic. You can then cast that until you finally get a critical. Making a critical roll while casting a spell imparts you with the next spell up in that tree. The process continues in that fashion. It is (and is meant to be) a huge pain in the ass to get good at spell casting. Generally, this is a very low magic game.
Anything special I should be aware of about the recordings?
I don't recommend talking about anything personal until after the end of the session. By all means, visit then. The recordings are edited only in that I take out some of the long stretches of silence so if you end up giving out your credit card numbers - for some reason (why??) mid session, you should expect that in the final copy. Due to time constraints I don't go back and 're-edit' stuff later. So wait till after 'the cameras are off' before you discuss personal stuff you don't want the world to know.
When will I be able to watch the session I participated in?
Sessions are released one hour at a time daily. Therefore, we have quite a bit of backlog. Could be half a year or longer.
How much combat is there during a game?
In D&D, all good things (levels, loot, etc) comes from combat. Trying to train people out of that mindset is hard work. Generally, combat is more like in real life. If you have to do it, have overwhelming odds in your favor and try to get it over as fast as possible. If you are taking on a 'fair fight' (or one not in your favor) it is a series of poor choices which have brought you there.
So combat is always bad?
If you are 'relying on the strength of your character' to carry you through combat, yes, it is a poor choice. Buying a pistol which does d10 damage isn't that hard. Your character will have between 10-20 hit points. Simple math shows that combat is something best to be avoided. If you have to do it, having a superior plan, numbers, ambush, etc are advisable. Going toe to toe with all but the weakest foes is dumb.
Do I need to print out that long assed character sheet or can I just use my computer?
The best reason to print off a character sheet is that it sometimes becomes a 'prized memento' for some players. They have 15+ year old ones from my campaign they show off proudly. It's up to you.
Why is the character sheet so long?
Completeness. If you want a shorter version you are free to make one.
Why are the missions so hard?
In most games I've seen, it is your character's strength up against the lesser strength of the enemy in 'level appropriate' encounters. While all GM's claim that their players 'can run in to harder stuff than they can handle' I have found this is often nothing but defensive bravado. A huge majority of the encounters are 'level appropriate' and using the strength of ones spells and melee can bear them through the encounter. This bores the shit out of me. It's like playing chess against someone who has less pieces. Unless you are stupid or very unlucky of course you are going to win. Most things here are as they are and very little is a good idea to go up against in a straight line confrontation. Players will need to learn to come at problems from an unexpected angle ("Go at it sideways") to many things because characters in this system are super weak compared to most. Until untrained from 'my our characters are powerful' systems (usually D&D) it can be frustrating for new players. This is very much a 'information is more powerful than a magic sword' type of campaign.
Can I play cross-gender characters?
Not recommended. This is partially because the GM is dim and won't remember which gender you are playing.
What are the x2, x3 etc boxes near the statistics?
Those boxes long and long ago were named 'stupid boxes' for a variety of reasons.
How to fill them in: If your willpower is 11, the x2 number is 22, the x3 is 33, etc. They allow people mid game to rapidly figure out what a 14 x4 etc is.
Only the stat itself is ticked and then only once.
The reason they were called 'stupid boxes' include:
Players muttering darkly "Stupid boxes"
Boxes for people who were bad at math
Insults for people who were bad at math, didn't realize they were bad at math and too lazy to fill in the boxes (as in "Fill in the boxes, stupid")
Etc.
Note that if a stat goes up or down, all of the stupid boxes get changed.
Why don't you like having a conversation with potential players before the session or before they've made their character?
The last eight did not end up actually bothering to make a character - they were just 'time vampires'.
I have other exclusivity contracts that prohibit me from getting paid for this - do I need to worry?
Not even a little. We would need ten times the Youtube subscribers we have to even see a tiny income and I am keeping all of it until I pay back the hundreds of dollars I've put into the game. That may take longer than I'll be alive. Unless this all suddenly takes off. In that case I am happy to give any pay you would get to charity.
Is this a 'high fantasy' game?
This is definitely not a 'high fantasy' type game though I would say there are more than enough neat spells and magic toys which can be gained to keep you busy. It should (if you wish to try it) be a new and interesting experience for you. The reason (one of them) I don't run a high magic (HM) system is that I see HM as basically 'super heroes'. Super heroes defeating super villains is dull. It's their job. It is expected. In this system, people play characters who are very mortal, very vulnerable and must use brains - rather than relying on magic gizmos - to overcome challenges and obstacles. A 'mortal' defeating a super villain - now that's interesting!