Grab Bag Day!

I missed yesterday. 'Twas but a sick day for me.

But that means you get extra stuff today.

Even though I'm still sick.

First off, ideas for a sci-fi game have been percolating in my head, thanks largely to Firefly and old Dirty Pair comics. Not necessarily anything based on either, but something inspired by technology as much as the genre itself.

The general idea that sparked it is one of the essential problems in keeping balance in a sci-fi game is equipment. This is particularly true in games that use some of the "cyberpunk" bits, where lack of physical and mental capabilities can be made up for with various forms of enhancement. Typically this is made up for by making the various forms of balance either hugely expensive, socially taboo, or having an artificial game balance mechanic like "humanity" or "essence".

So most sci-fi systems get kludged down where you have your game stats built with points or rolls or whatever... but enhancements tend to cost plain old money, or a combination of money and points, or you give up points and build with money, or whatever. Why not build a system on the assumption that characters will be enhanced instead?

Overall, my idea was to build characters, to a certain extent, like desktop computers. That is, you have a given area of character attribute broken down into several different categories. The first is how much 'Power' you have - how much you can do, and how quickly you can do it. The next is your 'Flexibility' - how many enhancements you can have active in one category at a time. The final one is your 'Limit' - how many enhancements you have have before they start getting in each other's way - for example, a cyborg only has room for so many subsystems, or a human might only be able to take X amount of genetic upgrades, or a net entity might only be able to store and run X amount of programs.

Basically, there are three character types - organic, mechanical, and digital. Organic characters are those who are still largely based off of Earthly life... perhaps widely divergent or enhanced, but built with proteins, and holding a significant amount of water. Examples would include 'uplifted' animals like Seffs (sentient cephalopods) or the various models of human upgrades and breeds. Mechanical characters are those who are largely mechanical in nature, constructed using human technology. This consists of artifically intelligent robots or those who have gotten their mind transferred into a robot of one sort or another. There is some bleedover between mechanical and organic, though organic characters with cybernetic parts are still largely considered organic - the idea of having a largely mechanical body with an organic brain or other heavy organs is considered outmoded by this point in history, since brain transfers are so exact. Lastly, there are digital intelligences... those who have left any permanent connection to the physical world behind. Though they may 'possess' a body for a period of time, they are now more rooted in their net existence than their physical one.

There are basically three sets of attributes: Mind, Net, and Shell.

Mind breaks down into the following attributes: Cognition, Creativity, and Reflexes.

Net breaks down into the following attributes: Assault, Connection, and Protection.

Shell breaks down into the following attributes: Endurance, Strength, and Speed.

Stats are rated from roughly 1 to 10, with 2 being the human average.

Basically, upgrades are installed on on a given set of attributes. These come in two types - temporary and permanent. Temporary ones tend to be weaker than permanent ones, but you can swap them in and out, where permanent ones take up a slot permanently. You can use a number of upgrades at one time equal to the weakest attribute in a given set, and you can have a number installed equal to the highest attribute.

Examples of temporary upgrades: one-shot weaponry, various drugs, "burnout" hardware, programs.

Examples of permanent upgrades: cybernetic implants, genetic enhancements, OS upgrades.

More to come on that later.

I don't have anything sitting in the wings for D&D Dust-Bin, so I'll add a bit more to Naruto today.

Time to talk about advanced bloodlines. In Naruto, advanced bloodlines are families of ninja that have a specific talent, typically supernatural in nature. They are quite rare, and typically these must be bought at character creation - only under rather unusual circumstances may a bloodline attribute be gained or grow stronger in the course of a ninja's life.

Sharingan

• Cost: 6 pts./level
• Relevant Stat: Mind

The "Copy Wheel Eye" is an bloodline that allows one to analyze and copy the techniques of others. It essentially allows the user to use any technique he has witnessed previously, with some limitations. Furthermore, it enhances the ability of the user to see through and defeat genjutsu (illusions).

Basically, to use the sharingan, the character must take an action to 'witness' a technique. This can be done while chakra is being called for a genjutsu or ninjutsu technique, or during a taijutsu technique. By doing so, the character must give up his next action and any defense for a given round. The technique is then listed under the sharingan, and the character may then call it back at any time. Some abilities may not be duplicated if the sharingan does not meet the physical requirements... for example, a ninjutsu that requires one to have a colony of bugs in one's body or a demonic link to sand is much harder to duplicate. Furthermore, only genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu can be copied - and bloodline-based techniques may never be copied (unless the ability is a sharingan-based ability).

The sharingan can copy any technique, but the drawback is that the maximum level of the technique is limited to the sharingan level. The energy cost, effect, etc., all remain the same as the technique of the given level, though the technique is performed with the sharingan user's stats, skills, etc.

• Level 1: Add 1 to all Mind stat when resisting genjutsu / illusions, and all techniques copied are reduced to level 1.
• Level 2: Add 2 to all Mind stat when resisting genjutsu / illusions, and all techniques copied are reduced to level 2.
• Level 3: Add 3 to all Mind stat when resisting genjutsu / illusions, and all techniques copied are reduced to level 3.
• Level 4: Add 4 to all Mind stat when resisting genjutsu / illusions, and all techniques copied are reduced to level 4.
• Level 5: Add 5 to all Mind stat when resisting genjutsu / illusions, and all techniques copied are reduced to level 5.
• Level 6: Add 6 to all Mind stat when resisting genjutsu / illusions, and all techniques copied are reduced to level 6.

More bloodlines to come.

Double Feature

First horror, then crime.

Let's finish the Dread material I said I'd do yesterday, shall we?

Anyway, Horrors have two types of weaknesses: Stun Flaws and Deadly Flaws.

Stun Flaws are things that can take a creature down for a limited period of time. They are defined in three ways - the type of attribute required to take them down, the check modifier required to succeed, the amount of time they're down for, and what precisely takes them down. With the time, an increment is given, and that number is multiplied by the check modifier in order to get the amount of time they're down. For our sample zombie, this might be:

Stun Flaw (meat 1): Physical damage of any type. Lasts for minutes.

Deadly Flaws are very similar, but typically more specific. However, they put down the creature for good. For example:

Deadly Flaw (meat 2): Physical damage to the brain.

Bear in mind flaws are as RPed as much as they are rolled. Most creatures won't be taken down by a vanilla attack - the player has to figure out their weakness and specify it. Getting the Deadly Flaw struck almost always takes a larger check result than the Stun Flaw.

If you succeed at the check and get the required check result, the creature is down or out, depending on the type of Flaw (as discussed above). If you succeed at the check but don't get the required check result, you fail. If you fail at the check, you take a Mark.

It has occurred to me that Dread might work well as a card game or the like, given the simplistic mechanics. I'll most likely collect my thoughts on it in a organized fashion for my next Dread posting, and make look more like an actual game than random musings.

I found my finalized class list for Streetwise.

• Driver
• Enforcer
• Fixer
• Hacker
• Hitman
• Muscle
• Nose
• Punk
• Smith
• Thief

The classes were designed to work for cops as well as criminals; a police officer would probably be something like an Enforcer or Nose, but could even be a Hitman (SWAT Sharpshooter) or a Fixer (dirty cop) or Thief (undercover cop).

I had some rough ideas of what their capabilities (HD, attack bonus, saving throws, etc.) would be, but there's definite need for balance before I go back to them - Enforcers and Hitmen were too good, for example, while the Nose wasn't good enough.

Next: Maybe more Naruto, maybe more D&D Dust Bin. We'll see.

Exalted Makes You Roll Too Many Goddamn Dice

Just a very quick quickie today. When using the Storyteller System, only take the average for defensive rolls; that is, divide the pool in half (rounding down) and use that in place of the actual roll. Trust me on this one.

Creeping Dread.

More horror. A bit quickie tonight, since I'm A) late and B) lazy.

Specifically, Horrors.

Horrors are defined in the way they attack people, what negatives they assign, and what weaknesses they have.

Horrors inflict terrors (defined earlier), though they do so differently than expenditure of Marks do. They only need to get a character into a specific situation to do so. Like before, Terrors come in minor, major, and catastrophic versions. For example, a horde of zombies might have the following terrors:

• Minor Terror (horde of zombies): Injuring somebody as to at least temporarily cripple them.
• Major Terror (horde of zombies): Injuring somebody and infecting them with the terrible virus that makes zombies.
• Catastrophic Terror (horde of zombies): Eating somebody alive, and they may or may not come back as a zombie.

The horde of zombies, in order to inflict such terrors, need to get close to the victim(s). This is defined as their Terror Trigger. Furthermore, people can resist this Terror with their Meat, and have to roll X. So they might have it listed as such:

Terror Trigger (meat 3): Close contact.

In order to harm a person, they still need to grab the poor schmuck. If somebody activates their Terror Trigger, they have to make a Meat check and roll a 3 or higher become injured. Skills like Martial Arts or Running Like Hell might assist such a roll, GM permitting. If they fail, they gain three marks. If they succeed but don't gain the successes required, they only gain one mark. The GM may then expend Marks just as he would for a normal Terror to inflict the monster's special Terrors on a character.

Furthermore, Horrors typically at least one Mark Trigger. This is a special situation in which they inflict Marks just for existing, even if they are nowhere near the character. For example, you know people trapped by a horde of zombies are in danger. Big danger. So their Mark Trigger might be listed as such:

Mark Trigger: Whenever they trap a character in a place, and for every 24 hours a character remains in this place, the horde of zombies inflicts one Mark.

Tomorrow I'll talk about how to put a Terror down, and that should finish up the basic rules of Dread.

How Much XP Is A Liquor Store Worth?

One of the central tenets of Power Kill is that most RPGs, translated into modern-day actions, are essentially criminal fantasies. That is, most games revolve around you killing and stealing in one form or another at some point or another, and that very few have a character engaging in what might be considered "acceptable behavior" in modern society.

Given that, it's a bit surprising that there aren't more crime-based games out there. TSR's classic Gangbusters comes to mind, and GURPS has a good book on the subject (as it usually does), but there are very few games dedicated to the subject. Certainly, many games contain elements of such, but rarely does a game focus on it.

A while back, when Spycraft was the only d20 game set in the modern day, I figured it would make a great framework for a modern day crime game where people could take on the roles of law enforcement or organized crime. It had great rules for organizations and chase scenes that could easily be extended to a crime game. It would be called Streetwise.

Then d20 Modern comes along, trumps that, and then I quit thinking about it, and time goes by.

Recently, I found my notes on it. Since these are just notes, full crunchy bits are not included.

The classes:

• Dealer: Skilled underworld merchants, dealers are the best at getting you what you need - or what they need.
• Enforcer: Those who see that the will of organized crime is unopposed. Scary guys in long coats.
• Heavy: Muscle - the guys what hit things. Good at hand-to-hand combat.
• Hitman: Contract killers, these criminals are skilled on both the silent and noisy kill.
• Nose: A dealer in information and dirt. An expert at blackmail and insider info.
• Punk: Your classic street trash. Good at knowing the urban landscape, as well as an expert in day-to-day fighting.
• Smith: These are the folks that make things, including "nasty things what kill people".
• Thief: Sneaky guys that take shit.

The factions:

• Bikers (Favored Class: Wheelman)
• Cartel (Favored Class: Heavy)
• Mafiya (Favored Class: Dealer)
• Mob (Favored Class: Enforcer)
• Street Gangs (Favored Class: Punk)
• Triad (Favored Class: Hitman)

New Feats:

• Bulletproof
• Drive-By
• Rampage
• Trenchcoating
• Vendetta

I know I had a lot more notes than this. Some of these might turn into advanced classes for here. Hard to say. More to come as I find it.