Character-As-Party with USR: An Example

For the idea behind this post, see this earlier post.

I decided to take an approach I hadn't thought of before - or rather I had, but not quite exactly the same way. After thinking it over, I decided that I would stick with Option 1 and set up a standard USR character. The specialisms would be the classes - giving me some flexibility but, at present, limiting me to 3 members of the party.

Of course, I went with the iconic 3: the fighter, the magic user and the cleric.

The Party's Name: The Three Manzannas
Action: d10, Wits: d8, Ego: d6
HP: 13
Specialisms aka "Characters":
Flub the Fighter (Action + 2)
Melotron the Magic-User (Wits + 2)
Cadillac the Cleric (Ego + 2)

The "characters" are all 1st level.

For spells, I used a variation of my Moldvay-Era Classes for USR: spell casters can cast 1 spell per "+" of their specialism equal to or less than their current level. For spell choice, I'd rely on the well known 1st level spells.

I used the 5-Room Dungeon Model for encounters to make things easy.

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Rumors of a lost treasure in the Caves of the Decayed King have long been part of the village history, although none had been brave enough to actually seek it. That changed when a mysterious party of strangers arrived in town with the sole purpose of finding that treasure and liberating it. Known only asThe Three Manzanas, the party, with a hastily scrawled map acquired from an old peasant woman 3 villages over, set out for one of the many caves dotting the mountains of the region.

Room 1: Guardian
The party descended down a 50' slope winding down into the cool blackness which was broken only by their torch light. At the base of the slope, a large fungus garden,nourished by moisture visible on the cavern walls hid a Shrieker. Exposed to the torch light, it let loose its piercing cry.

[I came up with the following for the Shrieker(A:d3 W: d10, E: d2, Specialism: Sound Alarm (W + 2), HP: 2 due to poor die rolling!) Why Wits? Because it seemed to me to make more sense than Action, which implies some kind of physical movement and attack/defense. ]

Flub charged towards the offending mushroom and smote it with his sword! [d10  + 2 vs d3, actual results : 3 to 1 for 2 HP damage!] Satisfied the threat had been neutralized, the party quickly scanned the room.

[Does anything arrive as a result of the screeching? I figure it's only Medium difficulty 4+, and I roll the Wits die, and get a 3, nothing shows up.

Is there anything of value in the room? 1 = yes and, 2-3= yes, but, 4-5 = no, but, 6 = no and. I roll a 4 and decide that means that although there is no treasure, there are two passage ways leading away from the room.]

Other than two passages leading away from the chamber and a heaping pile of mushrooms, they found nothing of interest and rather than waste more time, they decided to take the right-most passage.

Room 2: Role-playing /Trick/ Trap

[Does the party notice the trap? I decide it's Medium difficulty - I probably shouldn't have - and roll Wits and get a 7. So they see it.

Can they disarm it?I don't have a thief, and decide that means it would be very hard to do. I roll a 4. No they don't, in fact they trigger it.]

Peering beyond their torchlight into the darkness of the cavern, they saw several severed skeletons scattered about the floor. Recognizing the possibility of a trap, they opted to check for the mechanism to disable it. Unfortunately, instead, they triggered it.

[I then decided to determine the trap's Action die value, scaling it to the party level:
1= A: d10, 2-5 = A: d6, 6 = A: d4 and again I roll a 4.

The trap "attacked" with a 6, but the party rolled a 7 using their Action die and avoided any damage]

The massive scythe blade swept down from the ceiling , with a creak and a moan, just missing Flub.

"A close call there gents. We best be more careful."

[That's just a narrative license, nothing I did singled out a "character". The stilted dialog is intentional, I swear!

Any treasure here? No, but there is an interesting old statue.]

A seven-armed mantis headed snake, with long twisting ram-like horns, loomed at the edge of the torch light as the party made their way into the room. Panic was checked by the fact that it was made of stone.

Like the good adventurers they are, they searched it for any levers or secret panels that might lead to untold riches.

[I decided that this is a Wits check, and it's Hard to do. I rolled an 8 with the d8, so if there is one, they'll find it.

Is there any? 50/50, No.

I decided now was a logical time for a wandering monster check. I rolled a 1: yes, and. I interpreted this to mean not only does something show up, but there is more than one of that something: I roll a 1d3+1 and get 2 things.]

As the party poked and prodded the strange looking sculpture, they were almost too distracted to notice that something was setting upon them. Fortunately, Cadillac caught their motion into the torch's edge and heard the mandibles and claws clicking. Rapidly descending on the party with their chitinous legs and spiked tail protruding from a massive brain-like body were two Brain Scorpions.

[I rolled to see what their highest die would be 1= d12, 2-4 = d10, 6 = d8 and got 3, a d10. Keep in mind the stats apply to the group-as-a-whole. That is, it's another use of Character as Party.

A: d10, W: d8, E: d6
specialisms: Quick (A+2), Psionic Blast (W+2), 
Poison Tail (A + 2, requires Hard save vs Action or die (remove a specialism) ) 

Roll 1d6 for type of Attack that round: 1-2 = Psionic Blast, 3-4: Pincers, 5-6 Poison Tail. This does not mean they are coordinating, it just helps with the narrative.]

Cadillac shouted to get the others' attention and then they sprang into action [they won the initiative 16 to 9].

Melotron quickly called forth his Magic Missile  [as per B/X it auto-hits, but for Wits damage. 1d8 and i rolled a 1. This is the Character-as-Party's action for the round] but it was rather ineffective. Flub charged to the fore while Cadillac moved up in support.

The brain scorpions lunged with claws snapping but failed to penetrate the party's defense.

[Round 2, the party lost initiative 16 to 9, i rolled their attack type and got pincers again, and then rolled to hit: a 10. The party rolled their Action die for defense - i didn't use any bonuses for armor figuring that Melotron's lack of armor undoes any gain Cadillac's or Flub's armor would give: 3. 

That's. 7 HP of damage! 

I quickly ruled that if the total amount of damage dealt is higher than the number of sides on any of the dice, it's possible that "character" is killed, i.e. lose that specialism. Although it's higher than Cadillac's d6, he's behind Flub at this point and so I decided the attack hit Flub alone]

Cadillac quickly stepped up and cast his Cure Light Wounds on Flub.

[Ego + 2, for 6 points healed. Again, that's the party's action for the turn - the Character-as-Party healed itself.

The next round the brain scorpions took 4 HP of damage, and then in round 4, they dished out 2 points with a Psionic Blast which does Wits + 2 vs. the opponent's Wits die.  I rolled the d8 for the scorpions and got 1, for a total of 3. I rolled the party's Wits die to defend and also rolled a 1.

In round 5, the party landed 3 more HP of damage and I decided to test morale since that's over half the brain scorpions' starting HP. 

I figured that also meant one of them is probably dead or near death and set morale to Hard. With an Ego of a d6, they can't possibly succeed and the brain scorpions scuttled away, injured. 

This prey just isn't worth it!]

The battle over, Cadillac cast his remaining Cure Light Wounds spell [Again, Ego + 2, and I rolled a 1. Fabulous. Thankfully, it's only 1 shy of the maximum. ]

The party realized the truth of the saying that discretion is the better part of valor, and with only 1 spell remaining for Melotron and none for Cadillac, they made their way back to town to rest and regroup.

[Per USR conventions, the Character-As-Party gets 1 XP for the session. It takes 5 to advance a level. At that point I can add a new Specialism, i.e. a "character", or increase one of the existing specialisms' "plus" value, i.e. one of the "characters" goes up a level.]

Character as Party

I was talking Ovy Ortega, an avid solo dungeon delver, today on gchat and he asked if I use Unbelievably Simple Roleplaying (USR) or Microlite. 

He noted that he was looking to do a dungeon crawl, where the party was a character. (emphasis mine)

This sent my brain in a spin: USR seems perfect for this, although I have yet to try these ideas out.

Option 1: Standard USR Character

Your Action die represents your fighter, your Wits die represents your magic-user and your Ego die represents your Cleric.

Give each stat a specialism. Probably something like Melee (A+2), Arcane spells (W+2), Divine Spells (Ego + 2).

Calculate HP for the party as if it were a single character (Action + Wits, so yes, your M-U will bring down the party average, as they should) and assume that damage is equally distributed. 

Combat would be handled as normal but would be very abstract. It also means no one character will die, and you'll end in a TPK when reduced to 0.

Option 2: Standard USR Character version 2

As above, but roll HP for each stat (member of the party). All participate in combat individually. Damage goes to the individuals. At 0, that member of the party is dead.

This could require fiddling with how you handle NPCs and monsters to make combat fair for both sides.

Option 3: Replace the Standard Stats with Classes

If you stick with the standard character creation, you're stuck with a max of 3 members of the party. Now, even if you're not fond of the thief, it still leaves out illusionists, bards, monks, etc.

Rename the stats, Fighter, Magic User, Cleric, or what have you, and add as many more as you'd like. 

Assign a die to each. You probably don't want to go much above d12 for a single stat (and I would limit that to just 1 of the members), unless you want a truly superhero group or below a d6 for the party's classed members. Obviously, do what you want. d30 for your fighter? Sure, maybe he's Conan, or He-Man or something.

Give each a specialism, something class appropriate. 

 

In this case, for HP, I would go with a lump - roll all the dice and add together. This really allows the party to be played as a single character. It also gives them staying power - maybe too much if you like life/death of your characters to hang in balance - you might drop the highest and lowest or something, to make a weaker or stronger party as desired.

As my notes in Option 2 imply, I'm not fond of the idea of tweaking the rules for individual HP per stat. The abstract combat really appeals to me.

As Ovy noted in our discussion, you could assign A: d20 to a group of orcs. That "group" is just 1 combat die roll, as is the party's combat roll. Just like standard USR.

I love the simplicity in that; let your narrative describe the details of who does what, not the mechanics.

New Year, New (Social) Game: Session 6

I almost forgot that just prior to my trip, we played a session of my ongoing sci-fantasy game using USR.

The session began with the PCs looking at their ransacked room. Of course, the party immediately split, with Pa Ku heading to find the innkeeper and Jade poking around for clues.

Mustafa, the innkeeper is a bit of a fool (think of him as Jasmine's dad from Disney's Aladdin) and believed two dust covered men that they were friends of Pa Ku and bore news of his father being ill. Of course, sap that he is, he directed the men to the PCs room. Upon hearing the description of the men,  Pa Ku knew the two were the same two bounty hunters from his tribe that he had encountered in the Ruins of Parth back in session 2. They had used the same lame story then but about Jade's father.

Meanwhile, Jade had found a faint footprint of red dust - the same red dust that makes up The Waste and a broken flint dagger - which felt was too similar to her own to be a mere coincidence.

Mustafa offered Pa Ku a new room as an apology, but when the PCs reconvened they decided it best to pretend to take the room and instead find another place to stay. Which they promptly did at a place called Tarantella's.

They decided to find clothing to blend in with the populace - between xenophobia and the bounty hunters, it didn't do well to wander around dressed like inhabitants of the Waste. Pa Ku had some research he wanted to do as well - about the contact he was to deliver Jade to in the city state of Hakami. Somehow they got it in their heads that, instead of say, going to the library which I spent a great deal of time preparing, they would look for a used book shop.

Following the rule of "Yes, and . . ", lo and behold they stumbled upon one such shop just next store to a tailor.

A bit of digging around yielded them nothing of what brought them there in the first place (I let the dice decide), but useful acquisitions none the less: an old map of the city (Nekheb, where they are now) , a treatise on manipulation using magnetism (Jade spent her Narrative Point here to have the treatise come with a bag of small metal spheres, which she intends to turn into bullets propelled by magnetic control) and a bestiary of creatures of the plains East of the city.

Pa Ku began formulating a plan, and decided that they needed a guard to sit outside their rooms at Taranatella's, in case the bounty hunters tracked them down. They opted to try the marketplace (I don't know why, I'd have posted a want ad or something) where they found one Bob Asak.

Bob? Well, one of my players bitched and moaned that my NPC names are too hard to remember (I suggested she write them down but she'd have none of it). Honestly, I thought I was doing them a favor by using a naming convention inspired by Tony Bath's Hyboria. Each tribe or city state would have a real-world nationality assigned to them - and I would use names that reflected the assigned real-world cultures. So, for instance, natives of the city of Hakami have Japanese names, of Nekheb, modern Arabic names, etc.

So, back to Bob. She suggested my NPCs needed easier to remember names "like Bob. And why do they always have negative quirks. Why doesn't anyone smell of roses?"

In a fit of exasperation, perhaps intensified by the single Miller High Life I had consumed, I threw up my hands and said  "Fine! His name is Bob Asak."  Which I said as "Bob Ass-sock."  And yes, yes he ALWAYS smells like roses. (When asked by Jade why he smelled like roses he flashed a smile and said, "Family secret.")

What can I say, it was late and juvenile humor had been running rampant all night.

The session ended with Jade checking back in with the Academy of Arcane Science about her application for admission. To her surprise (her admission interview ended rather abruptly for no apparent reason), she had been accepted.

There were cheers all around and then I went to bed.

New Year, New (Social) Game: Wastelands Game Session 5

Last night, I ran the 5th session of my USR game set in a post-apocalpytic sci fantasy world. I'm going to skip the session summary this time and focus more on things from my side of the GM screen (figuratively speaking, I don't have a screen for this game).

The long break between the last session and this one was due mostly to the crushing work load I had in June but also in part because  I wasn't thrilled with the last session. The party felt they had been pushed onto rails, despite my efforts to prevent that.

The other issue is that I'm just not comfortable running adventures in an urban environment. I knew I had to step things up. So, I did what I am apt to do, research. 

Enter Vornheim: The Complete City Kit. I've had this PDF for awhile, but hadn't really done more than skim it. It turned out to be exactly what I needed, particularly the Urban Crawl Rules section.

The distinction Zak S. makes between crawling and moving was like the heavens parting: 

"'Crawling' only occurs when passage through the city is difficult or mysterious for some reason and so, therfore, the choice of route and means of locomotion between points is important . . .Merely 'moving' is simple. The PCs say where they are going and the GM can describe the journey . . . or simply shift the scene to the destination."

Simple, but I hadn't thought of it.

I was focused on the city as a crawl and getting lost in how to appease my player who is openly hostile to any notion of any type of crawl. I had forgotten that I could simply allow movement as mostly hand-waving.

With a new found confidence,  I sat down and brain stormed using my favorite method: the mind map. In fact, I did this several times, starting from a different question each time. The result? 

After 3 or so days of brainstorming, I had hit upon several NPC plots that the PCs could 1)learn about 2)get involved with and 3)potentially change the game world and how those plots play out.  Even better, those plots pose a real threat towards hindering the PCs from completing their own goals, so resolving them is to their advantage, or they'll need to trek to a different city.

I created some 17 obstacles/challenges/encounters the PCs might encounter - save for the first which was a continuation of where we left off, none were guaranteed to happen. 

No outcome of any encounter was planned, just the setup, notes about any NPC and a note to myself as to why I thought the enounter would be meaningful to the players. I also prepped a random NPC table for use in the marketplace and random street encounters.

I also picked up some things from an article on Gnomestew: 

1. Narration first, mechanics second. I put this on an index card in front of me - too often combat devolves to dice rolling back and forth and the description disappears.
2. Make failed skill checks interesting. Often, if the PC fails, I simply describe that but even failures can contribute to the story.

Finally, I reminded myself that I improvise all of the time when I play solo and that I should treat those moments in the social game the same way. And I did - I used the Yes and, Yes But, No but, No and roll on a d6 to my advantage, and had story cubes on hand just in case.

In the end, the game session went quite well - the players didn't feel like they had to "pixel bitch" to get around, there was no rail, they had interesting encounters which hinted at some strange things afoot (the fact that it involved something one would probably find in a game of Call of Cthulhu aided in capturing their interest) which turned a trip to the market place from one of gathering information about an individual in another city, to also one of leveling up their armor. And we ended with them returning to their room to find it ransacked.

I was drained when it was over, but I was told the session got an A+. which made it totally worth it.

Of course, now I have to live up to this performance next time!

New Year, New (Social) Game: Wastelands Game Session 4

The session opened with Jade and Pa Ku having descended out of the mountains and gazing across the Waste, at the great walled city of Nekheb a short distance away.

The city is Surrounded by a 50' high circular wall made of smooth, polished stone with only one visible gate and the ruins of an ancient city shore up the base of the massive wall for the entirety of its circumference. As these things go, there were two guards blocking the way into the city.

Jade attempted to diplomatically negotiate their way in, but had the fact that she initially approached wearing a respirator mask working against her. Pa Ku, in yet another display of controlled power, forced the guard to back down [For those following along, he has Intimidation as a Specialism]. With that they passed into the gate where they were confronted with a large plaque decreeing that:

• It is unlawful to sleep in public spaces.
• Dueling is prohibited.
• Any magic user seeking to reside in the Upper City must register with the Department of the White Banner.

[From a GM standpoint, the first is obviously to encourage players to seek out an inn or, if they chose to sleep in a public park, for example, to allow them to prepare for an inevitable encounter with the city watch. The 2nd and 3rd item have yet to come into play, if they ever will, and so I have to withhold discussion in the case that one of the players reads this.]

Inside, they could more clearly see the twisting corkscrew towers with balconies overlooking polished stone-walled courtyards,  multi-foil archways leading into dim interiors, and fountains splashing water at intersections in the distance. The latter being somewhat curious, given the lack of an obvious water source for miles around.

With no "coin of the realm" to their names, the party needed a way to make some money and night was coming fast, so a place to sleep wouldn't hurt either, if they wanted to avoid running afoul of the city's laws.

["To the inn!"]

At The Fat Archer, the , inn's owner, Mustafa  [a short, rotund bearded fellow with a booming voice and who resembled  Princess Jasmine's father in Disney's Aladdin, at least as we all pictured him ] hired the party to keep tabs on his bartender, Taimur, whom he believed was stealing from the till, but he had no evidence.

As they debated taking the job, a group of ruffians came in, muttering about outsiders and casting eyes in the party's direction. [I was tempted to have violence erupt - there is a strong anti-immigrant sentiment held by no small part of the population, but as the party wasn't actually moving in, at that point at least, it seemed unwarranted ]. Jade and Pa Ku basically took no heed of the glares of resentment.

After much deliberation, they took the job, which included free room and a small payment of 10 credits each, and set about spying on Taimur during the evening's rush.

Jade and Pa Ku approached the bar, intermingling and making chit chat with other tavern goers. With his extra sensory abilities, Pa Ku honed in on the bartender and received a strong impression that Taimur was under extreme emotional duress and money was the root of his problem. Meanwhile, Jade [using her Stealth specialism], kept a close eye on him without drawing any suspicion and sure enough, found he was skimming.

When the bartender took off "on his break", the party opted not to follow him and simply informed Mustafa of the situation. Thankful for their help, they were granted several days stay.

Jade made the most of this the next day, by finding the academy of magic and the world's most bored bureaucrat seated inside the entrance hall. Said bureaucrat informed her that the cost of admission was 100,000 credits, or she could go on a "small" quest to earn her way in. [At this point the players could only see one option: the quest. I tried to explain that they could pursue other options to earn the money, everything from getting a job to find a loan shark, but the quest won the day].

The session ended as the bureaucrat prepared to explain the task.

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This session was played on May 1, but I felt pretty "meh" about it for awhile. Now with a few days since we played, and talking to the player of Pa Ku a bit, I feel a bit better about it. Clearly progress has been made on goals important to Jade (the magic academy), and Pa Ku although he hasn't had much, if any spotlight, has more than accomplished his primary objective, which is to keep Jade safe from harm.

What I think I felt the most unhappy with was the bartender's situation. Instead of having him "go on break", I should have had him duck out suspiciously - something a little more enticing. I'm not sure the party would have gone after him, however. The Journeyman of Shadow Moss explained that he thought about it, but it would have endangered Jade, and since his objective is quite the opposite, there was a strong disincentive.

Still, my small victory here is that I didn't force the players to have an encounter just because I conceived of it. They determined how to satisfy the mission they were given.

Oddly, I feel pretty good about the next session or two , even though they haven't happened yet - if they go on the quest, it's already set up, and other elements in the city can come into play, if Jade attends the school. At the same time, Pa Ku will have a chance for the spotlight a bit as he can't attend the school with Jade and will have to occupy himself, and find a means to earn some scratch, while she is studying. He also has some research he wants to do, related to the woman he was to deliver Jade to in the city of Hakami.

What I'm not sure of is how I'll handle is Jade's attendance at the academy. I think I'd like to role play some of it with challenges /quests / obligations and part of it would be hand waived - "After 18 months..." The players both seem on board with this approach but I want to mull it over a bit more before I come to a decision.

If they opt to skip the quest and go somewhere else, the hex map is already keyed and there are plenty of possible encounters.

New Year, New (Social) Game: Wastelands Game Session 3

A brief bit of background: the PCs have opposing goals - Pa Ku had pledged to escort Jade to the city of Hakami and to deliver her to a woman there, but Jade had designs to go to Nekheb, a city rumored to have a school for those with "special gifts".

Hakami was farther, but a potentially safer route with opportunity to re-supply at  plenty of mapped villages/way stations, while Nekheb was closer, but required crossing the Plains of the Emperor's Undying Darkness, never mind that the map showed no villages along this route.

[Here I let the players have at it, role playing the discussion ]

It took a bit of convincing, but Pa Ku agreed to escort Jade to Nekheb, figuring the spirit of the request from Jade's father was more important than the letter - especially if following it to the letter meant Jade would be hostile or try to run again.

A few days into their journey, and needing water, they came upon the village of Meridian - a gloomy place where the people eek out a living as cattle herders - although the herds are quite small.

Pa Ku offered his healing services to the villagers in exchange for permission to take water from the village cisterns. The deal was struck, the healing performed and in the morning, their water skins full, they made their way towards the mountains that stood between them and Nekheb, rather than try to go north and around said mountains.

Days later, and low on water again, fate [me] provided a strange pool at the base of a mountain - the liquid was more viscous than water, and didn't stir even when a breeze blew. Jade bravely took a swig and found it had restorative properties, Pa Ku took a swig and found it tasted awful (and had to roll an attribute check to avoid becoming nauseous). Even with the threat of nausea, the party opted to fill up on the liquid. 

[The water is healing/normal/nauseating (with appropriate penalties). Which it is can't be determined until it's drunk, and the die is rolled each time for each person - Shrodinger's Water if you will.]

Jade discovered a dried stream bed leading up into the mountains and they decided to take that route, in hopes it would get them to their destination more quickly.

On the trek, they came to a scene of vicious slaughter - the rended bodies of miners outside the mines entrance. Many of the body parts bore burns as well. It wasn't long before the assailant returned - a mutant pterodactyl shooting laser beams from its eyes, ridden by a homunculus. [The players gave me a "WTF?" look]

There was a brief bit of combat in which the pterodactyl was hit with Jade's tazer, just before the party ran into the mine. It was driven off due to the creative use of Jade's cell phone [in play, Jade doesn't know it's a cell phone, just that it makes noise, has buttons and a display] and the party chose to spend the night in the mine.

The remainder of the journey was uneventful and the session ended with the party a short distance from the city of Nekheb, which towers out of the wasteland, built upon the ruins of an ancient city.

Getting in will be their next challenge.

New Year, New (Social) Game with USR: Wastelands Game Session 2

Pa Ku is a new PC and is being played by our housemate, the Journeyman of Shadowmoss.  In short, he is a blood magic-based healer named Pa Ku, a highly ranked medicine man of sorts, and has been tasked by Jade's father to find her, keep her safe and direct her to a particular city where he has a contact that will be able to help her.

We had a chance to play after Young Lord Shadowmoss fell asleep last night.

****

Pa Ku arrived on his mule at the Ruins of Parth just as Jade, in an attempt to stealthily attack the electronic eye (see last session), triggered the eye to sound its alarm - which reverberated throughout the ruins. Hiding the mule, Pa Ku grabbed his spear [his spear has a metal tip and functions as  +1 on his attack roll] and headed off towards the sound.


Although she eventually managed to silence the alarm, two men, each sporting the symbol of the Jiuquan (her tribe), approached. Fortunately, the respirator she had donned kept them from recognizing her.

Pa Ku - a medicine man and blood rites healer known among many in the Quanzhao Valley (where Jade's warlord father, Heitan, is ruler) - came upon the three and demanded to know why the two men were there. The story they fed him about being there to find Jade and bring her home to her suddenly-struck-deathly-ill father did not fly with him, since he had been personally tasked by Heitan to find Jade and escort her to a distant city where she would find safety.

Jade slipped away during the conversation [She successfully rolled her Stealth specialism challenge] to finish making her delivery for Amid The recipient of the bale of wire, Bala, a rat man with an eye patch seated atop a slithering throne of writhing metallic tentacles, gave her the proof of the delivery (a small, thin, hard but flexible rectangular card with a metallic stripe runnind from short edge to short edge on one side). Although she wanted to know more about Bala, she wanted the promised goods from Amid just a little bit more.

Meanwhile, Pa Ku used his intimidation specialism to force Guo and Moy (the two men) to spill their guts. Ever fearful of the mysterious blood rites practitioners, they handed over a written message promising a reward for the capture and return of Jade, to Cicero, Jade's jilted fiance, and prince of the Atonis. Enraged, he sent them running - "I don't care where you go. Get out of my sight."

After tracking Jade down again, he tried to talk with her, and using his Divination specialism to see if he could figure out who this person was, had the intuition that she was in fact the one he sought. For a reason I can't quite recall, Jade decided to take off running from Pa Ku. Her escape was cut short by a Ruin Bug - a gigantic pill bug of a thing that burrowed up out of the ground and sent both Pa Ku and Jade running to escape [they both handily beat the Ruin Bug in an opposed attribute challenge of Action die vs Action die].

Huffing and puffing and in no mood to face the dangers of the ruins alone, she let Pa Ku go with her to meet Amid, where she acquired a medpack, 3 foot steel pipe [a two handed weapon that functions as a +2 for her attack roll] and a strange device (which she later learned was a tazer that she can passively charge with her innate electrical powers). They agreed to travel together and the decision was solidified further when, on their way to retrieve Pa Ku's mule, they were ambushed by mutant hyena men (gnolls) whom they handily defeated together.

Their success was in no small part because Jade was able to channel her power through the steel pipe into an explosive shock of electrical power which fried two of the mutant creatures. Never the less, Jade did take some damage during the fight and had been injured in the previous mutant ambush as well.

Pa Ku needed to fulfill his obligation to universal balance for spilling blood by healing someone or something and this was a convenient opportunity. Upon successfully healing Jade, she absentmindedly thanked him with the Jiuquan traditional sign of gratefulness to the healer, to which Pa Ku responded appropriately and added "Jade." It was clear to her that he knew her secret.

They ended the session holed up in the mech armory with night falling and plans to head out into the waste at day break.

Friday Night WWII Skirmish + Simple Rules

France, 1944: American troops assault a German-held farm house.

On Friday night, I found myself with a small amount of time to play a game and so opted to put my new and simple house (with a stone wall built just for the purpose) onto the new tabletop (well, painted MDF resting on my desk). 

The setup was Mission 1 from the Nuts! 2.0 rule-book,which is the same scenario that was provided in the free MG-42 rules from THW several years back.

I ran it first with Nuts! 2.0 rules and, as I still had some time when it was over, I decided to make up rules using USR  as the base (I was too lazy to dig out the polyhedral dice). Both games were German victories.

Simple Quickly-Generated WWII Skirmish Rules:

Individual Stats
HP: d6

Activation: 
Roll 2d6 for each figure. 
Figures activate in descending order.
Ties activate simultaneously (wait to apply results until all with same score have finished)For 2-man MG-42  team, use the higher of the two initiative results.

Movement:
Determine difficulty level (from USR rules) for achieving that distance, roll 2d6, if score = or higher, then success. For avg  or short distances (in my case, I used 8" as the base-line) I just move the figures without a roll.

Opportunity fire: If an enemy figure moves into LOS, then determine difficulty level (from USR rules) for getting a shot off at the target. Roll 2d6, if score = or higher, then resolve combat per below.

Combat:
Attack: d6 + weapon bonus + specialism bonus if applicable - penalty for shooter movement if applicable

Defense: d6 + cover bonus if applicable + bonus if target is running or crawling.

If Attack is higher than Defense, subtract Defense from Attack and difference is the damage applied to target's HP. If HP reduced to 0, target is dead.

Movement penalty (for shooter): -1 if walking, -2 if crawling/running
Running/Crawling bonus for target: +1
Bolt-action rifle: +0

Semi-auto rifle: +1

SMG: +2
LMG: + 3
Grenade: + 3
Forest: + 1
Behind Wall: +1
Inside building: +2

New Year, New (Social) Game with USR: First Session!

On Sunday night, Lady Shadowmoss and I played the inaugural session of my New Year, New Game project. As I find it easier to reference projects/games if they have a name, we’ll call this the “Wasteland game.”

Setting background:

Jagged black rock formations rise to meet a fiery sky - thick plumes of black smoke rise from distant peaks. There are no suns, no stars, no moons visible through the thick haze above. This is a barren desolate land of red earth, of twisted leafless trees reaching for a sky that shuns their advance, of murky grey seas lapping at forgotten shores. It is an unforgiving place that permits life but does not give to it gratuitously.

The empires of man fell long ago, and cyclopean ruins bear witness to the forces of terror and destruction that was their undoing.

Yet, there is still some hope in the world.

A few human cities fleck the landscape - centres of commerce, study and often strictly enforced laws, built on or near natural resources. Many humans congregate in these places for the easy access to food, shelter and security. However, far more spend their lives in the vast harsh expanse, the Waste, by birth, by choice or as punishment.
Some among the people of the Waste have taken to extortion, raiding, and brutality, their leaders are want-to-be kings without countries, warlords of the wastelands. Clashes between warlords are frequent and violent. Others care little about claims to land or ruling over a populace, and only seek to capture and sell others into slavery or sacrifice to foul and evil entities.

As detailed in the previous post on this campaign, Lady Shadowmoss is playing “Jade”, daughter of a warlord, and born with an innate ability for technomancy. The latter is nebulously defined and is something we hope to explore and develop during play.

******

Our adventure began with Jade arriving at the ruins of Parth, an ancient city now rolling hills of rubble. Upon climbing a tall heap of stone, she saw, in the distance, dark figures following her trail. She immediately took to searching the ruins for a suitable hiding place.

She found it in an ancient armory tended for eternity by an immobile robotic clerk - a chrome head and torso fixed to a damaged and rotting dais,with thick cables and wire running to the wall behind it. Unable to understand its request for a pass code, and with the timer obviously running (its eyes turned yellow, then red, then began to flash), she removed her gloves and grabbed hold of the thing. A surge of electrical power from her overloaded the robot’s circuits, frying it in the process, but opening up a panel in the wall behind it.

Behind the panel, looming from the depths of a deep shaft, stood the head and shoulders of a large robot-looking suit of armor (think giant mech anime). Here Lady Shadowmoss’s eyes lit up like the proverbial kid in a candy store. Unfortunately, Jade’s power was insufficient, and too erratic, to do more than bring some of the gauges to a dim glow. Even if she could have powered the suit, she lacked the knowledge to control it. In any event, she opted to spend the night inside the suit.

In the light of day, she went scavenging for a weapon and took to using her stealth to follow a stooped, hooded, individual pulling a cart full of junk - Amid, the beast man merchant of the ruins.

When Amid was ambushed by mutated gnolls (yellow skinned and covered with hideous lesions), Jade was caught up in the conflict. Between them, they killed the four mutant attackers - thanks in no small part to Amid’s skill with a firearm.

A brief dialog ensued, and Jade found that Amid had several items in his cart of use to her - including a section of metal pipe (treat as a club and +2 weapon), a medkit and a device that looked like something she might be able to use her power with (she does not know what it is at this time though). Lacking anything suitable to trade, she agreed to Amid’s deal: deliver a bale of wire to a particular recipient within the ruins and the items would be hers.

As Jade approached the site of the drop-off, a hovering metallic football shaped object whirred into view and cast its spotlight on her.

[that’s where I ended the session]


***
Some thoughts:

Lady Shadowmoss and I both enjoyed the session which is good enough for me.

I had intended for a dark tone, but we quickly fell into the humor that pervades almost all games I have ever participated in and that went out the window. In my defense, she started cracking the jokes before I did.

To prepare for the game, I created a number of fall back encounters, but created no particular plot or story, other than the set up. I planned to improvise scenes based on Lady Shadomoss’s actions, using the encounters I created ahead of time to fill in when I was at a loss. The trade for the items on Amid’s cart, for example, was not conceived of before hand, but Amid himself was something I had already created.

USR rose to the occasion and easily handled everything Lady Shadowmoss wanted to do. My only complaint, which is minor, is that the initiative system in USR is slow when there are a number of combatants. I don’t like to have the PCs always go first, nor do I want to use a fixed order after every participant rolls the first time, but rolling for everyone every round can be tedious. I don’t know what the answer is because the last option gives the in-play result I prefer.

Perhaps I could deal cards instead? Except that undermines the advantage of a better Action/Wits combo.

Update on New Year, New (Social) Game with USR

Last night, Lady Shadowmoss and I sat down for a character generation session for the post-apocalyptic science fantasy adventure(s) I'm going to run for her (and maybe some others if things work out) using  the awesome and free Unbelievably Simple Role-playing Game.

Although I just purchased a print copy of Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering, it hasn't arrived yet, so I was following the advice given in the free download, Gamemastering: The Essential Guide for Roleplaying Gamemasters.

After reviewing my concept of the game world with her, we walked through the character interview process described in the PDF using something of a cross between the action oriented player (thus a shortened set of questions) and the full version.

I am sold on this method.

By asking her questions and following up on her answers, offering my own ideas and getting her to elaborate more on her ideas, the end result was a collaborative honing of the game world and shaping of the character that left us both enthused. She noted that she understands her character's place in the world and the world itself, even more so than some of her LARP characters.

The character she is playing is the runaway daughter of a warlord, betrothed to another warlord's son - a political act to unite the two groups. She wanted nothing to do with the arrangement and broke the contract - with her father's support, despite the fact that it will bring the two clans to war. What none know, other than her father and her best friend, is that she was born with the gifts of a technomancer, and she has every intention of learning what she is capable of.

In story terms, she is something like a human trickle charger / generator, with the ability to power up electronic devices from a long forgotten age (she found a cell phone while scavenging, and it lit up when she picked it up, although the character doesn't know it's a cell phone of course) but she has some minimal mental manipulation of her power at this time (it will increase as her character goes up levels).

As her powers grow, she'll discover new abilities which we'll figure out through game play.

In mechanical terms, I'm treating technomancy like I treat magic for magic-users, a Wits based ability, due to the mental control factor.

I'm starting her at 2nd level. She  has Actions: d8, Wits: D10 and Ego: d6. Her specialisms include: Technomancy (Wits + 2), Stealth (Action + 2), Diplomacy (Ego + 2), Scavenging (Wits + 2).

With all of the details generated including goals - short term and long, friends and foes, and motivations, I have plenty of information to prepare a conflict (or two or three) to gain her character's attention, requiring her to utilize one or more of her specialisms and face numerous obstacles.

Another Attempt at a Social RPG Game

I have been doing a lot of reading on how to run social games with less exploration-oriented adventures and more story/plot emphasis. I do this often enough in solo games, so theoretically, it should be possible for me to do so for others, right?

With that bit of questionable reasoning in mind, I've decided to give such a game a try as part of the whole "New Year, New Game" thing. 

Rules: USR

USR is extremely flexible and easy to teach and learn - a benefit when the player(s) don't own or want to read the rules.

I know from experience that it will easily handle the kinds of things Lady Shadowmoss likes to do in a game, without bogging me down with game mechanics I don't like, a pre-generated setting that I have to mentally delete, or handfuls of dice for skill checks - the latter, both Lady Shadowmoss and I dislike immensely.

We'll be using USR with many of my Moldvay-class ideas for USR, Labyrinth Lord for the spell lists and the optional USR Narrative Points system will be in play.


Setting: Post-apocalyptic science-fantasy (essentially Mutant Future + Labyrinth Lord or Gamma World + D & D, if you prefer). 

I have wanted to do this type of game for a very long time. 

The potential for gonzo/goofy is high, but since I tend to be farily light hearted in my treatment of RPG settings, I thought it would be nice change of pace to let a darker, bleaker world have its day in the sun (so to speak). 

In this case, we're looking at a desolate wasteland populated and fought over by nomadic tribes, warlords and slavers. Encounters with strange creatures are of course inevitable and will generally best be dealt with by running away.

As I know Lady Shadowmoss prefers playing casters, magic does exist - but it is a largely forgotten art among humans (only LL main rules spells available at start). 

Still there are libraries of ancient magic waiting to be discovered in the ruins of the ancient cultures. It is also rumored that in a handful of the few cities that exist, there meet societies of mages working to develop new spells and which they teach for a price. 

From a rules perspective, these "new" spells will come from the LL AEC's spell lists, which are a good deal longer than the basic rules.

In addition to magic, "ancient technology" will be found here and there - usually among ruins, although sometimes employed by NPCs; firearms, lasers, or simply old tires can all make appearances.

Progress:

We haven't stat-ed her character yet but we have discussed the setting and brain-stormed some ideas. From that, she was able to come up with her basic concept.

She seems a great deal more enthused with the setting and direction than the LL fantasy campaign. If it goes well, we'll invite another player or two to join us.

I'm well under way with the first adventure's design and I'm hopeful that getting her involved early means less wasted effort on my part and a more satisfying game for everyone.

This post was written for the second annual New Year, New Game blog carnival hosted by Gnome Stew as part of the 2013 New Year, New Game challenge.

Download Available: Moldvay Era Classes in USR

Like chocolate and peanut butter, I think Moldvay-era classes go great with USR (as I've written several times before) for some dungeon crawl fun.

I've combined my first and second post on the topic along with some new ideas into a pocketmod for your edification (and my own enjoyment, frankly - i love pocketmods!): 

For those not so enamored of the pocketmod format as I am, here it is in full size glory.

Links will be added to the Downloads page eventually.

Character Class Emulation Part 2: Magic from b/x / Labyrinth Lord to USR

I know it has been awhile since I mentioned it, but here is the first installment of my thoughts on magic systems for use with USR (Unbelievably Simple Roleplaying), with an eye towards emulating D&D b/x.

Specific Spells as a Specialism

This is actually fairly simple to explain. If you want to cast a spell, take that spell as a specialism.

Example: Magic Missile (Wits +2), Read Magic (Wits + 2),etc.

When I first read USR, this is the method that jumped out at me as a logical application of the system of specialisms. In the case of Magic Missile , it's a ranged weapon attack and treated as such, whereas Read Magic would be an uncontested challenge roll with a difficulty established by the GM.

And it plays well this way. I have had a lot of fun with this method. 

Unfortunately, this means a Magic Missile and a Fireball have the same possibility of hitting and cause the same amount of damage.

Rather than call this next section another method, I'll call it a slight improvement: 

Specific Spells as Specialisms: Specialism Independent Effects

Let's start with an easier example, Cure Light Wounds (Ego +2). 

In this case, the first few times I did this, I went a little farther and decided this should be an opposed roll - Ego of caster vs. Ego of recipient. If the recipient loses, they gain 1d6+1 hp, regardless of the difference between the two results.

So, back to Magic Missile. 

The attack is made against the target as (Wits+2). The target, incidentally, rolls defense as normal in my games, but I do know that in b/x at least, the hits are automatic (and ultimately, for a conversion, they would be. As these were for one off games, I wasn't yet considering correspondence to b/x). If the target loses, then damage of 1d6 per missile (1 missile per +2 of specialism), regardless of the difference in the two results.

Fireball could then do 1d6 points of damage for the first +2 and an additional 1d6 for each bonus thereafter. I.e. if the magic-user had Fireball(Wits+3), they'd roll 2d6 for damage. Now the fireball and the magic missile distinction isn't meaningless.

We're getting closer. But it still feels not quite right.

Why This is not a Good Approach for B/X Emulation

While the benefit here is that the caster's level doesn't in any way impact which spells they can choose as specialisms, it's not an emulation. For one, spells have levels in b/x and only one of those levels are accessible to a magic user just starting out.
And, in all cases, the approach I've presented here turns magic into a skill check, but a magic-user in b/x is always assumed to cast their spell successfully (unless interrupted). So, although this mechanism works fine generally, in an attempt to emulate b/x (warts and all), it's the wrong choice.

A Better Emulation:

Use the specialism Magic(Wits +2) for magic-users/elves and Magic(Ego +2) for Clerics. 

Use the spell lists available for b/x (Labyrinth Lord is free and has the same spells more or less). Yes, spell lists can be annoying in a rules-lite game - especially when you can't remember the effect and have to look it up mid-game. But, they are, I think, an expected feature of any game trying to be d&d-like (which is my goal here after all). The work is in converting the spells you want to use to USR (and it's not hard work at all).

Casting is automatic unless interrupted.

Given how advancement in USR is handled, I would lean towards something like one spell per Magic bonus (+2,+3, +4, etc.) of a level equal to or less than the caster's level. This doesn't exactly correspond to b/x but it's a decent enough compromise that doesn't make for overly powerful magic-users.

So, a 1st level magic-user with Magic(Wits+2) can cast 2 spells of first level. At 2nd level, assuming they bump Magic up 1 to Magic(Wits +3), they can cast 3 spells of first or second level. At 3rd level and Magic (Wits +4) they can cast four spells of third level or lower, etc.

Clerics have no spells until second level, per b/x and then they get 1 per point. So they go from none to 3. It's a big jump but prevents adding yet another system to the pile and preserves the idea that they are capable fighters and not armored nurses.

Spells that hit automatically, do so.

Spells where the victim gets a saving throw, the GM decides the difficulty involved (corresponding to the presumed resistance of the recipient to magic) and roll an uncontested check using the appropriate attribute (Wits for magic-user spells, Ego for cleric).

Utility spells, in my opinion, should have a chance of failure - but that's not a b/x feature. So I'll just leave you with that thought.

The above has not been play-tested as well as I would like(few of my magic-users ever live through their first outing to test the advancement rules) and I make no guarantee it will give the desired effect, but it's a start in any case.

Criticisms
You might suggest that the rogue has to choose which particular abilities they want but the magic-users / clerics are getting a boon by being able to choose a very general skill. I think this is true to a point, but I think in terms of capturing the feel of b/x, the rogue method I proposed in my last post on the subject works well for that class. 

The thief's (er uh rogue's) abilities improve with level in b/x (as they do in USR), but a spell caster ability to successfully cast a spell does not increase with level (with maybe a handful of exceptions), although the choice of spells does. Thus, while specific rogue skills map quite well to specialisms and how they function and how at least I think of them, specific spells do not.

*For Giggles, Here's a System Not to Try
Specialisms of Attack Spells(Wits+2), Defense Spells(Wits +2), Utility Spells(Wits +2). I only allowed my character to choose Utility and then either Defense or Attack. 

I chose Defense. Total Disaster. 

It's certainly not a good approach for an emulation but it can be fun when that's not your intent.

Saturday Night Spare Time Dungeon Crawling

Saturday night, I had some time to spend gaming and I set about testing an idea I had for a new random dungeon generator. You know, because there aren't enough of them already available on-line. 

This was my third test, and the first in which I tried to generate something larger than a handful of rooms. I was rather happy with the results - I generated two levels of a dungeon with multiple entrances/exits, and a variety of points up and down. In fact, of the two levels I generated, both have unconnected areas that can only be accessed by passing through the other level. 

I hope to finish the write-up and post it later this week.

I also managed to squeeze in a USR dungeon crawl to clarify for myself the pros and cons my approaches to magic with that system. Scott at The Trollish Devler, and author of USR, posted his thoughts on a magic system the other day - worth a look if you enjoy the game!

With regards to the dungeon crawl, I rolled up 3 characters (fighter, halfling and a magic user) and a hireling (using "shifted dice": a d6, d4, d3 rather than a d10, d8, d6) to enter the dungeon using USR and my b/x conversion. 

Rather than generating a map or using tiles or even using the method I posted last week, I closed my eyes and pulled a Rory's Story Cube from its bag, rolled it and then made up an encounter based on the image. Each encounter used a new cube. If I got through all nine, I'd have found the steps down.  

If I ran into any issues where I wasn't sure of something, I used the ever reliable 1d6 "yes and" method:

1 "Yes and" [fill in the blank]

2-3 "Yes, but" [fill in the blank]

4-5 "No, but" [fill in the blank]

6 - "No and" [fill in the blank]

I got through 6 encounters(to be fair, one of them was a totally peaceful encounter with some helpful treants) before I needed to pull the party out back to the base town. What loot they had gained was spent resurrecting the fighter (he was struck down by a stone golem) and healing. The party's halfling was the hero of the hour - deadly accurate with his bow -  while the magic-user was just about useless unless he was throwing his daggers (and he only had two of those!). 

The last point illustrated very clearly the potential problem with one of my approaches to magic!

Character Class Emulation: b/x / Labyrinth Lord to USR

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Unbelievably Simple Roleplaying (USR) from The Trollish Delver (it's free, download it if you haven't) and sometimes, I like to use it instead of D & D b/x for dungeon crawls. I rarely need to refer to the rules (although , I do sometimes as a refresher) and, more importantly, characters have a better chance of surviving! 

I've done it enough times now, that I've got a cheat sheet of specialisms I use to emulate the character classes from b/x and Labyrinth Lord (and, I imagine, other retro clones). Thought I'd share it in case any one is interested.

Added bonus:  If I were to find someone else interested in playing a dungeon crawl, USR takes about 2 minutes to explain and maybe 5 minutes to create a character if they have an idea of what they want to play. If not, it can take quite a bit to nail down the three specialisms. This post should help with that a bit.

Below are what I'll call "the easy" classes - fighter, rogue (i.e. thief), dwarves and halflings (these are primarily based on b/x concepts for these classes, thus race-as-class.). 

My Recommendations for Attribute Dice:

Fighters: Action :d10,wits and ego as desired.

Rogues: Action or Wits should be d10 depending on focus.

Dwarves: Action d10, wits and ego as desired.

Halflings: Wits d10, action and ego as desired.

Obviously, you can use whatever assignment you want that supports the character you want to play. For example, maybe you want a bumbling fighter who survives more by luck than brawn - in that case, put the d8 or d6 in Action, depending on how bumbling you want him to be.

My Recommendations for Specialisms:

Fighter: Smashing things (doors, chests, etc.) (Action +2), melee weapons mastery (Action + 2) and one of the following: lifting things(action +2), dodge(action +2), intimidate(Ego +2),  tactics (Wits +2), open hand combat (Action +2), missile/range weapons mastery (Wits +2)

Rogue: any 3 of the following:Dodge(Action +2), stealth(i.e. hide in shadows, move silently, etc. action +2), pick pockets (action +2), pick locks(Wits +2), set traps(Wits+2), disarm traps(Wits +2 ), detect traps(Wits+2), climbing(Action +2), melee weapons mastery (Action +2) or missile/range weapons mastery (Wits +2)

Dwarves (race-as-class): Mining(Wits+2) and any 2 fighter specialisms.

Halflings (race-as-class): Dodge(Action +3 due to their small stature), missile/range weapons mastery (Wits +2) and any 1 from rogue abilities or may choose either Trash Talk(Wits +2) or Tippler(Action +2).

The above have worked well enough for me.

But, maybe three specialisms isn't enough for you to feel like you've captured the class well enough. 

You can add more, indeed you can earn a new one if you level up, but let's be fair, if your dungeons are like mine, most characters won't last long enough to see the next level. 

If I was going to allow starting with more, I'd probably require a flaw be taken as well for each additional specialism. A reverse specialism if you will, something your character is terrible at.

Examples: Swimming(Action -2), climbing(Action -2), reading (Wits -2), running(Action -2), intimidation(Ego -2), etc.

What about magic-users, clerics and elves? 

A decent magic system is more complicated, at least from my perspective, and I've approached it in multiple ways, which I'll talk about in the next part of this, whenever that might be! 

High Fantasy + CSI: An Improvised Unbelievably Simple Role-playing (USR) Adventure

The other night, Lady Shadowmoss wanted to play an RPG while she worked on a sewing project. I had nothing prepared, and so was hesitant at first. She also isn't familiar with any rule system - even those she's played games in several times, including the LARP she plays several weekends a year! After a little thought, I decided that by using Mythic to aid in the story creation and Unbelievably Simple Role-playing (USR) to handle the mechanics, it would most likely be a good time.

The more serious minded among you will probably shudder at the over the top-ness of some of what follows:

Scene: 1 Chaos: 5

Veruka Pepper* was sent by the Order of the Light (an independent, now non-religious, organization that has tasked itself with recovering and destroying evil artifacts. Think Friday the 13th TV series) to the village of Hinchcliffe where she was to meet with the friar of the village church. The friar had informed the Order that the Crystal Skull of Fizrep the Wizard had been stolen. The skull, which is rumored to have all sorts of dark and sinister powers, had been under the guardianship of the friar’s religious order for several centuries, moving from village to village under the utmost secrecy - even the Order of Light only knew of its existence but not where it could be found. It had been in its present hiding place for 25 years and was due to moved sometime within the year, upon the Bishop of Tribecca's order.

After a slow start, mostly due to difficulties of teaching someone Mythic who has a very different gaming style than I do, Friar Ashwic showed her where the skull had been hidden beneath a flagstone behind the altar of the church, and informed her of the legend that surrounded the skull (which I totally improvised to my own pleasant surprise)..

Using her innate ability to detect magic, Veruka found that she received the equivalent of magical static possibly due to the great strength of the magic present. She searched the space for clues and found wards etched into flagstone that she didn’t recognize, but which she copied down for analysis later. She also found that the skull had been placed in the hole on top of and surrounded by salt. She gathered a sample - aware that she could use a ritual to turn the salt into a sort of divining rod for the object it had once surrounded.

The ritual itself will require a candle,a non-violently coerced participation of a being of the same alignment as the object (in this case we’ll just say evil since the game has no alignments) and a rare purple flower collected by full moon light from the slopes of Mt.Snoogles in the prefect of Hawkewind.

Looks like she has her work cut out for her.

End Scene 1

*Veruka Pepper, Jr. Agent, Order of the Light

USR Stats:  Action: d6, Wits: d10, Ego: d8, HP: 9,

Specialisms: encyclopedic knowledge (think Hermione Granger crossed with Sherlock Holmes) Wits+2, defensive art (i.e. dodge) Action+2, detect magic (innate, not a spell. Either a mutation or psionics.) Wits +2

Sci-Fi Small Scale Skirmish Rules Tests Continued

I've been playing games again with the various rule sets i'm considering for very small sci-fi skirmish. The new scenario is rather poorly designed but was intended to simply see how a given rule set scales up and when technologically different cultures clash, with those with better tech outnumbered by those without.

The Setup:

The plucky band of rebels had salvaged an old, pre-cataclysm, ambulance and were out to make a pick up from a supply dump when the old engine gave out.

"Base this is Arturo Fuente, we need a lighter"

*crackle* "Roger that Arturo Fuente, fueling one up and it'll be on its way. ETA 3 hours"

Well, it was no automobile club (not that they had any idea what an automobile club was), so nothing to do but sit and wait. Which would have been fine except for all the bugs...

The Forces:

3 low-tech/mid-tech human resistance fighters

vs.8 no-tech mantis men: regardless of rules, all mantis men would have the same stats (be it HP, Elan, REP etc. ) for ease of tracking.

The Game (This isn't a play-by-play):

The van and resistance fighters were placed in the center of the board and the mantis men encircled them - each placed on the far side of cover so they'd have to come out of the woods to attack.


Here's the table after the first turn of the first test (using USR):

"Guys! We need giant can of bug spray!?"

The first problem that's apparent is that record keeping is complicated by the fact that there are 4 poses of mantis men, 2 of each. It is virtually impossible to distinguish them from one another - so I had to use their clock positions to identify them - this mattered most in USR which has hit points and almost not at all in CR3:FV.

Regardless of rules, this setup is a problem - it's not possible to activate the mantis men as a group making their activation tedious.

However, with two of the sets I've used (USR and USEME) this didn't matter as the humans were quickly overrun by the bugs:

Totally. Hopeless.

Where are these glass blobs coming from????

The primary difference is that in USR, the mantis men had 12 HP and my attacks did little damage - I think I killed 1.

In USEME my humans fared little better.

In both cases, TPK.

CR3:FV gave quite an unexpected twist:

Circle of Dead Bugs

The mantis never got close enough for melee!

"Nice shooting team!"

Now not all of them are dead - technically some are just Out of the Fight:

Gratuitous Pic of My CR3:FV  Clutter Reducing Reaction/Status Tracker

Closing Thoughts:

I didn't bother testing my home mashup rules with this scenario - they use card draw for randomized activation and hit points for damage and so wouldn't tell me anything new.

USR took the longest by far, as each side chipped away at HP and resulted in the fewest mantis men dropped. CR3:FV took the least time and had the most mantis men dropped. USEME, with it's 3 statuses was somewhere in the middle.

I don't think the results were entirely rules dependent, however. The fact that the mantis men were overpowering in the USR game (A: 10, W:8 E:6, HP 12, armor) and were slaughtered in the CR3:FV game due to the failed rolls resulting from being Rep 4 - had as much to do with it as anything. Had I made the USR mantis men less powerful and the CR3:FV more so, the results may have been flip-flopped. For USEME, varying the Elan of the bugs would have most certainly have changed the game. There's no "right" values for the stats though - I'd rather stick to my guns about what I think is an accurate portrayal of my concept of the characters within the given rule set than worry about whether one side is too strong or not.

So, for this type of game, one side outnumbered by the other (although no more than 10 figures on the larger side), regardless of technological advantage, I think any of the rules I'm considering would work fine. It largely depends on how much record keeping I feel like doing and how much time I have.

Finally, the rules test could have been a lot more interesting if the mantis men bases were marked so I could easily identify individuals - this would have allowed variable stats for EACH bug man, rather than just universally assigning HPs, Reps and Elans. And if I was playing this as part of a campaign or cared about the outcome, I'd most definitely have added a turn limit for the "lighter" to arrive - which would have greatly aided the humans in two of the three games.