Systems Etc...

Just a quick note.

I've given a great deal of thought to the notion of publishing an RSE book in a couple of different established game systems.

I have no problem freely admitting that there are plenty of great game systems already out there.  I am a big fan of several.  I don't claim to be some kind of wiz bang game designer either.

The issue is freedom to publish material when and how I want to publish it and when you bring in a 3rd party for any reason there are always complications that arise.

My goal in birthing an RSE book with its own system is that I can then decide to offer the PDF as a free download and not worry about giving someone else a cut and charging money for it.  I can do things like off print on demand for cost or maybe a buck a copy into my own pocket.  I don't have worry so much about rising to someone else's high bar for production value or listen to a lot of hassle and criticism over this or that spin I have on the setting.

I can open the thing wide up for anyone that wants to write for it without seeking the blessing of a third party that Joe's book or Jim's book or Sally's book meets with executive good graces.

For now I just want to start small.  Get a simple rules set out there.  Get a more clear setting book out there as part of the rules.  I'm thinking a simple, 100 to 150 page book that includes rules, setting and a short adventure.  Everything you'd need to jump off and run your own games and write your own stuff.

So this is the direction.

More rules ideas to come soon.

Character Generation Part II - Skills

Ok.  So we've talked a little about generating some basic stats for a character.  The next step is skills.  I have been thinking that skills might be best grouped in categories that link with a character class.

Mad Science Skills
     Human Technology
     Hybrid Technology
     Alien Technology*
     Jury Rigging
     Repair
Psi Skills (Psi Witch)
     Mind Reading / Telepathy
     Future Prediction / Precognition
     Retrocognition
     Empathic Restoration
Psi Skills (Psi Warlock)
     Telekinesis
     Pyrokinesis
     Psionic Shield
     ****
     *****
Combat
     Brawling
     Fencing
     Kung Fu
     Melee (Axes, Spears)
     Exotic (Whips, etc..)
Ranged Combat
     Thrown Weapons
     Archery
     Pistols
     Rifles
     Machineguns
Starship
     Piloting
     Navigation
     Sensors
     Gunnery - Rockets and Missiles
     Gunnery - Hybrid Machineguns
     Gunnery - Cannon

Other groups might include a detective group, a social group, a scholar group.

I'm thinking that skills start with a value of zero.  Each skill is governed by a related stat.  Archery would be governed by the Agility stat.  Even if a character has zero archery skill they would be able to at the very least get their one color die for their governing stat.

A class would grant a +1 to one broad group of skills or perhaps most of a group.  Lets say that a class granted a +1 to the Combat group.  Maybe the player gets three points that they can spend, one point each on three different skills in that group.  So maybe a 1 point in Thrown Weapons, a 1 point in Pistols and a one point in Rifles.

Then I'm thinking there is a pool of free points that the player can spend on any category of skills they desire with a few exceptions.  Psi skills would be restricted to playing a character of that particular class only.

Maybe there would be a Jack of All Trades sort of class that only gains a pool of points they can spend on anything except Psi skills.

What would keep everyone from playing JoT's to the exclusion of everything else except psionics?

I'm thinking that each class would have a special shtick it gained in the larger game play.  A Fighter class of character might gain a bonus 1d6 to throw into any pool of dice they roll having to do with making an attack in combat.  The JoT would have more flexability over the Fighter guy but he'd never hit as hard as the straight Fighter in combat.

The Dice Pool Idea

So we have this color die representing the stat related to a skill.  Yes.  I'm thinking the dice mechanics for this one die is different from the rest of the pool thus the reason for the difference in colors.  I'm thinking the chance of success for your stat die is based on how many points you have in that stat.  See below:

1 point in the Stat = Success on a 6
2 points in a Stat = Success on a 5 or 6
3 points in a Stat = Success on a 4,5 or 6
4 points in a Stat = Success on a 3, 4, 5 or 6.

This is where that higher stat becomes really powerful in the game mechanic.  An agility of three insures that the character generates at least one success when rolling an attack fifty percent of the time when using say a bow or pistol.

The success of the stat die in the pool is completely independent of the difficulty of the particular task.  It is what brings in the campy, pulpy feel to the game.  Having a high strength or agility means you are going to be hitting a fair amount even when you only have a small amount of skill.

The Rest of the Pool

The rest of the dice in the pool are subject to the ups and downs of the situation.  I'm thinking in combat that most attacks face a base difficulty of needing to roll a 5 or 6 on each 1d6 being rolled.  A character with an Agility of 3 and a Pistol skill of 2 would roll 1 (red) die needing to roll a 4,5 or 6 and 2 (white) dice needing to roll a 5 or 6 at the base to gain a success.

Hitting = Damage

Weapons are rated with a damage multiplier for figuring damage.  A single handed sword may have a damage multiplier of 2.  A revolver might also have a damage multiplier of 2.  If you roll a single success with your pool you would inflict 2 damage against the target.  If you rolled three successes you would inflict six damage versus the target.  1 success x 2 damage for the pistol = 2.  3 successes x 2 damage for the pistol = 6 damage.

Life

A character's Body score determines their starting life points.  A character with a Body score of 1 begins with 5 life points.  A character with a Body score of 2 begins with 10 life points.  Characters gain additional life points as they advance in level but these are a set quantity based upon their character class.  A Mad Scientist may only gain 2 additional Life Points at each level of advancement while a Mercenary might gain 3 additional Life Points per level.  Likely the Psi talents, the Witch and the Warlock will suck it up the worst when it comes to additional life points per level, possibly only gaining a single additional life point at each level of advancement.

These are just concepts and ideas I am trying to get out of my brain and into notes here.  More to come but probably not until later in the week.

-Ed
   

Small Beginnings

I have thought a long time about making an old school RPG version of my own rules for Rocketship Empires 1936.  This is, of course, an undertaking that is much easier said than done.  Every journey begins with a single step so here I am, after much time away from the Rocketship Empires universe taking a first step into creating stand alone rules for the game.

First.  There are some core things to consider when making the rules.  I will list these here as a reminder while I lay down a framework.  I will be working on this project in real time, here on this blog and incorporating ideas out of my previous games using rules by other people and notes I set down about what I'd hope to see.  Some of this may change a good deal before everything is finished but here will be a sort of record revealing the thinking involved.

The List

Humans are the most violent creatures in the galaxy.  Period.  No other alien race can touch them.  This influences to a great extent what humans can accomplish in combat during game play.

Rocketship Empires is human centered.  If RSE has a monster manual all of the other alien races are in that book and not in the player's book.

Left to their own devices human groups will always turn on one another.  See item one on the list.

RSE is pulp science fiction and weirdness.  It is meant to be a fun romp.  Where logic, science and reason are involved it is meant to help establish a slightly more believable setting for the imaginations of the referee and players.  Beyond creating a fun pulp setting with some 1930's flavor nobody should take any of the discussions about starships, space travel, starship combat, psionics, future science, aliens or anything else to very seriously.  This especially includes the author.

Character Generation

Body and Soul

First determine if your character is going to be more adept at external, physical things or at internal, mental or will based actions.  If your character is going to be more adept at physical things you place +1 point in the Body category.  If your character is going to be more adept at intellectual or psionic pursuits you place +1 point in the Soul category.

Body = Strength, Agility, Toughness and Beauty.

Soul = Intelligence, Will, Perception and Guile.

Each major category has four sub-categories.  All characters begin with a value of 1 in both Body and Soul and every sub-category so when you assign a +1 to the Body category both your Body score and all four of its sub-categories gain a +1 value.  So now your character stats look like this...

Body 2

     Strength 2, Agility 2, Toughness 2 and Beauty 2

Soul 1

     Intelligence 1, Will 1, Perception 1 and Guile 1.

Finally you have three points you can spend on any of the eight sub-categories as you see fit but no sub-category may exceed a score of 3 during character creation.  Let's say that you choose to spend 1 point on Agility, 1 point on Perception and 1 point on Guile.  Your final starting character stats would look like this.

Body 2

    Strength 2, Agility 3, Toughness 2, Beauty 2

Soul 1

    Intelligence 1, Will 1, Perception 2 and Guile 2

RSE (Rocketship Empires) will use a d6 mechanic to resolve actions, skills and combat.  In basic terms actions will be assigned a difficult score related to a simple 1d6 roll.  See below:

6   Risky Business   (Very Difficult)

5   Dicey                 (Difficult)

4   Hard Boiled       (Tough)

3  Eggs and Coffee  (Smooth - Not That Hard)

2  Easy as Pie

1  No Roll Necessary

General Actions

General actions are determined directly by the character's stats or two major and eight sub-categories; body, strength, agility and so on.  The number of dice you get to roll is the score you have in the appropriate category.  Let's say that Sam needs to bust open the door into the room of his best girl when he hears her cry out for help.  Busting open a door is going to require some Strength.  The referee determines that the door is made of sturdy wood but has no special reinforcements or complications to make it especially hard to bust through.  The referee says, "That's one hard boiled door, Sam."  Sam needs to roll 4's or better on his dice to get a success to knock down the door.  Sam is our example character and begins with a Strength of 2 and so he gets to roll two d6.  Sam rolls a 3 and a 5 giving him the success that he needs to bust through the door.  Sam only gets one success and that is what is required to perform his stated goal for that action.  If he'd succeeded with an additional success, say he rolled a 4 and a 5 Sam would only expend half of his action to bust through the door and would have half of an action left in that turn.

More on actions and rolls a little later but just so I remember here is a little note.

Actions have carry through.  If Sam had two successes to knock open the door he'd have half of an action left.  Inside the room wrestling with his best girl is a criminal goon.  Sam doesn't want to accidentally shoot his best girl so he quickly abandons the idea of pulling out his heater.  Instead Sam decides to paste the goon in the bean with his fist.  Sam is skilled in Brawling.  Brawling is governed by Strength.  When Sam has a full action to brawl he gets one color dice (red) and two white dice for the two points he has in the brawl skill but Sam only has a half action.  He only gets to use half of the dice available to him in his pool rounded UP so in this case he gets his red dice for his Strength and one white dice for his brawl skill.  Lady luck will have to smile a little in Sam's direction for him to both burst through the door of his best girl's room and land a good sock on the kisser of the goon inside...but this is still possible.

This is a little insight into the game play I am looking to create and just a start.  More later.  Going to take a little break for now.  

As a side note I am thinking creation of the full rules for RSE is going to take about a year from today but there is no time like the present and most of my thoughts and game development will be recorded / shared in this blog.  

Everyone is welcome to provide feedback and comments as things progress.

-Ed