sladethesniper

By plot armor, I am referring to ensuring that PCs or NPCs survive regardless of dice. When I need to protect the plot (not NPCs) I have the enemy plot on a timeline, so there are specific points that PC actions can influence the enemy, but if they wander off to investigate red herring number 3 and ignore all the clues, oh well...I have never been accused of railroading. -STS

How much plot armor do you provide for PCs and NPCs in your game? Does it vary by genre? For me, I enjoy gritty and noir games and as such am pretty dice centric...I play the NPCs smart so they use tactics, retreat when beaten and conduct recon before attacking. In my games, my players actively avoid combat unless they spend the time to prep beforehand. My wife on the other hand GM's in a very cinematic style where dice are a guideline to how the scenes play out. Plot armor is used as the battles are there for a reason and although Our group thankfully enjoys both types of gaming and the varying levels of plot armor involved, primarily due to the pre-game conversation about expectations, genre, and character creation.

I think in earlier periods of history, Credit Rating would be changed to something like Social Class or Social Standing or Family Honor or some equivalent measure of apparent trustworthiness and visible wealth. -STS

The breakdown of Dimensions to Attributes would be: Physical: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Size, Speed Mental: Intelligence, Education, Perception Spiritual: Wisdom, Power, Resolve (Willpower?) Social: Appearance, Charisma, Manipulation? Composure? I was hoping to have an equal number of Attributes per Dimension, but it is just too easy to break out Physical attributes without overlap...while very hard to have other aspects of a person be neatly placed into a box. For some people Speed is a non- issue, but in my experience, sprinting speed is very important as is Constitution...but so is Strength and Dexterity...Size is less so, but it feeds into Hit Points, so not too sure how to remove stats in the interest of aesthetic symmetry... Oh, well. -STS

g33k, Noted. When I get back home, I'll expand out the idea a bit, but what you are asking for, I think I am trying to make. So, for a character with Physical 7, everything physical has a default skill of 7%. With a Con of 12, Str 11, Dex 14, Speed of 9, each of the skills using that attribute defaults to that skill %...and it continues in that progression for skills and specializations. I want to explain it better but phone touchpad typing sucks... -STS

Just doing some napkin design notes. Character Dimensions are Mental, Physical, Spiritual and Social. Dimensions are rated from 1 to 10. Next are Attributes, and they are rated from 3 to 25 (human max, but starting human max is 18). Next are skills, and they range up to 50... And finally are specializations, which max at 99% for realistic humans. Dimensions x 2.5 = Attributes x 2 = skills x 2 = specializations. All of these are default percentages. I'll have to wait till I get home to check my math and make sure it makes sense...and build out some characters using it. I plan on keeping the entire BRP rule set the same, but just want to see if it can be made more...intuitive. -STS

I am thinking of doing something like this: Attributes can contribute up to 25% in a skill to represent just raw talent. Taking a large swathe skill can get you up to 50%. Regular skills can get you up to 75% Specialized skills can get you up to the vaunted 99%... That way you could have Physical 25%, Team Sports 50%, Football 75% and Quarterback at 99% or something like that to simulate that mix of talent, general knowlege, experience and specialization that allows true experts to be competent. As another example Mental 25%, Science 50%, Biology 75%, Penguins 99%... Granted it is a rough idea and too complex in game, but I think I might cogitate on it further. The basic stat might be basic % and thn have a cascade skill list like old school Traveller or a skill web like Shadowrun (ugh). Again, I am probably not going to do anything with it unless I could do something that would be easy like 4 attributes, each with a swathe, two skills and two specializations...for a total of 4+4+8+8 =24 numbers on a character sheet. I think that might be doable... -STS

I use coinage in almost all my games...if players cant feel the pinch of buying things, it has less emotional value in game. Plus, I usually play street level games where keeping em poor is part of the genre. Once players make it off the street, they still pay for things with cash, but there are other options such as favors, credit rating (which can go down), using other sources of funds such as your employer when doing things "on the clock" (for mercenaries or corporate types). I have found resource management a good motivating factor for many of my players. I also snagged the lifestyle upkeep cost from Shadowrun which forces PCs to know they have to make X amount every month just to maintain their standard of living. -STS

My favorite system by far is BRP, but was wondering if there was some other more preferred method that was out there. -STS

What is the degree of skill complexity that you, as a player and/or GM prefer? I have seen systems that break skills and attributes down into basically mental, physical and social blocks (although I would posit that Spiritual should be in there as well) so that a PC would basically only be rated numerically in those 4 areas. Also there are games that are attribute based like AD&D where skills basically acted as attribute modifiers of +1 or +2 on a roll of a D20, although interestingly enough weapons and magical skills and capabilities were very well defined and far more integral to the game. There are games like Cyberpunk that make attributes and skills equal in value. Then there are games that fix skills to attributes and attributes modify skills such as in D20, where having bad stats can be overcome with enough training... Then there are skill based games like BRP and Palladium, where skills are far more important that attributes in most cases. Attributes in this case serve as minimal baseline combat attributes like damage and hitpoints and possibly giving a very small bonus to certain skills. With regard to number of skills a character has, we have: The three or four big categories of mental, spiritual, physical and social, or Large swathes of capability like Science, Firearms, Melee, Engineering, Technology, etc., or More specialized skills like rifle, pistol (both firearms), dagger, polearms (both melee), physics, biochemistry, (both science), automotive repair, computer hacking (both technology), pilot helicopter, pilot space freighter (both piloting) etc., or Even more specialized like katana, bastard sword (both hand and a half swords), pilot F-18, pilot Mig-17 (both jet aircraft) shoot M1911, shoot Single Action Army (both pistols), computer network attack, computer forensics (both computer hacking?) The third part of this is how many skill slots a PC should have depending on the skill breadth...for the first option it would be 3 or 4 since that is all a PC has...or the big skill categories maybe about 10? For the smaller skills (dagger, physics, pilot jet) maybe 20, and for the most specialized version maybe 40? There is the option of building out a skillweb like Shadowrun where big skill categories are progressively necked down into more specialized skills such as Physical (27%), Firearms (31%), Pistol (43%), Single Action Army (62%) and with each level of focus the skill increases... Thoughts? -STS

For my games, I make a detailed enemy plan. It has the people, places and things the enemy needs to make thier plan work and a timeline of events, rather like a lot of time based call of cthulhu adventures have. That way if the PCs wander off on some side quest, the enemy steals the amulet from the museum on day 3, sets up ritual on day 4 and ends the world on day 5...but by having events still happen other than those affected by PC actions, I find it adds to the verisimilitude of the game world and keeps PCs focused. -STS

Well, it is only one player that acts that way, and frankly is the only player I have ever had that acts that way Unfortunately, he IS a good roleplayer when he is not spazzing out about "almost dying" (when he took 1 HP of damage and ran away, while other players died as a result) or angry that when the reputation he spent so much time crafting in game boasting about his exploits came back to bite him when he was attacked from ambush while alone (which I assumed smart opponents would do, as did the rest of the group, but not him). The other 99% of the time, he is great... -STS

Well, here is my basic synopsis for my Supers game…take Shadowrun, but make all the magical aspects only visible to people with The Sight. Therefore, on the face of it (which is what the first campaign is called, “On The Face Of It”), everything seems like Cyberpunk and that is how the characters are being introduced…to a near future cyber-distopia. Their superpowers are either due to them being a real ninja, a powered armor wearing former cosmonaut cyborg, a noir private investigator who will get his powers (bullet timing and some TK) in big magic explosion, or a shamanic Immortal (the type from Highlander, but he doesn’t know that yet). The first adventure will be exploring ancient catacombs filled with corrosive gasses and poisons. Then the above ground complex will be attacked a quartet of anti-establishment super villains (Kalashnikov, Übermensch, Pariah and Agency). That will set off the big magic explosion that will give the PI his powers and boost the other PCs inherent abilities a bit. This will also release a dragon spirit who becomes an important NPC later on (the dragon will kill or enslave the survivors of the explosion). The PCs will then escape and be blamed for the explosion… From there they can then get involved in tracking down the “villains” (who are actually good, but very misguided), go to jail, or track down the dragon spirit that is on her way to start up a global draconic civil war that the PCs can now directly interact since they all now have The Sight and are now very aware of just how strange the world really is (similar to PCs in CoC or Nephilim). This will be very sandbox so I am building out a LOT of the world (London, central Africa, Central America, and Berlin to start off with). Due to the amount of NPCs and factions, each session, I am going to have a little handout of previous events, a few current events headlines (relating to stuff like oil companies, corporate warfare and/or the draconic war as seen through normal human eyes to act as side quest story hooks if they want them) and all the NPCs and factions current whereabouts (if they bother to keep up with them…) I think I might have some “power level” issues during game play (1 power gamer, 2 teen agers, one method actor), but if that happens, I can always have a random magical effect occur due to the nature of them gaining their powers to give a power or take one away or weaken it (if absolutely necessary for the one min-maxing power gamer in my group). Anyone have any pointers on running this type of game? -STS

Just got the write up for the 4th PC in my supers game... Engineer Doctor Chief Akinyemi “Akin” Juwari is the only son of an African warlord who wanted his son to not be embroiled in the endemic civil wars of Central Africa and eventually used the money the CIA and MI6 gave him to send his son get an education. Graduating with a PhD in Geology, Akinyemi was employed by the Oil Ministry for several years. Eventually the civil war took a turn for the worse and his father and his entire pro-Western, pro-Government tribal army was exterminated. Akinyemi returned home for the burial rites, but the enemy was waiting and during the ceremony attacked and killed off all the remnants of the tribe. Four days later Akinyemi clawed his way out of the funeral pyre of bodies and stumbled into the rain forest. Akinyemi has sworn vengeance on those who killed him and his entire clan, but after four years of searching, he has found nothing but rumors and dead ends concerning who they are, and why they attacked. However, the fact that international oil companies are now clamoring for his favor as he was able to prove that he does still have the titles to those ancestral lands even after being assassinated two more times in the intervening time. Through very careful financial and legal planning, he has been able to pass off those deaths as merely distant relatives, but there are those that know the truth… -STS

Well, as for the lethality aspect of 40k, BRP models that very well.

Thanks! I am using this as my go to list for the new supers game I am running. -STS

I use the SAN system myself as it can be expanded to cover all sorts of other things outside of Mythos nastiness. Here is an expanded list with some additional rules and things I use. WIS or POW x 5 = SAN…most people start with ~50 and take damage for years and does not heal If you lose ½ POW in one day then you are temporarily insane If you lose 1/5 of your Sanity in one day you are indefinitely insane If you fall to -0 SAN you are permanently insanity Hospitalization = 1d3 SAN regained per month on a success, lose 1d6 SAN on a failure On a critical failure on a save against a fear effect or something similar, lose 1 SAN On a critical hit on a mental attack, lose 1 SAN On a critical success on a social attack such as intimidate or seduction or something similar, the victim lose 1 SAN 1/1d2 Loss of a treasured item 1/1d2 Loss of job 1/1d2 Surprised to find mangled animal carcass 1/1d3 Surprised to find human corpse 1/1d3 Surprised to find human body part 1/1d4 Witnessing a death of a person 1/1d4 Loss of a Parent 1/1d4 Loss of a Friend 1/1d4 Finding a stream flowing with blood 1/1d4 Incarceration 1/1d4 Severe Injury 1/1d4+1 Finding a mangled human corpse 1/1d4 Causing a willful death 1/1d4 Committing torture 1/1d6 Awakening trapped in a coffin 1/1d6 Witnessing a friend’s violent death 1/1d6 Committing murder 1/1d6 Causing an accidental death 1/1d6 Seeing a ghoul 1/1d6 Molestation 1/1d6+1 Meeting a ghost or someone you know to be dead 1/1d8 Rape 1/1d10 Undergoing severe torture per instance 1/d10 Seeing a corpse rise from its grave 1/1d10 Divorce/Loss of love 1/1d10 Loss of a Child 1/1d10 Terminal Illness 1/1d10 Per week of sustained warfare 1d2/1d8 Sudden betrayal 1d2/1d8 Sudden Poverty 1d2/1d10 First battle 1d2/2d10+1 Seeing a gigantic severed head fall from the sky 1d4/1d20 Mass casualty event/Natural disaster 1d6/1d20 Being Possessed 1d6/1d20 Near Death Experience or being Resurrected 1d10/d100 Seeing an evil deity -STS

I agree with you on the Cyberpunk, where cover is your friend and smart tactics rule the day....ah, and the Paranoia, where a TPK per session is expected. Also, I agree that "New game = new dice!" I fully agree with this, but allow me to pontificate on the differences between BRP and D&D... -STS

Because many people read "defeat" as kill and thus to get the almighty experience, you must kill things -STS

Our long standing CoC game finally ended as they PCs were too insane to continue, but they did survive! But, I finally got the go ahead on my Supers game. It will be near-future street level with a lot of conspiracies and some cyberpunk elements thrown in and will be a sandbox for my players to make their own choices. So far I have three PCs: Kade Killian MacCloud was born to a military family in the UK, the youngest of four brothers. He was a difficult child, always somewhat violent but was able to just barely skip out of trouble while everyone else got caught and punished. He had a way with his fists and a natural charisma that served him well throughout his life. He joined the military, and always sought more challenge and so worked his way into the SAS, then a four man assault team, and eventually into the 00 program. Then there was a botched mission, and instead of a clean getaway, they tracked Kade back to the UK, and killed his wife and his son, and his daughter is still missing. Due to his mistake, Kade was bounced out of the service and spent years looking for his lost daughter. He never found her, and Kade was forced to take odd jobs and worked with Geoffrey Devon D'Levant on several of his expeditions in Mongolia and Argentina, using those locations to continue with his search. In Argentina, they suffered an attack by the Sendero Luminoso terrorist gang, and although Kade was able to successfully protect D’Levant, Kade was injured severely. After returning to the UK, Kade went off the radar for a few months, eventually being found by D’Levant strung out on drugs in Marrakesh tracking what he thought was his daughter… D’Levant got Kade cleaned up and made him a promise that after this project, that they would both go looking for his daughter. Kade was personally tasked by his employer, Lewis Croaker, to ensure the safety of Geoffrey D’Levant. Professor Geoffrey Devon D’Levant is an orphan, his immigrant Arabic parents killed in mysterious circumstances, and the young infant was placed in the care of the social services, eventually being warded by the East London Occidental Outreach Orphanage and Academy (called the Eloo, run by the ever socially conscious Nicholas Linnear) as he was intelligent, no physical deformities and passed the strict mental and emotional screening process. He was a natural and as he progressed through his academics and extracurricular activities was brought into the true purpose of the school, it was a feeder route for the ninja clan. He was inducted into the clan and has been very successful in his duties as an assassin and thief of lost knowledge (for the Kaisho, Nicholas Linnear) as well as his cover as an archeologist working on retainer for Globus International (Linnear’s investment company). Personally tasked by the head of your clan, the Kaisho, he were sent to this location to determine if a set of the cursed Kuragari no Kuragari texts may exist in this cursed location. Ex-Cosmonaut Anzhelika Davidevna Sokol After a lifetime of working to become an astronaut and a test pilot, she had achieved her dreams…until a re-entry mishap from a mining mission that destroyed her ship, killed the crew and crippled her as she was struck with radioactive core samples taken from an asteroid that embedded themselves in her flesh and fragmented and crystallized in the explosion. Losing both legs and her right arm, she was in a coma for six months as doctors worked to save her life. Seven years later, the project to regain her honor is near completion. She was brought in to test her experimental exo-armor in the hostile environment of the caverns that were discovered as the final test to see if her new direct neural interface with the armor is acceptable to re-certify her as a cosmonaut. The first game will be them exploring a set of mysterious ruins a mile below the surface discovered during an oil exploration test. They will get their powers during that first adventure. D'Levant is a ninja, MacCloud is the tank and Sokol will be a cyborg. Eventually, I might bring import our long standing Pirate campaign from D20 to BRP, as Blood Tide really makes naval games in the age of sail so much easier and fun than that other system. -STS

Currently gearing up to run a BRP espionage themed supers game (like the Bourne Identity with street level superpowers)...pulling in a lot of stuff from other genres to keep the paranoia level up. Currently have a ninja and private investigator...and waiting for the other two players to make a character concept. -STS

Elder Godlike? Never heard of it, but I do have Achtung! Cthulhu...I might have to check it out. -STS

I am about to start up a BRP supers game, street level, noir. The PCs will start off as regular BRP characters and then undergo an event that grants them powers. Over the entire story arc, they will have to learn about the world they are now a part of (similar in tone to how the Old World of Darkness used to be), uncover conspiracies, gain allies and grow in power. Some of optional rules we will be using are: Low rolls win in contested rolls Skills over 100% Superpowers, Psionics, Mutations, Magic and Sorcery will all be used. Extra superpowers will be allowed from City of Heroes (in the downloads section of this very website!), Marvel Superheroes, Mutants and Masterminds, Aberrant, and Heroes Unlimited. Some of the house rules are: A linear damage scale ported in from Palladium Dual damage tracks…regular Hit Points and Bludgeoning damage, each of which are equal to CON, but unless characters have Martial Arts, all non-weapon, non-penetrating damage (punch, kick, club, impact, etc) is first taken off Bludgeoning damage, then Hit Points. A new power called Toughness, that acts a multiple for Hit Points and Bludgeoning damage, so that Toughness 3 is actually Hit Points and Bludgeoning x 4…this is to replicate the fact that Superheroes are very, very tough. The power of Armor, now protects against all forms of damage, so that they can buy up points of armor fairly cheaply, but with a linear damage scale, it really won’t make the combat all that much longer. I also plan on a new skill called “Pulled Punches” which allows a character to use reduced damage in combat, which means that they can choose to half damage, quarter damage, a single point or no damage at all. I plan on keeping regular humans book standard to represent the fact that they are squishy and die quite readily when superpowers start going off…after all, if a punch from a superhero can destroy a tank, then they are technically anti-tank weapons, and in real life when anti-tank weapons go off, civilians die… -STS