RosenMcStern

Let us introduce one of the innovations we wish to adopt to enhance the forthcoming Revolution D100 product lines, and to encourage the community of players to share their own worlds: rule packages. Here you can find the template to create your own package.

A package is a series of rules configurations which adapt the core rules of Revolution D100 to the game you wish to run by removing unsuitable options and making generic skills, traits and powers more suited to the genre or setting.

You can use the template either as a checklist of things to do before starting a game in your own setting, or as a guideline to creating your own game world. Revolution D100 is OGL, so if you have created a package you can either share it freely as open game content, or even sell it as a commercial product. We encourage you to do the former, but the latter is indeed possible, with ot without the involvement of Alephtar Games.

A good setting relies more on a fascinating description of the fictional or historical world it is about than on the rules, but sometimes having the rules interspersed with the narrative can be confusing. If your setting is already well described in a novel, a comic book, a movie, a TV show or a series of historical essays - in other words, if you are already envisioning the world you wish to roleplay in - then a package that tailors the game rules to your imagination is all you need to start playing. And this does not prevent the author from adding more narrative at a later time and growing the package into a full fledged game supplement.

In the forthcoming months we will release free downloads of packages for game settings that are already published or about to be published, as well as packages for old products, for instance Crusaders of the Amber Coast, that we do not wish to republish using Revolution D100. Anyone can make and share their own packages, as long as they do not violate copyright and do not contain questionable contents.

What sort of simplified antagonists do you wish to create? For combat or for generic conflicts ? And how simplified ?

Hello Dambala, nice to see you here. I remember it took some time to check whether we could ship the book to your address last year.

The fact your mention - having little use for a skill that is rather important in another setting - has come to my attention in the last few days. A specific guideline will be provided stating that when a skill only supports one Trait, then it is better to drop the skill for that setting and move the trait to another skill.

In your case, it is reasonable to assign Willpower to Knowledge or to Survival, depending on whether you think that controlling fear is more a matter of wits or of guts.

 

 

With the release of the Hardcover Edition and several settings bound to appear in 2018 (delays aside), it is time to make a short checksum of what Revolution D100 has achieved so far, and where it is headed.

The core system has shown to be a solid chassis to build upon. Most people who have tried it are happy with the approach we took to skills and characteristics. Not everyone loved conflicts, but a lot of people ended up saying “I will be using something similar in my game”. Other people had difficulties understanding the subtleties of Advanced Combat.

It is not a mystery that we are toying with the idea of a second edition. Not in order to implement cataclysmic changes, but to make things clearer and more accessible. Some minor improvements made it to the hardcover book, but clarifications would require a rewrite of some important passages to be effective, and this would require a revised edition.

That said, I would like to compile a list of things I think might become beneficial in a new edition, and present them to the public for discussion. Feel free to add your favourite modification: we do not guarantee that we will incorporate it, but we will at least consider the option.

Items with a (+) are things that we should certainly include in the improvement list. Items with a (?) are things that we are considering, but we are not 100% sure to include, or for which we have not found a precise solution yet.

 

MODIFICATIONS

These are actual changes or additions.

(+) Introduce Motivation slots as a standard rule (currently they exist in Merrie England but not in the core)

(?) Introduce packages of stunts, equipment and powers as a standard for handling settings

(?) Find a [better] way for the leader’s Traits to provide a support bonus in Conflicts

CLARIFICATIONS

Many rules are already present but not clear, or not explicit. Here are the points we should stress more.

Writing conventions

(+) Streamline writing conventions for Skills, Traits and Stunts

(?) Make writing convention for Consequences more understandable

(+) Consolidate a standard for statblocks

Skills

(+) Clarify what kind of effects Stunts may have

Core Mechanics

(+) Generate numeric resources when they are useful; never track numeric resources between conflicts

Combat

(+) Better explanation of how after-combat healing works.

Items

(+) Improve the explanation of how the item design rules work, for both weapons and armour

Powers

(+) State explicitly that rituals allow freeform magic; find a word beyond “ritual” for extended use of non-magic powers

 

As I wrote, you know who you are

Aaaaaaand... the first copies have shipped on April 24th! Others will ship this week, or next week at most.

There is one guy from Down Under whose copies could have been in the first shipment but failed to tell us what extra reward he wanted. You know who you are  For the rest, you should all have your shiny new books by the end of May, hopefully sooner.

I hate throwing gasoline on the fire, and I do not wish to sound too polemic, but your "caveat emptor" comment seems to imply that we will not deliver. This is disproven by hard facts. We have two fully delivered crowdfundings in our portfolio, both with a delay of less than one year. The rewards for a third one have shipped yesterday, I have the first tracking numbers for "Revolution D100 hardcover" here with me, at last. Unfortunately we were six months late, but most projects end up being late. 

The same will happen with Red Moon: we will deliver it, or die trying (the former option being preferred).

We prefer to let delivered products speak for the reliability of our crowdfunding initiatives. We leave "regular updates about the reasons for the delay" to those who deliver several years late, if ever.

Attention, revolutionaries! The hardcover edition is now printed, and on its way to our warehouse.

If you pledged for both the original version and the hardcover, please report to Ulule to check the list of extra rewards available, and pick the one you like. First come, first served, most choices are out of print collector's items.

This discussion has become educational, indeed. There are different points of view and all have their validity. Here are my considerations.

On 10/04/2018 at 10:22 PM, Mikus said:

No attack skill roll unless you also parry with that bow, mister!  In your interpretation of this rule they could NEVER learn by experience, which is exactly how everyone learns archery.  I understand this rule as actual use where something could go wrong., not boldly and stupidly standing toe-to-toe with a fire breathing dragon. How about the sniper with a rifle?  No experience check for doing his job unless someone returns fire?  If he does his job right there will be no one to return fire, yet in your system he has to f-up to get better it would seem.

Ranged weapons follow a different path in RQ3. The rule that you train in attack&parry together is clearly for hand to hand combat. This example is thus irrelevant.

However...

 

Quote

I think this is your opinion, not a fact.  So in your game if I play an assassin who sneaks into a palace at night, dispatches ten guards as well as his target with a dagger, (thrown or otherwise), and then escapes with the Eye of Egg Moto I would not get skill increase rolls because I was a coward who got in the kill before having to perform a dagger parry?  I could never get above 50% attack unless I constantly screw the mission up and have to fight my way in and out?  Swell assassin, huh?  I certainly want this guy on my covert black ops crew.

The rules say clearly that you have to be in a stress situation to get a check. MJSadique implied that beating a target that does not fight back implies no danger in any case. And this is perfectly reasonable: if the bully misses, he can strike again next round, there is no scanario in which he gets hurt, even in case of failure. In the case of the assassin, if he misses he is knee deep in s**t: the target will call the guards. It is rather clear that the level of stress is almost absent in one situation and very high in the other, so the two examples are not comparable.

On the other hand, the RQ3 rules also state that combat is always a stressful situation. Now, does an enemy who does not fight back count as combat? Does a sneak attack count as combat ? These questions are not explicitly covered by the rules, so  both MJSadique and Mikus have a point. It is a matter of interpretation.

My personal approach to the point is, however, a bit different.

You will concede, Mikus, that your examples are at the very least a bit extreme. Yes, you can find people who are more adept at attack than at parry with a weapon, but in all cases where this applies we end up with the question "Does this qualify as combat"? This means that your examples are valid, but certainly borderline.

Now, my question is "Is it really a good design practice to make things more complicate in order to better handle a borderline case" ?

In this specific case, we are forcing everyone to record two different skill scores for each weapon (an average of five extra numbers to track for an average RQ3 adventurer) in order to avoid writing down some special rules for shields and weapons that are usually employed as one-shot attacks like the assassin's dagger or the lance.

Now, what solution is simpler: to clutter the character sheet for all adenturers with attack/parry values, or to write down the simple special case "Shield attacks are Difficult", "The lance cannot parry" and "Dagger parries are Difficult if your training is in assassination", which apply only to the characters who use these techniques ?

 

Quote

Perhaps I am looking at this wrong....  How about  a Sneak Attack Skill,  First Attack Skill, Assassinate Skill, Sword Fencing Skill???

Maybe this is what Combat Styles are, I have not got that far yet.  Now this I would concede to, ( I think ).

In fact, Mythras does have a Combat Trait that covers assassination.

And you have just given me an idea for a new Combat Stunt for Revolution.

Legend is OGL. There is no downloadable SRD but the entire core book is labelled as Open Content.

You all forgot to mention the armour penalty rule that stated that a warrior in full plate had a -42% to both attacks and parries while a naked one had a -40% to attacks only if he wanted to ignore the armour. Because you know, if the pict and the knight meet in the arena, the pict usually kills the knight by stabbing through his armour with a wooden spear while dancing around him and dodging blows.

Blatant mistakes aside, the point is different. MRQ1 is the least loved of the incarnations of RuneQuest (it got one single vote in the pool just because I clicked the wrong button and the poll does not allow second thoughts) but it is still fun to play if you are prepared to houserule 50% of it on the fly. The point is: why should you build on a system with known flaws when there are many variants where others have already separated the clunky bits from the good ideas for you?

Gore, Legend, OpenQuest, Renaissance and Revolution all provide an improved variant of MRQ1 while remaining OGL, and each of them is already free from the problematic parts. Is there a particular reason why you should want to redo this specific job when others have already done it for you?

22 hours ago, Mikus said:

I do get the SR not being time but the round is still 10 seconds and you get a 1 per 1 attack every 10 seconds regardless if any given SR equated to 1/12 of a second or 7 seconds. It still equates to 10 second actions blocks.  SR is actually just a fancy form of initiative.

The 50 SR circle is a neat idea but I agree that you cant just extend the number of SRs without making some adjustments.  SIZ would only be for initial engagements. After that SIZ is not really a speed thing.  Once the perimeter is breached the SIZ advantage can actually shift, especially if STR and DEX belong to the smaller combatant. 

This is in fact is a way of trying to sequence, and the most natural way to sequence is using the same time we use for everything else.  Now anyone who has gone through a drive thru often enough, or the line at a grocery store, knows that people move at greatly varying speeds.  I am one of those people who usually is getting finished around the time the next guy is getting going.  At least with short term goals. LOL  For me most people move painfully slow, be it walking, doing dishes, raking the yard.  Really doesn't matter.  You can take a 3 second task and some people will get it done in 3 seconds and others take 10.  Consistently.

I would have a base time modified by adding seconds, minutes or hours depending upon the normal length of time necessary.  This would be like the SR for weapons only flipped.  A great-sword would be slower than a rapier. So a task like making a sword attack might be 5 seconds.  Time modifiers for humans might be from 0 to + 4 with most being +2.  A really slow guy would then take 9 seconds and a really fast guy 5.  Most would be from 6 to 8 though, so the difference would only rarely be a 1 for 2.

Something like....

DEX Rank

DEX         DR MOD     Task Time Adj

<5                 5               x1.5

5-9                4               x1.25

10-12            3               x1

13-17            2               x.75

18-24            1               x.5

>24               0                x.25

With a sheet with combatant down the left and seconds on the top it does not seem it would be to difficult to note when someone acted by shorthand or symbols. Of course I would use graph paper.  A-ATTACK, P-PARRY, M-MOVE,....

Actor                      1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10     11     12     13     14     15    16     17     18     19     20     etc

Bogart the Rat      A                                 A

Pompous Snide    P A                             P             P-20

Zippo the Flame  M                                                A   

But ya, I can see how that might slow the game needlessly.  One can always go with the 1 attack means the total of what you were able to achieve in the last 10 seconds based upon skill and luck.  Just mulling things over.......

If you wish to take all these factors into account, you should really try Revolution D100. It factors all of these element into initiative (yes, even the fact that the long weapon allows you to strike first, but after the first strike it is slower to swing), without you even noticing.

12 hours ago, Mikus said:

I guess I get that but % was a bad term and linking it to roll under on a non-exploding die seems to have caused some of the issues RQ has been battling for 30 or so years.  I maintain that 100% means perfect.  When was the last time you scored a 100% on a test and failed?  If 100% does not mean the whole enchilada than it is not a percentage based game.

It all boils down to tests being opposed or not. 100% does not mean perfect, it means only that you cannot fail if the only thing you have to beat is your tendency to **** up. If your have to beat someone else's roll, too, then the difference between 150 (roll at 100% chance and add 50 to your opposed roll or subtract 50 from opponent's chance, depending on the ruleset you use) and 100 (just roll at 100%) appears in all of its relevance.

Most recent rulesets use opposed rolls more frequently than straight success rolls, and thus having skills above 100% makes more sense there.

Quote

I love BRP but the skills over 100 and rounds vs time are the only things I am not enamored with.  That and dropping the Parry skill. AHHH!   Pluto fights sword and shield for a year but always uses shield parry - sword attack.  One day, for the first time ever, he decides to bash with his shield and parry with the sword.  Same level of skill?  

Yes. Same level of skill. The point is that if Pluto knows his way with his weapons, he has been trained in both shield bashing and sword parry. If not, his trainer was a moron and Pluto should not have survived long enough to become an adventurer. There is no such thing as a guy who is 100% to hit with a weapon and 10% to parry with it, yet in RQ2/RQ3 it happened all the time, and this is not a very plausible representation of reality. You may assign a penalty to defend when lacking a shield if you are used to a "shield forward" defensive stance, but most percentile rulesets already incorporate such penalties in some way. You may not believe it, but verosimilitude is more on the side of "one skill" than on the other side, and ALL designers of D100 rulesets now agree on this. Even the RQG ruleset has dropped the attack/parry split. It is one of the very few changes it implements over RQ2.

Unfortunately none. The inner pages have been ready since December (the mess was with applying the cover), they had already been printed when we discovered that the new opposed skill table had the mistake again. This print run will have this small problem. But the rest of the improvements will be there.

I am waiting for the printer to send us the copies, after literally months of files going back and forth to add one or two millimetres here and there.

The next news will be the request to pick a gift from a list for those who already pledged for the softcover. It should come next week, but I have said "just one more week" so many times on this project that I am afraid to write these words.

14 hours ago, Mikus said:

This being said were you to have no irons in the fire and knowing what you now know which set of rules would you use as your base platform?

I DO have irons in the fire, this is the problem

Anyway, judging from your list of desires and problems, it sounds like the best route to expanding would be using the Big Gold Book as an expansion kit for RQ3. It shows how to simplify things where you want (it allows you to ditch SR and yet to have rules for closing with a longer weapon) and to keep complexity where you want, and it is highly compatible with CoC 1-6, RQ3 and Stombringer.

Two more important points:

- better disregard the MRQ SRD completely: it is full of flaws that one cannot but define as "bugs" and "gamebreakers". Its only advantage is that it is free, and could be used as a basis to create your own ruleset, but the pitfalls it contains are many and if you start from there you risk keeping some of them. Over the years, several authors have sanitized it and generated a usable, fun versions of the game by keeping the good ideas (there are some) and ditching the bugs. Use any one of them as the starting point for any personal ruleset you wish to make. if you use the original SRD from 2006, chances are you will eventually regret it.

-  I would strongly disadvise against making advancement over 95% and 100% more difficut. Either you do not wish to have skills over 100% at all, or it is better to let the players progress as much as they can beyond the 100% barrier. With your proposed variant, no player would probably ever go beyond 105%-110% even after years of campaigning, and 105% is really not worth it. Your character would have done "the effort to become a hero" and yet he would not be a hero at all, as 105% only allows a +1% in specials and the ability to split attacks at 52%, a tactics that is highly ineffective most of the time. No "wading through hordes of enemies", for sure.

First Point: the rule in the RQ3 text that says that 1H weapons can either attack or parry in one round is superseded by an official errata that says that all weapons can both attack and parry in a round, just not on the same SR. I strongly advise you get that errata sheet, in contains important clarifications.

Second, RQ3 is 35 years old (RQ as a whole is almost 40). The system in itself is very solid, and still fun to play, but some details had not been ironed out in that specific ruleset. Regarding closing, the rules are usable and fun, but there are obvious loopholes like the ones you spotted. Most newer rulesets demand an opposed roll to "enter the guard" of the longer weapon before inflicting the disadvantage, which is less prone to confusion and more fun.

Either you accept RQ3 as "granpa D100" and have fun playing it as it is (and I guarantee you that you will have fun) or you start looking elsewhere. Trying to rationalise a 35-year old ruleset which has undergone at least a dozen iterations in the meantime is a sure recipe for reinventing the wheel, that is coming up with something that is similar to an already existing solution - but not playtested. There is a gazillion more advanced versions of the rules, and other in the making, that have a better answer to your questions and are highly compatible with the classic editions of RQ.

The same applies to your objections (which are reasonable) to SR and time.

Philip McGregor, I will repeat it here to avoid cross-forum dramas. In pledging for Red Moon Risign, you and the other backers, have not supported/purchased "our communication strategy" but an RPG product we had in the making. When your angry posts are more about "how our communication strategy is wrong/unacceptable" and less about when the product will be ready and what will be in it, we do not feel any obligation to reply, or to reply immediately.

Please understand that we will not conform to any standards you or any other external source try to set for the frequency or contents of our updates, no matter how many words you spend on the subject.

See you on Kickstarter (and here) the moment we have further news. And no, there is no set time for this. It will happen "when we have something relevant to show".

Huzza! Bravo Tanaka, another useful tool.

Corrected. Everything is marked as "lightning" now, and I have clarified that Storm's powers require activation, except Flight and Absorb Lightning (and in fact, depending on how you interpret the comics/movies, even these two might require activation).

Basically, Storm's powers work like the equivalent spells/psionic powers, requiring a Concentration roll to fire a blast of energy or to envelop her in a protective field against that energy source. The difference with spells is that Range and Might are fixed and not depending on Channeling.

Phoenix and Xavier use simple psionics, as in the rules. They have a Channeling score depending on their skill and use it to determine how hard and how far they can strike. In theory, Phoenix can strike farther, or fire at multiple targets, by doing less damage.

Cyclops' beam is a Project Kinetic variant that does D4s. The stunt, as explained in the notes, allows him to fire the beam as a ranged weapon and not as a power. It works exactly like a laser beam except that it uses two of his Exertion Points instead of energy from a clip. His brother Havok fires a different type of discharges which would probably be treated like Storm's bolts, should we wish to define his character, too.

Allow me a little divertissement. Nothing official, just to show how it could be done.

The X-Men

For Revolution D100

The X-Men are a Trademark of Marvel. The version of the X-men provided here is inspired by the Claremont&Byrne stories of the 80s.

Cyclops

Scott Summers

STR 14 | CON 18 | DEX 16 | INT 15 | WIL 16 | CHA 15

Toughness 9, Might +1, Strike Rank 15, Exertion Points 38, Move 5

Attacks:
Punch 70%, SR 15, 3/2 to Att/Def, Damage 1d2+1d2
Beam 108%, SR 36, 5/- to Att/Def, Damage 10d4, Range C (25), bash (effect), stun (effect)

Skills: Athletics [Balance, Climb, Dodge, Swim, Take Cover] 74%, Close Combat [Martial Arts (Deflect, Evade)] 70%, Communication [Language: English, Command] 68%, Concentration [Willpower] 61%, Drive [Car, Motorcycle] 61%, Knowledge [Literacy] 60%, Operate [Electronics] 61%, Perception [Hearing, Vision] 61%, Pilot [Aircraft] 61%, Ranged Combat [Beam (Bash, Marksmanship, Intercept Projectiles, Fast Reaction, Stun)] 78%, Survival [First Aid, Endurance] 63%.

Powers: Project Energy 10 (the beam is equivalent to kinetic energy but does d4s of damage and not d2s).

Equipment: Ruby Quartz Visor.

Motivations: Leading the X-Men is my sacred duty, an honour that Xavier himself bestowed on me 70%, Will my power ever stop being a threat to my loved ones? 30%, Eternal love for Jean Grey 30%.

Notes: The Marksmanship stunt gives Cyclops a Bonus to hit with the beam. The Fast Reaction stunts allows him to treat the Project Energy power as an automatic weapon, striking with a Ranged Attack Opening Move.

 

 

Colossus

Pyotr Nikolaevitch Rasputin

STR 22 | CON 15 | DEX 13 | INT 12 | WIL 13 | CHA 12

Toughness 9 [15], Might +3 [+9], Strike Rank 18, Exertion Points 28, Move 5

Attacks:
Punch 92%, SR 18, 3/2 to Att/Def, Damage 1d2+3d2 [1d2+9d2]

Skills: Agility [Brawn, Climb, Dodge, Swim, Throw (Fastball Special)] 81%, Close Combat [Brawl, Club, Maul] 92%, Communication [Language: English/Russian] 62%, Knowledge [Literacy: Latin/Cyrillic] 54%, Perception [Hearing, Vision] 55%, Pilot [Aircraft] 55%, Survival [Endurance, First Aid] 59%.

Armour: [16/0+] in iron form.

Powers: Alternate Form (Strong +6, Toughness +6, armour 16/0+, Absorb Heat, Cold, Energy, Kinetic, Radiation 5, Absorb Electricity 3, Skin of Life 3).

Motivations: I will never fail the X-Men! 70%, I miss my country and my family 50%, My brother gave his life for the Motherland, can I do the same for Xavier’s dream? 30%.

Notes: The values in square brackets refer to the iron form. The Fastball Special stunt allows Colossus to throw Wolverine.

 

Storm

Ororo Munroe

STR 13 | CON 16 | DEX 16 | INT 17 | WIL 18 | CHA 18

Toughness 8, Might +1, Strike Rank 15, Exertion Points 34, Move 5

Attacks:
Punch 79%, SR 15, 3/2 to Att/Def, Damage 2d2
Kick 79%, SR 17, 5/- to Att/Def, Damage 3d2
Lightning 95%, SR 17, 5/- to Att/Def, Damage 10d6, Range Short (50), electric
Wind 95%, SR 17, 5/- to Att/Def, Damage -, Range Short (50), bash (auto)

Skills: Agility [Balance, Climb, Dodge, Swim, Take Cover] 82%, Close Combat [Club, Dagger, Martial Arts (Evade, Kicking)] 79%, Communication [Language: Arabic/English/Swahili, Command, Status: African goddess] 65%, Concentration [Absorb Cold, Flight, Project Lightning, Project Cold, Project Kinetic, Willpower] 95%, Knowledge [Literacy: English/Arabic, Streetwise] 64%, Operate [Electronics, Lockpicking] 63%, Perception [Hearing, Vision] 75%, Stealth [Conceal, Hide, Sleight, Sneak] 63%, Survival [Endurance, First Aid, Jungle] 63%.

Powers: Flight 10, Project Lightning 10, Project Kinetic 6 (no damage, knockback only), Project Cold 4, Absorb Lightning 10, Absorb Cold 5. Powers marked also as Traits under the Concentration skill must be activated normally, the others are "always on".

Equipment: Concealed lockpicks.

Motivations: Nature and I are one thing 70%, Will I ever overcome my fear of enclosed spaces? 50%, Mutant, hero, goddess: do I really know who I am? 30%.

Note: The Lightning Bolt and Gust of Wind attacks are in fact Project [Energy] powers and require a Power Use Opening Move and a Concentration Action. Storm’s weather control powers can be emulated by applying extended activation rules to her Project powers.

 

Nightcrawler

Kurt Wagner

STR 15 | CON 15 | DEX 23 | INT 16 | WIL 18 | CHA 11

Toughness 8, Might +1, Strike Rank 19, Exertion Points 33, Move 5

Attacks:
Punch 98%, SR 19, 3/2 to Att/Def, Damage 2d2
Kick 98%, SR 21, 5/- to Att/Def, Damage 3d2
Sabre 98%, SR 26, 7/4 to Att/Def, Damage 1d8+1d2, Parry 3, impale (advantage), slash (auto), triple wield

Skills: Agility [Acrobatics, Climb, Dodge, Jump, Swim, Take Cover, Throw] 98%, Close Combat [Club, Martial Arts (Acrobatics, Evade, Kicking), Sword (Triple Wield)] 98%, Communication [Language: English/German)] 63%, Concentration [Teleport, Willpower] 64%, Drive [Car, Motorcycle] 69%, Knowledge [Literacy, Occult, Religion] 62%, Perform [Circus] 52%, Perception [Hearing, Night Vision] 64%, Pilot [Aircraft] 69%, Ride [Horse] 71%, Stealth [Hide, Sneak] 69%, Survival [First Aid, Endurance] 61%.

Powers: Darkness Adaptation (Improve Hide when in shadows), Peculiar Body Structure (Improve Acrobatics/Climb/Dodge/Jump), Teleport 6 (Short Range, up to 2 targets of M size class, including himself), Unpredictable Target (equivalent to Shimmer 6 if unrestrained), Wall Movement.

Motivations: Only a pure heart can counter the fear that my demonic appearance inspires 70%, Eternal gratitude to Xavier for giving me a last chance 50%, Even in the darkest hour, I can cheer 30%.

Notes: Nightcrawler does not usually wield weapons as he does not wish to hurt his opponents, but if he does, he can wield one sabre per hand and an additional one with his tail. Teleport must be rolled only if he wishes to carry a passenger.

 

Wolverine

Logan

STR 17 | CON 28 | DEX 18 | INT 15 | WIL 16 | CHA 13

Toughness 11, Might +2, Strike Rank 18, Exertion Points 44, Move 6

Attacks:
Punch 95%, SR 18, 3/2 to Att/Def, Damage 3d2, Parry 4
Kick 95%, SR 20, 5/- to Att/Def, Damage 4d2
Claws 125%, SR 21, 3/2 to Att/Def, Damage 1d6+2d2, Parry 4, impale (effect), slash (auto), double wield

Skills: Athletics [Balance, Brawn, Climb, Dodge, Jump, Run, Swim, Take Cover] 101%, Close Combat [Claws (Dual Wield), Club, Kenjutsu, Martial Arts (Deflect, Evade, Kicking)] 95%, Communication [Insight, Language: English/ Japanese, Status: Secret Agent] 61%, Drive [Car, Motorcycle] 61%, Knowledge [Literacy: Latin/Kanji, Spycraft] 56%, Perception [Acute Hearing, Acute Vision, Acute Smell, Night Vision, Track] 91%, Pilot [Helicopter, Aircraft] 63%, Ranged Combat [Handgun] 66%, Stealth [Hide, Sneak] 61%, Survival [First Aid, Endurance, Forest, Streetwise] 73%.

Powers: Animal Instincts (Improve Hearing/Vision/Smell/Track/Claws), Animal Rage (Fanaticism), Regeneration (Healing 1 per round, Improve Endurance), Unbreakable Bones (Absorb Kinetic 4, Immunity to Slash).

Equipment: Retractable claws, can carry field agent equipment but usually refrains from using firearms.

Motivations: Xavier and the X-Men are the only ones who treated me as a person and not as a weapon 70%, Will I always live afraid of succumbing to my feral instincts? 50%, “I’m the best there is at what I do. But what I do isn’t very nice…” 30%.

Note: Adamant claws are superior in quality to any non-supernatural weapon. Wolverine will not go into Animal Rage voluntarily as this may make him dangerous to his allies, too.

 

 

Phoenix

Jean Grey

STR 11 | CON 16| DEX 13 | INT 20 | WIL 23 | CHA 17

Toughness 7, Might -, Strike Rank 12, Exertion Points 39, Move 5

Attacks:
Punch 64%, SR 12, 3/2 to Att/Def, Damage 1d2
Kick 64%, SR 14, 5/- to Att/Def, Damage 2d2
TK Bolt 113%, SR 20, 5/- to Att/Def, Damage 9d2, Range Close (25), stun (auto)

Skills: Agility [Balance, Dodge, Swim, Take Cover] 69%, Close Combat [Martial Arts (Evade, Kick)] 64%, Communication [Language: English, Insight] 77%, Concentration [Might, Range, Targets, Telekinesis (Levitation, Project Kinetic), Telepathy (Dominate), Willpower] 113%, Drive [Car] 63%, Knowledge [Literacy, Medicine] 70%, Operate [Electronics] 63%, Perception [Hearing, Vision] 73%, Pilot [Aircraft] 63%, Survival [First Aid, Endurance] 66%.

Powers: Psionics from the Telepathy and Telekinesis families of powers, Channeling 9.

Motivations: Xavier is my mentor, and his dream is my dream. 70%, Do I really know what limits my powers have? 50%, I love Scott, but what if there is another I am attracted to? 30%.

Notes: this is the real Jean Grey, not the one possessed by the Phoenix Force. She lacks the Overcome Stunt, so her Dominate power suffers one Penalty.

 

 

Professor X

Charles Xavier

STR 8 | CON 16| DEX 13 | INT 23 | WIL 22 | CHA 15

Toughness 7, Might -, Strike Rank 11, Exertion Points 38, Move -

Attacks:
Punch 51%, SR 11, 3/2 to Att/Def, Damage 1d2

Skills: Agility [Throw] 59%, Close Combat [Brawl] 51%, Communication [Language: English/German/Hebrew/Russian, Insight, Persuade, Status: Renowned Scientist, Teach] 78%, Concentration [Range, Overcome, Might, Targets, Sensitivity (Location), Telepathy (Dominate), Willpower] 115%, Craft [Electronics, Surgery] 66%, Drive [Car] 76%, Knowledge [Biomedicine (Genetics, Mutations, Neurology, Psychology), Literacy: Latin/Cyrillic/Hebrew, Physics, Psionics] 106%, Perception [Hearing, Vision] 75%, Survival [First Aid, Endurance] 69%.

Powers: Psionics from the Telepathy and Location family, Channeling 9.

Motivations: I have a dream, a world where humans and mutants live together in peace 90% My body is broken, but my mind makes up for my disability 50% How many of my old friends did I fail or betray? 30%

Equipment: Wheelchair. At the Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters he can use the Cerebro machine to enhance his Location abilities.

 

I can see where this is heading, Simon, and any indication about player preference is welcome. However, leaving everything open to choice is not a good option.

Let us examine how one of your example would work in an "everything is optional" scenario, first. The end result would be

• Pick 8 from First Aid, Insight, Persuade, Surgery, any knowledge, any appropriate power

as "any knowledge" already includes Magic, Healing and Herbalism.

The above formulation, while being easier to write for the game developer, has a high risk of generating "decision paralysis" in any player who is not familiar with the many options that the game and setting offer.

Being able to generate characters quickly is considered a big plus in a RPG nowadays, and Revolution D100 fits the bill rather well at the moment, as the generation process is very quick while at the same time allowing those who have already mastered the system to create a very powerful character from the get go. Increasing the number of choices available would significantly increase the difficulty for beginners, while providing little benefit for seasoned players, as the example of character generation already states that you are supposed to negotiate any sensible exchange of options with the Narrator.

In this specific case, the exigence of guiding beginners in character creation is prioritary over giving more freedom to those who are familiar with the game, regardless of what the majority of players think. Having some choices labelled as mandatory is at most a nuisance, easy to houserule away. Slowing down the character creation process the first time you are trying the game is a significant hassle that might keep players away from the game. The latter is a risk that I am not willing to take.

In any case, everyone's opinion is welcome.

Easy/Hard/Very Hard challenge ratings are guidelines, not something set in stone, so it is possible to have more granular interval.

Assuming that the base skill level is 21% for most skills as Olivier has suggested, a basic opponent with the appropriate Trait will be 51%. Trained militia / rogues / tribesmen etc. will be 61%, thanes / soldiers 71%, tough fighters 81%, leaders 91% and so on. Add the appropriate Traits to make the opponent fit for the role (weapons, weapon stunts, Hearing/Vision, Hide/Sneak, Balance, etc.).

Non-core skills for the opponent role will be 51%, assuming the foe has the appropriate Trait. Very important leaders may have 60%+ in non-core skills, due to training or to characteristics above 10.

It is usually necessary to assign a score, even on the fly, to important characteristicsa. Relevant characteristics for the role (STR for melee fighters, DEX for archers/hunters/thieves, INT/WIL for magicians and so on) will usually be in the 13-18 range depending on how tough the opposition is supposed to be, the rest is usually 10, 12 for important bosses.

Using the above guidelines, you can create a usable opponent in two to five minutes, depending on how confident you are with the rules.

It was not just a matter of artwork. The layout for RQ3 Deluxe was tidy and managed to make the text more usable, and IMO Land of Ninja was even better. But not only were Troll Gods and Elder Secrets illustrated "as you can see above", the books were laid out sloppily with plenty of wasted space. The impression was that of a hastily assembled product which no one really cared about. And Elder Secrets was almost all new materials not previously published for RQ2, so it was really a shame it was treated this way.

Nevertheless, we all loved Elder Secrets Tales of the Reaching Moon, the RQ fanzine of the 90s published by David Hall, MOB and friends, even produced some decent pictures you could put over the Dobyski ones to "mend" Elder Secrets. Unfortunately the layout was beyond repair.

Not yet, and the D100 tradition requires that they are built like PCs. But some suggestions for quick creation of opposition might be appropriate for the Companion.

Brainstorm at will!