Mano a Mano:Complete System
This is the whole system on one page for searching and printing. For chapters and discussion, please use the Table of Contents. Mano a Mano is a Role-Playing System - a set of rules for Role-Playing Games (RPGs) - created by Seth Galbraith and Benjamin Galbraith. Mano a Mano is a simple, flexible system which emphasizes realistic hand to hand combat. Mano a Mano can be used for almost any genre of RPG.
http://gameartsguild.com/mano-a-mano
You may create and distribute copies of Mano a Mano in this original form or with your own modifications. Anyone who receives these copies and modifications may do the same. See the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license for details:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5
Contents
- 1 Gameplay
- 2 Action
- 3 Character Development
- 4 Character Creation
- 5 Game Design
Gameplay[edit]
Players and Characters[edit]
The Mano a Mano rules are designed for games with one or more players where each player controls one or more individual characters. Mano a Mano is designed for role-playing games and has more detail about each character than strategy games where each player directs an army or large group of characters. One person may be a Game Master (GM) who referees the game and controls the bad guys, while the regular players control the heroes. In games refereed by a GM, characters controlled by the GM are called Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and characters controlled by the regular players are called Player Characters (PCs.) PCs and NPCs use the same rules, so Mano a Mano can also be used in games that do not have a GM.
Tools[edit]
|
Mano a Mano games are usually played with paper, pencils and one or more 20-sided dice. 10-sided dice or 6-sided dice can be used instead of 20-sided dice. Beans, coins or extra dice can be used as damage counters. A hex mat or game board and markers can show each character's direction and location during combat action. You will also need information about the game you are playing. Templates, Occupations, Ability and Equipment Lists are needed to create characters. An adventure refereed by a GM will have more information, such as NPCs, maps and story information. (See Game Design) |
|
Success Rolls[edit]
Rolls and Modifiers[edit]
Some actions are always successful and some are never successful, but many actions have a random chance of success. When rolling for the success of an action, roll a twenty-sided die (d20) and add success modifiers to the result. If the total is greater than the difficulty of the action plus difficulty modifiers, then the action is successful. The action is also automatically successful if the die roll is 20 before adding success modifiers.
If you do not have a d20, you can roll a ten-sided die (d10) and double the result (d10 × 2). If you roll a 1 the doubled result is 2, if you roll a 2 the doubled result is 4, if you roll a 3 the doubled result is 6, and so on. Most d10 are numbered 0 to 9, but the 0 represents 1, so if you roll a 0, the doubled result is 20. The chance of getting 20 this way is twice as likely, so you can ignore the automatic success rule, or make a second d10 roll, but don't double the result. If the second roll is more than 5 then the action is automatically successful.
If you do not have a d10 or a d20 you can use a six-sided, eight-sided or twelve-sided die (d6, d8 or d12). Subtract 1 from the result and then double the value if you use a d12, triple the value if you use a d8, and multiply the result by 4 if you use a d6. (Instead of subtracting 1 it may be simpler to count the highest number on the die as 0.) If the result is 20 or more, you can either ignore the automatic success rule, or make a second roll with the same die. If the second roll is more than 8 on a d12, more than 5 on a d8, or more than 4 on a d6 the action is automatically successful.
| first roll | automatic success (if the first roll is at least 20) |
| d20 | always automatically successful |
| d10 × 2 | roll 6, 7, 8, 9 or 0 (10) on a d10 |
| (d6 - 1) × 4 | roll 5 or 6 on a d6 |
| (d8 - 1) × 3 | roll 6, 7 or 8 on a d8 |
| (d12 - 1) × 2 | roll 9, 10, 11 or 12 on a d12 |
Difficulty[edit]
| difficulty | description |
|---|---|
| 5 | Anyone will usually succeed |
| 10 | Experts usually succeed |
| 15 | Difficult even for experts |
| 20 | Nearly impossible without training |
| 25 | Often impossible even for experts |
Difficulty values are often determined by adding 10 to a modifier such as a character's ability level. This can be used to resolve contests between character's using different abilities or the same ability against each other. For example, suppose two characters are having a contest, and both have the same ability level. Adding that level to a die roll for one character and adding that level to a difficulty of 10 for the other character gives both characters a 50% chance of winning the contest.
If a contest can be tied, do two success rolls with each character taking turns adding their modifier to the roll or a difficulty of 10. One character can succeed while the other fails or the result can be tied two ways: both characters can succeed or both characters can fail. If it is not possible for both to succeed, then both characters fail when either type of tie occurs. If it is not possible for both to fail, then both character's succeed when either type of tie occurs.
Circumstance Modifiers[edit]
Environment and hastiness can effect the difficulty of an action. Add 2 to the difficulty modifiers for unfavorable circumstances. Add 4 to the difficulty modifiers for hostile conditions. Modifiers for unfavorable circumstances and hostile conditions are not added to other modifiers for unfavorable circumstances or hostile conditions. When more than one of these modifiers apply, use the modifier which increases the difficulty the most. If multiple unfavorable circumstances compound each other, treat the combination as hostile conditions by adding 4 to the difficulty instead of 2.
Add 2 to the success modifiers for favorable circumstances, or add 4 to the success modifiers for very favorable circumstances. Modifiers for favorable or very favorable circumstances are not added to other modifiers for favorable or very favorable circumstances. When more than one of these modifiers apply, use the best one. If a combination of favorable circumstances is much better than the individual circumstances, treat the combination as a single very favorable circumstance by adding 4 to the success modifiers instead of 2.
Character Points[edit]
Many things described in the Mano a Mano Role-Playing System - including characters, equipment and templates - have a Character Point (CP) value. CP is a rough estimate of how valuable that thing is. Players often design new PCs with a CP limit of about 300 CP, not including equipment. Minor NPCs usually have about 250 CP. The most powerful PCs and legendary heroes have up to 1000 CP. Powerful superheroes could have as much as 3000 CP. CP might also be used to compare the strength of the characters and equipment on opposing teams.
Template Character Points[edit]
(See Game Design/Templates.)
|
|
natural armor
natural weapons
|
Character Character Points[edit]
(See Character Development/Character Creation.)
| ability levels | 5 CP |
| more speed | 20 CP |
| less speed | -20 CP |
| agility levels | 10 CP |
| toughness levels | 3 CP |
| strength levels | 5 CP |
| running levels | 10 CP |
| swimming levels | 10 CP |
| airspeed levels | 10 CP |
Equipment Character Points[edit]
(See Game Design/Equipment.)
|
|
Action[edit]
Rounds[edit]
A round of action represents one to two seconds of game time - enough time for most characters to perform a single action or quick combination. Each character has one turn during each round. Rounds can be measured from the beginning of any character's turn until the beginning of their next turn (or from the end of their turn until the end of the next.) Characters with ¼ speed must skip three out of four turns. After one turn of moving and performing actions, the character cannot move or perform actions on his next three turns. Characters with ½ speed must skip every other turn. Characters may skip more turns than they are required to skip. At the end of a character's turn, the character recovers one stun if they have any.
Stealth and detection abilities are used for surprise attacks. If two characters are mutually stalking each other, do two separate rolls. If both fail, combat doesn't happen. If a character successfully surprises another without being surprised himself, the character with the advantage of surprise gets to go first. If both succeed, they fight without either having the advantage of surprise. If there is no surprise attack, characters may choose to start out either evading (+4 defense modifier until the character's first turn) or ready to counter, and who goes first is decided by the circumstances (whoever throws the first punch in the story,) or random die rolls if there is a dispute. Characters with longer weapon range usually have the opportunity to attack first. Characters typically take turns in the order their players are seated, going around the group of players clockwise. To move in formation, characters may delay their turns until they are sequential.
On his turn, a character can prepare a counterattack, move and do one action, or move and do a combination of actions (combo).
To counterattack the character waits to move and perform actions until someone attempts to attack them. If no one attempts to attack the counterattacking character until their next turn, then they have effectively skipped the turn where they prepared a counterattack and continue with their next turn as normal. The counterattacking character moves and performs their action or combo before the attacker's action or combo, but after any movement the attacker does before acting. This gives the counterattacking character a little more control over positioning. After the counterattack, the attacker can change his action or combo, but cannot reuse any movement he used up before the combo.
Counterattacking delays a single turn, but does not change the order of characters turns. For example, suppose three characters are fighting. The first character prepares a counter attack. The second character, his ally, attacks the third character, their enemy, and misses. The third character decides to attack the first character, but the first character gets to counterattack first. The third character finally gets to attack after the counterattack. Now it is the first character's turn again even though he just counterattacked in the middle of the third character's turn.
In a combo a character can perform one quick action for each point of speed (rounded up, so a character with ¼ or ½ speed can perform one quick action), plus an extra quick action if the combo includes actions with multiple weapons. A character can only do a combo when he is healthy.
Movement[edit]
Each point of running, swimming or airspeed allows the character to move one meter per second, 3.6 kilometers per hour, a little over two miles per hour or one space per turn, where a space is about 2 meters wide and a turn is about 2 seconds. Characters can move more than once during their turn (before and after performing actions) but the total distance may not exceed their running, swimming or airspeed.
- Swimming
- Swimming is also added to striking and grappling rolls and defense against striking and grappling while swimming. When characters fight while swimming, striking attacks do half as much stun as they do in air, but no more or less damage.
- Flying
- A character's maximum rate of ascent and safe rate of descent is half of their airspeed. When a flying character ascends 1 meter vertically (under their own flying power) their airspeed is temporarily reduced by 1 until they descend again or land. A character can no longer ascend when their airspeed is 0. When a character descends 1 meter vertically their airspeed is temporarily increased by 1 until they reach twice their normal airspeed, ascend or land.
- Jumping
- Running is also the maximum distance a character can jump with a running start. If the character can barely jump across a gap (within 1 meter of their maximum jumping distance) they must make a success roll using their acrobatics ability or fall into the gap. Without a running start a character can jump half as far. A character can jump vertically half as high as they can jump horizontally (half of their running with a running start, a quarter of their running without it.) If the character can barely make a vertical leap (within 1 meter of their maximum jumping height) they must make a success roll using their acrobatics ability or fail to reach the required height.
- Climbing
- For each climb make a success roll using the character's climbing ability vs. the difficulty of the climb, which depends on the surface, slope and length of the climb. If the character is not successful he looses his grip and falls. If the character is still able to climb after falling he can attempt the climb again. While a character climbs he can move and perform one quick action per turn. How far the character moves each turn depends on the nature of the climb.
| difficulty | surface or structure | movement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ladder, steep mountain | ½ running (rounded up) | |
| 5 | rope, pole | 1 meter per turn | |
| 10 | wall or cliff with hand holds | not strategically significant | |
| 15 | finger holds only | not strategically significant | |
| 20 | sheer surface | not strategically significant |
- When the height of the climb is more than one story or 3 meters, a fall may be potentially dangerous, depending on the surface which stops the fall. If the height of the climb is more than two stories or 6 meters, the fall may be potentially lethal, depending on the surface. Falls of 30 meters or more are usually potentially lethal.
- If a fall is potentially dangerous or lethal, make another success roll. This roll has the same difficulty as the climbing roll but the falling character adds his agility to the roll and he can use either his climbing ability or his acrobatics ability. If the fall is potentially dangerous, success means the character is unharmed and failure means the falling character takes damage and stun equal to his toughness. If the fall is potentially lethal, success means the character takes damage and stun equal to his toughness and failure means the character takes damage equal to his stamina. Armor does not protect a character from this damage and stun.
- Encumbrance
- Carrying capacity (CC) is the amount of equipment a character can carry without being encumbered. An encumbered character moves at half of his normal swimming and running speed. An encumbered character cannot perform strenuous actions or fly. A character cannot carry more than twice his CC. CC is determined by the character's strength.
| Strength | CC | Strength | CC | Strength | CC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 kg | 17 | 400 kg | 34 | 12,000 kg | |||
| 1 | 1 kg | 18 | 500 kg | 35 | 15,000 kg | |||
| 2 | 2 kg | 19 | 600 kg | 36 | 20,000 kg | |||
| 3 | 5 kg | 20 | 800 kg | 37 | 25,000 kg | |||
| 4 | 10 kg | 21 | 1000 kg | 38 | 30,000 kg | |||
| 5 | 15 kg | 22 | 1200 kg | 39 | 35,000 kg | |||
| 6 | 20 kg | 23 | 1500 kg | 40 | 40,000 kg | |||
| 7 | 30 kg | 24 | 1800 kg | 41 | 45,000 kg | |||
| 8 | 50 kg | 25 | 2100 kg | 42 | 50,000 kg | |||
| 9 | 65 kg | 26 | 2500 kg | 43 | 55,000 kg | |||
| 10 | 80 kg | 27 | 3000 kg | 44 | 60,000 kg | |||
| 11 | 100 kg | 28 | 4000 kg | 45 | 65,000 kg | |||
| 12 | 120 kg | 29 | 5000 kg | 46 | 70,000 kg | |||
| 13 | 150 kg | 30 | 6000 kg | 47 | 75,000 kg | |||
| 14 | 200 kg | 31 | 7500 kg | 48 | 80,000 kg | |||
| 15 | 250 kg | 32 | 9000 kg | 49 | 90,000 kg | |||
| 16 | 300 kg | 33 | 10,000 kg | 50 | 100,000 kg |
List of Actions[edit]
Only quick actions can be used in a combo. A double power attack has two times the power listed by the weapon on the character sheet. Strenuous actions can only be used when a character is healthy. Standing actions cannot be used when the character is on the ground.
When rolling to see if a combat action is successful, there is an attacking character (attacker) and a defending character (defender). Attacks are successful if the attacker's modifier plus his dice roll is higher than his target's defense. Otherwise the attack fails.
Hand to Hand Attacks[edit]
 |
|
Hand to hand attacks use natural weapons or hand weapons such as clubs and blades. Add the attack modifier next to the weapon on the attacker's character sheet to hand to hand attack rolls. The target's best defense is the difficulty of a hand to hand attack.
- quick strike
- A quick strike is a quick hand to hand attack.
- strategic strike
- A strategic strike is a strenuous standing hand to hand attack which cannot be used while grappling and has a +5 attack modifier.
- cautious strike
- A cautious strike is a strenuous standing hand to hand attack which cannot be used while grappling and gives a +5 defense modifier until the character's next turn.
- powerful strike
- A powerful strike is a strenuous double power standing hand to hand attack. A couple of quick strikes has a better chance of hitting at least once, but a powerful strike does damage quickly and hurts larger and armored characters more easily.
Thrown Weapon Attacks[edit]
Add the throw modifier next to the weapon on the attacker's character sheet to thrown weapon attack rolls. The target's missile defense is the difficulty of a thrown weapon attack.
- quick throw
- A quick throw is a quick thrown weapon attack. The maximum range of this attack is the character's throwing ability modifier plus the difference between the character's strength and the weapon's heft. This action cannot be used with unwieldy weapons. Quick throwing is useful when speed or precision is important, such as knife and hatchet-throwing competitions or throwing sand in an opponent's face.
- powerful throw
- A powerful throw is a strenuous double power thrown weapon attack. The maximum range of this attack is twice the range of a quick throw. Unwieldy weapons cannot be thrown this way. Powerful throwing is useful when distance or damage is important, like throwing a javelin.
- heave
- Heave is a strenuous double power thrown weapon attack. Any object the character can lift can be thrown by heaving. Heaved objects are wildly imprecise, so the character has a -5 modifier to hit the target. The maximum distance the character can heave an object is the range of a quick throw.
Archery and Marksmanship Actions[edit]
Add the attack modifier next to the weapon on the attacker's character sheet to archery and marksmanship attack rolls. The target's missile defense is the difficulty of an archery or marksmanship attack.
- aim
- Aim is a quick gun or bow action which cannot be used while grappling. Aiming gives a +5 attack bonus to the character's next attack unless he takes damage or stun between aiming and the attack.
- quick shot
- A quick shot is a quick gun or bow attack.
- strategic shot
- A strategic shot is a strenuous gun or bow attack with a +5 attack bonus.
- cautious shot
- A cautious shot is a strenuous gun or bow attack with +5 defense until the character's next turn.
- draw and fire
- Draw and fire is a strenuous bow attack which does not require the bow to be already drawn.
- draw
- Drawing a bow is a quick action. A bow must be drawn before it can be aimed or fired. Drawing a bow requires the use of two hands. If the bow's heft is at least double the character's strength, the character cannot draw it at all. Bows tend to be lightweight, but the power of a bow comes from its spring instead of its mass. So the heft of a bow reflects the bow's pull and the strength required to draw the bow.
- unload
- Unloading a gun is a quick action. Most weapons are designed to be loaded quickly, but unloading them can be trickier. Unloading a weapon is usually a quick action. After unloading the character can hold onto the ammunition or lets it drop. Putting away the ammunition a character is holding requires an extra quick action. (If a character is holding several rounds of ammunition which must be put away sepearately, putting away each round is a quick action.)
- load
- Loading a gun is a quick action. Some weapons must be loaded before each attack, or reloaded after a certain number of uses. Replacing a clip of ammunition requires two quick actions: unload and load. If rounds of ammunition must be loaded individually, reloading requires an unload action and a load action for each round. For example, if a character has to load a revolver one bullet at a time then each bullet loaded is a quick action. Some weapons take several actions to reload. A "Brown Bess" musket can be fired about 3 times per minute with training, suggesting 9 actions to reload and 1 turn to fire. (Each of these actions required to reload the musket takes a full turn, so they are not quick actions.)
Grappling Actions[edit]
Grappling actions can give the character the dominant position. (See Action/Grappling.) Add the attacker's grapple attack to grappling attack rolls. Use the defender's grapple defense as the difficulty of grappling attacks.
- push
- A push, pull or shove is a quick grappling action which puts the target off balance. Successfully pushing, pulling and tripping up a standing opponent forces him to move in the direction the pushing character wants, and puts the pushed character off balance so he must make an roll against a difficulty of 8 using his grappling or acrobatics ability or fall down. If the pushing character is standing when his opponent falls down, the pushing character must choose whether to let go of him or follow him to the ground.
- trip
- A trip is a strenuous double power grappling attack which puts the target off balance. Successfully attacking a standing target's legs puts him off balance so he must make an roll against a difficulty of 8 using his grappling or acrobatic ability check or fall down.
- slam
- A slam is a strenuous grappling attack which puts the target on the ground. If the slamming character is standing and chooses to fall onto his opponent, then this attack has double power. The target will always end up on the ground, but he can still make an additional grappling or acrobatics ability roll against a difficulty of 8 to reduce damage from falling. If this roll is successful the damage is reduced by the attack's power, which means the slam will do no damage if the attacker does not fall onto the target and normal damage if the attacker does fall onto the target.
- hold
- A hold is a quick grappling action. Hold is not an attack, but this action allows a character to make a grappling success roll. If this roll is successful the character doing the hold can choose to take the dominant position or stop grappling with his opponent.
- wrench
- A wrench is a strenuous double power grappling attack. The damage and stun of a wrench are determined like the damage and stun of a blunt weapon.
- choke
- A choke is a strenuous double power grappling attack which only does stun. A choke always causes at least two stun if it is successful, regardless of armor and absorption.
- disarm
- Disarm is a strenuous double power grappling attack which forces an opponent to release his weapon or other possession. The difficulty of this action is the target's defense plus 5. If a character doing a disarm is successful and he has at least one free hand, he takes the weapon from his opponent. If he is successful but has no free hands, the opponent drops the weapon.
Other Actions[edit]
- drop
- Dropping to the ground is a quick action.
- stand
- Standing up is a quick action.
- instant stand
- Instant stand is a strenuous action which is like standing up normally except that the character using instant stand also gets a +5 defense modifier until his next turn.
- rest
- This action recovers all of a character's stun and gives him a +5 defense modifier until his next turn.
- cover
- A character can put himself at risk to protect a target, usually an ally. When the target is attacked, use the covering character's defense plus 5 instead of the target's defense. If the attack is successful it still hits the target. If the attack fails, it hits the covering character.
Health[edit]
- Stun and Resting
- Stun is the short-term effect of pain and injury. Characters can recover stun with the rest action. When characters are incapacitated they recover half of their stun (rounded up) each turn.
- Damage and Healing
- Damage is the long-term effect of injuries that heal slowly. Characters usually have a chance to recover damage once per week. This requires a success roll against the difficulty 10 plus 1 for every day the character exerted himself (by travelling or fighting for example) during that week, plus 1 for every time the character took damage or stun, and plus 5 for every time the character was incapacitated by damage. (There is no penalty for being incapacitated by a combination of stun and damage.) If the roll is successful, the character recovers half of his damage, rounded up. For example if the character has 5 damage and successfully heals, then he will recover 3 damage, leaving him with only 2 damage after healing.
- Sharpness
- Sharpness determines whether the attack power that gets through the target's armor becomes stun or damage. All the power of a sharp weapon becomes damage. Half the power (rounded down) of a blunt weapon becomes damage and the rest becomes stun. For example, 5 power getting through the target's armor absorption would become 2 damage and 3 stun to the target. All the power of a padded weapon becomes stun.
|
|
|
|
Armor[edit]
Any equipment with cover and absorption is armor. Normally, the best absorption of all the armor worn by a character is subtracted from the power of successful attacks against the character. However an attacker can aim any attack to avoid armor, which increases the difficulty of the attack by the cover of the armor avoided. The attack can avoid all or just some of the armor a character is wearing. An attack cannot avoid armor that has complete cover.
Consider for example a character wearing a leather jacket (5 cover, 2 absorption) and a crash helmet (2 cover, 5 absorption). If an opponent attacks the character without specifically avoiding the character's armor, the armor will absorb 5 power from each attack. If an opponent tries to hit the character where the armor provides no protection, the armor will absorb no damage, but the difficulty will be increased by 7 (5 cover from the jacket plus 2 cover from the helmet.) However, the opponent can also try to avoid only the helmet. Then the leather jacket absorbs 2 power from each attack but the difficulty of the attack is only increased by 2 (the helmet's cover.)
Sometimes armor is worn in layers. A brigandine (vest lined with metal plates) is often worn over a gambeson (padded coat) or chainmail. Bulletproof ballistic vests often have optional inserts which offer extra protection to vital areas such as the heart. If one piece of armor is completely overlapped by another, the overlapping area has the cover of the smaller piece of armor and the absorption of both pieces added together. (This is like subtracting the cover of the layer with the least cover from the cover of the layer with the most cover, and adding the absorption of the layer with the most cover to the absorption of the armor with the least cover.)
Attacking[edit]
- Charging Attack
- If a character travels more than 5 meters in a straight line before attacking, all in a single turn, the distance traveled (in meters) minus 5 is added to the power of the attack.
- Readying Weapons
- Unless surprised, characters will usually draw their weapons before the beginning of combat. If they have to ready the weapon during an action round, drawing the weapon from it's sheath, holster, scabbard, belt, or other convenient location is a quick action.
- Attacking from a Distance
- The difficulty of hitting a target depends on distance and the weapon's range. The difficulty of hitting the target increases by 1 for every 5% of the weapon's maximum range between the attacker and the target. 5% of the maximum range can be found by multiplying the maximum range by 0.05 or dividing the maximum range by 20. For example, if a weapon has 140 m range, then the difficulty of hitting targets with the weapon increases by 1 for every 7 m between the attacker and the target (140 / 20 = 7). The difficulty of hitting a target less than 7 m away would not be affected. The difficulty of hitting a target 7 to 13 m away would be increased by 1 (14 = 7 × 1), The difficulty of hitting a target 14 to 20 m away would be increased by 2 (14 = 7 × 2), The difficulty of hitting a target 70 to 76 m away would be increased by 10 (70 = 7 × 10), and so forth.
- Attacking in the Dark
- A lack of sufficient lighting can add to the difficulty of an attack if the attacker is not blind. Total darkness can increase the difficulty by +3 for a grappling attack, +4 for a striking attack and +5 for an attack from a distance. Very dim light rather than total darkness only increases the difficulty of grappling attacks by +1, striking attacks by +2 and attacks from a distance by +3.
- Random Damage (Optional Rule)
- Double power attacks only have double power if the attack roll is 13 or better before adding modifiers. If the attack roll is 12 or less before adding modifiers, the attack has normal power instead of double power.
- Critical Hit (Optional Rule)
- When an attack is automatically successful, increase the power of the attack by the weapon's power. In other words normal attacks have double power when they are automatically successful and double damage attacks have three times normal power when they are automatically successful.
Grappling[edit]
When grappling, regardless of weapon attack or defense, a character's grapple attack and grapple defense is used instead for grappling combat rolls. Striking while grappling uses the normal weapon attack and defense, with the appropriate grappling position modifiers.
A grappler can be in a dominant, neutral or inferior position relative to an opponent. Either one grappler's position is dominant and the other's is inferior, or they are both neutral. If a character is fully successful with any grappling action, he may choose whether to end up in a hold with the dominant position, or to release the hold. If a character fails, his opponent gets to decide whether to release the hold (but does not have a dominant position if that opponent did not already have it.)
Characters can grapple while standing (clinch fighting) or on the ground (ground fighting.) In a clinch, both grappling characters have a -5 modifier to all combat rolls except that a grappling character with a dominant position has a +0 modifier against his opponent in the inferior position. While ground fighting the grappling characters have the same modifiers except that instead of the -5 modifier they have a +5 defense vs. missile weapons and a -5 defense vs hand to hand attacks from other characters who are not grappling.
In order to for a pair (or other group) of grappling characters to move, one of the characters must successfully move the other using a grappling technique. Both characters then are moved unless both character's holds on each other are broken.
When a character falls down they he takes damage as if hit by a quick attack, except that the sharpness of the attack is based on the surface he lands on, and he takes at least two points of stun regardless of what armor he is wearing. If a character falls from a height the damage is increased by 1 for each meter he falls. If a character is pushed or thrown into a wall instead of the ground he takes damage as if falling.
Archery and Marksmanship[edit]
- Keeping a Bow Drawn
- The strength and concentration required to keep a bow drawn prevents a character from performing any other actions until the bow is fired. (A character can perform other actions while holding a crossbow, just like a loaded firearm.)
- Drawing a Crossbow
- Drawing a crossbow without a lever or crank is the same as drawing other bows. A lever or crank can decrease the heft required to draw a crossbow by increasing the number of turns required to reload. (See Equipment/Features/shots.)
Stance and Position[edit]
To simplify keeping track of success roll modifiers, there are only 10 different actions and positions to be aware of. A character can only be in one of these positions at a time. For example, a character cannot do a strategic attack while aiming or grappling.
- Standing
- This is the position where characters are ready to do most actions, but they are also fully exposed to missile weapon attacks such as thrown weapons, slings, bows and guns. While standing a character can move at normal speed and have no special modifiers from this position. When a character does the instant stand action, he has a defense bonus until his next turn.
- On the Ground
- While a character is crouching, crawling, sitting, or lying on the ground, they move more slowly (half movement, -5 to all striking attack rolls and defense against striking) but they are harder to hit with missile weapons (+5 defense against missile weapon attacks, even without cover, unless the attack comes from above.) Powerful, strategic and cautious attacks cannot be done from the ground.
- Aiming while Standing
- When a character aims a missile weapon they have a +5 to hit.
- Aiming on the Ground
- When a character aims from a sitting or prone position they have a +5 to hit plus the penalties for being on the ground: they move more slowly (half movement, -5 to defense against striking) but they are harder to hit with missile weapons (+5 to avoid a missile weapon, even without cover, unless the attack comes from above.)
- Clinch
- When a character is grappling and standing up, but does not have the dominant position, they have a -5 to all attack rolls and -5 defense against all attacks.
- Ground Fighting
- When a character is grappling on the ground, and does not have the dominant position, they have a +5 defense against missile weapon attacks, -5 to defense against other attacks, and -5 to all attack rolls.
- Dominant Position (Standing)
- When a character in a clinch (grappling while standing) has the dominant position, he has a +5 bonus to attack rolls and defense against the character in the inferior position, and -5 to all other combat rolls.
- Dominant Position (on the Ground)
- When a character has the dominant position while grappling on the ground, he has a +5 modifier to attack rolls and defense against the character in the inferior position, +5 against missile weapon attacks, and -5 to other attack rolls and defense against other attacks.
- Resting, Instant Stand and Special Attacks
- The rest action, cautious attacks and instant stand give a defense bonus until the end of the character's next turn, and strategic attacks have an attack bonus. Cautious attacks cannot be done on the ground. (See Action/Actions and Action/Attacking.)
| Standing | On the Ground | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Default | no modifiers | +5 defense vs. missiles -5 striking attack and defense | |||
| Aiming | +5 to hit | +5 to hit +5 defense vs. missiles -5 striking defense | |||
| Grappling | -5 to all rolls | -5 attack -5 hand to hand defense | |||
| Dominant | +5 vs. inferior -5 vs. others |
+5 vs. inferior -5 attack vs. others -5 hand to hand defense vs. others | |||
| Strategic | +5 to hit | n/a | |||
| Cautious | +5 defense | n/a | |||
| Resting | +5 defense | +5 defense |
Mounted Combat[edit]
- When the Animal Attacks
- When riding an animal, the animal will fight automatically if it is trained to do so. Every time the animal attacks or defends, the rider must make a roll using their riding ability to stay mounted. The difficulty of this roll is 10.
- Stopping the Attack
- To keep the animal from attacking the rider must make an animal handling success roll every time the animal is attacked, and every round that the animal's attacker is visible. The difficulty of this roll is 10 if the animal is unhurt, or 15 if the animal has stun or damage.
- Animals that do not Fight
- Animals trained to be ridden but not to fight will not attack if they are being ridden. Instead, they will try to run unless the rider makes a successful animal handling roll. This has a difficulty of 15 if the animal is unhurt, or 20 if the animal has stun or damage.
- Charging
- Instead of having the animal attack, a rider may use the animal's speed to do a charging attack. (See Action/Attacking.)
- Vehicles
- Vehicle combat is similar to mounted combat, but most vehicles will not fight or try to run from an enemy.
- Ramming
- When a driver rams a target, their driving ability modifier or the vehicle's agility - whichever is lower - is used as the attack modifier. A successful ramming attack results in an automatically successful ramming counterattack by the target against the part of the vehicle used to ram (usually the front.)
- Head-on and Broadside Collisions
- If the vehicle and target are moving in different directions (or if only the vehicle is moving) the extra charging damage caused by the speed of both the vehicle and the target is added to the damage taken by both.
- Rear-end and Sideswipe Collisions
- If the vehicle and target are moving in the same direction then the charging damage is based on the difference in the distances the vehicle and target moved in that direction since the beginning of their last turn.
Combat Example[edit]
To demonstrate the basic hand-to-hand combat system, Steven - the character from our character generation example - has a clone exactly like Steven, except the clone has not made itself a machete. Steven decides to take out the clone before it can get started on an machete of it's own. (See Character Creation/Character Generation Example.)
Steven, adult male human robber, 95 kg, 1.6 m height, 201 CP
1 speed, 0 agility, 3 strength, 7 toughness, 14 stamina, 5 running
2 unarmed combat, 4 one-handed weapons, 2 craftsmanship
2 hands (hand, 3 power, 2 attack, 12 defense)
2 feet (3 power, 2 attack, 12 defense)
1 machete (sharp, 0.5 kg, 3 heft, 5 power, 4 attack, 14 defense)
14 melee defense, 10 missile defense, 13 grapple defense, 3 grapple attack
0 best absorption, 0 total cover, ____ stun, ____ damage
The Clone, adult male human robber, 95 kg, 1.6 m height, 201 CP
1 speed, 0 agility, 3 strength, 7 toughness, 14 stamina, 5 running
2 unarmed combat, 4 one-handed weapons, 2 craftsmanship
2 hands (hand, 3 power, 2 attack, 12 defense)
2 feet (3 power, 2 attack, 12 defense)
14 melee defense, 10 missile defense, 13 grapple defense, 3 grapple attack
0 best absorption, 0 total cover, ____ stun, ____ damage
1. Establishing Initiative
Steven tries to ambush the clone. He uses stealth to sneak up on the clone, but Steven does not have the stealth ability so his success modifier is 0. Steven rolls a 13 and adds his modifier (0) to get a total of 13. The difficulty of this roll is 10 plus the clone's detection ability modifier, which is 0 because the clone does not have the detection ability. Steven's ambush is successful because Steven's total of 13 is greater than the difficulty of 10.
2. Combat Begins
Now on his first turn in the combat round, Steven is able to attack first and while the clone is not prepared to defend or counter attack, because of Steven's successful stealth roll.
Steven does a powerful strike with his machete. The attack modifier of this attack is Steven's attack modifier with the machete, which is 4. Steven's player rolls a 2, and adds Steven's attack modifier with the machete (4) so that his total attack roll is 6. The difficulty of the attack is the clone's defense. The clone's melee defense is 12. Steven's total of 6 is less than the clone's 12 defense, so Steven's attack misses.
3. The Clone's First Turn
Now the clone has initiative because his player is sitting next in order. 15 The clone launches a combo attack. The clone's speed is 1, but he has two hands and two feet. Because the clone has multiple weapons he can do an extra attack (as long as he doesn't use the same hand and foot for both attacks.) The clone's player decides that the clone's combo will be 2 quick strikes with his hands. Both of these quick attacks have an attack modifier of 2. The difficulty of the attack is Steven's melee defense which is 14.
- On the first attack in the combo, the clone rolls a 14, for a total of 16 after adding the clone's attack modifier (2). Because the clone's total (16) is greater than Steven's defense (14), the clone's first strike is successful. The power of this attack is 3. Because the clone's hands and feet are not sharp (or padded) half of the power, rounded down becomes damage (1) and the rest (2) becomes stun. Steven now has 2 stun and 1 damage.
- On the second attack in the combo, the clone rolls an 12, for a total of 14 after adding the clone's attack modifier (2). Because the Clone's total is only equal to Steven's defense, the attack misses.
4. The second round
When it is Steven's turn again, he decides to wait and counterattack.
Now it is the clone's turn, and the clone decides to do a powerful strike, but Steven gets to attack first because of his counterattack. Steven's response is a powerful attack of his own. Steven rolls a 14 for a total of 18 after adding his attack modifier (4). The clone's defense is 12. Because Steven's total (18) is higher than the clone's defense (12), his attack succeeds. This is a double power attack, so the attack power is 10. The clone has no armor with absorption to reduce the attack's power. Because Steven's machete is Sharp, the clone takes 10 damage and no stun.
The clone's stun plus damage (0 + 10 = 10) is now has more than his toughness (7) but less than his stamina (14). This means the clone is injured and can no longer do strenuous actions like the powerful strike he was planning. Instead, the clone chooses to evade, giving him a +5 defense modifier against all attacks until his next turn.
5. Steven's Third Turn
Steven decides to follow up his attack with a combo. He can only use the machete once in the combo because his speed is 1, but he can also use his other hand, legs, elbows, knees, head, etc. to do a second attack.
- Steven first attacks using a kick (a quick attack with one of his legs.) Steven's attack bonus with his head and legs is 2, and he rolls a 12, for a total of 14. The clone's defense is 12, but this is raised to 17 because the clone is evading. Steven's kick attack misses because Steven's total (14) is not greater than the clone's defense (17).
- For Steven's second attack he uses the machete, and he rolls a 17, for a total combat roll of 21. The clone's defense and evasion together is only 17, so Steven's attack is successful. The power of this attack is 5. Steven's weapon is sharp so the attack does 5 damage. The clone is now totally incapacitated because the clone's damage plus stun (0 + 15 = 15) is equal to or higher than the clone's stamina (14).
Character Development[edit]
Training and Experience[edit]
Characters can gain CP and abilities and improve their build (speed, agility, toughness, strength, running, swimming and airspeed) through training or other experiences.
- Direct Improvement
- Training or experience can improve abilities and build directly. The character's total CP should then be updated to reflect the difference. For example, a character might be rewarded with 1 level of climbing ability for the experience of ascending the highest mountain in the world. This would increase his total CP by 5.
- Flexible CP
- An experience can give a character flexible CP which can be used to improve any ability or aspect of their build. For example, a character might be awarded 20 flexible CP for completing an adventure that involved fighting monsters, outwitting villains, finding treasure and a variety of other experiences. The player can use all 20 CP to increase a single ability by 4, or split the CP and increase 2 abilities by 2, or increase 4 abilities by 1. The player could also use the 20 CP to increase his character's speed, agility, strength, toughness, running, swimming or airspeed..
- Training CP
- 1 CP can represent 100 hours of intense training with experts, or 300 hours of relaxed training on your own. For example a warrior might train with a fencing master for 2 hours a week for 10 years, for a total of about 10 extra CP of one-handed weapons ability. (2 hours a week multiplied by 50 weeks a year multiplied by 10 years divided by 100 hours per CP.) If the warrior also spends 12 hours training on his own each week for those 10 years, he will have an additional 20 extra CP. (12 hours a week multiplied by 50 weeks a year multiplied by 10 years divided by 300 hours per CP.)
Developing Abilities[edit]
Each ability level is worth 5 CP. A character's total ability modifier cannot be more than 10 plus his template's ability modifier. For example, if a character's template has a stealth ability modifier of 2, the greatest total stealth modifier that character could ever have would be 12 (10 + 2 = 12). If the template has no natural weapons ability, the maximum natural weapons ability of a character using that template is 10 (10 + 0 = 10).
A character can use CP to develop new abilities. A character with who does not have climbing ability could use 10 CP to get climbing ability with a modifier of 2, even if his template does not have climbing ability.
When a character's combat abilities increase, his attack modifiers and defense may also increase. If a character's marksmanship ability increases by 1, then his attack modifier for each of his guns will increase by 1. If a character's natural weapons ability increases by 1, then his attack modifier and defense with each of his natural weapons will increase by 1. Update the character's melee defense when the defense of his striking weapons improves.
Build Development[edit]
The maximum speed, toughness, agility, strength, running, swimming and airspeed a character can develop is the same as the the maximum speed, toughness, agility, strength, running, swimming and airspeed of new characters. These limitations are affected by a template's variability. (See Character Creation/Build and Character Creation.)
- Developing Toughness (3 CP per level)
- Developing toughness increases the amount of damage and stun a character can take before being incapacitated. Suppose a character with 5 toughness works on increasing his toughness for a couple of years and gains 6 CP worth of toughness. He will gain 2 toughness so his total toughness is now 7. When a character's toughness increases, his stamina increases by twice as much because stamina is 2 times toughness.
- Developing Strength (5 CP per level)
- When a character's strength increases, his weapon power may also change. Suppose a character has 3 strength. If the character gains 5 strength CP, his strength will increase to 4. The character's natural weapon power will increase to 4 and the power of his hand weapons will increase to 4 unless they are already greater than 4.
- Developing Speed (20 CP)
- A character can even increase his speed if he gains enough extra CP through training and experience. This has the same effect as the more speed option when creating new characters. If the character was created with more speed than the average speed for his template, he cannot develop even more speed through training and experience. Suppose a character has 1 speed and his template also has 1 speed and medium variability. If the character eventually acquires 20 CP of extra speed CP, his speed will increase to 2.
- Developing Agility (10 CP per level)
- When a character's agility increases, his attack modifiers and defense should be updated. Suppose a character has 3 agility. After many years of intense training he increases his total agility to 4 (which is worth about 10 CP.) All of his attack modifiers, the defense of each striking weapon, melee defense and missile defense will also increase by 1.
- Developing Running, Swimming or Airspeed (5 CP per level)
- Developing running, swimming or airspeed increases a character's ability to move. For example a human normally has no swimming, but after learning to swim the character can increase hs swimming to 1 for 5 CP. Later the character might practice swimming enough to increase his swimming to 2 for another 5 CP.
Changing Occupations[edit]
A character's occupation can change. A character might acquire a more important occupation related to occupations he has had in the past or pursue a wide variety of occupations throughout his lifetime. If a character is used in multiple adventures or campaigns there is a good chance that he will change occupations as his abilities, reputation and circumstances change. A character can acquire some occupations unintentionally. For example if a character is captured by enemies, his occupation could become prisoner. Occupations are often development goals for a character. For example a character may want to become a town guard to have better access to weapons for defeating a public enemy. Successfully changing his occupation to town guard could be a significant accomplishment for that character.
Inventory Management or Acquiring and Losing Equipment[edit]
When adding equipment to a character sheet, the quantity and name of the item is usually followed by the item's features in parentheses. Copy the item's features from the equipment list. Some features are specific to this character will be determined by comparing the character and the item. (See Game Design/Equipment.)
- Mass
- If the total mass of a character's equipment is too high for his strength, the character may be encumbered or unable to carry the equipment. (See Action/Movement.)
- Power
- The power of a bow or gun is the weapon's power. The power of a natural weapon, hand weapon or thrown weapon is the highest power of any hand used to wield the weapon or the weapon's power, whichever is greater.
- Attack
- The attack modifier for a hand weapon is the character's agility plus the ability the character uses with that weapon. The attack modifier for a missile weapon is just the ability the character uses with that weapon. Attack modifier is added to the success of attacks with the weapon. The offense and control features improve a weapon's attack modifier. (See Game Design/Equipment/Features.) If a hand used to wield the weapon has the offense feature, add the highest offense value of any hand used to wield the weapon to the weapon's attack modifier. (See Game Design/Templates/Natural Weapons.)
- Throw
- Thrown weapons have a throw modifier which is added to attack rolls instead of the weapon's attack modifier when the weapon is thrown. The throw modifier is the character's throwing ability plus the character's agility.
- Defense
- The defense for a hand weapon is the character's agility plus the ability the character uses with that weapon plus 10. Missile weapons do not have defense. When a character is attacked with a hand weapon they may use the defense of any one weapon they are currently using as the difficulty of the attack. The control feature improves a weapon's defense. (See Game Design/Equipment/Features.)
- Unwieldy
- If a weapon's heft is greater than the power of the limb holding it, the weapon is unwieldy. Unwieldy weapons may only be used to do one quick action per turn (and no powerful actions.)
Manufacturing and Modification[edit]
Some abilities can be used to create or modify items or even other characters. Characters created by other characters are called artificial characters. Examples from popular fiction include the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein, and Robby the Robot created by Dr. Morbius. Craftsmanship ability can be used to create armor and weapons from an equipment list, to modify armor and weapons, or to create new items designed by a player or GM. (See Game Design/Abilities/Craftsmanship.) A game might also have more high tech or fantastic abilities, like a "robotics" ability that allows you to build a lunar rover robot, or modify such a robot by mounting a gun to it.
Maximum CP[edit]
To find the maximum CP of the item or character being modified, first add the ability used to a modifier based on the amount of time spent working on it:
| modifier | time |
|---|---|
| -4 | an hour |
| -3 | a few hours |
| -2 | a day |
| -1 | a few days |
| 0 | a week |
| +1 | a couple of weeks |
| +2 | a month |
| +3 | a few months |
| +4 | a year |
Then add a circumstance modifier:
| modifier | examples |
|---|---|
| -4 | poor quality tools and a culture which has taboos against making this item |
| -2 | poor quality tools or a culture which has taboos against making this item |
| 0 | circumstances do not significantly help or hinder the work |
| +2 | state of the art tools or a culture which has specialized in making this item |
| +4 | state of the art tools and a culture which has specialized in making this item |
Finally, multiply the result by a technology CP rating. Many games only need a single technology CP value, but technology CP can vary between cultures and even between different kinds of technology.
| technology CP | example |
|---|---|
| 10 | stone age |
| 20 | ancient |
| 50 | industrial |
| 100 | modern |
| 200 | futuristic |
The result is the maximum total CP which a newly created weapon or character can have. It is also the maximum total CP which a character or weapon can have after modification.
Surgery[edit]
Modifying organic characters requires surgery.
When a character performs surgery, a success roll is required. The surgeon's medicine ability is used for the success roll. Superficial operations like cutting hair or sharpening claws, which only affect non-living tissue, do not require a roll. Surgery which does not directly affect vital organs has a difficulty between 0 and 10. Surgery which affects vital organs or involves other major changes has a difficulty between 11 and 20.
If the roll succeeds, healing from the surgery only affect the character's performance for a few days. If the roll fails, the surgeon must make a second roll, identical to the first. If the surgeon succeeds on his second roll, the character must spend an extra month healing. If the second roll fails, the character dies.
| Difficulty | Type of Modification | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | no living tissue affected (sharpening claws) | |
| 4 | no significant effect on organs, muscles or bones (implanting an explosive device.) | |
| 8 | modifications to non-vital organs (removing an appendix) | |
| 12 | significant muscle or skeleton modification (amputation, limb lengthening) | |
| 16 | modification to vital organs or peripheral nervous system (heart transplant, new limbs) | |
| 20 | major modifications involving central nervous system (add a new head and spinal column) |
Make an Item - Equipment Generation Example[edit]
We will use our Steven character from the character creation example to make a new weapon. (See Character Creation/Make a Character.) Steven has craftsmanship ability with a modifier of 2.
1. Design the weapon
We decide Steven is making a "machete". The mass of the machete is 0.5 kilograms, worth 1 CP. The machete's 5 power is worth 50 CP. The machete's 3 heft is worth -30 CP. The total CP is 21 so far. (-30 + 60 + 1 = 31.) Having no shots feature (not requiring ammunition or reloading) is worth 20 CP. We add 20 CP for the sharp feature for a final total of 61 CP. In other words, Steven wants to make this machete:
machete (81 CP, 0.5 kg, 3 heft, 5 power, sharp)
2. Find the Maximum CP We start with Steven's craftsmanship modifier (2). We subtract 1 from this because Steven is only taking a few days make the machete. We add a circumstance modifier of 1 because his culture specializes in making machetes. We multiply the result by 50 CP because Steven is in a culture that has "ancient" technology. The maximum CP is 100 CP: (2 craftsmanship ability - 1 time modifier + 1 circumstance modifier) × 50 technology CP.
3. Compare Maximum CP to the CP of the Designed Weapon
Since the maximum CP (100) is equal to or greater than the Machete's CP (61), Steven is able to make it.
Modify Weapon Example[edit]
1. Design the Modified Weapon
Steven decides to alter the shape of his machete to give it more power. Adding 2 power to the machete would add 20 to the weapon's CP value:
| Item Name | CP | Mass | Heft | Power | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| machete (before) | 61 | 0.5 kg | 3 | 5 | sharp |
| machete (after) | 81 | 0.5 kg | 3 | 7 | sharp |
2. Find the Maximum CP
We start with Steven's +2 Craftsmanship modifier. We subtract to this because Steven is taking a dayto modify the machete, so that his maximum CP is now 1. We add 1 because his culture specializes in making machetes, so that his maximum CP is now 2. We multiply his maximum CP by 50 because Steven is in a culture that has "ancient" technology, so that the maximum CP is 100.
3. Compare Maximum CP to the CP of the Designed Weapon
Since the maximum CP (100) is equal to or greater than the modified machete's CP (91), Steven is able to modify the machete.
Artificial Character Example[edit]
1. Design the Character
An evil alien decides to make a synthetic clone of Steven. No new template is needed because the clone uses Modre's Human template. The clone also has the same build and abilities as Modre, so it also has the same character points: 151 CP.
2. Find Maximum CP
We start with the evil alien's +2 biotech ability modifier, so that his maximum CP so far is 2. He is only taking one day to make the clone, so we subtract one from his maximum CP leaving 1. He has no special circumstances, so we add 0 to his maximum CP. The evil alien is using futuristic technology, so we multiply his maximum CP by 500, for a total maximum CP of 500.
3. Compare Maximum CP to the CP of the Designed Character
Since the maximum CP (500) is equal to or greater than the Clone's CP (151), the evil alien is able to make the clone.
Modify Character Example[edit]
1. Design the Character
After the Clone's defeat at the hands of Modre, the evil alien decides to upgrade the clone with 729 CP worth of enhancements, so that the enhanced clone's CP value is 830.
2. Find Maximum CP
We start with the evil alien's +3 surgery ability modifier, so that his maximum CP so far is 2. He is only taking a a day to modify the clone, so we subtract 1 from his maximum CP leaving 2. He has no special circumstances, so we add 0 to his maximum CP. The evil alien is using futuristic technology, so we multiply his maximum CP by 500, for a total maximum CP of 1000.
3. Compare Maximum CP to the CP of the Designed Character
Since the maximum CP (1000) is equal to or greater than the Modified Clone's CP (830), the evil alien is able to modify the clone.
4. For non-mechanical characters, perform the surgery roll
Since the Clone is a creature of flesh and blood rather than a mechanical or robotic one, a surgery roll must be made to ensure his survival. Because the evil alien is significantly modifying the clone's physiology the difficulty of this surgery is 20. On his first roll the clone rolls a 5, for a total of 8, which is not higher than 20.
Having failed his first roll, the evil alien has to do another roll to see if the clone will even survive the modification. The clone rolls a 18, for a total of 21, barely over the 20 difficulty level. The now-enhanced clone barely survives the modification and recovers in about a month from this surgery.
Character Creation[edit]
To create PCs the game will provide the players with a list of templates that players can use to create their characters, occupations which are open to beginning characters, abilities and qualities the character can develop and the maximum total CP of the new character, usually 300 CP. A GM or game designer may follow similar rules when creating NPCs, but the limitations may be less strict. (See Game Design and Gameplay.) A finished character will have:
- the character's name, age, sex, template, occupation and CP value.
- agility, strength, toughness, stamina, running and possibly swimming and airspeed.
- abilities and qualities
- equipment including natural weapons and armor
- grapple attack, grapple defense, missile defense and melee defense
- best absorption, total cover, stun and damage.
Description[edit]
Choose a name, age, sex, template and occupation for the character. You may also invent a more detailed description and background for your character, appropriate to the game being played. Characters can be male or female unless the template lists different options for sex. Age can be described in years, but more often as a category such as child, youth, adult, old, or ancient.
Occupations give the character advantages, disadvantages, duties or privileges. A character may have any occupations as long as they meet the requirements for those occupations. A character can have more than one occupation if the character can meet the requirements for each occupation at the same time, or no occupation at all. (See Game Design/Occupations.)
Build[edit]
A character may be able to have more or less speed, agility, toughness, strength, running, swimming, airspeed, mass and length than his template. Youth, adults and older characters are usually within the template's normal variability. To make a small child character without changing the template, you can reduce the mass, length, toughness, strength and running to less than the template's variability normally allows. After finding the character's total toughness, find the character's stamina which is 2 times the character's total toughness.
Relatively big characters should have more toughness, strength, mass and length, while relatively smaller characters should have less toughness, strength, mass and length. The following table is a guideline for characters with typical mass, length, toughness and strength relationships, but characters are not required to fit these categories. Template variability limits relative size options. High variability is required for tiny and huge characters, low variability requires normal size, and no variability requires exactly average mass, length, toughness and strength.
| Size | Toughness, Strength and Mass | Length | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tiny | less than half average | over 20% less than average | ||
| very small | between 1/3 and 2/3 average | between 10% and 30% less than average | ||
| small | between half average and average | between 20% less than average and average | ||
| normal | between 2/3 average and 50% more than average | between 10% less and 10% more than average | ||
| big | between average and twice average | between average and 30% more than average | ||
| very big | between 50% more than average and three times average | between 10% and 50% more than average | ||
| huge | more than twice average | over 30% more than average |
- more speed (20 CP)
- A character can have more speed if his template has medium or high variability. If the template's speed is ¼ or ½ the character's total speed will be twice the template's speed. Otherwise the character's total speed will be the template's speed plus 1. More speed is worth 20 CP.
- less speed (-20 CP)
- A character can have less speed if his template has medium or high variability and the template's speed is greater than ¼. If the template's speed is 1 or ½ the character's total speed will be half of the template's speed. Otherwise the character's total speed will be the template's speed minus 1. Less speed is worth -20 CP.
- more or less agility (10 CP per level)
- A character can have more or less agility than his template depending on the template's variability: 0 points more or less if the template has low variability, 1 point more or less if the template has medium variability, or 2 points more or less if the template has high variability. Each point of agility is worth 10 CP. For example, if a character's total agility is 2 levels less than his template's agility, then his reduced agility is worth -20 CP.
- more or less toughness (3 CP per level)
- A character can have total toughness up to 50% more than his template toughness with low variability, twice his template toughness with medium variability and 3 times his template toughness with high variability. A character can have less total toughness than his template toughness but never less than 0 toughness. Even a very fragile character usually has total toughness which is at least half of his template toughness. Each point of toughness is worth 3 CP. For example, -3 toughness is worth -9 CP.
- more or less strength (5 CP per level)
- A character can have total strength up to 50% more than his template strength with low variability, twice his template strength with medium variability and 3 times his template strength with high variability. A character can have less total strength than his template strength, but never less than 0 strength. Even a very weak character usually has total strength which is at least half of his template strength. Each point of strength is worth 5 CP. For example, -2 strength is worth -10 CP.
- more or less mass
- A character can have from 30% less to 50% more than his template's average mass with low variability, half to double his template's average mass with medium variability and one-third to 3 times his template's average mass with high variability.
- more or less length
- A character can have from 10% less to 10% more than his template's average length with low variability, 20% less to 30% more than his template's average length with medium variability and 30% less to 50% more than his template's average length with high variability.
- more or less running (5 CP per level)
- A character can have up to 50% more than his template's running with low variability, twice his template running with medium variability and three times his template running with high variability. A lame character can have less running than his template, but never less than 0 running.
- more or less swimming (5 CP per level)
- A character can have up 1 point more swimming than his template swimming with low variability, 3 points more than his template swimming with medium variability and 5 points more than his template swimming with high variability. A disabled character can have less swimming than his template, but never less than 0 swimming.
- more or less airspeed (5 CP per level)
- A character can have up to 50% more than his template airspeed with low variability, twice his template airspeed with medium variability and three times his template airspeed with high variability. A crippled character can have less airspeed than his template, but never less than 0 airspeed.
Abilities and Qualities[edit]
| You may give the character new abilities or extra ability levels beyond template abilities, reflecting the character's individual talent, skill and experience. Each ability level is worth 5 CP. Normally new characters can have no more than 4 levels of each new ability or 4 extra levels in each template ability. A character's total ability modifier is his template ability modifier plus his extra ability modifier. (See Game Design/Abilities.)
You may also be allowed to give the character weaknesses such as negative qualities (qualities with negative CP) and missing or disabled limbs. Players need the game or GM's permission to create characters with negative qualities that are different from their template. A player also needs the game or GM's permission to make a character with missing or disabled limbs. Characters should not have more than two negative qualities and may be allowed only one or none. The consequences of negative qualities should not be easily avoided. If the character's qualities or natural weapons are different from the character's template, recalculate the character's template CP. (See Game Design/Templates.) |
modifier 1-2 student 3-5 expert 6-7 master 8-9 legend |
Equipment and Natural Defenses[edit]
Natural weapons and armor do not have mass or heft. (These natural defenses are included in the character's mass.) The power of a natural weapon is the character's total strength plus the weapon's leverage if it has the leverage feature. The attack modifier of a natural weapon is the character's total agility, plus total natural weapon ability, plus the weapon's offense if it has the offense feature. The defense of a natural weapon is 10 plus the character's total agility plus total natural weapons ability. Natural armor does not need power, attack modifiers or defense. (See Game Design/Abilities/Combat Abilities.)
The character usually begins with the basic equipment required by his occupation. The game may give the character additional equipment or money to buy equipment. A character's modifiers when using an item are listed in the equipment section of the character sheet. These are determined by comparing the character's modifiers to the item's modifiers, and may be different from the values listed on the equipment list for that item. (See Game Design/Equipment and Character Development/Inventory Management.)
- Grapple Attack
- A character's grapple attack is his grapple ability, plus his agility, plus his strength. For example, if a character's grapple ability is 1, his strength is 1, and his agility is 1, then his grapple attack is 3 (1 + 1 + 1 = 3.)
- Grapple Defense
- A character's grapple defense is his grapple attack plus 10.
- Melee Defense
- Melee defense is the best defense of the weapons the character is currently using. This is the difficulty of successfully striking or grappling this character.
- Missile Defense
- Missile defense is 10 plus the character's agility. This is the difficulty of successfully shooting the character or hitting the character with a thrown weapon.
- Best Absorption
- Record the highest absorption of any armor the character is currently wearing here. This is the amount of attack power which will be absorbed by an attack which does not specifically try to avoid that armor.
- Total Cover
- Add up the cover of all the armor the character is wearing and subtract overlapping areas. If the total is 10 or more, or if any of the armor the character is wearing has complete cover, then the total cover is complete. This is the difficulty modifier for attacks that try to hit the character in an unarmored area.
The best absorption can be the total absorption of overlapping armor, and subtracting overlapping areas avoids counting the same covered area twice. For example consider a character wearing a bulletproof ballistic vest (3 cover, 3 absorption) with a rifle plate (an optional solid insert which adds extra protection for the heart) with 1 cover and 5 absorption. This character's best absorption will be found where the area covered by the rifle plate (5 absorption) is also backed by the ballistic vest (3 absorption). This absorption is 8 (5 + 3 = 8). The overlapping area is the area covered by the rifle plate (1 cover) which is also completely covered by the ballistic vest, so the total cover is 3 (3 + 1 - 1.) (See Action/Damage/Armor.)
- Stun and Damage
- New characters have no stun or damage.
Make a Character - Character Generation Example[edit]
This example explains how to make a playable character. Consult the game-specific rules or the Game Master (GM) to find out what Templates and how many Character Points (CP) you can use to make characters. (See Character Creation.) The player starts generating the character with a "template" for the kind of character he is making.
1. Choose the Type of Character You Want to Make
Here we'll assume that we are allowed to use 201 total CP to make a single character whose template is "human." After subtracting the CP value of the template (155 CP) we still have 46 CP to customize the character. (See Game Design/Make a Template.)
human, 75 kg, 1.7 m height, medium variability, 155 CP
1 speed, 0 agility, 3 strength, 5 toughness, 5 running
2 hands (hand)
2 feet
2. Choose the Character's Build
Now we look at Steven's Template to see how it affects his dimensions and modifiers. Steven is a Human, so his height will be between 1.4 m and 2.0 m (within 20% of 1.7m), and his weight should be between 38 kg and 150 kg (50% to 200% of 75 kg.) We decide to make Steven a short-and-stocky tough guy: 1.6 m tall and 95 kg. We give him 2 extra points of toughness, which uses up 6 CP. Steven's agility (0), speed (1), strength (3) and running (5) will remain unchanged from the Human template. Steven's stamina is 14 (two times his toughness.)
|
3. Use the Remaining CP to Customize the Character Now we will make Steven more competent and interesting by distributing the rest of his CP. After spending 6 CP to give Steven extra toughness, we have 40 CP remaining for enhancements. We decide that Steven does not have any disabilities or missing limbs, so we'll just distribute the rest of the CP among Steven's abilities. We give him a new one-handed weapons ability with a modifier of 4 (20 CP.) We use 10 CP to give Steven an extra craftsmanship ability modifier of 2. We use the remaining 10 CP to give Steven an extra natural weapons ability modifier of 2. The Human template does not have a one-handed weapons, craftsmanship or natural weapons modifier, so we write a 0 in the right side of the Modifier column for each ability. |
|
4. Occupation and Equipment
Steven meets the minimum qualifications to be a Robber. We decide this suits the personality we envision for Steven, so we make his occupation "Robber". This occupation does not give Steven any equipment, but he has made a "machete". (See Game Design/Occupations/Occupation Examples and Character Development/Making Equipment/Equipment Generation Example.)
machete (81 CP, 0.5 kg, 3 heft, 5 power, sharp)
Steven only has one machete, so we list the item's name as "1 machete". We copy the item's features (just "sharp"), mass (0.5 kg), and heft (3) to Steven's character sheet. Steven's machete has an attack modifier of 4: Steven's agility (0) plus Steven's one-handed weapons ability (2). Steven's machete has a defense of 14: Steven's agility (0) plus Steven's one-handed weapons ability (2) plus 10. The machete's power is 5 and Steven's total strength is 3. Steven's machete power is the highest of these two values (5).
We also fill in the power, attack and defense of Steven's natural weapons. The power of his hands and feet is Steven's total strength, which is 4.. Steven's hands and feet have an attack modifier of 2: his agility plus his natural weapons ability (2). Steven's hands and feet have a defense of 12: his agility (0) plus his natural weapons ability (2) plus 10.
5. Grapple, Defense, Armor
Steven's grapple attack is his 0 agility plus his 0 grappling ability plus his 3 strength, for a total of 3 grapple attack Steven's grapple defense is his 3 grapple attack plus 10, for a total of 13 grapple defense. Steven's melee defense is the best defense of all his natural weapons and hand weapons. His machete has 14 defense, while his hands and feet have only 12 defense, so his melee defense is 14. Steven's missile defense is his agility (0) plus 10, which is 10 (10 + 0 = 10). Steven has no armor so his best absorption and total cover are 0.
Steven, adult male human robber, 95 kg, 1.6 m height, 201 CP
1 speed, 0 agility, 3 strength, 7 toughness, 14 stamina, 5 running
2 unarmed combat, 4 one-handed weapons, 2 craftsmanship
2 hands (hand, 3 power, 2 attack, 12 defense)
2 feet (3 power, 2 attack, 12 defense)
1 machete (sharp, 0.5 kg, 3 heft, 5 power, 4 attack, 14 defense)
14 melee defense, 10 missile defense, 13 grapple defense, 3 grapple attack
0 best absorption, 0 total cover, ____ stun, ____ damage
Game Design[edit]
Adventures[edit]
The action of a role-playing game plays out in a setting called an adventure. An adventure could be a single battle or a series of battles, a haunted castle full of secrets, a story which the players can influence through their characters' actions, or an open-ended scenario where players choose which goals their characters work toward. A campaign is a complex adventure which requires players to meet together for several sessions of playing, or a series of simple adventures using the same characters.
Creating Adventures[edit]
To create an adventure, you'll need a system for recording ideas and organizing information such as a notebook and pencil or a word processor. You may need hex mats or graph paper to create maps. Templates, occupations, ability and equipment lists can be designed on paper or using office software. Blank character sheets can be printed or copied for creating templates and characters. Equipment lists can be created using with detailed descriptions of each item or a single equipment list. Important non-player characters (NPCs) should have character sheets, especially characters the players' characters can fight. (See Character Creation and Game Design/Equipment.)
Some adventures are a sequence of challenges like an obstacle course which forces the characters to follow a story line, but letting the story develop naturally in an environment that encourages the players to play their characters creatively is usually more engaging.
Adventures can provide opportunities for player character development, improving the characters' builds, abilities, equipment or occupations. These opportunities can depend on the choices players make, the actions of their characters, the outcome of the adventure, specific experiences or general experience gained in the adventure. For example, an adventure might have a secret old hermit that the player characters can discover and train with, thus giving the player characters extra CP to improve their abilities. As another example, after defeating a particularly difficult enemy, player characters might discover treasure that their fallen foe was protecting. (See Character Development.)
Sourcebooks[edit]
A sourcebook is a document with information for creating and playing adventures. A sourcebook can contain a complete adventure or compaign. A more general sourcebook might describe a setting used in several adventures, such as a sourcebook for generic fantasy adventures. A more specific sourcebook might focus on one detail of a setting, like a book with extra monsters for a scenario. Some sourcebooks provide material for adventures in multiple settings. For example, a sourcebook for characters with thieving and burgling skills might apply to both modern adventures and fantasy campaigns.
A sourcebook containing a complete adventure will include a detailed description of the setting, what kind of characters the the players should control, descriptions and character sheets for NPCs, maps and diagrams, and rules for how the action of the adventure should play out. The sourcebook may contain a detailed inventory of the items in every room and the goods for sale in every store. A good adventure sourcebook should not leave the GM in a situation where he has to invent new material during the game.
Limitations[edit]
Adventures can limit PC templates, occupations and CP Value. Some adventures are more suited to characters with low CP and may be too easy for more powerful characters. Other adventures are more challenging and better suited to characters with more CP.
Templates, equipment, new characters and character development have limitations which you may want to modify for specific games. A superhero game for example might allow characters to have more qualities, greater abilities, and more speed, agility, strength and toughness. A game where PCs are average folks or inexperienced kids might have lower ability limits and allow less speed, agility, power or toughness development. (See Game Design/Templates, Game Design/Equipment and Character Creation.) The normal limitations are:
- Templates can have no more than 3 speed.
- Template agility is between -5 and 5
- Templates can have no more than 5 levels of template abilities.
- Equipment can have no more than 2 offense.
- Equipment can have no more than 2 control.
- The maximum ability of new characters is 4 plus their template ability.
- Characters can later develop ability levels up to 10 plus their template ability.
- New characters can have only a few qualities their template does not have - all of them disadvantages.
- New characters can have no more than double their template speed or 1 plus their template speed, whichever is less.
- The maximum agility of new characters is 2 plus their template agility.
- A new character can have 0%, 50%, 100% or 200% more strength than his template, depending on the template's variability.
- A new character can have 0%, 50%, 100% or 200% more toughness than his template, depending on the template's variability.
- Through training and experience, characters cannot develop any more qualities, speed, agility, strength or toughness than a new character of the same template can start with.
Templates[edit]
Templates are used to generate characters. Each template represents a certain type of character. The character could be a person, animal, alien, monster or even a machine depending on their template. A template can be a race, species, model, stereotype or archetype. Age categories and sexes can have separate templates if the differences are significant. A template includes:
- The template's name, average mass, average length and length type, variability, and CP value
- The template's speed, agility, strength, toughness, running and possibly swimming and airspeed
- abilities and disabilities
- natural weapons and armor
Dimensions and Build[edit]
- Mass
- Record the average mass of characters based on this template.
- Length and Length Type
- Record the average length of characters based on this template and how it is measured: length, height or wingspan for example.
- Variability
- Variability determines how much characters with this template can differ from the average size and proportions.
| variability | CP | description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| none | -10 | Characters of this template always have the average length, mass, agility, toughness and strength for their template. For example, a specific model of robot might be built to exact specifications and have no variability. | |
| low | -5 | Characters of this template are always within 10% of the average length of their template. Bird species often have low variability. | |
| medium | 0 | Characters of this template can be up to 20% longer or shorter than the average length of their template. Humans and most mammals have medium variability. | |
| high | 5 | Characters of this template can be up to 30% longer or shorter than the average length of their template. Many reptiles grow slowly throughout their lives and have high variability. Species whose growth adjusts to the space or food available also have high variability. |
- Speed
- Speed is maximum number of times a character based on this template can attack per round with a single weapon. Very large creatures typically have less speed. The main difference between speed and agility is that agility affects the success of actions while speed affects how fast actions can be performed.
| speed | CP | description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¼ | -30 | very slow (sloth, tortoise) | |
| ½ | 0 | slow (python, elephant, turtle) | |
| 1 | 30 | medium (horse, average human speed) | |
| 2 | 60 | fast (dog, maximum human speed) | |
| 3 | 90 | fast (cat, shrew, tasmanian devil) |
- Agility (15 CP per level)
- Agility is roughly based on size, but some templates are awkward or slow moving for their size, and others are surprisingly agile for their size. Human agility is 0, but agility for other species can be as high as 5 or as low as -5. Template agility determines the average and maximum agility characters created using this template can have. Each point of agility is worth 15 CP, so -5 agility would be worth -75 CP and 5 agility would be worth 75 CP.
- Strength (10 CP per level)
- Strength helps a character use heavy equipment and cause more damage. Template strength is usually less than template toughness and never less than 0. Creatures of roughly human size and power have 3 strength. Creatures with 0 strength cannot do any damage with their natural weapons. Each point of template strength is worth 10 CP.
- Toughness (5 CP per level)
- Toughness determines how much damage an average character based on the template can take without being injured or incapacitated. Template toughness is usually greater than or equal to template strength and never less than 0. Creatures of roughly human size and toughness have 5 toughness. Each point of template toughness is worth 5 CP.
Toughness, agility and strength are all related to a template's size. The following examples should help guide template creation, but some creatures will be stronger or weaker, quicker or clumsier than their mass would suggest.
| Example | mouse | rat | cat | human | horse | elephant | whale | 
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mass (kg) | 0.02 | 0.3 | 5 | 80 | 500 | 8000 | 50,000 | |
| Agility | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | -2 | -4 | -5 | |
| agility CP | 75 | 45 | 30 | 0 | -30 | -60 | -75 | |
| Speed | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | |
| speed CP | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 0 | |
| Toughness | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 40 | 100 | |
| toughness CP | 0 | 5 | 10 | 25 | 60 | 200 | 500 | |
| Strength | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 25 | 50 | |
| strength CP | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 80 | 250 | 500 | |
| Cover | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | |
| Absorption | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| armor CP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 100 | |
| Total CP | 105 | 90 | 90 | 85 | 140 | 440 | 1025 |
- Running (10 CP per level)
- Running determines how fast a typical character based on this template can travel on the ground. Running is measured in meters per second. Humans have 5 running. Running is never less than 0. Creatures with 0 running cannot move under their own power on land. Each point of running is worth 10 CP.
- Swimming (10 CP per level)
- Swimming determines how fast an untrained character based on this template can travel in water. Swimming is measured in meters per second. Humans have 0 swimming but they can learn to swim with training. Swimming is never less than 0. Creatures with 0 swimming cannot move under their own power in water. Each point of swimming is worth 10 CP.
- Airspeed (10 CP per level)
- Airspeed determines how fast a typical character based on this template can travel while flying. Airspeed is measured in meters per second. Only templates with the flying quality have airspeed (See Abilities and Qualities below.) Airspeed is never less than 0. Creatures with 0 airspeed have no control in the air but can float or glide with the speed and direction they were moving when they left the ground. Each point of running is worth 10 CP.
Abilities and Qualities[edit]
- Abilities (8 CP per modifier level)
- Templates can have natural abilities with a modifier level from 1 to 5. This is the minimum amount of this ability that all characters of this template will have and it affects the maximum ability modifier which they can develop. Each level of template ability modifier is worth 8 CP. (See Game Design/Abilities.)
Qualities are aspects of a template which do not have levels. Either a template has a quality or the template does not have it. Qualities can have a positive CP value, negative CP value or no CP value, depending on whether the quality is more of an advantage or disadvantage. A character can have some qualities which his template does not have, but in most games a character cannot have the mechanical quality or any of the flight-related qualities unless his template has it.
- flying (15 CP)
- This quality allows powered flight, like a bird that can fly by flapping it's wings.
- gliding (10 CP)
- This quality allows a character to steer while falling. A template cannot have both gliding and flying because flying includes the ability to steer while falling.
- soaring (5 CP)
- This quality allows a character to gain altitude by riding thermals. Soaring requires gliding or flying
- parachuting (5 CP)
- This quality prevents a character from taking falling damage. A template cannot have both parachuting and flying because flying includes the ability to take no damage from falling.
- perfect regeneration (10 CP)
- A character with perfect regeneration always heals successfully without having to roll. As a result, the character heals slightly faster than normal, even when exerting himself. The perfect regenerator is immune to many common types of infections (but not necessarily all diseases), and can regrow complete limbs and organs if he can live without them for long enough.
- daily regeneration (10 CP)
- The character heals daily instead of weekly, but still requires healing rolls and cannot regenerate most limbs and major organs unless he also has perfect regeneration.
- hourly regeneration (30 CP)
- The character heals hourly without healing rolls, and is able to regrow complete limbs and organs. (A character cannot have both hourly and perfect regeneration, because hourly regeneration includes all of the advantages of perfect regeneration.) In practice hourly regeneration usually means a character is automatically healed between battles, but does not heal during battles.
- sudden regeneration (50 CP)
- The character recovers half of his damage instead of all of his stun when he uses the rest action and has no stun.
- mechanical (5 CP)
- A mechanical character does not heal, but can be repaired using craftsmanship or abilities which allow characters to modify mechanical characters. Mechanical characters do not require surgery rolls when they are modified. Characters who do not have this ability are called organic characters. The main difference between mechanical and organic characters is how they are affected by trauma. (A very complex robot which can heal itself but can be easily destroyed by an attempted modification might not have the mechanical quality.) Mechanical characters do not decay as quickly as organic creatures, so they can be easier to resuscitate from fatal injuries. Mechanical characters can be repaired more quickly than organic (non-mechanical) character's heal. For each day of repairs the mechanical character recovers damage equal to the ability of the character performing the repairs plus circumstance modifiers. Mechanical characters recover from stun like normal characters. Even a simple machine can often correct temporary mechanical problems, especially autonomous and semi-autonomous robots with redundant systems like space probes.
- blind (-70 CP)
- The character has very poor or no vision (legally blind or worse.)
- deaf (-30 CP)
- The character has very poor or no hearing.
- dumb (-10 CP)
- The character cannot speak. In other words the character cannot reproduce the complex sounds used by some species for communication. Most species who do not have a complex language are dumb even though they use their voices for simple communication and emotional expression. (This ability is not related to intelligence or competence. See the inept and unintelligent qualities for characters who are "dumb" in the pejorative sense.)
- mute (-15 CP)
- The character has no voice. A template cannot have both the mute and dumb qualities because a mute character also cannot speak.
- inept (-20 CP)
- The character has serious difficulty doing most things a normal person can do, but may still be able to do some things well. The character has a -4 modifier to all rolls unless the character has an ability which applies to that roll. Animals which are smart but not as intelligent as people are often inept.
- unintelligent (-40 CP)
- The character does not do anything except what it was designed or trained to do, although it might be very good at those things. The things the character can do are basically limited to it's abilities. If the character does not have a fighting ability it cannot fight. If the character does not have a communication ability it cannot communicate. A template with this quality cannot have the inept quality because an unintelligent character cannot do any of the things which are difficult for an inept character.
Natural Armor[edit]
A template can have one or more types of natural armor.
- Absorption
- Each type of armor has an absorption feature with a value of at least 1. The absorption value is the amount of attack power the armor can block from a single attack.
| 1 | tough skin, scales or guard hairs | |
| 2 | big scales, small bones in skin, thick padding | |
| 3-5 | large bony plates, flattened ribs | |
| 5-9 | carapace, bony sheild, hard shell | |
| 10+ | extremely thick and tough armor |
- Cover
- Each type of natural armor also has a cover feature with a value from 1 to 9 or complete. The cover value is the area protected by the armor.
| 1 | limited armor - protects a specific area of the body like a shield | |
| 3 | partial armor - more areas covered but less than 50% | |
| 5 | extensive armor - at least 50% cover like a shell or carapace | |
| 7 | mostly armored - covers most of the body but exposes large ares | |
| 9 | fully armored - covers the whole body but has weak points | |
| complete | tough hide - full cover without weak points |
- Natural Armor CP
- The CP of natural armor is 5 multiplied by the cover and absorption values, or 50 multiplied by the absorption if the cover is complete. For example, natural armor with 3 cover and 2 absorption is worth 30 CP, and natural armor with complete cover and 4 absorption is worth 200 CP.
Natural Weapons[edit]
Describe each type of natural weapon and list the weapon's features. Natural weapons can have the following features:
- quantity (0, -20 or -50 CP)
- Having more than one natural weapon allows a creature to attack more often. If a creature cannot use it's natural weapons quickly, they may count as a single natural weapon. For example, an Elephant has both tusks and a trunk that can be used as weapons, but the elephant cannot use them as separate weapons in a combo attack. If a character has no natural weapons he cannot attack at all. This is worth -50 CP. If a character has only a single natural weapon, this is worth -20 CP. Two or more natural weapons are worth 0 CP.
- hand (10 CP each)
- A natural weapon may be a hand. Each hand allows you to wield one weapon. A character with at least two hands can do a secondary attack with a hand weapon - as long as the character has a weapon in each hand. Each pair of hands allows you to wield one two-handed weapon effectively. Each hand is worth 10 CP.
- leverage (4 CP per level)
- Sometimes characters have a natural weapon which is significantly larger or more powerful than the rest of the character's appendages. Leverage increases the power of attacks with this limb, but it does not increase the character's carrying capacity or make it easier to wield hefty weapons. Each point of leverage is worth 4 CP.
- Some limbs can have less power than the character's strength. These limbs can have negative leverage, but the absolute value of this negative leverage cannot exceed the character's strength. (For example, if a template had a strength of 10, the lowest leverage any of its limbs could have would be -10.) Limbs with hands on them have -4 CP for each point of negative leverage, as long as the template has no more than one limb that has a hand and higher leverage or power.
- range (1 CP per meter)
- The maximum effective range of attacks with the weapon. Most natural weapons have no range. A weapon with range is typically a chemical or missile weapon (like spitting venom.) Exceptionally long limbs tend to have the offense feature rather than range. Each meter of range is worth 1 CP. The range feature is written with the number of meters of range followed by an "m" for meters. The word "range" does not have to be listed.
- offense (5 or 10 CP)
- Offense is a number (1 or 2) which is added to a character's attack modifier with this weapon. Long limbs which can easily reach past an opponent's defenses and help grappling attacks may have this feature. 1 offense is worth 5 CP and 2 offense is worth 10 CP.
- sharp (20 or 30 CP)
- Sharp weapons do all damage instead of half-damage and half-stun. One sharp natural weapon is worth 20 CP. Two or more sharp natural weapons is worth 30 CP.
- padded (5 or 8 CP)
- Padded weapons do all stun instead of half-damage and half-stun. One padded natural weapon is worth 5 CP. Two or more padded natural weapons is worth 8 CP.
Any natural weapon can be used to do blunt attacks which are not sharp or padded. As long as a character has some speed and mobility, he can fling some part of his body to bash, whip or slap an opponent. This means many short, blunt natural weapons do not have to be listed on a template or character sheet: a humanoid template might have only hands and feet listed as natural weapons, but they can also attack by biting, head-butting, and knee and elbow strikes, which are not listed.
Make a Template - Template Generation Example[edit]
To demonstrate the creation of a character template, this tutorial will show how to create a human template which can be used for many RPG settings. This template can be used to create most adult human characters, including both men and women.
|
1. Build - A quick Internet search suggests that average humans are around 75 kg and 1.7 meters tall. Most humans are within 20% of average height but many are more than 10% taller or shorter, so humans have medium variability (worth 0 CP.) Humans have 1 speed (worth 30 CP), 3 strength (worth 30 CP), 5 toughness (worth 25 CP), 0 agility (worth 0 CP), 5 running (worth 50 CP). Humans have no swimming, although individuals can learn to swim, and no airspeed because they cannot fly. 2. Abilities and Qualities - Humans have no special abilities or disabilities. 3. Natural Defenses - Humans have two or more natural weapons, which is worth 0 CP. They have two hands, which together are worth 20 CP. Humans have no natural armor. 4. Template CP - The total CP value of our new human template is 105 CP. |
|
human, 75 kg, 1.7 m height, medium variability, 155 CP
1 speed, 0 agility, 3 strength, 5 toughness, 5 running
2 hands (hand)
2 feet
Occupations[edit]
Occupations describe what a character does: how the character makes a living and fits into society. Sometimes occupations are professions, careers, jobs or businesses, but volunteer work, hobbies and even crime can also be occupations. An occupation should include a description, at least one advantage and at least one requirement. Occupations can also have liabilities: effects which are not advantages. A game's list of occupations should balance the advantages and requirements of each occupation. Occupations can provide character development opportunities during the game. Characters can change occupations and have more than one occupation at the same time, as long as they meet the occupation's requirements and the game or GM allows it.
Description[edit]
Give the name of the occupation, what it's practitioners are called, and special terms for the occupation's activities. Explain what characters do in this occupation. Indicate the setting, culture, communities, nations, or worlds where this occupation is found, and how the occupation relates to them. Describe the organization of the profession: societies, traditions, rituals, competition, initiation, apprenticeships, status, reputation, etc. Explain how characters training for this occupation develop the requirements.
Requirements[edit]
Most occupations require minimum ability modifiers in one or more specific abilities. This reflects the training and education required by the occupation. An occupation may also require the character to have another occupation, or to have had that occupation in the past. This may indicate professional experience or rank. Occupations might require other specific accomplishments - things the character must do before acquiring the occupation. For example, a character might have to win a competition, or spend a certain amount of money.
Opportunities to acquire the occupation can be limited. Some occupations require the character to be elected or appointed. If there are a strictly limited number of positions available, a character may be unable to acquire the occupation until there is a vacancy. For example, a kingdom usually has only one king at a time.
Occupations might discriminate against certain types of characters. The occupation may not be allowed for characters of a particular template, sex, age, culture, social class or political alignment. If the occupation is allowed but significantly less compatible or popular with certain types of characters, explain why. (Or explain why the occupation is particularly popular or compatible with certain types of characters.) The occupation might also depend on the character's social connections, reputation or popularity, or the occupation might only be available as an inherited position.
Advantages[edit]
The advantages of having an occupation can include income, opportunities, status and privileges. An occupation can also improve or hurt a character's reputation. A better reputation is an advantage, but a worse reputation is a liability. The list of equipment required by an occupation is considered an advantage. When a character acquires the occupation, they receive this equipment if they don't already have it. An occupation's equipment list will often include multiple choices. If the character must invest a substantial amount of their own money to get this equipment, that cost might be a requirement of the occupation.
Liabilities[edit]
Occupations can require time commitments. They may limit how many other occupations the character can have. An occupation may even prevent the character from having any other occupations. Occupations can include duties which require a character to do certain things. An occupation can have standards of conduct and penalties for not keeping the occupation's rules. A character's reputation can be adversely affected by an unpopular or notorious occupation.
Occupation Examples[edit]
In this example each item is worth it's CP value in small silver coins.
|
|
|
|
|
If a character meets both of these occupation's requirements they may begin as either a Robber or Knight. If this character begins as a Robber, but gains the reputation of being a hero who is loyal to the king, and if he ceases to take advantage of his robber privileges, the King may choose to give this character the occupation of Knight. If this character begins as a knight, but proves himself disloyal to the king by participating in unlawful activity, he has the option of becoming a Robber, but loses all of his Knight privileges.
Consider two characters who are identical except that one character is a Knight and the other character is a Robber. The Knight has an advantage over the Robber, but the Knight also has stricter requirements.
Abilities[edit]
Each of a character's abilities has a modifier. This modifier is added as to success rolls when a character uses the ability to try something difficult. Abilities can also give the character other advantages based on ability modifier. Each game may have an ability list adapted to the setting and style of play. The following ability list is just one example of the abilities a game might have. Some abilities may be available to all characters all the time. Others may only be available to certain templates, or may only be changed while creating a character.
Ability Modifier Limits[edit]
Unless otherwise stated, the maximum ability modifier for a beginning character is 4 more than it's template default. (For example, if a template had a stealth modifier of two and no natural weapons modifier, the beginning character's maximum stealth ability modifier would be 6, and his maximum natural weapons ability modifier would be 4.) 4 is an advanced "expert" level of training. Games that start off with very untested characters may have a lower beginning character ability modifier limit, and games that start of with very advanced "super" characters might start with a higher beginning character ability modifier limit.
Unless otherwise stated, the maximum ability modifier for all character is 10 more than his template's default modifier for that ability. (For example, if a template had a stealth modifier of two and no natural weapons modifier, the character's maximum stealth ability modifier would be 12, and his maximum natural weapons ability modifier would be 10.) Games that aim for brutally realistic character development may have a lower maximum ability limit, and games which allow characters to train to extreme or "super" levels may have a higher maximum ability limit.
Combat Abilities[edit]
- Natural weapons
- A character's natural weapons modifier is added to attempts to strike using parts of the character's body, including such natural weapons as fists, feet, elbows, claws, horns, etc.
- One-handed weapons
- A combat ability which can be used with striking weapons held in one hand, such as a club, mace, axe or sword.
- Two-handed weapons
- A combat ability which can be used with two-handed striking weapons held in two hands, such as a staff, polearm or two-handed sword.
- Grappling
- Is a combat ability used for any grappling move the character might attempt, with or without a weapon.
- Throwing
- A combat ability used when throwing striking weapons or using a sling or atlatl. This ability can be used for catching and throwing both weapons and other items.
- Marksmanship
- A combat ability used with guns and bows
- Combat Engineering
- Knowledge of fortifications, siege engines, sabotage, setting and disarming traps.
- Tactics
- The ability to improve the performance of a group of characters in battle when this character is leading them.
Stealth and Detection Abilities[edit]
- Detection
- The ability to detect others sneaking around, avoid ambushes, and search for hidden objects and characters. Detection can also be used to spot traps and secret doors, find evidence at a crime scene or track down people and creatures. This ability modifier is added to success rolls to detect characters using stealth.
- Illusion
- The ability to make things appear to be that are not, or to make things that are there look as if they are not. This is the main ability behind stage magic (though some Magic Tricks instead use Sleight of Hand,) and concealing hidden goods.
- Sleight of hand
- The ability to use distraction, misdirection and suggestion as well as manual dexterity to perform subtle actions in plain sight without being noticed. Sleight of hand can be used to conceal weapons, draw them without being noticed, pick pockets and pass notes in class.
- Stealth
- The ability to remain undetected while sneaking around, ambushing, or hiding from searches. The difficulty of detecting a hiding character is usually 10 plus the character's stealth modifier plus circumstance modifiers.
Movement Abilities[edit]
- Climbing
- An ability that improves a character's ability to climb. (See Action/Movement.)
- Acrobatics
- An ability which helps a character perform acrobatic feats, such as jumping and tumbling without getting hurt. (See Action/Movement.)
- Navigation
- This ability is used to control water vehicles. For piloting planes, see piloting ability. Navigation includes both the ability to steer the vessel and the ability to use charts, instruments and visual cues to get where you want to go.
- Piloting
- This ability is used to control air vehicles. For piloting boats see navigation ability. Piloting includes both the ability to steer and land the vehicle, and the ability to use instruments, charts and so forth.
- Driving
- This ability is used to control mechanical ground vehicles. This ability includes both the physical skill of driving and knowledge of roads and traffic systems related to driving.
- Animal handling
- A knowledge of animal behavior, maintenance and safety. Animal handling includes the ability to control riding animals, but not the physical ability to do riding stunts. (See riding ability.)
- Riding
- An athletic ability similar to animal handling ability except that it can only be used to control animals that are ridden. Riding ability helps with physically challenging riding stunts.
Communication Abilities[edit]
Most characters can communicate in at least one language: their first or native language. Each additional language the character can understand and use is a quality worth 5 CP. Effective conversation in languages other than the character's first language usually requires a success roll.
- Communication
- This ability improves a character's ability to communicate in all languages, including the character's native language. Communication ability success rolls are required for simple communication, like asking for the general direction to a named place, except in the character's first language. Complex communication can require a success roll even in a character's first language.
- Acting
- This ability is used by a character to change their own behavior for entertainment or deception. Acting can be used to conceal beliefs or intentions, or for impersonation. Acting ability can make a believable lie more convincing, but making a lie believable may require both communication and acting ability. Acting ability can be used to manipulate characters who are susceptible to deception, flattery or intimidation.
- Persuasion
- This ability improves a character's ability to influence others, negotiate and lead. It is also useful when haggling over prices. Persuasion ability can also include a character's honor, status, reputation and prestige.
Other Abilities[edit]
- Agriculture
- The ability to produce raw materials by growing plants and animals.
- Art
- This ability is used to make effective visual presentations, including decoration, sculpting, painting and drawing.
- Chemistry
- This is used to make substances involving complex chemical processes, including explosives, alcohol, etc.
- Cooking
- This ability is used to produce food from appropriate raw materials.
- Craftsmanship
- General proficiency in creating "low tech" products in a variety of materials from textiles to smithing, carpentry and stonework. Craftsmanship ability can be used to create armor and weapons from an equipment list, to modify armor and weapons, or to create new items designed by a player or GM.
- Engineering
- The ability to design and repair technologically sophisticated things, from structures to gadgets.
- Law
- Understanding how systems of government work, and the ability to use those systems.
- Locksmith
- This ability is used both to create locks and to defeat locks, including lock-picking and safe-cracking. Locksmith ability includes general knowledge of physical security systems including ways of breaking into secured places without picking the lock.
- Medicine
- This ability is used to help injured characters heal, to treat sickness, disease and poisoning, and to help characters stay healthy. (A character can also use their medical knowledge to poison others or spread disease.) Medicine ability modifier can be added to the weekly healing rolls of any character being treated with the ability. However, if several characters use their medicine modifier to assist the same patient, only the highest medicine modifier applies.
- Music
- The ability to produce effective structured audio presentations. Music includes the ability to recognize, remember and repeat organized patterns of pitch and rhythm, as long as the character is physically able to hear and duplicate the sounds.
- Surgery
- The ability to physically modify organic characters. It is also used to create artificial organic characters.
Equipment[edit]
Decide what equipment will be included in the game, and who may use it. If the shapes or sizes of the templates are very different, each template might have a separate equipment list. Also decide what equipment characters should have when they start the game. Starting equipment may depend on a character's occupation. A character could start with a certain amount of CP in equipment or money to buy equipment. (See Game Design/Occupations.)
Equipment lists show the features of items in the game, mass, heft, power and CP value, similar to the equipment section of a character sheet, except that the equipment list is independent of the character using the equipment. A detailed equipment list may include details such as the reduced pull required to keep a compound bow drawn, the procedure for operating firearms (cocking, reloading, burst fire, etc.) or the type of damage inflicted by weapons.
Item CP[edit]
Some items, especially weapons and armor, have a CP value based on the item's features, mass, heft and power. This value could be used to determine equipment prices or to limit the amount of equipment a character can have.
Mass[edit]
This is the item's mass in kilograms. Weapon mass is based on heft (see below.) The mass of medieval armor is typically the wearer's mass multiplied by the armor's cover and absorption divided by 200. Some armor is heavier, especially scale armor and brigandine which are held together by a heavy cloth or leather backing. Modern armor can be lighter. An item's mass also modifies its CP:
| mass | CP | mass | CP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.000 kg | 10 | 3-5 kg | -2 | |
| 0.001 kg | 9 | 6-10 kg | -3 | |
| 0.002 kg | 8 | 11-20 kg | -4 | |
| 0.005 kg | 7 | 21-50 kg | -5 | |
| 0.01 kg | 6 | 51-100 kg | -6 | |
| 0.02 kg | 5 | 101-200 kg | -7 | |
| 0.03-0.05 kg | 4 | 201-500 kg | -8 | |
| 0.06-0.10 kg | 3 | 501-1000 kg | -9 | |
| 0.11-0.20 kg | 2 | 1001-2000 kg | -10 | |
| 0.21-0.50 kg | 1 | 2001-5000 kg | -11 | |
| 0.51-1.00 kg | 0 | 5001-10,000 kg | -12 | |
| 1.01-2.00 kg | -1 | 10,001-20,000 kg | -13 |
Heft[edit]
Each point of Heft is worth -10 CP. Heft is the power a character's limb must have (including leverage,) to wield the weapon easily. A weapon's heft is usually based on it's mass, but a hand weapon weighted for extra attack power, such as a mace, may have a little more heft. The heft of a bow reflects it's pull rather than it's weight. A firearm with a strong kick may have extra heft to reflect it's kick. If a weapon's heft is greater than the power of the limb holding it, the weapon is unwieldy. Unwieldy weapons may only be used to do one quick action per turn (and no strenuous actions.)
| Heft | Mass | Heft | Mass | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 kg | 12 | 7 kg | |
| 1 | 0.01 kg | 14 | 10 kg | |
| 2 | 0.1 kg | 16 | 15 kg | |
| 3 | 0.4 kg | 18 | 20 kg | |
| 4 | 0.7 kg | 20 | 30 kg | |
| 5 | 1 kg | 25 | 50 kg | |
| 6 | 1.5 kg | 30 | 70 kg | |
| 7 | 2 kg | 35 | 100 kg | |
| 8 | 2.5 kg | 40 | 150 kg | |
| 9 | 3 kg | 45 | 200 kg | |
| 10 | 5 kg | 50 | 300 kg |
Power[edit]
Each point of power is worth 10 CP. A weapon's power is almost never less than it's heft. A well balanced hand weapon might have more power than it's heft, and a firearm can have much more power than heft.
Features[edit]
Some features are numbers and some are not. To show that an item has a feature which is not a number, just list the feature's name. If an item has a feature which is a number, such as range, cover, absorption, shots or turns, list the number followed by the name of the feature.
- range (1 CP per meter)
- Range is a number which is the weapon's maximum effective range in meters. To save space, range can be listed as the number and an "m" (for meters) instead of the word "range". Most natural weapons and hand weapons have no range. Small amounts of reach which make a big difference in combat are reflected by higher template agility and combat abilities or control for some hand weapons (longer swords, staffs and polearms.)
- cover and absorption (5 CP × cover × absorption or 50 CP × absorption)
- Cover and absorption are numbers which describe the effectiveness of armor, helmets and shields. Absorption is the amount of attack power blocked by a piece of armor. Cover increases the difficulty of hitting a part of the body which isn't armored. Items with cover always have absorption and item's with absorption always have cover. The CP value of absorption and cover is 5 multiplied by cover and absorption, or 50 multiplied by absorption if the cover is complete. For example, a piece of equipment with 5 cover and 2 absorption has 50 CP worth of absorption and cover, and a piece of equipment with complete cover and 6 absorption has 300 CP worth of absorption and cover.
- offense (5 or 10 CP)
- Offense is a number (1 or 2) which is added to a character's attack modifier with this weapon. Most flexible weapons have this feature because they are difficult to parry and help grappling attacks by trapping limbs and weapons. 1 offense is worth 5 CP and 2 offense is worth 10 CP.
- control (10 or 20 CP)
- control is a number (1 or 2) which is added to a character's attack and defense with this weapon. Weapons which have extra reach but are still easy to control have this feature. 1 control is worth 10 CP and 2 control is worth 20 CP.
- sharp (20 CP)
- sharp weapons do all damage instead of half damage and half stun. Making a useful cutting or piercing tool is more difficult and makes the item a deadlier weapon, so this feature is worth 20 CP.
- padded (5 CP)
- padded weapons do all stun instead of half damage and half stun. Padding a weapon so that it only does stun damage is difficult and actually increases the weapon's CP value by 5 CP.
- two-handed (-10 CP)
- Two handed weapons are normally used with two hands. It is possible to wield a two-handed weapon in one hand, but then there is some penalty: If the weapon has the control or offense advantage, it loses those advantages. If the weapon does not have control or offense then it's heft is increased by 50% when wielded in one hand, possibly making the weapon unwieldy. This feature is worth -10 CP.
- shots (up to 20 CP)
- Shots describes a weapon's rate of fire. Weapons without the shots feature, such as hand weapons and most thrown weapons, never need reloading. Not having the shots feature is worth 20 CP. This feature has two numbers. The first number is the number of times a character can fire the weapon without reloading (shots before reloading.) The second number is the number of turns required to reload a weapon after all of it's shots have been fired (reload time.) Each shot can represent a single bullet, a burst of bullets or a full turn of continuous automatic fire.
| shots before reloading |
CP value | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | -2 × the reload time | |
| 2 | 5 - 2 × the reload time | |
| 3 | 10 - 2 × the reload time | |
| 4 | 12 - 2 × the reload time | |
| 5 | 14 - 2 × the reload time | |
| 6 | 16 - 2 × the reload time | |
| 7 | 17 - 2 × the reload time | |
| 8 | 18 - 2 × the reload time | |
| 9 | 19 - 2 × the reload time | |
| 10 or more | 20 - 2 × the reload time |
- flash (-5 CP)
- The weapon makes a bright, but not blinding, flash when fired, like a gun.
- noise (-10 CP)
- The weapon makes a loud, but not deafening, noise when fired, like the report of a gun.
- smoke (-20 CP)
- the weapon makes a lot of smoke when fired, which impairs stealth and future aiming, like a black powder gun.
Equipment List[edit]
| Blades knife/gaff/spurs (40 CP, 1 kg, 2 heft, 2 power, sharp) |
  
|
| Bludgeons stick/cane/baton (30 CP, 1 kg, 3 heft, 4 power, 1 control) |
  
|
Polearms
spear/trident (58 CP, 3 kg, 3 heft, 4 power, sharp, two-handed, 2 control)
pike (39 CP, 10 kg, 4 heft, 5 power, sharp, two-handed, 2 m)
other polearm (57 CP, 6 kg, 4 heft, 5 power, sharp, two-handed, 2 control)
| Flexible Weapons flail/nunchaku (34 CP, 2 kg, 3 heft, 4 power, 1 offense) |
 
|
| Thrown Weapons stone (20 CP, 1 kg, 3 heft, 3 power) |
  
|
| Bows light bow (198 CP, 1 kg, 3 heft, 6 power, sharp, 150 m, 1/1 shots) Guns |
|
| Helmets
leather cap (20 CP, 0 kg, 1 cover, 2 absorption) Body Armor Shields |
     
|
