Talk:Mano a Mano

Proof-reading version 2008

Remove sections from the following list if they have been proofread since 1 January 2008. Add sections if they have been significantly changed since their last proofreading and need to be proofread again.

• Game Design
  • Abilities: How good is this list? To what degree should a game need to customize it?
    • Movement Abilities
    • Combat Abilities
    • Stealth and Detection Abilities
    • Transportation Abilities
    • Communication Abilities
    • Other Abilities
    • Disabilities
  • Equipment: Make sure these lists are up to date and make sense. The new example template (human) should give us a solid point of reference.
    • Equipment Lists
    • Equipment CP
    • Armor - example armor list
    • Hand Weapons - example hand to hand weapon
    • Missile Weapons - example long range weapon list
• Character Creation
  • Description
  • Build
  • Character Abilities
  • Choosing Occupations
  • Character Equipment
  • Encumbrance and Movement
  • Extra CP
  • Make a Character - Character Generation Example
    • Choose the Type of Character You Want to Make
    • Dimensions, Modifiers and Abilities from the Template
    • Natural Weapons
    • Use the Remaining CP to Customize the Character
    • Occupation and Equipment
    • Movement, Encumbrance and Toughness
• Action
  • Damage
    • Armor
    • Stun, Damage and Toughness
  • Rounds
  • Movement
  • List of Actions
    • Hand to Hand Attacks
    • Thrown Weapon Attacks
    • Archery and Marksmanship Actions
    • Grappling Actions
    • Other Actions
  • Attacking
  • Grappling
  • Archery and Marksmanship
  • Stance and Position
  • Mounted Combat
  • Combat Example
• Character Development
  • Manufacturing and Modification
    • Maximum CP
    • Surgery
    • Make an Item - Equipment Generation Example
    • Modify Weapon Example
    • Artificial Character Example
    • Character Modification Example

A Kinder, Gentler Mano a Mano?

Mano a Mano has a crowded character sheet with lots of space used for CP and reach. I propose that we replace reach with range (measured in whole meters, like movement) which will be a special modifier and replace all of the CP pools with a single CP which only shows leftover CP which has not been applied to building up the character yet. We should also consider reverting to the older tradition of listing natural weapons and armor with equipment (We could call this section "Equipment and Natural Defenses") Manual Dexterity would become a special modifier. Small amounts of reach which make a big difference in hand to hand combat can be reflected by increased agility or unarmed combat abilities.

The character sheet would also no longer include the template (but templates could still use character sheets, and different templates could have special character sheets as long as the template defaults are printed small enough to leave room for customized values) We do have a few stats which are are only relevant to templates and it is not clear how they would be represented on the character sheet: template CP value, and template variability. We might also get rid of the Qty column and change the name of "stride" to "ground movement"

NAME ______________________ AGE ______ SEX ______ TEMPLATE __________________

OCCUPATION(S) _______________________________________________________________

Carrying Capacity _____ kg  Mass    _____ kg  ABILITIES and Disabilities  Mod
Equipment Mass    _____ kg  Length  _____ m   ___________________________ ___
Encumbrance       _____     Type ___________  ___________________________ ___
                            Var. ___________  ___________________________ ___
Ground Movement   _____ m                     ___________________________ ___
Water Movement    _____ m   Speed     ______  ___________________________ ___
Air Movement      _____ m   Agility   ______  ___________________________ ___
Climbing Movement _____ m   Power     ______  ___________________________ ___
                            Toughness ______  ___________________________ ___
Character Points  _____                       ___________________________ ___
Template CP Value _____     Tough / 2 ______  ___________________________ ___

EQUIPMENT & Nat. Def.     special modifiers Mass Heft  Power  Shp Cmb Cvr Abs
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___

                   STUN                 |                DAMAGE
                                        |
                                        |
                                        |

This also requires two other important change: CP scales should be linear, and maximum speed, agility, power, toughness and ability levels are campaign-dependent in the same way that CP levels are campaign dependent. Templates are completely responsible for natural weapons and armor. They determine average speed, agility, power and toughness, and they may have disabilities or ability modifiers. A template's speed, agility, power, toughness and abilities also increase a characters maximum levels.

For example ordinary people and starting characters might have a budget of 300 CP and maximum abilities 2 levels higher than their templates (i.e. expert level) But once the game starts and characters start gaining experience (more CP) you might have a higher level limit of 3 or even 4. In a superhero game, starting characters might have a budget of 1000 CP and maximum abilities 4 levels higher than their templates. A superhero game might also raise speed, agility, toughness and power limits. In some games you might want starting characters to have specialized elite skills (keep CP limit modest but allow 3 ability levels above template) while in other games you might want characters to be able to start off with a variety of limited skills (more CP but keep 2 ability level limit.)

Character Points

Each point of toughness is worth 10 CP. Each point of power is worth 20 CP. Each ability or disability level is worth 50 CP. Each point of agility or speed is worth 100 CP. Each meter of range would be worth 2 CP. Each natural weapon is worth 5 CP (but 0 natural weapons is worth -20 CP) Because template stats determine maximum character stats they should be worth twice as many CP. For example a template which gives me +1 hand to hand ability but uses up all of my CP allows me to eventually develop 1 level more hand to hand than anybody else. However, for the cost of choosing this template over a template without the hand to hand bonus I could start out with +2 hand to hand ability. Everything else would remain basically the same.

Sex and Age

Characters can be male or female unless the template lists different options. Characters can be youths, adults or old people within normal size variance. To make a small child character without changing the template, reduce the mass, length, health and power to less than the template's variance suggests.

Special Abilities and Disabilities

A new character can have any ability unless it is a disability or has special CP. If the ability has special CP, and the character's template has the ability, then he can develop that ability. A setting might change this rule. For example a superhero game might allow a new character to choose abilities with special CP (like flight) which are not among his template's abilities. If the consequences of disabilities are easily avoided, then they should not have a negative CP value. Players need the GMs permission to add disabilities which aren't built into the game's templates. Characters should not have more than two disabilities.

NAME ______________________ AGE ______ SEX ______ TEMPLATE human             

OCCUPATION(S) _______________________________________________________________

Carrying Capacity _____ kg  Mass      /70 kg  ABILITIES and Disabilities  Mod
Equipment Mass    _____ kg  Length   /1.8 m   ___________________________ ___
Encumbrance       _____     Type   height     ___________________________ ___
                            Var.   medium     ___________________________ ___
Ground Movement   _____ m                     ___________________________ ___
Water Movement    _____ m   Speed         /1  ___________________________ ___
Air Movement      _____ m   Agility       /3  ___________________________ ___
Climbing Movement _____ m   Power         /4  ___________________________ ___
                            Toughness     /6  ___________________________ ___
Character Points  _____                       ___________________________ ___
Template CP Value  550      Tough / 2     /3  ___________________________ ___

EQUIPMENT & Nat. Def.     special modifiers Mass Heft  Power  Shp Cmb Cvr Abs
1 more dextrous hand      _________________ ____ ____ ___-___  B  ___ ___ ___
1 less dextrous hand      -1 Dex            ____ ____ ___-___  B  ___ ___ ___
2 feet                    -4 Dex            ____ ____ ___-___  B  ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___

                   STUN                 |                DAMAGE
                                        |
                                        |
                                        |

Levels vs. CP

What if we seperated "CP" into "XP" and "Levels." XP would only be for post-generation character-development (and possibly stored off the character sheet in a very-transparrent "bank" controlled by the teams or GM, and spent rather than accumulated) and would be measured in the hundreds or thousands. Level would simply be the sum of your "modifiers" would would be called "Level" (speed + agi + Power + tgh = level 14, the rough D20 equivalent would be MaM Level/10 = D20 level):

NAME ______________________ AGE ______ SEX ______ TEMPLATE human             

OCCUPATION(S) _______________________________________________________________

Carrying Capacity _____ kg  Mass      /70 kg   ABILITIES & Disabilities Level
Equipment Mass    _____ kg  Length   /1.8 m    ________________________ _____
Encumbrance       _____     Type   height      ________________________ _____
                            Var.   medium      ________________________ _____
Ground Movement   _____ m                      ________________________ _____
Water Movement    _____ m   Speed         /1   ________________________ _____
Air Movement      _____ m   Agility       /3   ________________________ _____
Climbing Movement _____ m   Power         /4   ________________________ _____
  Template Level   14       Toughness     /6   ________________________ _____
     Total Level  _____                        ________________________ _____
                                               ________________________ _____

EQUIPMENT & Nat. Def.     special modifiers Mass Heft  Power  Shp Cmb Cvr Abs
1 more dextrous hand      _________________ ____ ____ ___-___  B  ___ ___ ___
1 less dextrous hand      -1 Dex            ____ ____ ___-___  B  ___ ___ ___
2 feet                    -4 Dex            ____ ____ ___-___  B  ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
                              Tough / 2     /3 
                   STUN                 |                DAMAGE
                                        |
                                        |
                                        |

Sum of modifiers doesn't work because speed, agility, toughness and power are on very different scales. This also ignores natural weapons, armor and abilities. I don't think we need a Total Level (or Total CP). The "Character Points" I listed in the example are the equivalent of your XP. You could keep track of that somewhere other than on the character sheet (I'm inclined to put it on the character sheet just to keep the information attached to the character between play sessions.)

Here's a version with template stats separated from character stats:

Name ___________________  Age _____ Sex ______ Template _____________________ 
                          Mass      ______ kg  Template Mass        ______ kg
Occupations               Length    ______ m   Template Length      ______ m
________________________                       Template Length Type ______
________________________                       Template Variability ______
                          Speed     ______     Template Speed       ______
Description               Agility   ______     Template Agility     ______
________________________  Power     ______     Template Power       ______
________________________  Toughness ______     Template Toughness   ______
________________________  Unused CP ______     Template CP Value    ______
________________________
________________________                   Mod  Abilities & Disabilities  Tmp
                                           ___ __________________________ ___
Carrying Capacity ______ kg                ___ __________________________ ___
Equipment Mass    ______ kg                ___ __________________________ ___
Encumbrance       ______                   ___ __________________________ ___
                                           ___ __________________________ ___
Ground Movement   ______ m                 ___ __________________________ ___
Water Movement    ______ m                 ___ __________________________ ___
Air Movement      ______ m                 ___ __________________________ ___
Climbing Movement ______ m                 ___ __________________________ ___
                                           ___ __________________________ ___

EQUIPMENT & Nat. Def.     special modifiers Mass Heft  Power  Shp Cmb Cvr Abs
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
 
                                Toughness/2 ____
                   STUN                 |                DAMAGE
                                        |
                                        |
                                        |

Name ___________________ Age _____ Sex ______ Template _____________________ 
                         Mass      ______ kg  Template Mass        _____ kg
Occupations              Length    ______ m   Template Length      _____ m
________________________                      Template Length Type _____
________________________                      Template Variability _____(  )
                         Speed     ______(  ) Template Speed       _____(  )
Description              Agility   ______(  ) Template Agility     _____(  )
________________________ Power     ______(  ) Template Power       _____(  )
________________________ Toughness ______(  ) Template Toughness   _____(  )
________________________ Unused CP ______     Template CP Value    _____
________________________
________________________              Mod     Ability/Disability     Tmp
                                      ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )
Carrying Capacity ______ kg           ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )
Equipment Mass    ______ kg           ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )
Encumbrance       ______              ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )
                                      ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )
Ground Movement   ______ m            ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )
Water Movement    ______ m            ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )
Air Movement      ______ m            ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )
Climbing Movement ______ m            ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )
                                      ___(  ) ______________________ ___(  )

EQUIPMENT & Nat. Def.     special modifiers Mass Heft  Power  Shp Cmb Cvr Abs
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
_________________________ _________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___ ___
 
                                Toughness/2 ____
                   STUN                 |                DAMAGE
                                        |
                                        |
                                        |

Equipment Limitations

How can you decide what what equipment a new character should start with?

How can a character acquire new equipment?

This is completely and totally game dependent. What we may need is a section on "things about characters that are game dependent."

We have a section for things which are game dependent. It's called "game design". It even has an "equipment" section. The equipment a character should start with is also related to character creation. Mano a Mano has to do more than just say "and the game should provide rules for what equipment characters start with and how they can acquire new equipment." We already have a rule buried in the occupations system that says occupations can come with equipment. We also have an occupation example which shows characters being awarded with a certain CP-worth of equipment. And we have a system for characters to create their own equipment. We need to tie these all into character creation, development and game design. We can suggest starting occupations as a way to provide starting equipment. In addition to equipment acquired by occupations and craftsmanship, we can then suggest that a game can have other ways of finding or earning equipment. If CP-worth is one of the methods we want to suggest, then we should include that as an example.

Quantities vs. Qualities

Special ability CP complicates CP calculation for all abilities even though very few have special CP. Instead we could separate the "special" aspect from the "ability" aspect. The special aspect is a positive quality or advantage. The ability aspect is a quantity or degree of competence. By seperating the two we also create room for negative qualities if we want them (like being a dumb animal who can't talk instead of having a "dumbness" disability) as well as quirky qualities that may or may not have a CP value (sleeping in the day instead of at night.)

For example "flight" ability could be split into the "powered flight" quality and "flying" ability. The first gives you the ability the fly, the second affects your performance. We could have alternative qualities such as "parachuting" (you don't take falling damage but you still can't fly) "gliding" (you can fly downward) and "soaring" (you can fly without getting tired if there are thermals to provide lift.) flying ability would basically determine your horizontal speed and aerobatics when you glide, power fly or soar. (It could also determine vertical speed if you power fly.)

Guns, Bows and Stealth

The loud noise, flash and smoke of firearms should probably have a small negative CP value.

Mechanical vs. Organic Characters

Mechanical

This ability has a special CP of 10. 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 character ability.) 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.

The CP value of being mechanical is low because of the substantial disadvantages. 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. Should this ability have a modifier? What would it mean? Are there degrees of being mechanical? How fast can mechanical characters be repaired? Are repairs more like modifications or like medicine/healing rolls? If mechanical character ability had a level it might be a bonus to being repaired.

Compact Character Sheet

A character can be summarized by listing only a basic description, abilities and combat stats:

• name
• mass in kilograms followed by "kg"
• length in meters followed by "m"
• sex, template and occupations
• total modifier and name of each ability
• total agility followed by "Agi"
• total speed followed by "Spd"
• total toughness followed by "Tgh"
• total power followed by "Pwr"
• ground movement followed by "m ground"
• water movement followed by "m water"
• climbing movement followed by "m climb"
• air movement followed by "m air" if the character can fly
• quantity and name of each piece of equipment, natural weapon or armor. Weapons and armor (natural or equipment) have a extra stats between parentheses ("(" and ")"):
  • reach followed by "m"
  • sharpness ("blunt", "sharp" or "padded")
  • half power followed by "-", full power and "Pwr"
  • heft followed by "Hft"
  • combat bonus followed by "Cmb"
  • dexterity followed by "Dex" if the item is a natural weapon with manual dexterity.

Example

Modre, 60 kg, 1.0 m, male Sabretooth Penguin Robber, 2 swimming, 3 one-handed weapons, 1 fishing, 2 craftsmanship, 4 Agi, 1 Spd, 5 Toughness, 2-4 Pwr, 2 m ground, 10 m water, 1 m climb, 3 claws and teeth (0.5 m, 4 Cmb, 2-4 Pwr, S Shp, 0 Dex), Ice Blade (1.5 m, 7 Cmb, 3-6 Pwr, S Shp)

This format might be useful for characters who will not change, but need combat stats, a few abilities and some description, such as non-player characters (NPCs) in an adventure module.

I personally would much rather have the NPC on the other character sheet so as a GM I could use the character more easily. I am not sure that I would suggest that game designers use this as the default NPC character sheet for adventure modules.

I am trying to imagine the adventure module so hard-pressed for page space that it necessitates all of the NPC stats being squeezed onto one or two lines of a paragraph. It would either be a very short book or have an exceptionally large number of NPCs.

It should not be part of the Mano a Mano rules unless we decide that it is useful, which we haven't. We'll have a better idea whether it will be useful as we start making NPCs.

Editing Character Sheet

If you change the character sheet format when editing any of the following, you must update the others:

• Blank Character Sheet
• Example Template
• Example Character

Be sure you know which character sheet you are updating:

• The template creation example includes both the blank character sheet and the example template.
• The character creation example includes both the example template and the example character sheet.