Talk:Mano a Mano

Proof-reading version 2009

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

Mano a Mano 2009

Character Points

• Remove all CP pools except for Template CP and Total CP. CP will be "spent" like money. During template and character generation CP can be tallied on scratch paper.
• CP scales should be linear. Simpler CP rules will make it easier to calculate CP
• Experience - whether measured in CP or smaller units - will not be on the character sheet.
• Maximum speed, agility, power, toughness and ability levels are campaign-dependent in the same way that CP levels are campaign dependent. 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.) 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) 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 CP

• 20 CP per agility or speed (if speed > 1), 20 CP for double speed (if speed = 1/4, 1/2 or 1), -20 CP for half speed (if speed = 1/2 or 1)
• 5 CP per power, 3 CP per toughness
• 10 CP per ability or disability level (naturally suited to fractional levels)

Template CP

Template CP is often higher than Character CP because template abilities, agility, speed, toughness and power increase the maximum agility, speed, toughness and power which characters can develop. We will try to avoid the "best, second best" logic of MaM 2008's manual dexterity and reach CP.

• 30 CP per agility or speed (if speed >= 1), 0 CP for 1/2 speed, -30 CP for 1/4 speed
• 10 CP per power, 5 CP per toughness
• -10 CP for no variability, -5 CP for low variability, 0 CP for medium variability, 5 CP for high variability
• 15 CP per ability or disability level
• 15 CP for powered flight, 10 CP for gliding, 5 CP for soaring (requires gliding or flight), 5 CP for parachuting
• 3 CP for mechanical templates
• 10 CP per hand, -20 CP if the template has only one natural weapon, -50 CP if the template has no natural weapons
• -70 CP if the template is blind, -30 CP if the template is deaf, -10 CP if the template is dumb, -15 CP if the template is mute
• -30 CP if the template is lame, -70 CP if the template is immobile
• -20 CP if the template is inept, -40 CP if the template is unintelligent
• 5 CP for each point of power (special modifier) on a natural weapon. This does not increase carrying capacity or make it easier to wield hefty weapons with this hand
• 1 CP for every meter of range on a natural weapon
• 5 x absorption x cover for natural armor
• 20 CP for a single sharp natural weapon, 30 CP for multiple sharp natural weapons
• 5 CP for a single padded natural weapon, 8 CP for multiple padded natural weapons

Equipment CP

• 1 CP for every meter of range
• 10 CP per power, -10 CP per heft
• 5 CP x absorption x cover
• -10 CP for two-handed weapons
• 20 CP if the weapon is sharp, 5 CP if the weapon is padded
• 10 CP per attack, parry or grapple modifier
• 20 CP per combat modifier
• -5 CP for flash (the weapon makes a bright, but not blinding, flash when fired, like a gun)
• -10 CP for report (the weapon makes a loud, but not deafening, noise when fired, like a gun)
• -20 CP for smoke (the weapon makes a lot of smoke when fired, which impairs aiming and stealth, like a black powder gun)

mass	CP		mass	CP		mass	CP
1 g	-1		1 kg	-10		1 tonne	19
2 g	-2		2 kg	-11		2 tonnes	20
5 g	-3		5 kg	-12		5 tonnes	21
10 g	-4		10 kg	-13		10 tonnes	22
20 g	-5		20 kg	-14		20 tonnes	23
50 g	-6		50 kg	-15		50 tonnes	24
100 g	-7		100 kg	-16		100 tonnes	25
200 g	-8		200 kg	-17		200 tonnes	26
500 g	-9		500 kg	-18		500 tonnes	27

CP	shots		CP	reload time
0	10 or more		0	1 turn
-1	9		-4	2 turns
-2	8		-6	3 turns
-3	7		-8	4 turns
-4	6		-10	5 turns
-6	5		-12	6 turns
-8	4		-14	7 turns
-10	3		-16	8 turns
-15	2		-18	9 turns
-20	1		-20	10 or more

Making and Equipping PCs

• 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.
• 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.
• The occupations rules say occupations can come with equipment. In character creation we can suggest starting occupations as a way to provide starting equipment.
• In addition to equipment acquired by occupations and craftsmanship, we can also suggest that a game can have other ways to provide characters with equipment, like spending money and finding treasure.
• The occupations example shows characters being awarded with a certain CP-worth of equipment. Instead we should say something like "in this example each item is worth it's CP value in small silver coins. The knight is rewarded with equipment whose value in coins equals the robber's CP."

Character Sheet

Name ______________________ Age ______ Sex ______ Template __________________

Occupation(s) _______________________________________________________________

Carrying Capacity _____ kg  Mass      /    kg  Abilities and Qualities   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    /                          ________________________   /  
                                               ________________________   /  

Equipment & Natural Defenses Modifiers/Features Mass Heft  Power  Cmb Cvr Abs
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___

                                 Healthy    
                   Stun                 |                Damage
                                        |
                                        |
                                        |

Name ______________________ Age ______ Sex ______ Template human             

Occupation(s) _______________________________________________________________

Carrying Capacity _____ kg  Mass      / 70 kg  Abilities and Qualities   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    /200                       ________________________   /  
                                               ________________________   /  

Equipment & Natural Defenses Modifiers/Features Mass Heft  Power  Cmb Cvr Abs
2 hands                      hand               ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
2 feet                                          ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___
____________________________ __________________ ____ ____ ___-___ ___ ___ ___

                                 Healthy    
                   Stun                 |                Damage
                                        |
                                        |
                                        |

Equipment

Features are like qualities except for natural weapons and equipment. sharpness will be replaced by two weapon qualities. What we used to call blunt sharpness is now just the absence of these qualities:

sharp

sharp weapons do all damage instead of half damage and half stun.

padded

padded weapons do all stun instead of half damage and half stun

hand

This is a quality of natural weapons which replaces manual dexterity. Each hand allows you to wield one weapon. Each pair of hands allows you to wield one two-handed weapon. Two-handed weapons may have a better power, parry or attack modifier because two-handed is a feature of artificial weapons with a negative CP value.

two-handed

Two handed weapons are normally used with two hands. It is possible to wield a two-handed weapon in one hand, but then the weapon loses all of it's positive special modifiers (attack, parry, etc.)

Range special modifier replaces reach. Range is measured in whole meters, like movement. 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 a +1 Combat Modifier (Cmb) for some hand weapons (longer swords, staffs and polearms.)

Armor won't be affected much by the changes, but weapons will have to reflect reach advantages with new modifiers.

Blades           Pwr Hft Cmb Modifiers/Features

knife/gaff/spurs 1-3  3      sharp
spike knuckles   1-3  3      sharp
rapier           2-4  4  +1  sharp
short sword/pick 2-5  4      sharp
broadsword       2-5  4  +1  sharp
longsword        3-6  5  +1  sharp two-handed
axe              3-6  5      sharp

Bludgeons        Pwr Hft Cmb Modifiers/Features

stick/cane/baton 2-5  4  
staff/pole       2-5  4  +1  two-handed
wooden sword     3-6  5  +1  two-handed
club/hammer      3-6  5  
mace             3-7  5  
mattock/maul     3-7  6  -1 
warhammer        4-8  6      two-handed)
chair            2-4  5  +1  two-handed

Polearms         Pwr Hft Cmb Modifiers/Features

spear/trident    2-5  4  +1  sharp two-handed
pike             3-6  5      sharp two handed 2m range
other polearm    3-6  5  +1  sharp two-handed

Flexible Weapons Pwr Hft Cmb Modifiers/Features

flail/nunchaku   2-5  4
3 section staff  2-5  5      +1 grapple two-handed
ball and chain   3-6  6      +1 grapple two-handed
whip/riding crop 2-4  4
bullwhip         2-5  5      +1 grapple 3m range
rope dart        2-4  3      +1 grapple sharp 3m range
chain whip       2-5  5      +1 grapple sharp

Compact Characters

Some games will have some characters who only need a little bit of information instead of full character sheets. A common example is stock villains and monsters which only need combat stats and sometimes a few special qualities or abilities. There are at least two situations where having a compact representation of characters can be useful:

1. Battle-on-a-page where two facing pages of an RPG book contain everything a player or GM needs to play one side (the "NPC" side) of a battle. Sometimes this will only require a single character who fits on one page with a full character sheet. But if it involves more than 2 characters and the information that fits on their character sheets, then a full sized character sheet won't work.
2. Book-of-beasties which contains dozens of creatures which need to be playable. Most of these creatures won't have equipment or need any kind of character development. On the other hand you may want templates for each critter. A full character sheet would allow you to have a character and template together, and there may be very little difference between a template and a playable character anyway.

One option is a scaled-down character sheet with unused equipment and damage sections trimmed from the bottom:

Name Joe Human Age adult Sex male Template human Occupation(s) _______________________________________________________________ Carrying Capacity 3 kg Mass 80/ 80 kg (Dis)Abilities&Qualities Mod Equipment Mass 0 kg Length 1.8/1.8 m ________________________ / Encumbrance 0 Type tall ________________________ / Var. medium ________________________ / Ground Movement 4 m ________________________ / Water Movement 0 m Speed 1 / 1 ________________________ / Air Movement 0 m Agility 3 / 3 ________________________ / Climbing Movement 0 m Power 4 / 4 ________________________ / Toughness 6 / 6 ________________________ / Character Points 200/200 ________________________ / ________________________ / Equipment & Natural Defenses Modifiers&Features Mass Heft Power Cmb Cvr Abs 2 hands hand ____ ____ 2 - 4 0 ___ ___ 2 feet ____ ____ 2 - 4 0 ___ ___

Name Barbarian Age adult Sex male Template human Occupation(s) barbarian Carrying Capacity 30 kg Mass 100/ 80 kg (Dis)Abilities&Qualities Mod Equipment Mass 3 kg Length 1.8/1.8 m swordsmanship 2/ 0 Encumbrance 0 Type tall ________________________ / Var. medium ________________________ / Ground Movement 4 m ________________________ / Water Movement 0 m Speed 1 / 1 ________________________ / Air Movement 0 m Agility 3 / 3 ________________________ / Climbing Movement 0 m Power 8 / 4 ________________________ / Toughness 10 / 6 ________________________ / Character Points 252/200 ________________________ / ________________________ / Equipment & Natural Defenses Modifiers&Features Mass Heft Power Cmb Cvr Abs 2 hands hand ____ ____ 4 - 8 0 ___ ___ 2 feet ____ ____ 4 - 8 0 ___ ___ 1 big sword sharp, 2-handed 3 kg 7 5 -10 2 ___ ___

Another option is a compressed character sheet using abbreviations:
N Joe Human A S m T human O CC 3 kg Mas 80/80 kg (Qua/Abi)lities Mod EM 0 kg Lng 1.8/1.8 m / Enc 0 Typ height / Grd 4 m Spd 1 / 1 / H2O 0 m Agi 3 / 3 / Air 0 m Pwr 4 / 4 / Clm 0 m Tgh 6 / 6 / CP 200/200 / Equipment/ND Mod/Feature Mas Hft Pwr Cmb Cvr Abs 2 hands hand 2-4 0 2 feet 2-4 0	N Barbarian A S m T human O barbarian CC 30 kg Mas 100/80 kg (Qua/Abi)lities Mod EM 3 kg Lng 1.8/1.8 m swordsmanship 2/0 Enc 0 Typ height / Grd 4 m Spd 1 / 1 / H2O 0 m Agi 3 / 3 / Air 0 m Pwr 8 / 4 / Clm 0 m Tgh 10 / 6 / CP 252/200 / Equipment/ND Mod/Feature Mas Hft Pwr Cmb Cvr Abs 2 hands hand 4-8 0 2 feet 4-8 0 1 big sword sharp 2hand 10 2

A third option is a short, minimal list of stats:
Joe Human, 80/80 kg, 1.8/1.8 m tall, 1/1 Spd, 3/3 Agi, 4/4 Pwr, 6/6 Tgh, 4 Grd, 200/200 CP, 2 hands (hand, 0 Cmb, 2-4 Pwr), 2 feet (0 Cmb, 2-4 Pwr)	Barbarian (human), 100/80 kg, 1.8/1.8 m tall, 1/1 Spd, 3/3 Agi, 8/4 Pwr, 10/6 Tgh, 4 Grd, 252/200 CP, 2/0 swordsmanship, 2 hands (hand, 0 Cmb, 4-8 Pwr), 2 feet (0 Cmb, 4-8 Pwr), 1 big sword (2-handed sharp, 2 Cmb, 7 Hft, 5-10 Pwr, 3 kg)

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.