A Song of Dirt and Wind - Economy, Weapons, and Armor

There is no currency in the Bonelands; instead wealth is measured abstractly as supply days.  Each supply day represents the water, food, clothes, and other resources needed to get by for one day.  A supply day generally weighs five pounds.  Goods are generally measured in how many supply days they are worth.  For example a functional car may be worth thousands of supply days.  Generally a supply day is worth 1 ss in SoI&F RPG.  All costs are listed in supply days. 

Each day a character does not consume a supply day results in the character tacking 1 health damage.  If the character cannot take any further health damage, he begins taking a wound each day he does not consume a supply day.  If the character being consuming supply days again he regains 1 health per day.  Wounds must be healed normally. 

A character may consume additional supply days each day, granting a +1 to Endurance rolls for each supply day consumed up to the character’s Endurance. 

Item Grade

In the world of the Bonelands equipment is rarely factory fresh, so the Weapon Grade rules from SoI&F RPG are expanded to encompass all types of items.  Not only do finished goods have an item grade, but components used to make new items have an item grade as well.  A newly constructed item’s grade is equal to the lowest item grade component used in making it.

Grade	Weapon	Armor	Vehicle	Tools	Price Adjustment
Terrible	-1D on Fighting or Marksmanship tests, weapon breaks if any die rolls a 1.	-1 to Armor Rating and Armor Penalty, +1 to Bulk.	-1D on Piloting tests.	-1d on associated tests.	-50%
Poor	-1D on Fighting or Marksmanship tests.	-1 to Armor Penalty and +1 to Bulk.	-1 on Piloting tests.	-1 on associated tests.	-25%
Common	No modifiers.	No modifiers.	No Modifiers.	No modifiers.	+0%
Superior	Add +1 to the result of all Fighting or Marksmanship tests.	+1 to Armor Penality and  -1 to Bulk.	+1 on Piloting Tests.	+1 on associated tests.	X2
Extraordinary	As Superior, plus increase the weapon’s base damage by +1.	+1 to Armor Rating and Armor Penalty, -1 to Bulk (minimum 0).	+1D on Piloting Tests.	+1D on associated tests.	X10

New Equipment

Weapons

All the weapons in SoI&F RPG are available in A Song of Dust and Wind, though some may make more sense than others.  Also new weapons are available to represent the advanced tech levels, such as firearms, explosives, and energy weapons. 

Weapon	Specialty	Training	Damage	Qualities	Shots	Cost	Ammunition per clip
Light Revolver	Pistol		Agility +2	Close Range. Reload (Lesser), Piercing 2	6	2000	6
Heavy Revolver	Pistol	1B	Agility +3	Close Range, Reload (Lesser), Piercing 2	6	3000	12
Light Pistol	Pistol		Agility +2	Reload (Lesser), Piercing 2	17	2500	17
Heavy Pistol	Pistol	1B	Agility +3	Reload (Lesser), Piercing 2	12	3750	24
Light Submachinegun	Pistol		Agility +2	Automatic, Burst Fire, Reload (Lesser), Piercing 2	80	4000	100
Heavy Submachinegun	Pistol	1B	Agility +3	Automatic, Burst Fire, Reload (Lesser), Piercing 2	50	5000	120
Assault Rifle	Pistol		Agility +3	Automatic, Burst Fire, Reload (Lesser), Piercing 2	40	6000	120
Hunting Rifle	Rifle		Agility +4	Reload (Greater), Piercing 2	7	4000	21
Sniper Rifle	Rifle	2B	Agility +5	Reload (Greater), Piercing 3	5	5000	20
Heavy Sniper Rifle	Rifle	3B	Agility +6	Bulk 1, Reload (Greater), Piercing 4, Very Long Range, Vicious	1	10000	10
Double Barreled Shotgun	Rifle		Agility +4	Close Range, Reload (Greater), Spread, Stoppable	2	3000	4
Sawn-Off Shotgun	Pistol		Agility +4	Close Range, Reload (Greater), Spread, Stoppable	2	3000	4
Shotgun	Rifle		Agility +4	Close Range, Reload (Greater), Spread, Stoppable	5	4000	10
Combat Shotgun	Rifle	1B	Agility +4	Close Range, Reload (Lesser), Spread, Stoppable	20	6000	40
Frag Grenade	Thrown		Agility +5	Radius (5 yards)	1	750
High Explosive Grenade	Thrown		Agility +4	Radius (4 yards)	1	600
Stun Grenade	Thrown		Agility +3	Radius (5 yards), Non-Lethal	1	500
Phosphorous Grenade	Thrown		Agility +4	Radius (5 yards), Flaming	1	1000
Flamethrower	Flamethrower		Agility +3	Bulk 1, Burst, Close Range, Flaming, Reload (Greater), Tracer	40	3500	40
Hand Flamer	Flamethrower	1B	Agility +2	Burst, Close Range, Flaming, Reload (Lesser), Tracer	20	3500	20
Light Machinegun	Heavy		Agility +4	Bulk 1, Burst, Chain-fed, Automatic, Long Range, Piercing 2, Reload (Greater)	100	7500	300
Heavy Machinegun	Heavy	1B	Agility +5	Bulk 2, Burst Fire, Chain-fed, Automatic, Long Range, Piercing 2, Reload (Greater)	100	10000	500
Grenade Launcher	Rifle		As grenade	Reload (Lesser), Long Range	10	8000
Rocket Launcher	Shoulder-Braced		Agility  +10	Reload (Greater), Long Range, Radius (4 yards), Piercing 8	1	6500	200
Bazooka	Shoulder-Braced		Agility +8	Reload (Greater), Long Range, Radius (3 yards), Piercing 4	1	4500	150
Laser Pistol	Pistol	1B	Agility +3	Reload (Greater), Long Range, Piercing 3, Burst, Tracer	50	12500	300
Laser Rifle	Rifle	1B	Agility +4	Reload (Greater), Long Range, Piercing 3, Burst, Tracer	30	15000	300
Laser Sniper Rifle	Rifle	2B	Agility +6	Reload (Greater), Very Long Range, Piercing 5, Tracer	10	17500	300
Plasma Rifle	Rifle	2B	Agility +5	Reload (Greater), Close Range, Piercing 4, Burst, Tracer, Flaming	20	17500	500
Plasma Pistol	Pistol	2B	Agility +4	Reload (Greater), Close Range, Piercing 5, Burst, Tracer, Flaming	40	15000	500
EMP Blaster	Rifle	2B	Agility +5	EMP, Piercing 8, Close Range	35	12500	300
Mono-Blade	Longblades	1B	Athletics +2	Piercing 3		10000
Plasma Blade	Longblades	3B	Athletics +3	Piercing 5, Flaming		17500
Dynamite	Thrown		Agility +3	Radius (4 yards)		200
Molotov Cocktail	Thrown		Agility +1	Radius (3 yards), Flaming		50
Blackpowder Pistol	Pistol		Agility +3	Reload (3 Greater Actions), Piercing 2, Close Range	1	1000	1
Blackpowder Rifle	Rifle		Agility +4	Reload (3 Greater Actions), Piercing 2, Close Range	1	1500	1

New Weapon Qualities

Automatic

The weapon is capable of automatic fire.  When automatic fire is used the character fires ten bullets, gaining a +4B bonus but also suffering a -1D penalty; the character is more likely to hit but less likely to score a really strong hit.  If less than ten bullets are available this quality cannot be used.  Some weapons can only fire in automatic fire mode. 

Burst

The weapon is capable of burst fire, firing three or six round bursts.  When firing a three round burst the character gains +1B to the attack, while a six round bursts grants a +2B bonus.  If less than three or six bullets, depending on the burst desired, remain in the weapon this quality cannot be used. 

Chain-Fed

Chain-fed weapons use chains of bullets that can be linked together.  As long as the character links their ammunition chains together before opening fire, they do not need to spend an action to reload. 

Dangerous

Weapons with this quality can be as much a danger to their wielder as to the target.  If the wielder misses with an attack and rolls a 1 on any of their attack dice they hit themselves with the weapon, inflicting normal damage. 

EMP

EMP weapons fire an electromagnetic pulse that disrupts any manner of electronics., but does no damage to living beings.  Such weapons work on vehicles, robots, computers, etc. 

Flaming

Flaming weapons have a chance to light their targets on fire.  When a target is hit with a flaming weapon roll 1d6, adding the number of degrees of success scored on the attack.  If the result is 5 or higher, the target is on fire.  Targets on fire take 1d6 damage that ignores armor each round.  Targets remain on fire until they submerge themselves in water, spend a Greater Action to make a Routine (6) Athletics test to roll on the ground, or wait 1d6 rounds. 

Heavy

Heavy weapons are large, heavy, and produce a lot of kick.  If they are fire while not on a bipod, tripod, or other form of bracing, the character suffers a -1D penalty on any Marksmanship tests. 

Non-Lethal

Damage inflicted by this weapon heals in 1/10^th the normal time. 

Radius

Radius weapons inflict their damage on everything within the radius listed of the target unless there is an intervening object, such as a wall. 

Spread

Spread weapons fire clouds of projectiles at their targets, increasing their chance of hitting the target.  If fired at a target within the weapons first range increment (30 feet for short range weapons and 300 feet for long range weapons) the character gains +1B. 

Stoppable

Stoppable weapons have trouble penetrating armor, doubling the armor rating of any armor they hit. 

Tracer

Tracer weapons  leave a visible trail on their path to the target, enabling the character to adjust his aim more easily to move his fire onto the target.  When using a tracer weapon with burst or automatic fire the character can treat any 1s rolled as 2s.

Very Long Range

Very long range weapons can fire at targets up to 1,000 yards before suffering a range penalty.  For every 1,000 yards from the target the character suffers -1D. 

Ammunition

Ammunition is very rare in the Bonelands with most soldiers who are lucky enough to have a firearm only having a handful of bullets to their name.  Weapon is usually bought per clip as detailed on the weapon table above, but they can also often be purchased per round by dividing the clip cost by the number of rounds it holds. 

Energy weapons, should they be available, tend to use standardized energy clips.  Laser weapons use one type of clips, while plasma use plasma clips and they are not interchangeable. 

Shotguns are assumed to be using shot rounds as opposed to slugs.  Shotgun slugs cost the same and remove the Spread and Stoppable qualities from the weapon. 

Specialty ammunition can be purchased to add any of the following qualities to a gun, double the cost of the ammunition for each quality added:

·         Piercing: Up to two levels of Piercing can be added to ammunition.

·         Tracer

·         Hollow Point: Increases damage by +2, but adds the Stoppable quality.  

Armor

Armor	Armor Rating	Armor Penalty	Bulk	Cost	Qualities
Clothing	0	0	0
Padded	1	0	0	200
Leather, Soft	2	-1	0	300
Leather, Hard	3	-2	0	400
Bone or Wood	4	-3	1	300
Ring	4	-2	1	600
Hide	5	-2	2	400
Mail	5	-3	2	800
Breastplate	5	-2	3	800
Scale	6	-3	2	600
Splint	7	-3	3	1000
Brigandine	8	-4	3	1200
Half Plate	9	-5	3	2000
Full Plate	10	-6	3	3750
Armored Clothes	3	0	0	3000	Hardened 1
Kevlar Vest	5	-1	1	2500	Hardened 3
Kevlar Bodysuit	7	-2	2	4000	Hardened 4
Flame Suit	3	-2	1	2000	Non-Flammable
Radiation Suit	2	-2	1	3000	Radiation Shielded
Combat Armor	9	-3	2	5000	Hardened 5
Heavy Combat Armor	11	-4	3	6500	Hardened 6
Sports Pads	4	-2	1	500
Driving Leathers	3	-1	0	500
Construction Armor	7	-6	4	10000	Powered 3
Power Armor	12	-6	4	15000	Sealed, Hardened 6, Powered 4

New Armor Qualities

Hardened

Hardened armor reduces the Piercing qualities of weapons that hit it its Hardened value.  Effectively Hardened armor is harder to penetrate. 

Non-Flammable

Non-Flammable armor applies double its armor value to any fire damage and characters wearing it will not catch on fire when hit with flaming weapons.

Powered

Powered armor has built in motors in the armor, increasing the wearer’s strength.  The wearer gains a number of bonus dice to the Strength specialty equal to the number listed. 

Radiation Shielded

Radiation shielded armor adds +3D to any Endurance tests made by the wearer to resist the effects of radiation. 

Sealed

Sealed armor is sealed against atmospheric threats and has its own onboard air supply for at least eight hours.  The wearer is immune to gas attacks, drowning, and suffocation while wearing the armor.  

A Song of Dirt and Wind - Introduction, Abilities, and Existing Benefits

A Song of Dirt and Wind

I posted this on Google+, but not sure its a good discussion forum really for game design geekery. 

It has been an age since the old world ended in fire and plague, leaving only dirt and wind for mankind to look to survive.  Now generations have passed and pockets of civilization have appeared, attempting to shield the flickering flame of knowledge from going out entirely.  They struggle against plague, mutants, radiation, and each other to survive in the barren wasteland that is the Bonelands.

A Song of Dirt and Wind is a hack of the Song of Ice and Fire Role-Playing Game for a post-apocalyptic setting.  The setting itself is somewhat generic, putting the onus on the players to create the setting when they create their settlement, which is the hack’s version of noble houses from SoI&F RPG.  The players determine facets of the apocalypse in the creation of their settlement through either random generation of choice.

The player characters are the leaders of the settlement, filling such roles as leader, guard captain, trader, tech-keeper, head scavenger, priest, much as they are the movers and shakers of the house in the SoI&F RPG.  Their roles in the settlement are going to be determined much more by skills and strength than blood or law. 

The core rules of SoI&F RPG remains the same with some additions for abilities, specialties, benefits, drawbacks, and settlement creation.  Character creation remains the same including age, selecting abilities, etc, you’re just creating different types of characters. 

Role Examples

These are drawn from post apocalyptic movies, books, etc.

Expert: The Gyro Captain, Master, Tom Waits

Fighter: Mad Max, The Humungus, Blaster, Ironbar, Eli, Paterson Joseph, Redridge,

Leader: Auntie Entity, Pappagallo, Carnegie,

Rogue: the Feral Kid, Max Beesley,

Schemer: Dr. Dealgood, Theo Feron,

New Abilities

The following abilities and specialties are added to the default list to support the addition of advanced technology to the system.  Characters begin with 2 in these abilities as with other abilities. 

Technology

Specialties: Computers, Demolitions, Repair, Security

Technology represents the training the character has with advanced technology such as electronics, computers, or really any technology developed after the Industrial Revolution.  Technology covers any operation, maintenance, or repair of technological devices, a valued but rare skill in the Bonelands.  Technology has the following uses.

Computers

Basic Test            Varies

You can use Computers to access, program, and hack computers .  Accessing computers allows the character to get information from the computer or use it to perform its intended functions.  Programming computers allows the character to alter  the computer’s function or add new functions to it, as long as the computer is able to handle the new function.  Hacking computers involves getting past security systems in order to get information or carry out functions that someone secured the computer against performing. 

The Difficulty of the test depends on the state of the computer, the usability of the operating system, the security systems, etc.  Using a well maintained personal computer or smart phone to find hidden information may be Easy (3), while doing the same on poorly maintained versions of the same machines may be Routine (6).  These factors determine the base Difficulty of accessing the computer, while the Difficulty for programming increases by +3 and hacking increases the Difficulty by +6. 

While accessing a computer may take only a few minutes, programming and hacking can take hours if not days or weeks. 

Repair

Basic Test            Varies

Repair allows you to maintain and fix technology, everything from cars to firearms to generators.  You can restore health or remove injuries and wounds from vehicles, though repairing injuries and wounds requires some manner of spare parts.  Repairing injuries requires spare parts worth 5% of the value of the item being repaired, while repairing wounds requires spare parts worth 20% of the value of the item being repaired. 

Repairing health generally takes an hour, while repairing injuries requires eight hours, while repairing a wound takes forty hours of work.  These numbers are appropriate for something car sized, but larger or smaller machine should take proportionally more or less time. 

Security

Basic Test            Varies

While simple mechanical locks are dealt with using Thievery, more complex security systems like combination locks, motion sensors, and heat sensors use the Security specialty.  Bypassing such methods usually takes a minute or so, but more complex systems will require more time.  A simple tripwire or combination lock is a Routine (6) test, while a cutting edge motion detection is a Hard (15) check. 

Demolitions

Basic Test            Varies

Both the setting and defusing of explosive devices is a rare art in the Bonelands.  Most of the remaining explosives are home brewed by makeshift chemists.  Setting explosives is usually a Easy (3) or Routine (6) test, while defusing explosives is more difficult.  Setting explosives for a controlled explosion, such as knocking a building over in a specific direction, is at least a Challenging (12) task. 

Piloting

Specialties: Boating, Fixed-Wing, Rotorcraft, Tracked, Wheeled

While few functional vehicles remain in the Bonelands, they can mean the difference in trade, combat, or just survival.  Those who can operate them are rare and valued, earning places of respect in the settlements they call home. 

Specializations for Piloting operate largely the same, only covering different vehicle types.  Standard operation of a vehicle, like driving a car through flat terrain at reasonable speed, is an Automatic (0) test.  More dangerous maneuvers or operations, such as landing a plane in dangerous weather or dodging landmines at high speeds, require an actual test.  If you fail such a test the vehicle may crash, taking damage, or merely careen out of control, giving you another chance to recover control next round. 

Existing Abilities

Knowledge

New Specialty: Science

Basic Test                            Lesser Action

This specialty represents a general training in the scientific arts.  It  represents knowledge of physics, biology, etc, but the only the knowledge, not necessarily the ability to implement it.  A character with a high Science could explain how a car works or the theories behind artificial intelligence, but could not build a car or program an artificial intelligence without Technology. 

Marksmanship

New Specialties: Pistols, Rifles, Shoulder Braced, Heavy, Gunnery, Flamethrower

Gunnery is used for any weapons mounted on a vehicle or stationary structure, though Heavy may be used at the gamemaster’s discretion. 

Status

Breeding and Tournaments are not likely to be very useful in most campaigns, so they’re probably not worth putting points into unless your game is going to feature highly ceremonial or ritualized cultures. 

The range of Status and the positions associated with them are as follows. 

Status                   Example

0                              Slave

1                              Serf, servant, bound agent

2                              Guard sergeant, scavenger, craftsman,

3                              Guard captain, lorekeeper, technician, pilot/driver, settlement champion

4                              Settlement leader

5                              Leader of settlement alliance, regional war leader

6                              Regional leader

Existing Benefits

The following benefits are setting specific to ASoI&F RPG, but could conceivably be used in a Song of Dirt and Wind.  While there it is unlikely to have a massive wall protecting the Bonelands from ancient undead, having some sort of structure that keeps the zombie hordes at bay may exist, so these may end up being useful at the gamemasters discretion. 

Anointed

While this benefit feels odd in a post-apocalyptic setting, post-apocalyptic knights calling on knightly virtues to help them in times of struggle is pretty awesome, so it stays.  Alternately other sets of virtues could be used as the basis for the benefit, creating other groups of post-apocalyptic heroes for players to join. 

Blood of the Andals/First Men/Ironmen/Rhoyne/Valyria

Unless these benefits fit with a culture or group in your version of the Bonelands, they should not be available.  Blood of Heroes and Blood of the Wildlings are more open ended and could more easily be used in a Song of Dirt and Wind Campaign for great heroes and primitive cultures respectively. 

Brother of the Night’s Watch

While it’s certainly possible, and a pretty awesome idea, for your version of the Bonelands to have a group of criminals and outcasts guarding its borders from ancient evils, that doesn’t fit everyone’s game.  It works great for a zombie apocalypse, nuclear war with roving bands, or an alien invasion, but not so much with a famine or environmental disaster.  If you decide to use it, the same rule apply with character who have this benefit only being able to spend Glory on the organization they have joined. 

Maester

This benefit should probably not be available anymore. 

Man of the King’s Guard

This benefit should probably not be available anymore. 

Master of Ravens

While it’s certainly possible a society could develop raven based communications after an apocalypse, there are a lot of other, better options out here. 

Tourney Knight

This should only be available if ritualized tournaments are part of the culture of the Bonelands. 

The following benefits have mechanical changes in A Song of Dirt and Wind. 

Animal Cohort

The list of acceptable animal cohorts should be expanded to include whatever is appropriate to the ecosystems found in the campaigns version of the Bonelands. 

Bravosi Fighter

These benefits should still be allowed, but their name changed to something more setting specific, such as Web of Steel or Blade Dancer.  Also changing the weapon used to something like a knife that is more common in a post-apocalyptic environment is appropriate, but it should still be a light, one handed weapon.

Connections

The list of regions should be changed to match your version of the Bonelands, including things like other settlements, enemies, etc. 

Deadly Shot

This benefit can be applied to pistols and rifles as well, but not when using Automatic or Burst qualities. 

Double Shot

This benefit can be applied to pistols and rifle as well, in which case it should be called Double Tap. 

Greensight

This benefit should not be available unless you are looking to include mystic abilities in your game. 

Head of House

This benefit should be changed to Head of Settlement. 

Heirloom

The item you inherited can be either an Extraordinary grade weapon, suit of armor, tool, or a normal quality vehicle.  The base value of the item before the Extraordinary grade multiplier is applied cannot be over your Statusx2000 supply days. 

Knowledge Focus

The following areas expertise are available for Knowledge Focus: art, folklore, geography, history and legends, literature, occult, nature, religion, and underworld. 

Skinchanger

This benefit should not be available unless you are looking to include mystic abilities in your game. 

Third Eye

This benefit should not be available unless you are looking to include mystic abilities in your game. 

Third Eye Opened

This benefit should not be available unless you are looking to include mystic abilities in your game. 

Triple Shot

This benefit can be applied to pistols and rifle as well, in which case it should be called Triple Tap.

Wealth

This benefit produces 200 supply days times your degree of success each month. 

Worldly

This benefit applies to interactions with people from outside the Bonelands.

Favorite Game Mechanics

So after a few week of concentrating on the novel I've been thinking more about tinkering with GodWar (assuming freelance work I applied for recently does not come through).  In the process of thinking what I want to do with it, I've been thinking about the mechanics I've really enjoyed in RPGs and if I could somehow bodge them together into some sort of game Frankenstein monster made just for me.  So mechanics I've really enjoyed I am thinking about including:

1. Group Character (Examples: Song of Ice and Fire noble houses, Warhammer 3rd Ed Group sheets): As stated previously, I really like a mechanic that brings the party together from the get go like belonging to the same organization, and giving mechanical reasons for the players to cooperate.  With a focused game like Song of Ice and Fire this is an easy mechanic to create, but with a wider ranging game like GodWar, where characters can be anything from angels to clockwork robots, it's a bit more difficult.  I've been thinking of structuring it so the group character is the group's legend so far, allowing them to build the group's adventures up to this point (fame achieved, resources acquired, people met) as a group.  This could also be a good means to build character relationships based on these events in similar fashion to Fate where characters get ti write interactions with other characters into their history.  While some part of this would be set by spending points, some randomness (age of group, number of major events, etc) would probably be randomized.

2. Resource Management (Examples: Pendragon holdings, Song of Ice and Fire noble houses): Possibly the same mechanic as the group character, having some sort of power base, property, or other tie to the world I think helps keep players grounded and interested in the events of the world since they have more of a stake in it.  Saving a village means a lot more if you own a building in that village.  For GodWar I've been thinking this would be part of the group character, representing property and influence gained through the group's past adventures.

3. Self-Determined Abilities (Examples: Fate aspects, On the Edge abilities): I like characters having some capacity to define their abilities as they see fit, though not sure how far to take this.  I had been working with a more Over the Edge system where all character abilities are self determined, but that doesn't really work well with the next ability.  Also that system has the capacity to be pretty abuseable, as my character in Harbinger's Over the Edge game gets a lot more milage out of his Marine ability than probably any ability from anyone sitting at the table (though he does a good job accounting for this, I am sort of useless aside from combat).  Thus I'm looking at something more similar to Fate aspects, but without stealing that mechanic exactly I'm having trouble thinking of a ,mechanic to economize and limit the use of such abilities.

4. Random Character Generation (Examples: Reign): I really enjoy mechanically equivalent random character creation ala Reign.  I don't like random character creation where characters come out unbalanced, like most RPGs from the 80s.  I like the little bits of emergent story that come out in random character generation, plus it helps get people's brains started.  As I've been planning on using tarot cards for the resolution system for GodWar I've been thinking of doing something based on actual tarot readings, but that may end up being too complicated.  Random character generation does not play well with the previously point, player determined abilities, so I'll have to come up with some way to reconcile the two.

5. Critical Hit Tables (Examples: MERP): This is really old school, but I really liked the old MERP and Rolemaster crit hit tables.  Rolling on them was a perverse joy.  I also liked their armor system as light armor made you harder to hit,but if you did get hit you got clobbered while plate armor meant you got hit a lot but rarely took much damage and did not get critical easy.  This mechanic I figure will probably have to be first one I abandon due to the crunchiness of crit hits not meshing well with the otherwise light mechanics that are the focus otherwise

6. Resource Allocation and Randomness (Examples: Marvel RPG): I want to have a mechanic where a character's skills and randomness are not the only determiners of success, but also how much the player wants to succeed.  The basic mechanic is one I've been kicking around for awhile where players draw a number of cards each around and allocate them to actions, totalling the cards against a target number to determine success.

So yeah, pulling all those together on some level.  We'll see how it turns out.  

Gunslinger via Planescape

So the Warlord Wombat is starting a Planescape 4E campaign with rogue modrons as an available character race.  Thus came to be N+1, the rogue modron lawman that I thought was worth sharing.

X^-1 fled out of Mechancus, and N+1 followed.  

From the day his gears first ground, N+1 had been part of Enforcement, charged with enforcing the laws of Mechanus, every cog in it's cycle and every measurement to spec.  As a plane of law, this was easy most of the time, with his main concern being keeping outsiders from mucking up the delicate arrangement that was the plane of Mechanus.  Then the clockplague came.  As if overnight, modrons began having irregular timing, punch cards developed new holes, and pendulums swayed erratically.  It was from this chaos that X^-1 appeared, thought by some to be the creator of the clockplague while others merely believed him the most adversely affected.  

X^-1 worked to spread poor timing, bad measurements, and general chaos through grid-like streets and towers of Mechanus.  From his efforts thousands died crushed in the gears of massive, city sized devices run amok or simple breaking down from their own internal degradation.  He spread the clockplague beyond the areas where N+1 and his allies among Enforcement had worked to contain it.  After decades of struggle no cure for the plague was found and Enforcement was forced to do more and more terrible things to keep order in Mechanus. Those infected were slaughtered by the thousands. Free will, creative thought, and other such ideas could not be allowed to run free.  In time they finally forced X^-1 to flee the plane, having eliminated all his hideouts and allies, but by that time N+1 had changed.  He had been forced to kill too many of his brother modrons in the name of conformity to remain in Enforcement and see Law as worth enforcing, and so instead he chose banishment.  

Like X^-1 he became a rogue modron, leaving Mechanus never to be allowed to return.  Officially he left to hunt down X^-1 so he could never threaten Mechanus again, but in truth N+1 could no longer stand living in the plane he helped defend for so long.  Maybe N+1 had caught the clockplague himself, or maybe he had just changed over the years.  In any case, first he was going to find X^-1 and make him pay for what he had forced N+1 to become.  And last he heard X^-1 was hiding out in Sigil.  

So thinking Seeker or Ranger with a weapon that has the stats of a repeating crossbow that looks like a gun.  

Trying to get back on the horse

Unfortunately I have still not started running a game since moving to Baltimore.  This due to a number of factors (all the classics like time, stress, etc).  I had planned on running a Warhammer 3rd Edition game, especially after my friends were nice enough to replace my books and such when they were stolen from my car, but currently that system intimidates me.  So many bits and cards and chits.  If I were running the game for "the guys" back in Raleigh that would be one thing, but while some of "the guys" who moved up here would be playing the group would have at least a few folks I don't know as well (and may actually work with).  While I'm sure I could run some sort of game, it wouldn't necessarily be a good first impression game.  Aside from running a game with folks at work I've thought about running a game at the local comic/game store, Collector's Corner, but again, running a game for people I don't know that well.  So no Warhammer for now, and my work on the Warhammer Settlement builder system as stopped, though I'll probably finish it at some point.  Once I get more comfortable and such I want to run the game (to see how it plays and since it now holds a special place in my heart since it is a symbol of how much my friends care).

So in the mean time I've been working on my Soul of the Nation novel project, though it is slower going than I had hoped (but really what goes as fast as you want when writing?).  I have been tinkering with GodWar off and on in the mean time, but it's not really meeting my creative interests currently.  I really like the group character mechanic ala Song of Ice and Fire, Birthright, etc, and that sort of mechanic doesn't work so well for a ramshackle group of occultists, clock work robots, rogue angels, etc.  Also the resolution mechanic I've been focusing on relies on tarot cards, and buying a bunch of them to supply the group with is an expense I cannot currently float.  So I've been looking for a different game to tinker with on the side.  I had thought about working with the setting for Soul of the Nation into an RPG setting, but I think that would muddy the waters on the novel writing.  Plus there are already a lot of games that could do the setting pretty well.  The Dresden Files RPG would be my choice, though with lots of tinkering to put the focus more on normal people with items of arcane power.

So, looking at the bevy of game projects I've got at some level of completion or another, the one I think fits what I'm looking for the most is Last Knight of Camelot. For those who are not familiar, the core idea is a post apocalyptic retelling of the King Arthur mythology where giant robots armed with swords are the height of military power.  Excalibur is a genelocked super robot, but like all robots it ran out of ammunition long ago, so it relies on melee weapons.  Magic exists with a basis in gender identity (sort of a female Grail vs. male Excalibur parallel).  While I like a lot of the setting material, the rules are nothing to scream about.  They're very fifteen years ago and really not very good.

So chucking the rules and starting over.

The basic idea for the game is the players are all members of an organization like a noble house, military/mercenary unit, knightly order, etc.  The organization would have some amount of territory, troops, tech, wealth, etc.  The organization as a whole may have a giant robot, a tank, or other powerful weapon and it would be controlled by the group as a whole (so no one gets left out when the giant robot fights break out). The player characters would be leaders of the organization.  I really don't have much of a starting point for character stats; I was thinking of doing something based on chivalric virtues, but that may end up being too Pendragon.

I'll have more of a meat update once I actually get some text down on this.