BareBones Supers

Ok maybe I'm going overboard with the BareBones hacks. But they just keep coming to me.

For this variation every attribute has a modifies (halved) version for average skill rolls.So Dex would be noted as DEX 80 / 40.

Skills on the other hand are used for more heroic feats. Skills can only be used if you have a rank in them.
Players start out with 2 ranks to assign at character creation. For every rank a character gets one power in that category. This can be adjusted for power level of the game you want to play.

Brute (1/2 STR) + 10/rank. All feats of strength or toughness.
Speedster (1/2 DEX) + 10/rank. Feats of speed and quickness.
Specialist (1/2 LOG) + 10/rank. Getting greater use out of melee or missile weapons other fighting skills.
Blaster (1/4 DEX, 1/4 WIL) + 10/rank. Control and manipulation of elements and energy.
Mentalist (1/2 WIL) + 10/rank. Power of the mind, Telepathy and telekinesis.

Brute powers.
>>Armor: DR equal to 2x rank.
>>Bash: +2 to damage, melee and hand to hand per rank.
>>Smash: All hand to hand hits add knock back.
>>Leap: 20', doubles with each additional rank.
>>Squish: Bear hug for immobilize and x2 hand to hand crush damage.
>>Stomp: Created a shockwave either 20' radius or 40' straight line. Dex roll or lose balance to every one effected.

Speedster powers.
>> Quick to attack: Add rank to initiative.
>> Fast attack: Can make extra attacks. For each rank in speedster with only a -10 accumulative penalty.
>> Run: Each rank doubles run speed. Accumulative.
>>Dodge: Roll to avoid getting hit. Can dodge thrown as melee at rank 1. Dodge bullets like thrown at rank 2. Dodge bullets as melee at rank 4. At rank 5 almost anything is worth a roll.

Specialist powers.
>>Mastery: choose one weapon per rank. +2 initiative, +20 to use, and +2 damage to mastered weapons.
>>Trick shots: Choose one weapon per rank. +30 to that weapon, But only to offset penalties for trick shooting or fancy melee use.
>> Special material: For each rank one weapon is either made of or shoots a special round. Silver, Armor piercing, explosive, Magic, ect, ect.
>>Geared: for every rank the character has a gadget or piece of custom gear.

Blaster powers. (must take blast as first power, all others are dependent)
>>Blast: gains an attack that does 1D of damage per rank in Blaster. Choose 50' beam, 20' fan, or 10' burst.
>>>Array: for each rank in blast the blaster can have separate "type of blast".
>>>Control: for each rank add +10 that can be used to offset penalties for "trick shots".
>>>Special: For each rank add one effect to blast, or blasts if using array.

Mentalist powers.
>>Telekinesis: Move object using power of the mind. Effective strength is Mentalist skill +15 per rank.
>>Mental assault: Attack others minds. 1D+rank in damage.
>>Mental Defense: Mental DR equal to rank.
>>Scan mind: Read surface thoughts of target.
>>Suggest: used to fast talk, intimidate, alter the thoughts of others.

There are a few power that this system doesn't really cover, like flight and teleporting. Thinking about a generic power category ranks can go into. For each rank a couple of unlinked powers are gained.

BareBones Cyberpunk 2 (Cyberware)

I though I would come up with a few pieces of cyberware and equiptment for BB:CP. Just some off the top of my head conversions.

Cybernetic limbs:

Cyberarm:

There are three levels of Cyberarm:
Cyberarms have one upgrade option slot.

Level I is a replacement arm. This is a prosthetic that replaces a missing arm. It has its own BP of 20.

Level II is a reenforced arm.  This arm has a ceramic shell and titanium reenforced skeleton. BP of 50 and melee and hand to hand damage is at +3 when wielded in this cyberarm. All Strength tests with this arm are at +20.

Level III is a Tech arm. This arm has many upgrades for doing fine manipulation and improved manual dexterity. BP of 20. Its upgrade slot is used for multi-tools. +10 to any Techi or Meditech roll that requires manual dexterity or fine manipulation.

Upgrade options.
>>Armor (Level I and II only). DR3
>>Small retractable melee weapon up to 1D+3.
>>Small compartment.
>>Small Arms, Small handgun up to 4 shot, or Heavy handgun single shot.
>>Climbing claws +10 to climbing.

Cyberleg:

 

There are two levels of cybernetic legs.

Level I is a replacement leg. This is a prosthetic that replaces a missing leg. It has its own BP of 30. Level I only has one upgrade slot.

Level II is a reenforced leg.  This leg has a ceramic shell and titanium reenforced skeleton. BP of 70 and kicking damage is at +3.  All Strength tests with this leg are at +20. Level II has two upgrade slots.

Upgrade options.
>>Armor (Level I and II only). DR3
>>Small retractable melee weapon up to 1D+3.
>>Small compartment.
>>Climbing spikes, +10 to climbing.

Subdermal armor:

There is 5 level of Subdermal armor. Each level adds one point of DR.

Cybereye:

Cybereyes come in two types.

Level I. This is a replacement prosthetic. It can be made to look 100% natural or any one of a million fashion options.

Level II. This Level has everything level I has, Plus up to 3 "lense options" as well as normal sight.

Lens options:
>>night vision.
>>Low light.
>>Morph.
>>Facial and object recognition.
>>Data reader, Browser.
>>Jack for external link.


Just a few basics here. More to come.

BareBones Cyberpunk

In my last post I did a mini review of BareBones fantasy RPG.

Ever since I read the book I have had it in my mind that the system needs a Cyberpunk hack. I'm not sure why, it just seemed like a good fit.

The biggest part of a cyberpunk hack would be a hack of the skills. Since this is my hack and aimed at the type of game I would run, some of this hack will be very specific.

Skiils:

StreetRonin (1/4 Str+1/4 Wil +10/rank): Melee weapons, Gather street info, Street credibility, Intimidation. At rank 5 a second melee attack can be made at full skill.

Professional (1/2 Dex+10/rank):Marksmanship, hand to hand, and Athletics. At rank 3 recoil on a second shot is -20 rather than -30. At rank 5 a second small arms attack can be made at full skill.

Hacker(1/4log+1/4Wil+10/rank): Interface, Control device, Gather cyber info, and Cyber combat.

Techi (1/2Log+10/rank): Repair, Build, Drive, control.

MediTech(1/2Log+10/rank):First aid, Surgery,

Face(1/2 Wil+10/rank): Negotiations, Barter, Con, Fast talk, and Socialize.

An unwritten rule is perception, I would just assume that each skill is also a unique form of perception. After all a StreetRonin would know that the guy in the suit looks out of place in the bad part of town and would be first to notice. A hacker would notice if a program has been tampered with. A soldier could take a guess where an enemy received his training.

Firearms rules. On this I don't want to add a lot and make a good streamline system complex. Other than the penalty for a second attack is -30 because of recoil.

Maybe in my next post I'll work on some example weapons and gear.

BareBones fantasy Mini review (DwD Studios)

 By Larry Moore & Bill Logan

I picked up this game a while ago. I gave it a read and really liked what I saw. After a small hiatus from gaming I picked it up and gave it a  another look over.

 This 82 page book is a full system.While a few more monsters and magical items examples would be nice (and some written adventures sure would not hurt). This book is truly a stand alone game.

There is so much to like here, First of all its a very rules lite percentile system. And if you know me I love percentile system, and favor rules lite systems.

Rather than playing a single class, characters have a skills that represent the skills within a single class. For example the Cleric skill. This skill would be rolled on for all rolls that would be covered by the Clerical training or abilities.

The skills are:
Scout
Thief
Warrior
Cleric
Leader
Scholar
Spellcaster

Each skill has a set of sub-skills that each skill covers. For example scout is used for Animal handling, Navigation, Survival, and Tracking.

I find the system to be very elegant. Hard to find a game that can handle so much with such a streamline system. Characters are not pigeon hole'd into strict classes. They still have primary and a secondary class to start they can then grow into the character you want them to become.

On top of everything else there is a random dungeon generator that makes running a dungeon crawl that much easier.

For being less than 100 pages this book covers a lot of ground. Here is a Beginners primer created by  Michael Hansen to help new players navigate their way through the BareBones products.

I have made the comment that I don't need another fantasy roleplaying game. For BareBones I think I have to make the exception. 

One Die to rule them all

After reading through the Mutants and masterminds 3E players book, I was reminded how this game played  using a single d20. Which is not new to me. I ran M&M 2E and True20 before that.

So I got thinking. Why couldn't I do the same with Castles and Crusades or Amazing Adventures? After all the core of the Siege system is a single d20 roll. The main use any other die roll is variable damage.

So I started thinking.  if I was to use just a d20 to run C&C and AA how would I do it?

I would make all damage equal to the average of a the die roll. 2 for d4, 3 for d6, 4 for d8, 5 for d10, and 6 for d12. And bonus would still be added. So d6+2 would be 5.

On any roll to hit that is 5 greater than the roll needed the damage would instead be maximum damage. 4 on a d4 or 6 on a d6...ect ect.

On a natural 20 damage will be 1.5 of max damage. 6 on a d4, 9 on a d6, 12 on a d8..ect, ect.