[EXPLOSION RPG beta] initial ideas

[brianhon]

Hi, I've been lurking on the forge for some time now and I've finally decided to post.

The EXPLOSION RPG is my second idea for an rpg, and probably the most developed of it.  The main concept for the rpg is to play like and feel like an action movie.  Maybe be even more over the top than an action move often is.  These are some of the things I wanted to do with Explosion:

-Fast and furious action that's not terribly bogged down with looking things up, calculating numbers, or lots of dice rolling.
-As for dice rolling, and want a lot of dice.  It's fun to roll lots of dice.
-Character stats (which I feel I do actually want) should represent the most imporatant aspects of action movie heros.
-Abilities/perks should also be that way, and probably be simple to use in play.
-The characters should have an extremely hard time dying, but it should be realtively easy to take damage.
-Most action movie setting should be applicable.

So, saything that much, this is what I've come up with so far.  Much of it is really just notes, and thus might not explained all that well.  If so, just ask.


Resolution mechanic:
Dice pool, easy as that.  Roll # of dice = stat+perk and try to get X number of successes, where a success is a die showing 4, 5, or 6.  If a 6 is rolled, then another die is added to the pool and rolled as well.


Stats:
Badass (B) - Getting something to happen by brute force, whether it be surviving a blow or intimidation.
Awesome (A) - Using natural talent or the environment to do stuff.
Cool (C) - 'Cheating' the system or doing something that people normally can't do.  Also your looks, poise, ect.
Lucky (L) - Having stuff happen without you actually doing anything.
Amazing (Az) (optional) - Supernatural stuff.

For the normal progression (B, A, C, L), put 4 in the best stat, 3 in the next, then 2, then 1 in the lowest.


EXPLOSION score:  Normally starts as a value of 1.  You can use an EXPLOSION point to lower the number needed on the dice for a success (Instead of needing a 4,5, or 6 on the die, you only need a 3+, etc.).  But then your EXPLOSION score goes up. Note that you have to choose to use EXPLOSION points before the roll is made.  If, after you've rolled, you'd like to use more points, that's fine.

I'm also thinking of letting the players use EXPLOSION points to "pull something out of their ass."  ie, if they need some item really badly (a rope or crowbar), or something to specific to happen (a guard to walk in who happens to have the keycard to the penthouse room) they can use a point.

When you need to take damage, you find out how much based on a roll vs. your EXPLOSION point total.

You can also get EXPLOSION points back by causing a mishap, whatever it may be.  Mishaps are stuff that's bad that you (as a player) inflict upon your character, making the situation more difficult for you or the other characters.


FXs:
If you make your action have special effects (black and white, slow motion, camera pan, etc) you can increase the amount of dice you're rolling by taking them out of your FX dice pool.  You get a certain number of them (one per hour of play, approx.) per session to use.  Once you use them, they're gone, used up until next session.


Perks are the special moves, items, things you can do or that you get as time goes on.  These are good effects that you get.  You can get a perk more than once which gives you a better effect.

Each perk has a rating from 1-4.  This rating is the point cost per rank for that particular perk.  Perks' maximum rank is 4.

After every session more points are acquired.  The points given should be approx. 8.

At the beginning, you must choose a number of badass perks equal to the stat number, a number of awesome perks equal to your stat number, etc.  You have 20 points to start with.

example list:
Causing explosions [3]
Surviving explosions [2]
Jumping through sharp things [1]
Swinging on anything [1]
Improvisational weapons [3]
Battling on precarious ledges [1]
Multitasking while driving [3]
Two weapon fighting [4]
Looking good afterwards [1]
Running and gunning [1]
McGuyvering [3]
Taking ridiculous amounts of damage [4]
Ridiculous amounts of ammo [2]
Interrogation methods [1]
Point blank combat [2]
Property damaging [3]
Bloody mess [1]
Jinxed [1]
Ridiculously large weaponry [4]
Personal weapon storage [3]
Sneaking [1]
Surviving long falls [2]
Bullshitting [1]
Grudge [1]
Takin' them down with you [2]
Leadership [1]
Taking on ridiculous amounts of enemies [4]
Eyes in the back of your head [2]
Never tires [2]
Sharp shooting [4]
Kung Fu Dodge [2]
Melee combat [2]
Gadgeteer [2]

That's it.  Any comments, questions, or ideas would be much appreciated.  I'm planning on running this at a con in april, so some good feedback would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

[Andrew Morris]

Any comments, questions, or ideas would be much appreciated.

Could you be more specific as to what you are looking for? If it's just general comments, I don't really have much to say about...well, any system unless I've actually played it.

One thing, though. Have you seen Scarlet Wake? Your game seems very similar in its goals. You might want to check it out and see how someone else has handled some of the same issues.

[JMendes]

Hey, :)

Looks decent, except for this:

FXs:
your FX dice pool.  You get a certain number of them (one per hour of play, approx.) per session to use.  Once you use them, they're gone, used up until next session.

Personally, I tend to dislke stuff that's session-based. The only game I've ever seen pull it off is PtA, because the session is actually very integral to the nature of play. You should perhaps change your wording to say 'per episode' or 'per act' (where an act is part of a movie, perhaps about a third).

Also, I like your Explosion mechanic where characters can dole out as much ownage as they want, except that it can get back to byte them. Cool stuff! :)

Cheers,

J.

[brianhon]

Could you be more specific as to what you are looking for?

The rpg is pretty rough right now, and I'd like to know if it looks like there's anything out of wack or that seems desperatly out of place with my goals.  I want to know if the wierder mechanics like the EXPLOSION points and FX pool seem to make sense and would work well.  I'd also like to know if there's any aspect of action movies that I've left out or didn't cover well enough in the current rules.  Oh, and additions to the example perks list would be nice too.

I'll take a look at this Scarlet Wake RPG.  It seems to be a bit more gritty than I was thinking at first glance, but it may have some ideas to get me thinking.

As for the FX pool, I forgot to mention how sessions work:  It's approximately three sessions (and probably from now on called Acts -- I like that) per movie.  And since it's an Action Movie it could easily have a sequel or two.