Massive- rules patch for handling huge battles (CARPS).

[Alf_the_Often_Incorrect]

For those of you who do not know my RPG (that would be most of you) this post will be rather uninformative; therefore, I suggest visting my site:

http://w00tism27.tripod.com/carps

Anyway, you can download the patch from my site, but for those of us who are lazy, I will copy and paste it here.

What is Massive?
Massive is an extension of CARPS that allows for very large-scale RPGs (such as RPGs involving armies and whatnot). This is designed to make the mechanics MUCH less painful for GMs.

How does Massive work?
The whole concept of Massive is controlling large groups of NPCs at once. To do this, Massive uses two entities; the master and the servant (note that these are purely metagame terms and do not nesscesarily apply to the nature of the relationship between the master and the servants).

The Servant
The servants are treated as one individual. All of the Body attributes are added together, but the Mind attributes stay separate. Skills which are physically oriented are added together, while mentally oriented ones are not (it all depends on the condition). When making rolls, determine what percentage of the group is performing the task (say, for instance, the front rank only attacking would be about 10% of the unit). These do not have to be exact. Only use a percentage of the bonus equal to the percentage of the group performing the task. Multiply modifiers by the number of individuals performing the task. DO increase log values as much as possible when doing rolls in Massive, ignoring the normal rules about not adding log values. This only applies to physical rolls. Mental rolls are made using the normal bonuses, normal modifiers, and so on. The task either succeeds or fails as a group. This applies to things like following orders. There are two more systems; which to use is up to the GM. The one used for influencing works just like the physical one (resisting influence uses the first method; mob psychology). The third method is for tasks like brainstorming. This combines the bonuses as with the physical rolling scheme, but also divides by half the number of participants, rounded up. Note that when a servant is damaged, only one participant is participating in resisting the wound, so the mechanics are as normal (unless a whole section is being attacked by one source). Also note that a servant can easily be scattered by intimidation (though the conditional modifier of strength in numbers applies to the resist roll). Also note that to keep things simple, only one type of being should be in it (for instance, the archers separate from the spearmen). Yet another note: traits are not cumulative, unless they have numerical effects, in which case they are treated as any other numbers for the particular formula being used. The same goes for equipment. In a turn-based combat, each individual part of the unit does one thing per turn.

The Master
The master is not part of the servant, but commands it. Unless some sort of prepalnned attack or telepathy or other advanced communication is being used, the master must make some sort of roll to get his orders across in the noisy, chaotic battlefield. He must also often make rolls to keep his servant(s) from scattering, unless they are very disciplined. There does not strictly have to be a master, but without one the servant tends not to work too well. There can be an internal master if he is the same type of being as the rest, but he must make the master rolls by himself.

When do I use Massive?
Whenever you decide it's too hard to keep track of individual NPCs. You could use it for small things like a group of 5 Orcs or enormous things like a fleet of destroyer spaceships. You could even use it when a dad helps his kid with his math homework! Massive doesn't strictly have to be massive.



Now that you've read it, please tell me what I did wrong and maybe some possible fixes if you're feeling generous.