Sea Monkey RPG - Zak's Published!

[Zak Arntson]

I didn't know which forum to stick this in, but I've finally got my Sea Monkey RPG published! It's in a bigger book, the Ultimate Guide to Sea Monkeys. It's my first full published RPG!

Ultimate Guide to Sea Monkeys

Indie Game Design? Well, I have to reread the contract to find out if the text is still owned by me (the art I did is, so I'm guessing the text is, too), keeping it truly Indie (this deal was made way before I got into the Indie scene)

As for design ... It's a pretty old-school Stats + Skills system, with tons of Color. The entire RPG is written like the Sea Monkey Handbook (it's a pretty insane handbook, filled with capital letters and "isn't that AMAZING" type text), and the rules revolve around Sea Monkeys. They have a "blood pool" called their Gut which they can burn to increase rolls. Each roll is with three dice (as many dice as Sea Monkey have eye-stalks). And so on.

So what is it? Exploration of Character, Situation and Color. (The System is fixed, the Setting is roughly laid out, so it could easily be expanded).

[Mike Holmes]

Pretty nifty. Have you met Dr. Barclay? Are you getting any royalties?

Hey, waitaminit. My dyslexia just suspended opperations for a moment and I realized that your last name is supposedly Arntson. As opposed to Arneson which is what my brain has been telling me all this time (I wondered if you might be related to the creator of D&D, Dave Arneson). Anyway, looking closely: Arntson. Like "Aren't Son"? Like is daughter? Might "Zak Arntson" be a Pseudonym?

Perhaps you've been thinking that the word of a Canadian woman wouldn't be taken as seriously as that of an American male in this board dominated by American males? So you post that you are from Seattle-ish, when really youare from Brittish Columbia. And you give yourself a man's name.

Well, the jig is up! I've found you out! The above post is just a blatant attempt to get us to purchase your book, Susan! I'll have you know that I thought that Jocellyn Robatille over at RPG.net was a Canadian woman for the longest time (before finding out that Jocellyn is a guy's name in other countries). And despite being Canadian, female, and and RPG.netter, I still respectred her (his) opinions.

So, my advice, admit your true identity, change your screen-name, and home profile and stand proudly for who you really are.

Nice knowing you, Zak, hello Susan,
Mike

[Valamir]

Whoa. Next time you get some good herb like that, dude.  Like be sure to share and stuff.

[Ron Edwards]

Oh man. Two wicked flashbacks in a row.

The first was from Zak and is the predictable outcome of any mention of Sea Monkeys to anyone of my age group. Oh, the smell of Marvel Comics fresh from the newstand.

The second was from Mike's free-association, triggering remembrances of similar thought-processes in high school which seemed soooooo profound at the time.

Ahem! Zak, please tell us more about the game. Please, my neurons are begging you.

Best,
Ron

[Zak Arntson]

Like I said, it's a pretty old school system. I'd probably do something entirely different now. Though I'd keep the level of Color, 'cause it cracks me up. For example, you roll between one and three dice (three being the number of eyestalks a Sea Monkey's got when they're babies).

You basically have three things: Physical PROWESS, Mental ABILITY, and Social APTITUDE (the Sea Monkey handbook you get with the kits is full of random capitalization and many exalamation marks). These are from 1 to 3D, which means you roll and add 'em all up (each 6 rolled lets you roll another die to add). You also get ASPECTS which are under each of the three attributes. These are things like Dexterity and Impress and um, Perception (they are a simple bonus you apply). You also get Skills which are another bonus to your roll.

Injury is handled by VIM, which is treated really similar to Hit Points. You get to zero, you're unconscious (and make a roll after the encounter to see if you survive). Combat is a Skill vs. Skill roll, where Weapons and Armor make opposed rolls to see how much VIM is lost.

There's also a Gut score, which has a maximum of 10 points. Think Vampire's Blood Pool. You suffer if you're Gut is empty, and you can burn a point of Gut for extra dice.

The best part are my goofy drawings (some of them straight from figure-drawing class) and the campy text. And yeah, Ron, I know that feeling of musty comics and wacky ads. I used to SO want one of those cardboard submarines. It wasn't until later that I discovered the comics were published 10-15 years before I was born and you couldn't get a tub of army men for a 50 cents anymore.