[Marinci] Istrakon playtest

[taps128]

Hi, all!

Well, I've finally managed to play test my 24 hour rpg called “Marinci”. I think it’s been over a year since I finished writing it, and I know it works. WOW!
Ok, first things first.
The rule book is written in Croatian and can be found  here http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/Marinci.php. Sorry people, but I didn’t really have time to translate it. The basic premise of the game is simple. One shot, we-don’t-know-what-to-do-else-and-d&d-is-to-comlocated-for-us , hack and slash, scfi bug hunting game, where there are few rules and much improvisation. The players play colonial Marines who battle demons, undead, aliens and other menaces across the cold void of galaxy.
I went to this con on Friday, you can check it out here www.istrakon.hr , and I found four players willing to play test the game with me.
Ognjen – a guy who just stumbled it, and thus walked right into history – played a Scout.
Goran – a friend of mine – played a Medic
Nina – Gorans kid sister – played a Scout, like Ognjen
Iljko – a friend who later played Cthulhu live with me , played the only trooper in me.

I must tell you they were all drunk, except for me and Nina , who didn’t drink, and I think that helped to have a relaxed, throw the rules out of the windows, kinda of game. Also, it was two in morning.

I draw a “dungeon” in exactly two minutes, while Ognjen who came late, copied his character from Nina’s sheet. The story was simple. While they were coming back from a mission they where woken up from cryogenic sleep by a SOS signal. The signal was 50 years old, and told of an attack by unknown assailants to a remote research facility.
The players hit it right on. They queried the computer on the mission, and planed. Well when their curiosity was satisfied they landed in the shuttle bay and started their mission.
Ognjen and Nina started scouting the landing bay.
The saw sings of disarray and smelle some kind of sour odor. Everybody excited the shuttle, and the shuttle door closed. The door which led  deeper into the base suddenly onpend and a draught of stale air rattled some chains above their heads. Iljko and Ognjen looked up and got their first Zivci test , (Zivci is Croatian for “Nerves”) , Ognjen passed but Iljko failed. He got his for 4 sanity points and on the panic role he got berserk. He dropped his weapons and attacked Ognjen, an managed to strike him for to points. The effect stopped soon, and nobody was damaged too much.
The passed through the now open door into a nearly dark hallway. The floor was covered in blood. The came to a metallic door. The shot, and banged on it, and managed to alert four dead marines on the other side. I think Ognjen or Goran managed to touch the touch screen and opened the door.
The undead were waiting them. I used weakened stats for a Undead marine trooper. Their fighting and Shooting abilites were reduced to 8 , and their health was reduced to 5. The players were sitting ducks and god shoot, several times.
The fight started, and it was a success. Iljko shot one undead but managed to render him self catatonic for the rest of the fight. Goran took one, Ognjen took the other with the creative use of a chair, and Nina shoot one trough its head.
Sadly Goran and Nina left for a bed then, so the game was over. But for me it was a success. Everybody liked it, and it was very fun for all of us.

[Ron Edwards]

Hooray! For various reasons, I am always excited to see people from eastern European countries post at the Forge.

Nikola, have you seen the various space-marines games that were written for the October Ronnies contest here at the Forge? If not, you can find the links in the Endeavor forum. I especially recommend 3:16, which won an award for that round.

Here's my question: how fast was the resolution system, especially for taking turns during combat and for resolving the Zivci checks? The kind of game you're describing is pretty common in the States, usually people who play Call of Cthulhu with a heavy combat emphasis and willingness to see their characters die. It seems to me that the most important feature of a different game would be making the processes of play faster and easier.

Best, Ron

[taps128]

Hooray! For various reasons, I am always excited to see people from eastern European countries post at the Forge.

Nikola, have you seen the various space-marines games that were written for the October Ronnies contest here at the Forge? If not, you can find the links in the Endeavor forum. I especially recommend 3:16, which won an award for that round.

Here's my question: how fast was the resolution system, especially for taking turns during combat and for resolving the Zivci checks? The kind of game you're describing is pretty common in the States, usually people who play Call of Cthulhu with a heavy combat emphasis and willingness to see their characters die. It seems to me that the most important feature of a different game would be making the processes of play faster and easier.

Best, Ron

Hi, Ron .

Thanks for your interest. No, I haven’t seen them, but I’ll check them out right away.

To answer your question : the resolution system is very fast. The mechanics flowed easily, and after few ten minutes or less everybody knew how the system worked.
The basic mechanic is : roll under or equal a number to succeed. The game has only three control attributes ( Combativeness, Precision, Nerves) which are tested, two status attributes (health and psyche ) – health is for damage and psyche measures how much sanity your character has- and one general attribute which is speed.
Failure to pass a Nerves test results in a sanity loss, and an effect ( roll 1d6 look at a table). Each effect has a random time length (1d6 or 1d4 I don’t really remember right now) . The effects are : be catatonic, go berserk, or run away.
The combat was resolved easily, and without problems, which was a surprise for me because I expected a glitch or two. Then again I designed the thing.
The system was designed with goal to facilitate for the GM on the fly rules changes. Like new combat moves, modifiers, powers, environment etc…
I’m sorry I didn’t translate the system to English but I didn’t have the time. I will do it soon as I can.

Nikola

[Ron Edwards]

How is the effect of an action determined? If I roll under my Combativeness, for instance, and so my character hits another character, how much is the target hurt?

Also, I really like the fact that the three control attributes are all psychological, rather than physical descriptors like Constitution and so on.

A fast, violent Cthulhu-type system ... I'm interested.

Best, Ron

[taps128]

How is the effect of an action determined? If I roll under my Combativeness, for instance, and so my character hits another character, how much is the target hurt?

Also, I really like the fact that the three control attributes are all psychological, rather than physical descriptors like Constitution and so on.

A fast, violent Cthulhu-type system ... I'm interested.

Best, Ron

I wrote a separate chapter for each issue. One chapter for character generation( system basics, background, game mechanics – one paragraph with three lines) , one for equipment ( weapons- including unarmed - , armor, general) , combat and psychology, and monsters.
What a didn’t include were various modifier which are often found in game books. So if GM wants to reward or penalize a player for something he can easily make something up on the spot, a thing which I used during my play test when a scout attacked a zombie marine with a chair. I gave a penalty to the zombie’s attack, a bonus the scout and some extra experience to boot. What I found most interesting since combat rules are simple, the actual combat is very detailed. Complex, interesting situations can be easily dealt with.

Simplicity was the keyword when I was writing the game. For example , weapons don’t have magazines. The player has only a dwindling amount of ammunitions . A weapon description goes like this :


Name: two barreled shotgun
Description : Alien I, Alien II and III … the most popular movies in the marine corps, along with the Godfather and My songs, my dreams.
Damage : 2d6 Precision: +2 Range:18 Munition: shells Depletion: 2 Speed:1
Special: The players decides the direction he shoots. The first creature in that general direction is hit, and all creatures in a radius of 4 are hit also.


Nikola