Pulp SF system ideas

[signoftheserpent]

For the past several months i have accumulated 50 odd pages of background for a cliffhanger style pulp (a word in danger of being overused) SF setting in the mould of Lensman, Star Wars and Buck Rogers. Recently i have begun to tinker with some system ideas, some of which i present here for opinion. the background is largely irrelevant for the purposes of this discussion, however the style of the game needs to be explained. It is primarily a game of high adventure, impossible science and equally impossible action amidst the stars, atop alien mountains and inside akien cities. derring do and cliffhangers are the order of the day and the sytem is supposed to be simple and fun enough o recreat that both mechanicaly and thematically. nothing is finalised and the wording used is temprorary for the purposes of gettin the ideas down (the same goes for the order presented).
Needless to say these ideas are mine and i assert the right to keep them for myself no matter how bad or incomplete they seem for now.

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Daring and Cunning (plus traits, skills, abilities and XP):

All PC's, even robot characters, have a Daring score. This trait measures their courage and bravery in the field of adventure and in the line of duty. Cunning is a trait possessed by all major NPC's, such as Masterminds and Leaders; Cunning reflects their unique abilities to stand out from the villainous horde they control and use their wits to best the heroes.
During a scene where a PC must beat a target number as the result of attempting an action, he can use his Daring trait. Daring functions as both a temporary pool of points (defined by the trait value), and a permanent fixed rating. By spending a point, he can increase the difficulty of one action he is undertaking by a value equal to the Villain’s Cunning score. If he succeeds he receives first an experience point bonus equal to the villain’s Cunning score, and secondly his permanent score immediately increases by 1. Temporary points are refreshed between sessions, up to the maximum at that point – including any such changes. The number of PC’s he is currently facing often modifies a villain’s Cunning. This modifier often takes the form of a multiplier and the modified total is used when Daring is involved.

If the pc succeeds at this, he may try and use Daring again for the next immediate action (if applicable and suitably daring). This is known as Momentum and represents the PC fighting his way through a particularly heroic series of actions culminating in something spectacular. For the next action, the PC must spend an extra point (and must do so each further time afterwards as well, cumulatively). The Villain’s Cunning score again increases the difficulty, but a further point is added, which is again cumulative each further time as well. Again if successful the PC gains experience equal to the Villains Cunning score, and also to any points added for cumulative actions as just described. His Daring will also increase, but only by 1 each time.

If a PC fails any attempt to use Daring in this way, he cannot use Momentum, and must start again with the next action he undertakes. No PC may use Daring more than once per action. If he fails on a roll in which Daring was used, he loses 1 point of permanent Daring, and his temporary pool is immediately adjusted accordingly, if required. No PC may ever have more points in his pool than he has in his permanent Daring rating. The Gm is the final arbiter of which actions may allow for Daring to be used, however as a guideline, if the action or sequence of actions is suitably exciting and spectacular then Daring can be used.
Human PC's have a special relationship with Daring that separates them from the other races of the galaxy (all of whom have their own unique abilities). Not only can players purchase Daring during characters creation at a lower rate for human characters, but such players have an extra option during play which they can use against Villains. A human PC may spend a further point after succeeding a successful action where he has used Daring in the manner described above in order to decrease that Villain’s Cunning by 1 for the duration of the adventure. The GM may not ordinarily raise that value back once a human hero has done this. However in between adventures, NPC scores may be altered in any way for further adventures.

Experience points are used to increase trait scores and buy new skills in the conventional manner. Each new score or skill has a cost, which must be paid for, from the PC’s pool of accumulated XP; thus he cannot increase or purchase that which he cannot afford. Once spent, points are lost and points are only gained in the prescribed ways. XP can also be used as a form of dramatic editing, or script rewriting. If one views adventures and scenarios undertaken by all players concerned as akin to cliff-hanger movies and adventure serials, then dramatic editing can be thought of as the tools by which the writers narrowly avert the inevitable on behalf of their characters. Heroes by and large don’t die meaningless deaths and everything happens within such stories for a dramatically appropriate reason. This is recreated within the scope of the game by the use of XP. By spending an amount of XP the PC can avoid an untimely death, or avoid the unpleasant side effects of a particularly inauspicious piece of luck (dice are random and don’t play to the rules of dramatic editing and good storytelling, however that is their purpose – dramatic editing serves to counterbalance this). Each action required has to be judged by the GM on its merits, as only a brief guideline exists to allow the GM to cover the myriad of potential uses for dramatic editing. There are really only two rules: firstly is it beneficial to the story and the type of adventure being told; and secondly does the PC have enough XP – nothing can alter this last rule. This is the responsibility of the PC; even a game based on such notions and source material must have some limits, however the GM is the final arbiter of what is acceptable. XP spent in this fashion is not recovered except in the manner XP is usually gained.

PC’s are defined by three elements: traitsd, skills and abilities. Traits are a set of 4 (+Daring) characteristics, which define the character in basic terms. They are as follows: Brains, Brawn, Power (guts and spirit) and Presence (charisma and personality). Trait scores are purchased with points during charafter creation and have costs dependant on the race chosen for that character, which is the final defining element.
Skills are learned talents and abilities that the PC has nurtured through education, practise, study and training and any combination thereof. Within the game there is a broad list of skills, which cover a wide variety of things. The function of the skill list is to allow each PC to have a small selection covering a broad area. The GM should allow players to use their skills in as broad a manner as reasonably possible; therefore firearms might cover not only the use of weapons, but a broad mix of weapons (for example, handguns and rifles etc). Skills are ordered according to the trait they are linked to. The relevant trait determines how many dice are rolled when using a skill. Traits are never used when making action attempts – only dice rolls. On the character sheet there is a category of skill – Unskilled – for each trait list. This value is set at the maximum value for traits during character creation and players can decrease this by spending points, the cost of which is equal to the cost of increasing any skill. Unskilled functions as the potential that PC has for learning new skills within that category; for instance a Brainy character might have a lower Unskilled category representing the players desire to have such a PC be able to learn new intellectual disciplines more easily, though the course of his adventures.

While skills have no numerical value (their use is governed by the relevant trait), Unskilled functions a little differently; its value is used as a modifier when the player spends his XP to buy skills relating to that category (such as Brains skills in the above example). XP can also be used to lower a PC's rating in Unskilled in any category during play once character creation has passed. This modifier is essentially the cost of buying a new skill in that category.

If a player wishes to have his PC make an attempt at an action for which he doesn’t have the relevant skill, he may do so only by using Daring. The PC must spend X Daring points, where X is the difficulty of the action. This gives the PC one standard die to use (as if he had a trait value of 1). The player may spend this amount multiple times to gain further dice. However the GM has the final say as to whether the PC can make such an unskilled attempt, and has full license to cap the mount of unskilled dice a PC can accumulate in this fashion.

When making an action attempt, the PC rolls a number of dice equal to the relevant trait value against the difficulty level. He succeeds if the dice are in total at least equal to that level.
Abilities are those particularly traits (usually one) that are unique to that species. They are free and may be used at no cost (unless otherwise specified) during adventures. They are not described for now.

[signoftheserpent]

revised ideas:

Daring:

All PC's have a rating in a special trait known as Daring which is a numeric distillation and representation of their heroic qualities as the focus of the adventures enjoyed by all players. (Conversely the NPC equivalent is Cunning.)

Daring allows for players to try their hand at more heroic or desperate – daring – actions. The rating itself serves as a safety net of sorts for the PC who, if he fails a relevant action attempt, may re roll dice whose results are lower than the PC's Daring rating. These new results are added to the former total and compared again to the Difficulty level; if the action total is now enough to change the outcome then it does so. If the result is still a failure, then another attempt may not be made and the PC must endure the consequences. Success is never guaranteed – that is the risk.

However, Daring is not always active – it cannot be used all the time for every dice roll. During character creation, players must assign their Daring rating to a particular skill. Daring can then be used in situations where that skill is employed. It is also possible for PC's to develop their character so that Daring can be attached to other skills as well. In such cases, there is never more than one Daring rating, all skills are bound to the PC's single Daring rating.

Daring can also be used to save a character from damage in combat. Brave and gutsy characters use their heroic qualities to ignore harm and enemy fire in order to do what they need to. In game terms this is represented by the following option, available to all PC's; by spending a point of Health (i.e. taking one damage voluntarily), a PC may reduce all damage he sustains during that combat by a number equal to his Daring rating. Once the combat is over, he no longer possesses this advantage and must reactivate it by spending another point of health when the next combat starts. This action does not take any of the PC's combat actions, but it must be declared at the start of combat when calculating initiative. Furthermore, any character with one point of health remaining may still make use of this option staving the effects of zeop health until the outcome of combat is determined. If he ends the fight with the same or less health then he suffers the effects as normal and may indeed perish. Such a character is said to have died in a blaze of glory; such scenes and moments should be role-played to the fullest, and the GM should award the players' next character with his deceased hero's xp at the time of death right at the start of that new PC's life.

Cunning:

The PC's have their Daring scores, which represent their heroic qualities; however the villains and masterminds they face must in many ways be at least a match for them. To that end their villainous qualities are represented by the Cunning trait. Cunning is used differently from Daring and only important NPC's have it.

Villains are created with a base Cunning rating that is modified by the number of PC's participating at any given time. Cunning is essentially used to power the unique abilities possessed by that Villain (these are abilities above and beyond his regular traits and skills, where applicable). They are activated in a unique way by the expenditure of cunning points, which are generated as a pool of points the GM can spend. This pool is set at the start of the session as the same number as the villain's Cunning score (including the PC modifier, which acts as a multiplier).

During play, any time a PC fails a roll attempting an action related to the actions of the Villain (in any reasonable fashion, whether directly or indirectly). The GM can assign one of those individual die results (from the dice rolled by the player) to one of his villain's abilities. This then acts as a number representing the cost, in pool points, that the GM must pay in order for his villain to make use of that ability. Once used, the points are spent and the cost is reset which means that it must be reassigned later in order for the ability to be used again.
However, instead of assigning a numerical value each time a PC fails a dice roll, the GM may refresh his pool back to its original total (and maximum). No villain may have more in his Cunning pool than he has as his base Cunning score.

GM's are advised to make pool expenditure open and available to examination by any player. He needn't reveal details of the villains' particular stats or abilities. This ensures fairness if the players are not friendly enough to forego such formal behaviour during sessions. This approach is entirely feasible and is therefore endorsed.

Lastly, Villains – as NPC's – do not have Health levels; their function in the story is a little different than that of the PC's. Consequently, they take damage (while determined normally) from their Cunning pool instead. Any time a Villain loses all his Cunning, he is defeated and will likely surrender, unless some other suitably dramatic means of escape is found. Good Villains recur; they should never be killed unless absolutely necessary; besides the capacity for murder is not a trait possessed by heroes. In fact PC's may spend XP in order to buy the villain's dramatic escape in order to allow for an exciting rematch somewhere down the line. Such sequel potential is the stuff of movies and fiction and should be rewarded by the GM, possibly by giving that player an extra point of Daring.

(villain abilities will be more akin to the npc traits as seen in 7th sea).

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