Thursday, July 21, 2011

Superhero Costume Generator

This should account for about 80% of all superhero costumes.

Roll 1D6.

1-3 = Unitard*
4-5 = Zentai suit**
6= Leotard

* Roll 1D6: 1-3, w/Cape; 4-6, w/o Cape

** Roll 1D6: 1-3, Covers upper face; 4-5, Open Faced; 6, Covers Head

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Superman (Golden Age)



Name: Superman (Golden Age)
Genre: Superhero
First Comic Appearance: Action Comics #1 (June 1938)
Group Affiliations: N/A
Occupation: Journalist
Territory: Metropolis
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Height: 190.5 cm
Weight: 102 kg

Description and Character Notes:
Superman, champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existance to helping those in need!

Body: 17
Mind: 8
Soul: 11
Health Points: 200
Energy Points: 95
Shock Value: 28
Combat Value: 16
Defense Value: 12

Attributes:
Armour 8x3 = 24 ("Impenetrable Skin," 80 damage stopped)
Attack Combat Mastery 4x3 = 12
Combat Technique 2x1 = 2
Lightning Reflexes
Steady Hand
Defense Combat Mastery 2x2 = 4
Features 2x1 = 2
Appearance x2
Heightened Senses 3x1 = 3
Hearing
Vision
X-ray Vision
Highly Skilled 4x1 = 4
Immovable 3x1 = 3 (60 meter knockback reduction)
Jumping 2x1 = 2 (10 times normal distance)
Special Defense 4x1 = 4
Air/Oxygen to Breathe
Poison
Pain x2
Speed 4x6 = 24 (5,000 kph and +8 Initiative)
Super Strength 6x4 = 24 (60 tonnes and +60 damage in close combat and +24 strength check bonus)
Tough 3x2 = 6 (+60 health points)

Defects:
Famous 1x-1 = -1 (Metropolis)
Vulnerability 3x-1 = -3 (Kryptonite, Cannot use Attributes)
Wanted 1x-1 = -1 (Minor Incentive to Hunt)
Achilles Heel 1x-1 = -1 (Kryptonite, Attack form is rare)
Bane 1x-1 = -1 (Kryptonite, 20 pts/round of exposure)
Skeleton in the Closet 2x-1 = -2 (Secret Identity, Faces Arrest)
Nemesis 2x-1 = -2 (The Ultra-Humanite)

Skills:
Acrobatics 1x6+ 1 = 7 (Jumping, Balance)
City Knowledge 1x3 = 3 (Metropolis)
Climbing 1x2 = 2 (Walls)
Disguise 1x3+ 1 = 4 ("Clark Kent," Make-up)
Intimidation 1x3 = 3 (Street)
Performing Arts 1x2 = 2 (Public Speaking)
Powerlifting 1x6+ 2 = 8 (Bulky Objects, Humans, Moving Objects)
Writing 1x1 = 1 (Journalistic)
Unarmed Attack 3x8 = 24 (Veteran)
Unarmed Defense 2x8 = 16 (Expert)

Character Points: 175   Skill Points: 30

Notes: This is Superman early in his career. The city he lived in wasn't named Metropolis yet, but I went ahead and called it that. He also hadn't encountered kryptonite yet, but I assumed he is potentially vulnerable to it.

The character was made using the Silver Age Sentinels Character Generator. The Silver Age Sentinels rules are nearly identical to the free Tri-Stat dX rules.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Spaghetti Bronze Age

I suppose I  didn't make it very clear in my post yesterday that when I talk about a fantasy game set in the Bronze Age, I'm not so much thinking of the actual historical period as those cheesy old sword-and-sandal films.



A lot of them were made on shoestring budgets, so you'd want to add more magic and monsters than most of them feature, but in general that's what I had in mind.



Whether or not you want to have Hercules running around as a major NPC is up to you, but it could make for an interesting encounter.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Bronze Age campaign

I was looking over that map Jeff Rients posted a while ago and got to thinking about how good it would work for a Bronze Age campaign.


The map lays out a region that is somewhat reminiscent of the Mediterranean, depicting an enclosed sea dotted with islands. The map already shows the location of various city states, so all  the GM has to do is determine the nature of the states and the balance of power, etc. Most of the city states on the islands would be ancient Greek analogs, complete with fleets of triremes. You could add some mythological touches, like an Amazon city, etc. I would give the southern city states an ancient North African feel, while the northern ones would be more Celtic. I'd be tempted to change all of those ice hexes to savanna, but you could leave them as they are and put some faux-Vikings there. Mixing and matching historical societies is a staple of fantasy, after all.

"Your pickled herring or your life!"

The map also helpfully lists the location of Magic Items, which as Jeff suggests would be the campaign's dungeons. To fit the Bronze Age theme, I would take a RuneQuest-like approach and make them the ruins of ancient cities. Maybe some are the haunted ruins of a lost Atlantean colony, an abandoned Egyptian outpost, or Cyclopean ruins - literally the ruins of a cyclops city. For example, that one in hex 2122 would be some kind of spooky pyramid complex. Another feature of the map is the various aeries listed. These are intended to be Roc nests, but I would probably change them to griffin nests - or even dragon's dens.

Ka-kaw!

With all of those sea hexes you're going to want some sailing rules. How you handle it depends on how detailed you want to get. The easiest way is to just have players make a skill roll (or the equivalent) whenever they have to deal with a storm or pursuing pirates. But I would even consider incorporating some navel wargames rules into the game. That depends a lot on the players and the "feel" of the game you're trying for.

Most fantasy rules would work for this with only a few cosmetic changes. If you want a game that already matches the setting the obvious choice is Mazes & Minotaurs. But really it's just a matter of taste.

Update: Two more rules options are RuneQuest Bronze Age Sourcebook (RQ3) or Runequest - Age of Ancients SRD (MRQ1).