Swingy Combat, Dependable Skills

 The latest round of feedback from play-testing Missions & Mayhem has got me thinking. 

 We played with psychic characters from the Cryptids & Conspiracy rules, so I could get an idea how easily they play out. 

The psychic powers have an activation roll (rather than being spell points as in d20 Modern). All the PCs were using lower level psychics, so 2d4 rolls. The psychic powers are all tiered effects, so the higher you roll the stronger the effect you can produce (but you can select a lower level if you want). 2d4 means only the two lowest levels could be rolled. The abilities can be used at will, but if you roll snake eyes the power shuts off for that game day. 

I think the powers worked OK. The players were trying to use them as much as possible, and they were useful, but not overpowered. I'll play test again with higher level (2d6 or 2d8 level activation) later to see how that works out. 

There was some confusion related to the character sheet. I made the pre-gens for this session, and put the psychic powers in with Talents (class/level based special abilities). But the 2dX roll mechanic is the same as for Proficiencies, not Talents. So I think I need to make an official "psychic" character sheet to mark those off separately and make it easier to find/understand. 

There was a bit of discussion of a sheet like Mothership uses, where it basically walks you through character generation right on the sheet. I don't think I want something that cluttered or with that much fine print on it. But the sheet could definitely be reworked to differentiate things. One player did say that they thought the sheet was perfect for the game right now, though.

The other big bit of feedback was a question about why combat uses a d20 (to hit, saving throws) but proficiencies and psychic powers use 2dX. Would it be simpler to have a unified mechanic, as with many popular OSR games out there now? 

That's something to think about. d20 Modern, of course, uses the WAY too swingy d20 for everything. This is one of the reasons I wanted to "OSR" the game to begin with. 

I like the d20 for combat. Will you hit or miss? It's a gamble. Even at higher levels, it's still fairly common to miss or fail a save. That adds uncertainty and excitement to combat. 

General actions (skills/tasks), however, are an area where I generally don't think swingy resolution aids the game. I've been in too many d20 system games over the years (including 4E, 5E, and PF in this) where the GM called for a skill check for something fairly mundane (yes, there's the taking 10 and taking 20 rules, I remember) and low rolls led to a failure. 

Or the DC for a task is ridiculously high because someone's got a +14 bonus to the roll, but no one else has better than a +2 so everyone but that one PC is guaranteed to fail. 

So, I like the 2dX resolution for actions involving the general proficiencies. The bell curve distribution means more consistency with these tasks, at least when the difficulty number is lower. I doubt I'll change any of this, but I can explain it better in the rules. 

I am considering simplifying the list even more, though. Some areas might break down, as distinctions get lost. But do I really need separate proficiencies for Drive and Pilot? Maybe you can only "pilot" at 2d6 or 2d8 level proficiency, otherwise it's just driving? 

For Mechanical (repair/building) and Electronics (repair/building)? And Infiltration is basically picking locks and disarming traps/security devices. All three of these could be folded into one proficiency, if I wanted. It would simplify things a bit, but having granularity of skill between mechanical and electronics makes sense to me.   

So, some food for thought.  

Movie Review: Project Hail Mary

 Last Sunday, the family went and saw Project Hail Mary. Here's my review of it.

 

Parents wondering if there are curse words in the movie? Yes, there are. But not as much as in The Martian, a similar movie based on another book by the same author. 

 

First off, this movie is a big hit here in South Korea. My students have been talking about it a lot. And a week ago we tried to see it, but the convenient time slots for us to watch it were sold out. This week, we bought our tickets earlier. Seems like there's plenty of talk about it on the Internet as well. Lots of the YouTube geek media channels have done vids about it. There's talk in book circles about the novel to movie adaptation, etc. 

I haven't read the book. I enjoyed The Martian. Artemis, Andy Weir's follow up novel, was so-so in my opinion. Never bothered to read this one. I may just do that now.  

HOWEVER...the movie was entertaining, but I wouldn't call it great. 

If you don't know, it's yet another story of a human stranded alone in space, having to science their way out of various problems. Except there are a few twists to this movie. The set-up is that alien life is discovered: microorganisms that feed on stellar radiation, which is dimming the stars. The sun and most of our stellar neighbors are in danger this way, so a team is sent to Tau Ceti, which is NOT being affected, to find out why. But things don't go as intended. 

The acting was good, but I doubt if any of the cast will be nominated for an academy award. The special effects were well done. The plot was serviceable (there were some holes), and there were plenty of emotional beats. But in the end...slight spoiler?...the Power of Friendship wins. Which makes for a suitably emotional ending, but left me feeling a bit off about the science parts. Weir's reputation (at least from his first two books) was to try to write hard sci-fi, with as much scientific accuracy as he could. This movie, at least, seems to take a lot of short cuts, so it's more fiction than science. 

Don't get me wrong. It's a fun movie, and it does make you care for the characters and root for them to get out of the fix they're in. It just seems to take a few short cuts to get them out of those messes. And the ending, for me, didn't really make sense. Or at least, it was framed as the "only option" when I could think of at least two ways that it could have ended differently. 

And that's why I now want to read the book. I'm curious if the book took those short cuts, or if that was part of the film adaptation process. 

Anyway, it's a fun popcorn movie. Worth a watch. But I wouldn't blame you if you ignore the buzz (or is it hype?) and wait for it to come out on a streaming service.  

 

Representing the OSR

Next month, Scott, Rowan and Shane are hosting Busan Con 2026, a two-day (maybe three with the Buddha's birthday being a holiday on that Monday) event. Aside from volunteering to help out with whatever needs doing, I'll be running a Star Wars d6 game for sure (This is the May), and probably a Missions & Mayhem game if I can get something together in time. The deadline to sign up to run games in the 19th. 

A guy named Dave, who I've only interacted with online, wants to run a workshop for new GMs. He asked for any experienced GMs to volunteer to be on his panel. It seems like most folks in and around Busan these days run very story-centric games, whether they're using 5E, PF2E, Daggerheart, or any of a myriad of indie games. And most people who'd sign up to share their GMing wisdom would be in that school of gaming. I signed up to be the OSR guy on the panel. 

Unlike some die hard OSR folks, I don't mind the more story-focused gaming crowd. It's not exactly my thing, as I've blogged about before. But at the same time, I see lots of people having fun with a game that prioritizes the PCs' character growth and playing out a storyline. Honestly, my Star Wars game has been fairly story-oriented, although not so much about a PC living out their "story." Missions & Mayhem is also very mission based, obviously, so each session I'm pretty much dropping the players into an ongoing story. I'm not demanding any particular sort of ending for the missions, though. That's up to the players to determine. 

For the workshop, Dave and I chatted a bit yesterday. He said he'd like each GM on the panel to give a 7-8 minute presentation on their DMing style, then he'll have us field some questions from him, then open it up to the audience. And if there's time, maybe one of the GMs can run a quick impromptu game with the folks to show off their style. 

Being an OSR representative, I'll probably be focused on the notion that sandbox play doesn't need tons of prep like many people think. Random tables and stocking procedures can save you a lot of time. And making an open world with situations, rather than story lines. I'll probably also get in a bit about backstory getting in the way of action, and how Gygax is reputed to have said something like "The first three levels of your PC ARE your backstory." 

I should look up to see what Gygax's actual quote was, or if that's even something he said and not just internet apocrypha.  

It should be fun! 

Runaround and a Red Herring Avoided

Just finished up a session of Missions & Mayhem: Cryptids & Conspiracy. 

The mission was to investigate strange things going on in a small Indiana town. Why Indiana? Well, first of all I went to college there so it's an area I know well. Second, Indiana is sort of the liminal space of U.S. states. It's just so bloody normal that you know weird things have got to be going on there. 

Anyway, for this mission, there were obvious attempts by the shadowy conspiracy group to divert them from their mission. Also, competition to solve the mystery first. There didn't end up being a showdown with agents of the conspiracy, but the party fairly quickly diverted from the red herring (not knowing yet that it was a red herring) into the clues that led to the actual mystery. 

It was a lot of talking, and not much die rolling. I got to play a bunch of quirky small town NPCs (many based on or at least inspired by folks I knew either growing up in Illinois or from my uni years in Evansville). The players seemed to enjoy it, especially when one of my NPCs struck a chord and they could recognize that exact sort of person from their own experience. I did a few voices, but mostly stuck to impressions of mannerisms and different speech patterns to differentiate the various NPCs. It was pretty fun for me, too. 

Before we got into the adventure, we went over the Cryptids & Conspiracy advanced classes. Jada's Hero (PC) Sarah doesn't qualify yet, but she's interested in taking the Occultist class to get some ability with magic. We haven't done any occult/spiritual/undead adventures yet, but that will probably be coming soon. Next adventure, I want to lean into the psychic ability rules. Justin suggested they all make new psychic powered PCs and we do a power battle. 

I could probably run with something like that. Maybe the psychics and battle minds have to escape from captivity in a secret research institute run by the conspiracy group. Then we could go back to the regular PCs who are investigating. The players will have new knowledge of the conspiracy group, like when we get to see scenes in a book or movie from the bad guys' perspective. 

The Netrun is Just Another Dungeon (and That's a Good Thing)

I'll admit I have very little experience with cyberpunk themed RPGs. My cousin borrowed Shadowrun from a friend back in the early 90s and we looked through the book. Maybe made characters? And that was it. In the 00s, my buddy Steve had some Forge-inspired story-first games he was developing, and we did some cyberpunk themed games with that. Alex tried to get a RIFTS game going around 10 years ago, which had some cyberpunk elements but was really more superheroic/mecha oriented. More recently, at the Busan Tabletop Gaming Con, I got to play in Keith's Cyberpunk RED game, which was a lot of fun. I think that's about it. 

And yet, while cyberpunk is not my go-to sci fi subgenre, I do really enjoy the themes and aesthetics of it. And I've got some (I think) good ideas for my Missions & Mayhem cyberpunk campaign module, which for now I think will be titled Neon & Nihilism. (Unless I can think of something better in the meantime). 

In M&M's base rules, computer hacking is designed to be relatively quick and painless for the group, as most often only one Hero will be hacking while the others wait around. Make a few quick choices, a few quick rolls, and maybe have to deal with some complications before you succeed or fail. 

For N&N, though, the netrun is probably going to be a fairly important aspect of the campaign. And one complaint I've read about with that in other games is exactly what I was trying to avoid with the main game's hacking rules -- one player taking up a large amount of the game session on the hack/netrun, while the other players sit around twiddling their fingers or scrolling on their phones. 

For N&N, I think I've got a good idea to handle this and get everyone involved. Each Hero (PC) will have a net avatar. This is a secondary character that represents the Hero in cyberspace. The Avatar will have its own class (I'm thinking a Fighter/Thief/Wizard style trio). And the Net will be dungeons. In order to hack into a company's system, the Avatar adventuring party will have to brave the dangers of the dungeon to collect the treasure (whatever info or sabotage they have planned for the netrun). 

The Fighter type class (Cyber-Samurai?) is there to battle security modules and sentient programs to protect the other runners. 

The Thief type class (Shadow Slicer?) is there to retrieve (or plant) whatever needs retrieving, as well as outwitting security programs. 

The Wizard type class (Code Mage?) is there to try and rearrange the virtual environment to the runners' advantage, and will have some limited specials (spells) that can help with combat or infiltration/exfiltration. 

A corporate computer system, internet construct, or AI becomes a series of encounter areas with various challenges meant to keep the party OUT, or eliminate them once they get IN. And somewhere in the maze of programs, data files, subroutines, and whatnot is whatever goal the netrunners are after.  

So pretty much like a D&D dungeon crawl. 

The upside is that the netrun becomes its own adventure, and everyone participates. The downside is that the netrun becomes a dungeon that needs to be prepared, and that players will need two separate character sheets for the campaign. 

I'm also not sure yet how advancement of the meatspace Hero will affect the netrunner Avatar, and vice versa.  

Luckily for me, our modern age isn't that far removed from the typical dystopian cyberpunk setting. Late-stage capitalist megacorps, invasive surveillance tech, government controlled by the oligarchs, and the masses mostly sheep willing to stare at their screens all day waiting for the next dopamine hit. So I won't need to add a lot to the meatspace side of the rules (maybe some replicants, a few gene-splice mods, some cyberware, a bit more near-future tech). M&M can already handle a lot of that. Most of the focus of the book can be on the netrun aspect of the campaign. 

Stargrave Preparations

Recently, Justin, Peter, Denis and I played a round of Stargrave. If you don't know, Stargrave is the sci-fi themed cousin to the tactical minis board game Frostgrave. 

In it, teams of sci-fi marauders fight each other and try to collect loot boxes from the field. It can be played as a one-shot (as we did), or as a campaign. In campaign mode, the loot you collect helps you power up your team. 

Justin is thinking of trying to get a campaign going, and suggested that we might all want to get our own custom minis to use for our teams. 

Well, it doesn't take much to get me wanting to buy and paint more minis! 

After a few quick searches, I found a 3D printing outfit in the UK called Ott's Workshop that sells via Etsy. Nice looking sculpts, reasonable prices, and reasonable shipping to South Korea. 

So, I bought two related sets to get myself a team. I've got them all painted up already. 

Two snipers (Crowe and Frost?) plus kneeling Dietrich

Hicks in the center, and Apone on the right. Maybe Wierzbowski kneeling?

On the left is actually Future War John Conner from one of the Terminator movies. Plus Drake and Hudson.

 

Frost and Vasquez flank what seems to be a cross between Ripley and a Future War Sarah Conner.

 

 Ott's Workshop threw in some extra figures for free. There's a goblin wizard that I haven't painted up yet, but also these guys: 

 

This guy needs no introduction.

The exposed endoskeleton didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but good enough.

Gave Ripley a bit more melanin, since the group was pretty pale overall. Plus, there's the Ripley (Sarah Connor?) mini above. Dallas, Brett and Parker looking relaxed. 

 

I'm pretty happy with how the figures turned out. I didn't do much fancy work on them. Most of the detail is from the sculpts and the clean printing. Good enough for a Stargrave campaign!

 

The Boring Math Post

 I've mentioned already that for Missions & Mayhem, I came up with what may not be a novel mechanic for general proficiency checks, but at least one that's fairly uncommon in my experience. Characters all start with Basic level proficiency in all areas. This is both due to action movie logic (everyone has a chance to fly that helicopter), but also for game expedience. One problem with d20 Modern (and other 3E-forward games) is the way feats and skill training can prevent you from doing things that maybe every character should at least be able to try. 

At Basic level, if you want to perform an action covered by a proficiency in combat or other tense situations (usually no or few rolls in non-tense situations), you roll 2d4. 

At Skilled level, you roll 2d6.

At Advanced level, you roll 2d8. 

Difficulties for most tasks range up the odd numbers from 5 to 13. I haven't put anything at 15 yet, but that's still a possibility. There may be one or two things on an even number (an 8, for example), but mostly I've used the odd numbers since that's what the Classic D&D Turn Undead chart uses. 

Certain situational factors may give advantage or disadvantage on rolls. For these general proficiency 2dX rolls, advantage means rolling three dice and taking the best two. Disadvantage is rolling three dice and taking the worst two. I messed around with rolling 2d6 and 2d6 but it's easier to just add one die to the roll than have people roll twice (or roll four dice in two different colors). 

Using anydice.com to calculate these, I have the following percent chances of success for the various task difficulties: 

 

Difficulty:	5	7	9	11	13	15
2d4	62.50	18.75	–	–	–	–
2d4 Advantage	82.81	39.06	–	–	–	–
2d4 Disadvantage	35.94	6.25	–	–	–	–
2d6	83.33	58.33	27.78	8.33	–	–
2d6 Advantage	94.15	80.56	52.31	19.91	–	–
2d6 Disadvantage	64.35	31.94	10.65	1.85	–	–
2d8	90.63	76.56	56.25	32.81	15.63	4.69
2d8 Advantage	97.85	91.80	79.30	58.59	33.78	11.91
2d8 Disadvantage	77.93	53.71	30.08	13.48	4.49	0.78

 

One more factor to consider is that there is a Gamble mechanic.  I came up with this as a way to add some player choice into the chase mechanic (which is best 3 of 5 contested rolls). Then I realized it also works for other 2dX checks. Why not gamble when trying to defuse a bomb, hoodwink the Prime Minister, or land a plane after the pilot passed out from eating bad fish? 

For the Gamble, players can pick one of their ability scores. They roll a d20. If they get their score or less, they get a +1 on the related general proficiency check. If they roll over, they get a -1 penalty to the check. A character can gamble on each ability score once per game session. 

This way, even if you're rolling 2d4, you've got a slight chance to get a 9 if you need it. Or a 13 if you're rolling 2d6.