[MF] Home-made flamethrower

Picture shamelessly stolen from:
http://www.snafu.org/michelle/ttcperpix.htm

If it spits some flammable and that can be ignited, it's a home-made flamethrower. But those thingies might be risky to use. It's different to show it for laughs than actually use in combat situations.

These home-made flamethrower rules are for Mutant Future (and other old-school systems of your choice).

Weapon----------Damage-------Trigger type--------Normal/Max Range------Weight-------Charges
Home made
Flamethrower         4d4*                Burst**                     10ft./30ft.***              22 lbs.        4d6****

*Damage is special. The dice are "explosive". If the highest result is rolled (4) roll the die again and add the new result to previous. Also save versus Poison or Death or catch in fire! d4 damage every round as long as the fire is put out or a number 1 is rolled on damage die.

**If the first attack succesfully hits an opponent, next rounds are easier to hit. +1 to attack roll every continuous round up to +5 modifier.

***Everything between this range and the target aimed at should roll Save versus Poison or Death or suffer damage.

****Ten charges/rounds of fuel. But there's some risks to use. With natural 1 on attack roll the wielder of this weapon catches fire and suffers damage 4d4 multiplied by the remaining charges! With the roll of natural 20 the flamethrower malfunctions releasing all the remaining fuel at once. Damage multiplier = charges remaining.

[MF] Mauriainen, the antmen

New monster for Mutant Future.

Mauriainen, the antmen

Before world went gonzo, apocalyptic and toxic mauriainen were ordinary, small black ants. Originally harmless but annoying and covetous for sweets they are now changed.

Half a size of a human torso on a big dog sized ant body they protect their nests and gather sweets. Not the most notorious warriors, but their force is many.

Mauriainen are great architects but their technology level is next to nothing. For weapons they use spear like pointy sticks or metal bars.

They have only one big weakness; they dread fire to a frenzy.

Mauriainen
No. Enc.: 3d6 (3d6x100)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 150' (50')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 1 (spear or bite)
Damage: 1d6 or 1d4
Save: L4
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: *Special 20% Foodstuff and Junk; 10% Drugs, Chemicals, and Medical Devices

Frenzy: When mauriainen encounters fire (at least a torch) roll 1d6:
1: Mauriainen frenzies and attacks nearest target friend or fo and then flees
2-4: Mauriainen flees
6: Mauriainen attacks itself biting 1d3 rounds, then flees
________________________________________

Notes: These critters were something my player encountered in my Mutant Future campaign. Player character needed sweets and junkfood and mauriainen nest is your best bet to find those. Only problem is, that it's a nest crawling with these defending critters. Luckily, the player character had a home-made flame thrower... But that's another topic!

Blog update after summer break

It Was A Lightning

My summer break in internet use started in early summer. The last lightning strike of one of the first thunder storms burned my modem and part of my computer's motherboard. I had some difficulties to get a new modem (and computer parts, but that's another story) but fortunately one kind soul and fellow gamer friend helped me out.

But when I got internet running after a small break I decided that I will reduce my computer time this summer. And that's what I did. Maybe I should have announced it. There were times when I was thinking is my blog dead now? But no, it isn't. From this day I start blogging again - or continue it.

So, welcome back. I am happy to see old faces commenting and sharing my posts and I also welcome all the new faces!

Projects Burned

Well, it wasn't only parts of my motherboard what got burned. But also my USB hard-drive. With all my documents and projects (and personal photos and videos). So my projects? Yeah. Nothing left! There's something on Google Drive (should use cloud services to storage important stuff) but nothing major.

So basically everything I've done is lost. I have to start again!

Gosh.

Well, anyways. I had too many projects open anyways so now I will start just one and focus on it. There are few options to choose from what I already had to be re-written or I might start a new one. I'll just have to decide what I want to do first.

Mutant Future Forever

Still playing Mutant Future. It is awesome. One of the best games I've played. Well, there's no setting and the rules are simple but it's really super inspiring and easy to use. I love it. If you don't know what Mutant Future is, go to Goblinoid Games and download free no-art PDF of the full game. Then you can buy it from Drivethru. Go now!

Musing Vampires Not So Masqueraded

I liked Vampire: the Masquerade a lot. And I've played a lot of it. But now the whole game seems so boring. After Mutant Future madness storytelling horror sounds super lame. But I've been thinking about making Vampire more... mythical or dark fairytalish. More vampires. Darker cities. More gothic and punk. More blood, chains, leather and laces. Like 1800 steampunk meets 2020 cyberpunk with Kult (the rpg).

Or maybe I'd use Requiem for that? New game (for me) new tales.

I just need to buy WoD core book, because I don't own it. I have free pdf they shared ages ago printed, but it sucks to use. If I just could get one WoD core for extremely cheap... Well well gotta search for it.

Oh And Google+ And What's Going On

For me Google+ rpg people and communities have been extremely entertaining and informative (thank you G+ rpg people, I love you guys). But haven't been using it for a while. So I don't know what's going on. What's new, what's trending, what you guys have been writing. So now I got tons of things to do to update my social circle wisdom.

Jim Raggi Slow Down!

Dear James, stop publishing so many awesome items. I cannot afford it all. At the moment, anything of it. At the moment one product with limited print of 666 is stressing me out. Because I fucking want it. I want it badly. And I cannot buy it!

Searching your store is both mind tingling and frustrating.

Keep selling those items and -umh well- publishing new ones. I'll buy it all when I got extra cash.

And I like your products in print. PDF are cool, but dead-wood looks so cool on my shelf.

Yours, Thaumiel

[MF] So, my player wants to level up her character...

For some reason every game we play goes into story and character involved in it. Basically the loot, dungeons and combat aren't in a focus when we play. It's fun and fits our game style but there's a flaw. In games like Mutant Future you don't get experience points so your character stays the same even though she experiences a lot of things during her adventures.

I've tried to fix this with free experience. So in addition to monster exp and treasure exp I give other experience points when I feel that character has learned something from her experiences in the game world. But that doesn't always work well and the character still stays forever a newb (unless I give tons of experience points).

So me and my player came up with a conclusion.

We run adventure modules with the same character sometimes. Basically when we aren't up to focusing the campaign her character is on but we still want to play something more lighthearted. That's when we take a campaign module and put the character there ignoring her current storyline. And when the adventure module is over we can either start new one or continue the campaign where ever it last time we played ended.

But I ruled, that the character cannot carry over the loot from these modules to the main game, only the experience points. We initially thought that those experience points replace all the experience points she is lacking from our game style.

Then I thought that she could have a separate inventory for these "alternative" games. So what she gains in those alternative games she can either cash in for experience points or keep to use in other modules for an advance.

Basically she has now 2-in-1 character. Same character sheet for both the campaign we play and for the adventure modules I run but separate inventories for both.

That didn't make sense campaign-wise at all, but hey, it was meant to be all for experience points for her character (in Mutant Future experience point requirements for next level are brutally high after few levels).

Then it hit me! One campaign session I suddenly decided to include the last module session as a flashback style dream. Her character is an android, so what adventure modules we play as separate games have possibly happened in her "previous life". She is re-programmed after all.

So now with this one character we play story oriented campaign and dungeon oriented separate modules from the campaign, but those both are related to same character's campaign. This has worked really well. Just have to make sure that all the equipment don't get mixed up and it goes super well.

I've thought maybe I include this style to other traditional styled games (exp is loot and kill). But what if character isn't a reprogrammed android? Maybe it's previous lives then?

Mutant Future adventure: Ware of the brain Lashers

An adventure I made, check and/or download it here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OVA2zy4dkIzbKpNEoQUImokJ0-g204ckY393xK_gSFA/edit

My player went through the Brain lasher powered portal in Mine of the Brain Lashers. I had to make somethng beyond the portal in one day. This is what I did.

The adventure is compatible with Mutant Future, Gamma World and other similar science fantasy post-apocalyptic games. With minor tweaks you can naturally run it with any system or setting.

Basically this is one of the first adventures I've "published". And this I made 100% for myself and my player but thought that why not share it? Sharing is caring, right?

So enjoy!

And if you got time please share your comments.

[MF] Trog from Fallout 3

If you haven't played Fallout 3 DLC "The Pitt", there be spoilers!

Trog is a common name for humans that have become infected with the Troglodyte Degeneration Contagion (or "TDC"), and slowly degenerated into scampering troglodytes who fear the light.
More information and source: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Trog

Trogs!
Picture from: http://fallout3.nexusmods.com

TROG STATS FOR MUTANT FUTURE

Trog
Regular Trogs are the most common type of Trog. These are larger than Trog Fledlings, but are still vulnerable to damage.

No. Enc.: 2d6 (2d8)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120'/40'
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 1 (claw)
Damage: 1d8
Save: LV 2
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: *

Trog Fledling
These Trogs are the smallest and weakest of the Trog family, however they are still quite fast and may overwhelm an unaware party (surprise 3 in 6).


No. Enc.: 3d6 (3d8)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 150'/50'
Armor Class: 9
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1 (claw)
Damage: 1d6
Save: LV 1
Morale: 6
Hoard Class: *

Trog Brute
Trog Brutes are only slightly larger than regular Trogs, but have double the health. They have more powerful attack than their normal variants.


No. Enc.: 2d4 (3d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120'/40'
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 1 (claw)
Damage: 2d6
Save: LV 4
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: *

Trog Savage

These Trogs are the most powerful and strongest Trogs. They are encountered rarely. Although only slightly tougher than Trog Brutes, Trog Savages have powerful melee attacks. They appear to have reddish skin color.

No. Enc.: 2d3 (3d3)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120'/40'
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: 2 (claw, claw)
Damage: 2d8
Save: LV 6
Morale: 11
Hoard Class: *

HOARD CLASS
Trog have special hoard class. One possible item per Trog. Roll Artifact Table (page 107). Only results 69-00 count. If you roll 01-68 Trog has no loot.

Falloutifying Mutant Future

I love Mutant Future for its simplicity. It is easy to understand for the players and simple to run for the Referee. Still playing Fallout 3 video game I cannot but think about adding something from it to MF. Because as simple as MF is it is super easy to modify.

Would I use Falloutified version of Mutant Future in my gaming table? I don't know. The reason is I love how simple Mutant Future is so why should I add things to make it more complicated? Just for fun? Maybe I would use Fallout styled system for Fallout styled setting (recreating Fallout game for tabletop) but otherwise I'd just stick with basic Mutant Future.

Still, here are some thoughts and changes.

Note: If I would use these ideas these would need serious re-writing and field testing. These are just thoughts how to convert some aspects of Fallout system to Mutant Future. I say again: I love Mutant Future for its simplicity. That's the point of MF. To be simple and fun!

Sometimes making extra rules, modifications, more options it just ruins the fun of the game. You forget why the game was fun when you focus on rules, extra rules and special rules. As long as you just get to roll some dice in fun adventures it's usually enough. The older I get the quicker I want rules resolution to be. I don't want to read days after days hundreds of pages of rules and mechanics. I want to grab a game, read it a hour or two and be ready to go!

ABILITIES

I think the core six abilities work well enough. You could replace those with Fallout abilities (get rid of the Luck). First is MF second is replacement from Fallout.

Strength - Strength
Dexterity - Agility
Constitution - Endurance
Intelligence - Intelligence
Willpower - Perception
Charisma - Charisma

See, no difference. Except with Willpower and Perception. Does Mutant Future need Perception? Not necessarily. Willpower is essential for mental attacks though. In Fallout 3 there are seven abilities so for Falloutified Mutant Future the abilities might be:

Strength (Mod. to damage)
Perception
Endurance (Poison save mod., Radiation save mod)
Charisma (Reaction adjustment)
Intelligence (Technology mod., Initiative)
Agility (AC mod.)
Luck/Willpower (Mental attacks and "wild roll" for luck etc.)

Roll 3d6 seven times in order.

SKILLS

In Fallout 3 there are skills what Mutant Future lacks (roll d20 under attribute to success). This needs no modification, only adding a feature. Only tricky thing is combat oriented skills. In Mutant Future your to-hit is determined by your level (+ modifier from STR or DEX to roll). So this needs some work. More about this in "Combat" section of this post.

So, the skills you got are (derived skill in brackets):

• Barter (CHA): Proficiency of trading and haggling.
• Big Guns (END): Proficiency at using "unortodox weaponry"
• Energy Weapons (PER): Proficiency at using energy-based weapons
• Explosives (PER): Proficiency at using explosive weaponry
• Lockpick (PER): Proficiency at picking locks
• Medicine (INT): Proficiency at using medical tools and drugs
• Melee Weapons (STR): Proficiency at using melee weapons 
• Repair (INT): Proficiency at repairing items
• Science (INT): Proficiency at hacking terminals
• Small Guns (AGI): Proficiency at using conventional firearms
• Sneak (AGI): Proficiency at remaining undetected and stealing
• Speech (CHA): Proficiency at persuading others
• Unarmed (END): Proficiency at unarmed fighting

As you can see, most of the things in skills are covered in Mutant Future. Combat and technological tasks. Sneaking, lockpicking etc. can be covered with roll under ability. Speech? Roleplay it and use reaction modifier... Does Mutant Future need skills? Not at all. But if your player wants more character development the skills are nice touch and an extra option to go for.

SKILLS IN CHARACTER CREATION

Fallout 3 has pain-in-the-ass mathematics in its rules. So calculating skills is a bitch. The formula is:

2 + Stat x 2) + [Luck / 2]

If you want to calculate those initiative values like that... you're welcome. I'd just cut some corners and just make initiative value what the deliered ability is. So if your Intelligence is 16 your initiative values of Medicine, Repair and Science are 16. I think that's close enough.

So your first step is to calculate or just write down the initiative skill values. After that you "tag" three skills. The skills you "tag" get +15.

That's it.

LEVEL ADVANCEMENT AND EXPERIENCE

In Mutant Future when you level up you roll dice to see in what you get better. Get rid of that. You now got some skill points to share and a perk. Here's a list of perks in Fallout 3:
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_perks
Choose one perk per level. See the requirements. You need to modify those and some perks fit video game better than a tabletop game.

At a level up you also can distribute 10 (13 if well educated perk) + INT / 2 skill points.

You get XP and other character advancements from:

1. Killing enemies. Check xp chart in Mutant Future
2. Loot. Check MF for details
3. Quests. This is new. Mutant Future gives you exp from killing and looting, now additional option is questing! Depending on the quest you'll get 10-150 exp. 150 should be earthmoving! Grande finale of big campaign. Quest experience points should be treat for players.
4. Skill books! Yes. Amongst the loot there might be skill books what give +1 to a skill associated to that book. HERE's some inspiration for skill books found in Fallout 3.
5. Quest awards. Some quests might award characters with special abilities or skill bonuses. You might consider some special quest related perks to be given. But don't give these too much. These should be extra special treats!

COMBAT

This needs thinking. In Fallout you combat with skills. In Mutant Future with character level. How to make this more Fallout? Or less.

I haven't thought this enough so here's just suggestions. Don't know how the game balance works compared to both originals. You could either:

a) Ditch the combat skills and keep non-combat skills. Character now gets INT / 2 skill points per level (+3 if well educated) as there are less skills involved.

b) All characters attack as 1st levels. Always. Add +1 to d20 roll for every full 10 of combat skill. So if you got Big Guns 27 you roll d20 + 2 when shooting.

AC will be the same. Armor + AC modifier.

If you go full skill based combat you need to work things out. To hit opponent is equal to your skill as %. So if your combat skill is 69 you roll d100 under 69 to hit. Armor is now DR (damage reduce). So if you hit, roll damage and reduce armor of it. Minimum damage is always 1.

The huge converting problem in this method is AC in Mutant Future. The smaller the number is the better the AC is! So you'd have to convert all armors and monster ACs... You could make a convertion list though. It might be:

AC 9 = DR 0
AC 8 = DR 2 OR 1 OR 1
AC 7 = DR 4 OR 2 OR 3
AC 6 = DR 6 OR 3 OR 4
AC 5 = DR 8 OR 4 OR 6
AC 4 = DR 10 OR 5 OR 7
AC 3 = DR 12 OR 6 OR 9
AC 2 = DR 14 OR 7 OR 10
AC 1 = DR 16 OR 8 OR 12
AC 0 = DR 18 OR 9 = OR 13

I'd also rule damage dice to be exploding. So you roll highest result you roll again and add.

I'd also rule that natural 20 (on d20) or 1-5 (on d100) are critical hits dealing double damage.

CRITICALS AND BOTCHES

Using d20 if you roll 1 it's a botch. Things don't just fail but go really wrong. Also if you are using an item it's condition grade is decreased by 1. Using d100 results 1-5 are a botch.

Using d20 if you roll 20 it's a critical success. Things go really well (see combat for combat rolls).

Saving throws are not affected by criticals and botches. Only skill uses are.

RADIATION

In Mutant Future radiation damages you. In Fallout 3 there's points for radiation and effects based on those points in a scale up to 1000 and beyond. Do you want to book keep it? Be my quest.

If you don't want to keep Mutant Future radiation rules replace it with this:

Characters have Radiation gauge of 100. They take radiation like in Mutant Future rules but instead of taking damage they add their radiation gauge. When they get enough radiation there's some effects:

• 0-19: No effect
• 20-39: Minor radiation poisoning (-2 (-10%) END)
• 40-59: Advanced radiation poisoning (-4 END (-20%), -2 (-10%) AGI)
• 60-79: Critical radiation poisoning (-6 END (-30%), -4 (20% AGI, -2 (-10%) STR)
• 80-99: Deadly radiation poisoning (-6 (-30%) END, -6 (-30%) AGI, -4 (-20%) STR)

The scale is good but the effects are dull. I'd modify those. It's too much bookkeeping to calculate attributes. I'd say that END based are hitpoint loss. AGI is to AC, STR is to damage).

Also it could affect skill use. Every 1 point of attribute loss by radiation is -10% to skills.

So if you are suffering Advanced radiation poisoning your END based skills are at -20% and AGI based skills at -10%.

You can heal radiation with special cyrine or treatment from doctor who has capabilities to treat radiation.

INVENTORY

I think Mutant Future inventory covers weapons well enough. Also other equipment are well covered. The items you need are chems. There are some in Mutant Future and most important are RadAway and Rad-X.

RadAway decreases your radiation by 15.

Rad-X gives you bonus to Save versus Radiation (roll twice for example).

TECHNOLOGY ROLLS

There's rules for technology rolls in Mutant Future. Use them to discover new technological properties of special equipment. When character has identified the item he can use skill to use it (Science for computers for example). Repair skill is different.

Replace Mutant Future's optional Repairing Technology rules with this:

To repair a broken item roll your repair skill. Modify the repair skill by Complexity class of the item:

• Complexity class 1: No mod.
• Complexity class 2: Repair skill / 2
• Complexity class 3: Repair skill / 3

Roll modified repair skill. If d100 result is under you successfully repair the item. If not, you don't repair it.

Some items might be repaired without tools, some need tools and some spare parts. It's up to Referee to decide what the repairing needs.

Usually it might be a good idea to use a similar item to repair another. Take the condition grade of the item you repair and the condition grade of the item you use as spare parts. You improve the condition grade of the repaired item by the condition grade of spare part item's condition grade / 2 (minimum 1).

So repairing condition grade 4 assault rifle with condition grade 3 assault rifle you get +1 (3 / 2 = 1,5 = 1) to the weapon being repaired. The spare parts item will be lost. No condition grade can rise higher than 5.

Optional rule:

The maximum condition grade you can repair an item is based on your Repair skill.

• Condition Grade 1: Repair skill 1-20
• Condition Grade 2: Repair skill 21-40
• Condition Grade 3: Repair skill 41-60 
• Condition Grade 4: 61-80
• Condition Grade 5: Repair skill 90-100

CONDITION GRADE

Items wear down and you need to repair them (above rules). Use Mutant Future condition grades. Every time you botch your roll using an item or in armors get hit by critical attack the item's condition grade is decreased. When the condition grade is 0 the item is nonfunctional and must be repaired.

WHAT ELSE?

Are there any other rules and system conversions needed to make Mutant Future like Fallout?

[Mutant Future] Cover!

Combat got tactical, combatants are behind different natural covers. Walls, rocks, behind the windows, bushes etc. How does it affect?

In my opinion it is too much trouble to add or decrease numbers from D20 to-hit roll so it affects AC. It's easier that way.

• Partial Cover 25%: AC -2
• Half Cover 50%: AC -4
• Full Cover 75%+: AC -6

Partial cover might be behind a rock waist down.

Half cover might be behind a window shooting.

Full cover might be laying low behind a bush.

[Mutant Future] Critical combat hits!

Last time I played Mutant Future, I pulled these out of my hat:
http://cradleofrabies.blogspot.fi/2013/04/playing-mutant-future-pulling-rules-out.html

Now playing again, and wanted combat more lethal. In Mutant Future characters have more HP than in your average old-school game. Starting HP is HD x STA (roll HD equal your Stamina value). You don't get extra HP every level though, it's random what you get when you level up...

Anyways, this would work with any other game also using D20 (and why not any other game what works somehow similarly).

Critical Hits

1. When you roll highest result on your damage die (for example 1d8 damage result 8) roll again and add together. Also known as "explosive die".
2. If you roll same number you need to hit (Thac0 stuff), you get x2 damage. This is a critical hit. So if you need 13 to hit your opponent, you hit him good. Weapon damage 1d8+1 would be 2d8+2.
3. Natural 20 always hits and in addition you get an extra attack to same opponent!

Playing Mutant Future, pulling rules out of my hat

Mutant Future is super simple. The rules are basically:

Roll to hit.
Roll damage.
Roll to save.
(Optional rule: Roll below ability if you try stuff).
And also technological rules.

But what if something happens not covered in rules? Generally that's where roll ability steps in. But here's some rules I used in this game session, I pulled out of my hat during the gameplay.

Sneaking And The Guard
Character tries to sneak and avoid guard's vision.
Player rolls 1D6 + Dexterity modifier
Referee rolls 1D6 + guard's Intelligence modifier

Higher roll wins (stay hidden versus spot). Draw? Didn't happen (character won so guard didn't spot him) but maybe roll again or something.

Sneak Attack From The Behind To Slice Throat
AC 9 (unarmored), roll to hit but D20 x2. If the result is high enough (double what needed) the opponent is dead. Bloody but silent. If hit 2x damage. If a miss 1x damage. If you roll natural 1 sucks! Guard notices you!

Great Quality Sniper Rifle
If you can aim and your target is not aware of you, you either:
Get +4 to d20 roll or x2 damage (sniper rifle damage is d12 so roll 2d12 if you choose damage bonus).

Bunker & Caves teaser cover (Mutant Future dungeon)

I started to write this bunker with a dungeon for Mutant Future for my player to explore. Thought, why not Google Drive it so others can also use it if they want to. I am 55% done now.

This is a teaser cover for Bunker & Caves!

And here's the map:

Stay tuned for the final product! It will be free!

In comments you could say what you would like to see here. If it fits my plans, I'll include it with your name in credits! YEY!

Scrap Gun

This simple and unreliable gun is made of various scrap parts.

Depending on a type of a scrap gun use weapon statistics in MF rulebook. But there are some changes:

Damage
Damage is one die type lower (for example 1d10 would be 1d8)
Range
Range is only half of normal
Weight
Weight is 50% heavier than normal
Shots
It depends on the gun, but rarely self made guns have normal clip size. Roll for ammo capability % (1d10x10).

EXTRA RULE: UNRELIABLE
When rolling natural 1 on d20 when shooting or 1 on damage die, roll the following table for unreliable result.

1. Weapon jams. Repair as in technology roll rules.
2. Weapon breaks into parts. Cannot be used and must be literally assembled again from a scratch.
3. Doesn't shoot. Use 1 turn to remove wasted bullet.
4. Fires on random target - enemy or friend.
5. Accidentally fires twice. Roll again to hit -5 to d20.
6. Explodes. Weapon damage x2 on self. Cannot be repaired, parts and bullets destroyed.

Pistol, black powder

Shotgun, from http://media.2oceansvibe.com

Sport rifle, from http://www.thehomegunsmith.com

Sub machinegun

[Mutant Future] Monster: Bearcrabadger

This bear sized monster is a hybrid of crab and a badger. It's intelligence is closer to crustacean than a mammal. If they are aggressive:
a) you are in their territory
b) they are hungry
c) you are on their way

Bearcrabadger

No. Enc.: 4d8
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120'
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 2 (pincher, pincher)
Damage: 1d8, 1d8
Save: L7
Morale: 10

Hoard Class: I
_____________________________________

Simple stats for one encounter in my game.

[Mutant Future] Monstermutantree

MONSTERMUTANTREE

No. Enc.: 1d3
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 20'
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 11
Attacks: 5 (branches)
Damage: 2d10
Save: L3
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: I
Experience Points: 2000

These horrific tree monsters are rare and usually move in small packs. Their origin is unknown but their hatred for all living creatures is guaranteed.

Every time these monstrous mutant trees attack with their talon filled branches the victim must roll Save versus poison or death or get the horrible mutating poison in their system. The poison will mutate the victim in 1d3 hours. After that the victim dies slowly in great agony.

In addition after a successful hit by monstermutantree the victim falls back 2d6x3" and looses his next turn.

[MF] Joni Rampe is dead

Here's a NPC I created to accompany player character in her journeys. Meet Joni Rampe. Young hothead living in a secure village who wanted to experience the hazardous world. That happened and it didn't end well.

Joni Rampe and character Cassandra left Siikainen to track the sick people who tried to get into Siikainen. There's this horrible disease what kills people. No cure.

They move to the east and encounter some giant weazels. Joni Rampe wanted to test his shooting skills but Cassandra thought it's best just to keep going. Next they find a secured area with really suspicious people, but buy a horse for Joni so they can travel faster (Cassandra is android capable to transform into an unicorn). They keep traveling until they get to a crossing.

North and south are the directions the sick most probably went so they decide to split. Cassandra goes south and Joni north.

Cassandra finds an old farm where there are sick people inside. One comes out and seems to be in good condition, immune possibly. They talk and Cassandra notices movement in the outhouse and decides to check it out. When she turns around the guy he talked to attack her and hits her with a shovel. Being an android shovel says "clonk" but Cassandra registers "ouch".

One armored guy with shield made of car door and a board with nails as a club storms out. She sees that inside the outhouse someone goes upstairs. Cassandra turns and kicks the guy who hit her with the shovel. The guy whimpers and falls down incapacitated (0 HP, not dead but out of the combat). The armored man attacks and they share hits when from the upstairs someone starts shooting with a rifle.

Two against one. One in melee and another shooting, Cassandra dashes back and takes the incapacitated shoveler to be a shield. Attackers calm down as they don't want to hurt their buddy.

Some talking and Cassandra leaves. The plan of those three healthy uninfected guys was to head on to the east and burn the building with their sick companions.

That is solved, so Cassandra goes back to the crossing to wait for Joni. Joni doesn't come back as they planned and Cassandra decides to go to search for him.

North there is Honkacenter, a big trading place. It was hard to find a missing person in the crowd but with a help of waiter-android and some guards it seems that Joni wasn't there. In the east there was a fortress Cassandra was turned around immediately. And no Joni there.

She gets a hint that maybe Joni went to the west and Cassandra heads there. She finds Joni's horse in a horrible condition. It spasms on the ground and a fifth leg is growing from its belly. Cassandra finishes the poor and suffering animal.

Not far away there is Joni horribly mutated and suffering. Cassandra kills Joni as there is nothing she could do to help him but ease his suffering. Nearby is a tree with twisted human face on it. The tree is slow and it's branches have thorns what dribble poison. Cassandra realizes, that the mutant tree's poisonous sap causes horrible mutations what slowly kill. Time to turn into an unicorn and gallop away!

Player's doodle of what happened. The mutant plant wasn't there, but it's a nice little detail.

[Mutant Future] My player starts to understand how it works now

This post is copy from a reply I wrote in Google Plus conversation so it might be a little silly as a blog post. But the idea is what I want to share here for my readers.

Now I am Game Mastering Mutant Future and my player-girlfriends starts to understand the gist. She can do stuffz and doesn't have to rely on character skills and knowledge (as there is none). Also she starts to be really suspicious about encounters and tries to evade them (got beaten by HD6 Zunicorns pretty bad). At first I think she thought that if I put an encounter on her that's something she is supposed to fight. Now she understands that it doesn't work that way.

Last time we played went like this:
She talked to one person and then saw movement in another direction and decided to turn and check it out.
The person she talked to now behind her back decided to attack her and from the inside one guy heavily armed (melee) ran out and someone climbed upstairs. She attacked  the guy behind her incapacitating him (HP to 0 doesn't mean someone necessarily dies but is out of action in my games). Then she started to fight the armored guy but from the upstairs that third guy started to shoot her with a rifle.

The fight could have been roll d20 to win person attacking me directly then go to roll d20 to kill the next opponent...

Even though her character did very good fighting the armored guy and the guy above didn't hit her with his rifle only after two rounds player decided that it is too risky to fight this way (in MF her 1st level character has 50 HP so it's not as risky compared to D&D and other clones). She didn't check her character sheet what she could try to do with best probability to success (as she usually would do and for inspiration from skill names) but she told that she takes cover behind the incapacitated dude.

That solved the situation. The guy upstairs didn't want to shoot anymore and risk to hit his comrade and the guy with an armor couldn't attack as player's character had an advantage to kill his hostage in addition to the risk hitting his comrade.

This combat wasn't only rolling d20 to see if someone hits nor it was using character sheet's skills and some die check to resolve the problem. Nope. It was player's actions.

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The point is, that in Mutant Future (as an example of OSR game here) there are no skills. There is a suggestion that if Game Master wants a die check for a character activity he can rule player to roll d20 below ability (climb a tree d20 below DEX for example). My player is used to:

• Describe what his character does and then wait if any skill roll is needed
• Check her character sheet for inspiration what skill roll or action she could use, then the above
• Ask Game Master what she could do in he situation and possibly the aboves

So I think this is a great improvement in roleplaying skill here. Naturally she has always known that characters can do anything but thanks to other games there's always been skills involved even though the roll isn't needed (easy enough for character for example). Now she doesn't have that skills list to rely on in Mutant Future, so everything her character does is up to her only.

If she decides to stand still and hit rolling d20's that's ok, but she has found out that is not good option to fight. Even if there are no special combat manouvres or other combat actions to choose from it doesn't mean you cannot do special actions. Actually special actions are encouraged in OSR (as far as I understand it). Especially in games where you roll for HD. 50% change to get hit and 50% change to die from damage, you don't want to roll d20 in turns with GM and just see who wins this gamble.

This is great in OSR games (Mutant Future and LotFP in my experience). When there is a possibility for a combat or other hazardous scene player first starts to think how to outwit or get around it.

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Side note: World of Darkness games (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Changeling etc.) are Storytelling games. Yes, the system is called that. But why the fuck in a Storytelling game there are more rules than in d20 retro games? Tell me that!

Let's look back at the year 2012

This is the post about my gaming year of 2012. I'll write here about things that affected my gaming the most.

Old School Reneissance And Clones

Old Dunegons & Dragons never was the game I enjoyed when I was a kid. I already played RuneQuest and Warhammer 1e so when testing some red box D&D and AD&D 2e those didn't feel fun for me. The main reason propably is that I didn't start gaming with d20 (well, my first game was ANKH what is inspired by D&D) so D&D just didn't feel special anymore.

Last year I started to get really interested in OSR thanks to several blogs. At that time I enjoyed mostly Vampire: the Masquerade and was totally bored in fantasy because it was almost exclusively fantasy that I gamed when I was a kid (some scifi and cyberpunk too, but less of those).

But reading all neat OSR stuff I realized that fantasy can actually be cool if you do it right. Also I found out that actually some old-school games are rules simple and you can focus on the adventure instead of hundreds of pages of different rules.

I do enjoy storytelling games where characters are in the center but I also found out that games where the adventure is the main thing are awesome. Also the fact that it is so easy to write universal material for old-school games is awesome!

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

It was late 2011 when I bought the Grindhouse Edition box but I started to read and like it in early 2012. The rules are simple and I like the weird/horror themes of the game as I am a horror fan. It was easy step to start digging OSR with LotFP because it did hit the spot where my interests are. Also the Referee book is good read.

I liked the rules how they played like 3.0 but still old-school. That's ascending AC there. When I played D&D 3.0 I stripped the rules and when got into LotFP I realized that its rules are what I wanted 3.0 to be.

I never was that interested in pre-made adventures because I wanted to create and control my own games. LotFP adventures are so good that they actually made me appreciate pre-made adventures for the first time.

Of the 2012 games for me LotFP must be one of the most influencing game. It was the final hit for my OSR interest and it is a great game with great adventure and sourcebooks.

Also whole year 2012 LotFP products (Vornheim, adventures, Isle of the Unknown) were only gamebooks I wanted to buy new. That's something.

Labyrinth Lord

When searching for a real retro-clone (LotFP is like house-ruled version of traditional D&D-esque fantasy games) there were several game PDFs I checked out but none of those felt right for me. Then I found Labyrinth Lord and with some background research I realized that this is the real retro-clone for me.

I love how simple the rules are even though I am not a fan of Thac0 type combat (it fits LL perfectly though).

Labyrinth Lord is like old D&D for me now.

Most of the year I only owned the no-art PDF of Labyrinth Lord but in the autumn I won the softcover book in one competition. That was super awesome!

Creating Material

Now with OSR it is super easy to write fantasy (and other genre) material for roleplaying games. I don't have to worry what system to use, because OSR is universal system. Raggi in LotFP showed how to easily write stats for monsters and NPC compatible for both ascending and descending AC (armor as leather). And it's pretty fun to write little fantasy stuffs in the blog (and easy as I said).

Mutant Future

Interested in OSR and liking Fallout 3 videogame a lot and hearing about Gamma World I started to find out about that game more. Soon I found that Gamma World 1st and 2nd edition would be most interesting for me but unfortunately those are out of print now. Then I found Mutant Future and I was happy!

With Mutant Future you can play totally gonzo or more realistic Mad Max style. Or Fallout game with black humor including mutants. Mutant Future easily found its way to my favorite games. Rules are simple, mutations are whacky and post-apocalyptic setting is neat. I love playing this game and I am looking forward to buy the book.

Netflix

This is not roleplaying game, but I have enjoyed watching movies when I go to sleep (some movies might take even 5 days to finish). TV series I haven't watched that much but with Netflix coming to Finland and being compatible with Xbox 360 I've watched also several series.

When I watch movies I always thing roleplaying. How this scene, background story, character, gadget and so on could be awesome in a rpg.

Netflix is not only an awesome passtime but also great resource for endless inspiration for roleplayer.

[MF NPC] Joni Rampe

Joni Rampe - Pure Human

Joni Rampe is young around 23 years old eager to be an adventurer. He has spend virtually his whole life in his hometown with not much contact outside. He has heard all these stories about wastelands and wants to experience it himself. Joni Rampe is eager to join adventurers to see the world.

ALIGMENT: Neutrality

ABILITIES:
Strength: 11 (to hit/damage/forcing doors 0)
Dexterity: 13 (AC -1, missile attack mod. +1, Initiative +1)
Constitution: 18 (poison save 0, radiation save 0) = roll modifiers
Intelligence: 13 (technology roll modifier +5%)
Willpower: 9
Charisma: 15 (reaction adjustment -1)

ARMOR CLASS: 6
MISSILE ATTACK: +1
INITIATIVE: +1

HIT POINTS: 81

SAVING THROWS:
Energy Attacks: 15
Poison or Death: 12
Stun Attacks: 14
Radiation: 13

EQUIPMENT:
Adventuring gear
25 rifle bullets

Rifle, carbine - dmg 1d10 - 500ft./1000ft. - 20 rounds
Dagger - dmg 1d4

Leather armor - AC 7

Mutant Future - Character's experience bomb leveled her up

New Year's eve we played Mutant Future and within one situation character leveled up for being clever. This is what happened:

Area

Facility that burns trash, corpses and everything else for electricity to nearby fortified farms. 4 kilometers west from the facility is the farm of Thaumielsamael, a mutant NPC, their dog and horses. Between these two places is a big field surrounded with forest.

Related Background

In the field there were a pack of zunicorns (monster-zebra-unicorns of 6 HD) which player character Cassandra One (1st level android) went to check out but soon realized that those are really hazardous so she joined Thaumielsamael who were after their escaped horses. Zunicorns did not follow too much so they got to Thaumielsamael's farm in safe.

After Cassandra repaired herself she left the farm to get back to what she originally was doing.

The Encounter

Cassandra sees that there is a big pack of zombies around the backwall of the facility. She gets inside to the facility to check the situation out, but there's not much to do. Zombies can't get in so it's a waste to use ammunition to kill them.

Then for some reason zombies get "bored" and leave taking the direction where Thaumielsamael lives. Cassandra asks facility guards to help her and Thaumielsamael against the zombies because she is worried that the zombies could do some serious harm to them. Facility guards say it's not their problem. Cassandra tells the guards that they should remember their response when they need help. Guard captain considers this and agrees to give Cassandra some leftover fireworks (New Year's Eve we were playing) and tells that the zombies are easily distracted with noises, bright lights and such things.

Cassandra turns into unicorn form (yes, she is an Android capable of transforming in an unicorn - mutation table result) and gallops to warn Thaumielsamael about the zombies. While Thaumielsamael is  fortifying their farm just in case Cassandra has an idea.

She leaves back to the field where zunicorns were. They are still there, but now hiding in the forest line. She carefully advances and puts the fireworks down and lights them. Fireworks start and zombies see those and start to head there. Zunicorns are not amused and start to attack Cassandra but she gallops away leaving zunicorns and zombies attack each other.

Cassandra watches the battle lighten by the fireworks and enjoys 2460 points of experience for defeating a bunch of monsters!

She already had those around 1000 exp and second level needs 3001, so she leveled up and got one point of Charisma for that. (She now has CHA 14, lacking one point for any changes).

It was fun and I liked how player dealed with two monster situations at once without being directly involved in it. It's not always how you beat or shoot enemies to death but how you use your wit to deal with them.

Mutant Future - No guns for 1st levels

The title says it; in Mutant Future starting characters can't buy guns and firearms. There are two equipment lists: basic equipment for character creation purchase and the complete equipment list.

My experience being a Mutant Lord (wasn't MF game master called that) is with one player, one character around ten gaming sessions. And I am new with the game and genre. Well the Thundarr style (my Mutant Future is more like Fallout at the moment). But I think that's cool... the no guns part of the beginning.

This far my player's character has seen guns. Some pistols, hunting rifles and shotguns. Yet she doesn't own any. Funny part is that she had a change to loot some guns but she's kinda new to games where a big point is to collect loot.

But the funny thing is that she's totally ok at the moment being without firearms (or something even bigger). She only has a knife as a weapon. I am curious to see when she tries to get her first weapon to shoot with.

But there's a funny thing. Her character is an android and one of its abilities is to transform into an unicorn shape! Maybe that's one big reason she isn't that interested in firearms (yet) because her character can trample with hooves and stab with horn.

I am curious how you and your players feel about starting characters being melee only? One thing I am especially curious about: when you start Mutant Future with your 10th character doesn't it get a little old? To not buy weapons but gain those anyways somehow during the adventures? Or do you at some point just allow starting characters tho obtain some (or suitable) weapons? Share your experiences!