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?

Save game in tabletop?

Sometimes I have played with a thought that if roleplaying games had a save game feature. Kinda like fate (or-what-ever) points you earn as a group and can use to save game. Then you can kick-in-the-door approach, see what's beneath, die and "load game" for a better approach (for example).

Or before epic battle you use save game. Just because if the dice screw the epic battle (TPK) you can re-try it.

Just an idea I have had sometimes when I play video games. But what do you think?

Started Mass Effect the second time and wrote scifi rpg in my sleep

Picture from Bioware website

Yesterday I started playing Mass Effect with PC again. I had started it earlier but didn't like PC gaming. Now I got gaming room with a nice armchair to sit when using PC so PC gaming is much more enjoyable.

Don't know yet how good Mass Effect plot is but I like the system how it works.

After playing Mass Effect I moved into bed and watched some movie before fell asleep. And in my dream I wrote scifi rpg! Here are some ideas I got from my dream:

- Game is based on LotFP rules (races as class, ascending AC, encumbrance system etc. etc.)
- It had a silly name: Oddities of the Darkest Space - Weird science fiction
- There are power shields what protect any damage in shields range. So if shield's range is 2-5 all damage results between 2-5 are nullified. Shields have charges how many times they can nullify damage before recharging it (Fading Suns style)
- To hit and Damage is D20 + AB + weapon damage solid + d against armor class. The amount of damage is the difference of AC and To hit roll (I think base AC should be higher than 12... maybe 15 or something).
- Weapon clip is empty when you roll weapon damage d equal to "empty" score. For example if weapon's damage die is d6 and "empty" is 1-2 you roll that damage result you need to reload
- Magic is replaced with psi-powers modified magic rules

Those above are the rules I was writing in my dream. It's a mix of LotFP, Fading Suns and Dungeonslayers I see.

[LotFP] Holy Guardian class

I am playing an J-RPG style game with my Android phone called Inotia 3. It is actually really good and well done rpg if you do like J-RPGs. But as a J-RPG it is not an RPG compared to P&P games. You basically follow the plot, cannot choose what you say or do. You gain experience to upgrade already known skills or buy new skills. And you hassle with equipment. But I enjoy it a lot.

And it's free from App store! Here.


Anyways my main character is a Templar. One of his powers is healing. When used he heals the character in party with lowest health points left. And this is an inspiration for new Lamentations of the Flame Princess character class.

Holy Guardian

Holy Guardians are fighters who have devoted their life to protect others in the name of their God. Their mission is not to slay the evil but protect others doing it.

Holy Guardians must sacrifice 10% of experience gained for their God who provides their power. Whenever experience is gained Holy Guardian gains 10% less than normally would.

Experience points level progress: Same as Fighters
Hit points progress: Same as Fighters
Saving throws progress: Same as Clerics
Special progress:

• Every 5th level (1, 6, 11, 16) gain +1 to AC.
• Healing surge. Once per combat Holy Guardian can use his turn for a healing surge. Healing surge heals the character of lowest current HP based on Holy Guardian's level. Even if Holy Guardian has lowest HP left healing surge doesn't heal him but the character with second lowest HP left.

Level 1 - 1d4

Level 2 - 1d4

Level 3 - 1d6

Level 4 - 1d6

Level 5 - 1d8

Level 6 - 1d8

Level 7 - 1d10

Level 8 - 1d10

Level 9 - 1d12

Level 10 - 1d12

Level 11 - 1d12 + 1d4

Level 12 - 1d12 + 1d4

Level 13 - 1d12 + 1d6

Level 14 - 1d12 + 1d6

Level 15 - 1d12 + 1d8

Level 16 - 1d12 + 1d8

Level 17 - 1d12 + 1d10

Level 18 - 1d12 + 1d10

Level 19 - 1d12 + 1d12

Level 20 - 1d12 + 1d12

House Rule

• If you use exploding dice (roll the highest score again for example in damage) you can use rule of exploding dice also in healing surge.
• If healing surge roll is 1 from any of the dice rolled healing surge doesn't work but instead deals damage to Holy Guardian himself. Roll that die again.

Example: Holy Guardian level 14 decides to use healing surge. Other characters in party are Elf and a Magic-User. Elf has 15 hit points left, Magic-User has 18 left and Holy Guardian has 25 left. Healing surge will heal Elf who has the lowest HP.

Holy Guardian's player rolls 1d12 + 1d6 and gets scores 1 and 5. Elf will gain 5 HP from the d6 but as the d12 score was 1 Holy Guardian's player rolls d12 again for new result of 7 what is the amount of damage he suffers.

Next round the hit points of the party are:

Elf 20, M-U 18, Holy Guardian 18.

D - Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale review

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Daggerdale

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale is game for both PC and Xbox 360. I got it from XBLA. The premise was good. D&D adventure game where you hack monsters, loot treasures, advance your character and so on but the gameplay was a big disappointment.

The cover art shows you heroes but doesn't tell
that they just keep running endless brown dungeons
killing thousands of monsters all over again.

The game takes place in Daggerdale dungeons and there it happens. The surroundings are all brown and boring. You run endless corridors and caves killing few different monsters. Lots of them. Luckily combat is fast but it gets dull after a while. Basically you just hack your way around. There were only a couple of exceptions to this so it didn't feel different to general gameplay. Fortunately the gameplay and controls are smooth and easy to use.

There are only four characters to choose from and all are pre-made race-class combinations and the variety of feats, powers and spells are narrow so there are not many choices to customize your character. I found out that playing solo Dwarven Cleric was best option. He doesn't need healing potions that much as he can spam healing almost all the time. It was easiest character to solo the game.

Loot is gold and items. You get gold usually from barrels scattered everywhere. It was stupid bursting all those barrels for few gold pieces. Who leaves gold in random barrels in random locations anyways? There are also treasure chests with items. I didn't use gold to buy items from vendors as you usually get enough new equipment from chests and drops from enemies. And for lazy people who don't want to turn items to vendors you can directly convert them to gold in your inventory. There's at least two achievements related to loot. Carry 100.000 gold at a time and collect one of every item in game. Every item achievement I got well before finishing the game. I suppose it is type of item. After first playthrough my Dwarven Cleric had over 50.000 gp. Most of the equipment are boring randomly generated generic magic items and most of the new items are worse than what you are carrying... so to gold you convert them quickly.

The adventure was mostly boring. Main plot was a little silly and all the additional quests were like go there do that come back. And kill tons of monsters in the way.

There are always more monsters than your party size (about multiplayer next). So most of the time you kill them. Unfortunately there are only few different types of enemies so it becomes a little dull seeing same or similar faces all over again. With healing power it was also easy. Without - more challenging and slower to advance, duller.

Multiplayer is always fun but it isn't that fun in this game. I didn't own headphones at the time I finished game also in multiplayer mode so I don't know how you can communicate with other players. There are no buttons to give simple orders (HALP, come here, follow, thanks) so it was sometimes a chaos trying to get people to follow the right direction, come to help you and find guys who needed healing and so on. It was just like four individual players running around and trying to conclude what other players are doing or want to do next. Also I found that if someone joins the game at some points the quest resets. It was annoying as hell. Doing 90% of the quest, see text KillMasta123 joined the game, then get reseted to the beginning, someone leaves, another takes his place, start again etc. When I played my quest I sometimes had to kick everyone out, quit multiplayer and do the quest myself to make advancement in my game.
Basically the one who is host is the one who's quest others join to help. It sucked that most of the players just took all the loot. Also those items they cannot use. I as a host kill monsters when some idiot goes and opens the treasure chest and finds dwarf only item and naturally takes it. Fastest player got the loot. Fortunately the gold gets shared but the item system was just shit. In many mmorpg loot is well done, like loot is "rolled" who gets it nevertheless who picks it up.
Also I didn't find any feature to see what level characters I join. Joining game with lvl 1 character where others are lvl 10 is pain in the ass. Get ready to be killed and standing in distance looking how others do everything. Fortunately when you die others can resurrect you standing near and pushing a button and you come back with few HP to continue. If everyone dies the quest ends. If players in multiplayer game have any common sense it is really easy.

The ending was cool though. Final battle was kind of epic and I liked the grande finale (won't spoil it but it was cool). I was just wondering how much I liked the final part of the game why the whole game couldn't be as good? It's like you run endless caves and corridors killing endless swarms of monsters doing mostly stupid quests and when you get to the good part it all ends.

Oh, and the level gap is 10 you can get with one walkthrough and a little extra effort in multiplayer. The trick is that you get an achievement getting all four characters to level 10. That is one boring task to finish the game four times or farm endlessly xp from random multiplayer games.

Don't remember how much this cost. 800 points maybe when I got it. Is it worth it? Hell no! It was okay the first game finishing the game but there is not much value getting back to it unless you are after achievements. There are also annoying graphic bugs in top of the fact that graphics are boring and location-wise the whole game is boring. Also there are no voice actors. You read by text what NPC's talk and get a grunt (hrhm, umh, urh) in the beginning of each text box. That is so lazy. And sounds? It doesn't matter if you play this game mute or not.

Could you get anything to your roleplaying from this? Nope. Too simple story, Daggerdale is presented shallow, quests are the kind you invent 5 minutes before the session starts etc. There is no value to improve or inspire your roleplaying gaming.

Gameplay: 4 stars because controls work and suit well for action.
Graphics: 1 star because they are dull and boring and there are glitches.
Story: 2 stars because not interesting enough and most of the quests seem too random and even 10 years old DM could write similar.
Overall: 2 stars because this game is boring, short, ugly and it doesn't offer enough variation for playing it again when you have already finished it. I finished the game and it had it's moments and turning brains to "kill-all-the-monsters" mode can be fun sometimes. Unfortunately there are dozens of games what do this kind of playing ten times better. Except achievements if you are after those.

Finished Fallout 3, finishing Fallout inspired RPG

Finished playing Fallout 3 yesterday. I had four weeks break playing it and only played it for two hours yesterday and got ending credits. What a bummer! It felt like it ended suddenly. That's what I get having a break playing a game. Anyways, wanted to continue so I bought and downloaded Broken Steel. Broken Steel continues two weeks after main game and new level gap is 30. Back to exploring and avoiding main quest for now.

Anyways, playing Fallout 3 inspired me a lot. I wanted to create! So I decided I'd make a roleplaying game inspired by Fallout 3. My first draft was too complicated. It used Fallout 3 rules but there is a difference. Where Fallout 3 is a video game and computer makes all the calculation it was too complicated to use as a pen and paper roleplaying game. So I started over.

Here's an overview of my post-apocalyptic game:

- Focus of the game is to survive. Collecting resources and doing quests in a sandbox world.
- Game is inspired by traditional roleplaying games (OSR d20) but is modified.
- There are six characteristics similar but slightly different to traditional rpg's (some have different names, wisdom is perception).
- It uses skill system. Skills are in range of 1-100 and every tenth skill point gives +1 to task (Attack Bonus for combat, bonus for stealth roll).
- Game uses DC (called Difficulty Value or DV) what you roll against. For example if DV is 15 to sneak past guard you roll d20 + agility modifier + sneak skill modifier (if sneak is 53 you get +5).
- No character classes. You roll your stats, add points to skills and that's it. No restrictions. There will be backgrounds but they don't affect character creation.
- Experience is gained from defeating enemies and completing quests. Loot doesn't qualify as experience as it has its own important function in surviving. Some special items could be rewarded with xp though (lost data etc. but those usually are quest related items or otherwise mentioned to be worth xp).
- Combat damage is included in combat roll. Roll to hit, opponent rolls for defense. Difference is damage dealt. Weapons affect to hit roll instead of rolling separate dice for damage.
- Opponents have morality. They might flee the combat.
- Inventory uses slots instead of book keeping of weights.
- Equipment must be maintained or they break. That's why scavenging is important.
- Characters gain advantages each level gaining special bonuses. These are what make a difference between player character's (heroes) and others.
- Most of the opponents are human, but there are mutants, robots and monsters to be fight also.
- Traps, environmental hazards and radiation are included.

Rules are basically retro style with skill system. Goal is to make rules work smoothly and easily and the focus is in adventuring. I will write this for my own use, but if it's ok enough I'll share it. I am working on understanding OGL and will include it. At the moment rules are 90% written.

Saints Row 2 + Dungeonslayers?

I have played Saints Row 2 a lot. It is an awesome game. Lots of fun and lots of things to do. While playing it I keep thinking how cool it would be as a pen and paper roleplaying game. In my previous post I wrote about Vampire: the Masquerade sanbox campaign inspired by Saints Row 2 but I want more. I want Saints Row 2 roleplaying game.

Lately I downloaded Dungeonslayers rpg (a couple of posts back I write about it) and like its simple system resolution. Last night I kept thinking about Saints Row 2 roleplaying game. It didn't help me to get some sleep because I played it before going to sleep. Then I started to think about Dungeonslayers and got an idea. Make a Saints Row 2 roleplaying game using Dungeonslayers as an inspiration. And it clicked together.

At first I was thinking modding Mobsters (download from Burger Games homepage here). It is a roleplaying game about mafia in USA what I thought could be modified to modern days. But I didn't find it's skill based system suitable for videogame to roleplaying game convertion good enough.

In video games you shoot, run, jump, talk and so on with simple system. You shoot and you hit or not and so on. I think the action doesn't need several different skills. Because of that Dungeonslayers system would be easy. You have 9 attributes and abilities you combine to do stuff and several different talents to do certain things better. Basically there are no skills but to make a difference you do it with talents. Sounds great.

There are firearms rules for Dungeonslayers but even though I haven't yet read them I bet if they don't suit my taste they are easy to re-write. Basically firearms use ranged attack value with weapon bonus from weapon as in rules. Few extra rules to write are three round burst, full auto and aiming. Some other basics in addition you usually use in roleplaying games.

Range modifiers would be easy (if needed). Just give short, medium and long and possibly extreme ranges for weapons and add modifiers of difficulty. Aiming can be done with modifier to certain hit location (very difficult to hit head with bonus damage) or to make shooting easier (one difficulty rank easier per turn aimed). Three round burst would be modifier to all three shots at difficult modifier -2. Full auto I have to figure out.

Also I am not sure how defence value should be handled with firearms. Should both attacker and opponent roll as in melee fight? Or when shooting does only attacker roll but opponents armor is decreased from attack? You could dodge but it means you jump down and gain negative modifier unless you stand up.

Some rules should be added though. I was thinking morality system from World of Darkness. But it wouldn't be morality but respect. You gain and loose respect during the game based on your actions. Some actions may rise or decrease your respect. Winning other gang members or burning down their property will give you respect but loosing fights will decrease it. Cool clothing will rise it when armor will decrease it and so on. But what is the effect of respect in game system other than player knows how cool his character is ( your opinion on this is highly valued)?

Leveling up and experience would be from Dungeonslayers as it is. But talent could be followers also. How many other gang members you can take as retainers to help you out. These are player used NPCs to help out in combat. Possibly low hitpoints but good help in fights. Talent could be bought three times for example. One step for one possible follower. But maybe respect can affect this? First follower needs 5 respect, second 7 and third 9. If you have three talent ranks for three followers but only got 4 respect no one will follow you. This could be one use for respect.

Money is important. You can buy cool clothes to get respect, buy ammo and weapons, lofts and invest in business to gain income. And buy cars. Cars give you respect if they are cool. You can also pimp your ride for extra respect. Rules for vehicles are needed. Vehicle combat and pursue rules. I also was thinking that more your armor protects you more respect it lowers. If armor gives you 3 protection it decreases your respect by 3. It's not street credible to wear tough armor is it? Also additional respect can be gained from special weapons. .50 Desert Eagle is indimidating but if it's golden respect is ensured.

Respect would be big deal so it needs other rules than just how many followers you get.

Character's gang would need its own "character" sheet also. How big the gang is, how many turfs it owns etc. to keep track of. Maybe resources to be used and so on. I was also thinking about mission generator possibly. There are several small missions in Saints Row 2 what can be used in rpg. In downtime player character could do an extra mission (street race, fight club etc.). In Saints Row 2 manual these are introduced and I just have to take what suit best for p&p. Could respect affect how many downtime missions you can do and how often? One downtime mission per three points of respect? These are basically for extra money and extra respect.

I think this will be easy to accomplish. Dungeonslayers needs a little re-writing to suit modern gang world. Respect needs its rules. Equipment list must be written. Downtime quests executed. Gang statistics worked out. Not that much work.

Basically game would be a sandbox gaining experience, wealth and respect for your character. Also making your gang more powerful. But it wouldn't be hard to make a campaign for this with a plot and actual role playing. There could be rules to create a gang for player character. Like point buy system to use to get area, retainers, better leaders, resources etc. Getting big area is away from other things and so on.

Saints Row 2 wiki (found here) could be used converting things in game into rpg. As Dungeonslayers rules are easy the main focus wouldn't be in actual rules but more in fluff and content. Also some ready made gangs could be good addition for own gaming purpose and also if this would be shared for ready-to-play content.

I think this is not impossible to do and could be pretty fast to write. Most of the work would be writing equipment and fluff. Rules are there to just re-write with some additions.

Now the problem is should I use my time and energy writing this? I really, really would like to play Saints Row 2 as a roleplaying game so this would be written to be used asap. So it would be material for myself. But when writing material for myself could I just use some extra effort to make it in a form to share it with others who could be interested in it? I see this as a write through but when I start writing something it takes much more time that I initially estimate. I really should think about this because I really want to play this. Usually I play games with minimum preparation so this would be different for my usual games.

Now the big question is will I write this or not.

Saints Row 2 and Vampire: the Masquerade

I've been playing Saints Row 2 for Xbox 360 for some time now. It is an awesome game with more GTA styled crazy fun than GTA IV has. Basically I'd say Saints Row 2 is more GTA than newest GTA is. Anyways, point of the game is gang wars and growing your turf and being The gang of the city getting rid of other gangs. In addition there is many smaller tasks and quests to do.

Anyways, when I play a videogame, watch a movie or read a book I usually think about them how they would suit for a roleplaying game, what inspiration they can give and so on. As a roleplayer I think like a roleplayer. Playing Saints Row 2 I started to think about Vampire: the Masquerade.

For V:tM there would be this city. City is in a struggle of who will be the leading clan. Each clan has their own area (or areas) and influence and power. And they want more. This would not be your average Masquerade campaign's Camarilla city struggling against Sabbat, or Anarch city trying to remain independent from general politics. This would be more like a mini setting.

Each clan would have their leader or leaders. Those are most powerful vampires in the city. Elders and Primogen. There would be also lieutnants which would be important and the rest are "troops." Those who do the dirty work, attack, protect and maintain more or less.

For example clan Lasombra would have Primogen of Lasombra clan as a leader. But his right arm I would see as Tzimische warlord. Lasombra would be all about politics and Tzimische about combat and protection. Troops would be few neonates or even ancillae but most of them are just shovelheads. Not that powerful compared to others but they are many.

Brujah would be your average biker gang who rule by power and Ventrue would own small personal army but are more into politics than raw power.

All clans, their turfs and members and description of troops would be roughly written and then player(s) could choose in what clan (gang) they would like their character to belong. My first example with Lasombra showed that not everyone in a clan (gang) must be of same clan. So clan Toreador's protection executive could well be Ventrue, for example (why would a Ventrue not be with his own clan?). Also not every clan necessarily has their influence in the city, but they could be "support" clans for bigger cause. Would clan Tremere have their individual influence or are they support clan for a bigger clan? Clan Ravnos necessarily doesn't have interest in political struggle but an individual might work for a clan.

I do own Prince of the City board game based on Vampire: the Requiem but haven't played it. I have to check it out how it handles the political aspect as a light strategic game. I think that the political and influence map of Vampire: the Saints Row should be a bit more strategic than just Storytelling method. So influence and actions actually have some other impact than just make-believe.

Skyrim - finally I am a player in RPG

For some time I have wanted to be a player as I am basically a full time GM. Then I got Skyrim and finally I am a player in a roleplaying game.

What makes me feel like I am a player in a roleplaying game when playing Skyrim? Here are few thoughts.

GRAPHICS
Obviously first thing in a video game you notice are graphics. They are great. Graphics help the immersion. Landscapes are stunning and you can freely run or ride from east to west, north to south and everything between freely. Also landscapes change from birch forests to snowy mountains smoothly. It's like character actually living in the world what usually in roleplaying games is a map where GM describes the details.

CHARACTER
Character looks great and you can custom it to suit your taste. For example my orc looks more trollish with long skinny face and long hooked nose. Also warpaint and facial scars tell his history although in the beginning character is just a prisoner thrown in the world to start playing.
Details in character and armor are great and movement animation at least genre realistic. You can also choose view from the eyes to feel more like being "there" although I prefer seeing my character from third person view from behind.

Character advancement is basically choosing which you choose between health, magic points and stamina. Health and magic points are obvious and stamina is used for example for attacking and sprinting. You also get a point to but into your skill categories to gain access for more powerful skills or for dealing more damage with one handed weapons. Some are more specific for example for certain type of weapons like bigger change for critical hits with one handed swords or extra effect of bleeding for two handed axes.

There are no other characteristics what I find a good solution as it is harder to screw your character build. In example warrior not having enough strength but being unnecessarily agile.

Also as there are on classes you can freely make your own character build and change your character's advancement to different direction when ever you want.

As being a solo hero, I like this freedom. My choices make my character what I want it to be and I don't have to plan ahead too much.

COMBAT
In fantasy adventure roleplaying games usually combat is in great focus. In Skyrim when I play half of the time is something else but fighting but still it is in a big role. Like in pen and paper roleplaying game the story is most important but if combat rules suck it takes some fun off. Luckily there are different powers for also weapon oriented characters to use and two types of blows. Parrying is well done also. And depending on your character and playing styles there are different styles of strategies to use. And if there's a stronger opponent what keeps killing you just change your strategy and you win.

Also in pen and paper roleplaying games this is really important. Instead of just rolling to hit I want other options. If those are not listed in rules I want GM to improvise how my attack or action is rolled. Obviously I cannot throw sand in the eyes of my opponent in Skyrim but different styles and strategies in combat give me enough feel of choices.

NPCS
Even if you don't start conversation with them they might speak to you when passing by. Or you can hear two or more NPCs talking with each other. Sometimes you see NPCs doing something you think is important for adventuring but they are just doing their thing and don't have nothing to say to you. Not every NPC is there for you to get something. They are just people living there.
There is plenty of voice acting. Some are great, some hilarious. But every single word any NPC speak is voice acted and it is great. Game masters, do voice acting. If not totally changing your voice, at least change your tone. It makes a difference.

QUESTS

-to be continued. On mobile and text feed slowed down. Fearing that memory is drained and post lost. Stay tuned-

Things I like in pop-culture relating to rpg's

Started my work day and while working I started to think about different things I like in pop-culture what are related into roleplaying games or my roleplaying hobby. Now I am sitting down taking my coffee break and thought: Why only entertain myself, why don't blog about it. So, here are things I like in popular culture what are related into roleplaying games or my roleplaying hobby.

Vampires


Yeah, I had to take this one first, because Vampire: the Masquerade is my favourite and most played roleplaying game ever. Vampires in it can be almost anything: monstrous, animalistic, sophisticated, artistic, warriors, gang members, business men, devil worshippers, traveling gypsies, arrogant, repulsive, repenting, embracing the darkness...
If you are new to Vampire you can easily pick up a clan with its stereotype to determine your character (businessman Ventrue, biker Brujah, artist Toreador) and if more experienced can do characters thinking out of the box with unlimited possibilities. You can play political game or territorial war game. That makes both Vampire game and Vampire characters awesome.

I also like monstrous vampires (30 Days of Night, Against the Dark). They can also be easily used in Vampire games but also make good villains in other games. I do also like Count Dracula styled vampires.

But I don't like all these now so popular vampires. Good example is Twilight. Hate them. I also don't think all those gothic vampire pictures what I found really lame. You know, every Youtube Evanescence fan video has those gothic vampire chick pictures.

Giant Robots


Every boy loves giant robots what fight. I had Battletech strategy board game and liked it. I am not sure did me and my friends ever understood the rules as they were a bit complicated, but it was fun. Also Mechwarrior PC games are cool with those big destroying war machines.

Japanese robots are also cool. They are usually more sophisticated and fast than their American warmachine brothers. For example old PS2 game Zone of the Enders is really cool. You fly and duel in the air in fast based combats.

Also Transformers are cool. I did have those cool toys and comics. Also at least first of the new movies is really great. Others are cool but not that good.

I like heavy and clumsy machines of destruction, sophisticated and fast mechas and robots changing from vehicles to battling bots.

I don't remember playing any roleplaying game with giant robots nor owning one. I have to correct that. Heavy Gear is really interesting one.

Solo Tough Guys


Guys who do all neat stuff basically solo are awesome. Steven Seagal movies are awesome and I own bunch of them. Basically Steven plays same character with minor changes all over again but that makes his movies safe. You know what to expect and you get it. Also for example Machete is awesome. I remember having both Grindhouse movies (Death Proof and Planet Terror) and in one of them was this Machete trailer. I didn't expect to actually see Machete the Movie in real but I thought the "fake" trailer was really neat. When I found out that there actually will be Machete movie I was thrilled. Well, the movie could have been a bit better, but it is Machete!

That kind of things I do like and also use in roleplaying games.

Zombies


Zombies are probably the best monsters ever. They are really versatile and can be used in every possible setting and campaign. Post-apocalypse, Caribean seas, space, fantasy dungeons, your backyard. Also because there are different kinds of zombies from slow idling corpses (original Resident Evil video game zombies) to fast running zombies (newer zombie movies). You cannot forget also different zombies with special qualities to huge monstrous size (Left 4 Dead video game).

All Flesh Must Be Eaten is the roleplaying game you have to mention when you talk about zombies and roleplaying games. Infinite Deadworlds and several possibilities to custom make zombies from cows to nearly intelligent hunters.

Even though mutants are different from zombies I find some similarities with the most advanced zombies. For example Hills Have Eyes clan could be easily done with AFMBE to give a different approach to a similar game campaign.

Cars


I love cars. From powerful muscle cars to exotic tuning cars. My enthusiasm to cars started with Need For Speed Underground and continued to a point where I started to build my own car. I had to buy second car so I could build the first one. I also have used tuning cars and culture as one of the main themes in Vampire: the Masquerade chronicle.

Movies here would be for example Fast and the Furious series. Also tuning culture with street cars from garages, shows and magazines are to be checked out.

Unique Monsters


Monsters just being statistics you can beat to gain experience (looking at you D&D) is nothing wrong. It's one genre. But I am more fascinated in unique monsters what are truly monsters because you cannot find them around every corner. That makes them more terrifying because after you killed it and learned it's weakness you cannot use same tactics again because every monster you encounter is different one.

Even though in Call of Cthulhu there are several monsters what are not unique (deep ones and Mi-Go for example) they have a certain feel, as you don't just run through every campaign killing same monsters all over again. Of course the fact characters are near helpless against them makes a big difference. And there are many "monster of the campaign" entities you can build your whole campaign around.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess also is great example here. I have read the free version and like everyone knows there are no monsters listed as every monster player characters encounter should be an individual. That's cool. Similar thing is with Praedor. There are basic stats for different sizes of monsters but every single one of them are individuals.

I love monsters in movies also. In horror movie if there is a monster, it's way cooler than the guy from school who stabs others. World of Darkness sourcebook Slayers should be mentioned here.

All about rings. Me and Lord of the Rings

My relationship to Lord of the Rings. Even though LotR is not the only older fantasy series still popular, I think it is most well known of them all. There are several titles in different platform about Lord of the Rings and Middle-earth everything from movies, comics, roleplaying games, video games etc. But where do I stand?

The Books


I have to admit, I haven't finished "the trilogy". I don't even remember how much I have read of it. I might now be a heathen, but it was boring and it never captured my attention. I did read Silmarillion and the other book about unfinished stories (or something) but I did skip all the dull parts of both of them. So I cannot say I really did read any of those.
But I did read Hobbit and liked it. It was easy to read, only one book so finishing it was relatively quick. Story was more action and adventure. And I don't even like hobbits. Or is it just Frodo who I don't like?

The Movies


Does anyone remember lord of the rings movie from 1978? The first part what never got followers? Real video what was drawn over at some points and used funky effects?

It was awesome when I was a kid. I watched it hundreds of times and wanted it to continue. What never happened...

Much later people was talking about Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. It looked really good. Well done. But there was a problem for me. Some parts were dull and I hated watching the hobbits and somehow the movie made Frodo an idiot.
"Don't look there Frodo!"
*looking there and almost drowning*
"Frodo nooo!"
So annoying. I did like orcs and bad guys. They looked awesome. I also liked war scenes. They were awesome. And I liked all the clothing, armor, weapons and other apparel. They were really living and cool because usually you only see that kind of stuff drawed.

So, the movies? First one from 70's I liked but the new ones never excited me that much.

Roleplaying Games


Middle-earth. Finnish translation. Based on Rolemaster I remember. That's what I've played long ago. I liked it but because I never enjoyed the books that much I didn't know that much about Middle-earth. So basically I didn't have this Middle-earth or LotR feeling in the game. It was more like generic fantasy adventure with a different map.

Now I bought myself Lord of the Rings RPG. The new one with screenshots from the movie. I'd like to try it out, but there are so many things wrong in it that I am not sure will I ever. First of all, I don't like the pictures. Second, layout is horrible to read...

Old MERP I would maybe appreciate though and maybe would like to play or read it.

Video Games


I got one for PS2. It's a bit like Dynasty Warriors. You control a character you can choose and run through a level hitting swarms of orcs and other evil monsters. Graphics are kinda cool and gameplay is simple and nice. Characters gain experience and can buy new attacks and skills. You can also co-op with your friend. Nice action game. Unfortunately playing it alone after you've played it with a friend feels pointless and dull.

I also got this real time strategy game for PC. I haven't played it that much, but it felt ok. I don't like RTS where you just harvest resources and build huge army and ram everything (Starcraft). I might play this more, but am a bit afraid that maybe it's just another not that good game wrapped in Lord of the Rings package. And as I am not that big fan of Lord of the Rings, only the game matters to me. No fan-boy bonus.

And now the sad part. Started playing this with my Xbox:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJOL4F3lOJU
40% through and while saving I got disk read error. Save file corrupted. Wasted time. Basically this game reminds me of Final Fantasy X-2 (not sure about X because haven't played it). You run around in map and fight enemies. Occasionally find NPC who talks with you but you cannot choose what to answer because it's scripted. And then find treasure chest what give items.
You naturally gain experience points to raise your attributes. Learn new skills to use in combat and gain better equipment.
That's it. No cities to visit. Just running around, fighting, running, fighting, apply points from new level, running, find items and equip, fight...

Really, this game sucks. But I liked it because you just could sit down on sofa, turn your brains off and play. No complicated plot to follow, no hard puzzles to solve, no problems to navigate to next point. No free roaming. Just endless running in a tube and endless fighting...
One feature was cool. The game used video clips from actual movies but rewrote them to another story!

But that joy was destroyed because my copy was scratched second hand game. I'd give this game... 3 stars maybe.

Anyways, playing this was still a bit inspiring. Being in Middle-earth and actually I felt like I'd like to roleplay it also. So not that bad.

Finally, I did play Lord of the Rings Online and liked it. It's free to play but with real money you can get all nice extra stuff like more quests etc. It was better than most of the f2p mmorpg I've played. Only problems was, that when I changed PC I couldn't get it installed. And searching internet other people had similar problems. Don't remember if it was PC or new update or what... I contacted EA support but those morons did not help me. Just told stupid things like "restart your computer, run virus scan" etc stupid shit any half-wit has done already. So, I would have liked to play LotRO but cannot... Maybe I could try to install it again someday.

Merchandise


Nope. Some of the swords look really good, but idea of owning an elf sword and hanging it on my wall is way to nerd for me. I do like the concept of some of these items. Other items, as you can guess I couldn't care less. LotR mug? I wouldn't use it. I think that Frodo has made LotR unappealing for me.

So What?


I don't have any relationship to Lord of the Rings except I really hate P. Jackson movie's Frodo. I wouldn't mind playing Lord of the Rings RPG and EA has done mediocre games about it. Books are too boring for me, but maybe I could re-read Hobbit.

Basically thanks to video games I could be interested in MERP. LotRRPG what I already own is too unappealing for me. It does interest me but it is too horrible to watch. Perfect coffee table book, if I wouldn't be embarrassed to give it a good spot at my home.

Fuck you Frodo.

Why Warcraft could be good setting for me (W for A-Z)

At the moment my high fantasy rpg choice is D&D. I got Forgotten Realms campaign setting as it was in good price. Although I am not that interested in it for some reason. Maybe as I am not that into fantasy gaming the size of FR campaign setting book is intimidating.

Months back at one rpg forum there were few Warcraft sourcebooks for D&D3 for sale. I considered for some time if I'd buy them, but decided not to because of current financial status. I could have afforded them easily, but thought do I really need them.

I decided, that I don't need them at that moment. As playing D&D in homebrew setting was easy enough. Still, I think that for me Warcraft supplement for D&D could be the official setting I'd enjoy Dungeon Mastering.

Why WoW Over Everything Else?


Well, not sure if over everything else in setting selection, but it would rank high. Reason is, that Warcraft universe is familiar enough thanks to Warcraft RTS games. Also, I have played World of Warcraft MMORPG and liked it. That's enough familiar to adapt the feel of Warcraft universe to rpg campaigns. And I like that Warcraft is not whacky and totally different fantasy setting, even though it has its own flavor in it.

I have many rpg books to read and Forgotten Realms campaign setting as not being interesting enough and being large feels a bit too much time consuming just for adapting a fantasy setting to run. I think that Warcraft would be more easy to learn and read as I find it interesting overall.

Why Not Buy Then?


I have several other books I want, and I'd rather buy those than expand my D&D collection what I don't use regularly. But if I had good enough great deal, yeah, why not. But still, there are maybe even more interesting settings for D&D like Dark Sun and Planescape.

At Amazon.com (link to the right) it's not that bad price at the moment.

Link to Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game wiki: http://www.wowwiki.com/Warcraft:_The_Roleplaying_Game

Villains from video games to rpg villains (A-Z letter V)

Picture from ign article

I found this list of top 100 videogame villains from ign.com http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/
I point out some of them I find interesting and what I could use. Descriptions from picked villains and their usages are short, as they are described in ign.com article already. These are just small ideas I have from them in what game you could use them. There might be better games I suggest here, or you could possibly modify these villains to any genre making them a bit different (for example sniper Wolf from MGS could work in fantasy setting as well etc.)

So, here are few I find worth mentioning. It doesn't mean, that others are not good to use. Look at the list, take idea seeds for your rpg campaign villain. And if you get ideas how to use these villains listed in a campaign or game setting, feel free to post in in comments. I appreciate your ideas and will read them with great interest!


http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/98.html Gary Oak from Pokémon series. Annoying person, who is always ahead of main character. In roleplaying game he could be in a campaign this person who is not your enemy, but you start to hate. In the other hand, it could ruin the fun for the players if there is this NPC who always is a bit better, and always a step ahead. So be careful when making this kind of antagonist.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/97.html Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat. In final battle the main villain can change himself to represent player character's skills. With one on one battle this can be really challenging and interesting because character has to basically fight himself. If there is adventurer party, it is not that big of a challenge as there are many against one character replica. Still, it could be powerful but emulate in top of that one character's skills in addition for his own powers.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/96.html Adrian Ripburger from Full Throttle. Big company chief works with almost any rpg. Could be good in Cyberpunk where he controls street gang.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/92.html Sniper Wolf from Metal Gear Solid. The whole scene with Sniper Wolf from MGS game could be good drama and action for roleplaying game. What will be character's decision in that situation?

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/90.html Dagoth Ur from Morrowind. Players have to save the world from evil god who causes all bad things all around? And is basically immortal? Dagoth Ur will be great meta-plot and epic and hard final antagonist.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/87.html Officer Tenpenny from GTA: San Andreas. Bad cop in modern setting. He has law behind him and killing an officer is never a good thing. But he is bad cop and characters get into trouble with him and soon after characters aren't that bad anymore when there's corrupted law in the other half.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/85.html Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat. Exalted could be good for Sub-Zero, or grim and dirty superheroes game.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/83.html Death Adder from Golden Axe. Conan rpg could use this kind of bad guy, or some other low magic fantasy setting.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/80.html Bydo from R-Type. The whole background of the bydo is really cool, and can be put in science fiction game.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/79.html Jafar/Vizier from Prince of Persia. Evil ruler what gives characters a plot. To save a princess or otherwise she's dead.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/77.html Shadow Link from Zelda. Character's evil shadow twin? There'd dobbelgangers in fantasy games, but if it was more personal. In Kult if you mess up your mind bad enough, your soul will manifest it's physical shadow half.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/75.html Lavos from Chrono Trigger. I see some Mythos like plot here. Ancient god monster who will bring apocalypse. That is time for player characters to act.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/74.html Diablo from Diablo. What would be better final villain monster in D&D dungeon to hell than devil demon himself?

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/73.html Alma from F.E.A.R. Make your shooting action game into horror with Alma. While having fun throwing dice and shooting enemy troops, you have horror aspect and also mystery in background to solve. Test Code/X from Burger Games for great rules to run F.E.A.R. action.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/71.html Dark Falz from Phantasy Star. Can be great plot for Fading Suns. Is Dark Falz some unknown creature, or part of symbiots? What ever it is, it might be behind the fading suns phenomenom.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/69.html Cyberdemon from Doom. Well, Doom itself is great setting for futuristic dungeon crawl, and cyberdemon would be great villain to characters to deal with... firepower.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/68.html Calypso from Twisted Metal. For post apocalyptic rpg (I suggest Taiga here) Calypso would be great bad gang leader with background. And with post apocalyptic I mean Mad Max.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/67.html Goro from Mortal Kombat. I haven't played Exalted, but I so see Goro being there.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/65.html Dr. Nefarious from Ratchet And Clank. Humorous cartoon styled superhero game here's your villain.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/61.html Predator from Aliens Vs. Predator. Predator are awesome, and human troopers easy hunt. There's great fan made supplements for Savage Worlds with predator as a monster. Kill it before you are killed. Predator works in modern today settings to science fiction, and why not in even fantasy.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/60.html Prophet of Truth from Halo. Yet again science fiction antagonist to deal with.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/59.html Nemesis from Resident Evil. Want a big bad zombie for your All Flesh Must Be Eaten? Nemesis is one choice to wet your player character's pants.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/57.html Origami Killer from Heavy Rain. Hunters have something to hunt as this is a great Slasher (Hunter: the Vigil + Slasher sourcebook).

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/55.html Ares from God of War. For your Greek OSR rpg (cannot remember the name) great villain with a plot.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/51.html Tank from L4D. Also great surprise for AFMBE characters to encounter. It first eats your bullets, then eats you.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/47.html SHODAN from System Shock. Trapped in space ship where everything goes wrong? Great campaign for science fiction horror trapped in a spaceship and trying to both survive and figure out what is going on.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/46.html Grue from Zork. Make your Call of Cthulhu characters be a bit more afraid of dark.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/45.html Flood from Halo. Make your AFMBE a science fiction setting, or make Fading Suns symbiats more twisted.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/41.html Arthas from Warcraft. This bad guy's whole background story will make an awesome Dungeons & Dragons campaign altogether.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/39.html Harbinger from Mass Effect. What could be more dangerous than a villain you don't confront, but you confront his minions what this villain gives power to?

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/37.html Lich King from World of Warcraft. If your campaign with Arthas was not enough, give more experienced characters sequel to your campaign with Lich King.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/35.html John Henry Eden from Fallout. Was there some hope in your post apocalyptic game? Ruin it introducing new American president.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/34.html Kain from Legacy of Kain. For Vampire: Dark Ages Kain could be really powerful ancient vampire, who was betrayed and now seeks revenge. He might be antagonist, or even powerful ally or leader for characters.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/33.html Darth Malak from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Obviously for Star Wars games the main thread in whole campaign. With little modification could also be evil wizard in fantasy settings. Or even in Vampire, if you change fighting ships to ghouls and shovel heads.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/30.html Ultros from Final Fantasy. What if characters encountered a talking carnivorous purple octopus what wanted to kill them in Dungeons & Dragons. In different campaigns. Several times. Go find out.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/27.html Dr. Breen from Half-Life. In future if characters are on guerilla's side, Dr. Breen could be the enemy they fight against.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/14.html Albert Wesker from Resident Evil. What would a zombie game be without a megalomaniac psychopath, who tries to get advace from the situation? Make a bad guy in your AFMBE campaign... zombies are not your only trouble after it.

http://www.ign.com/videogame-villains/8.html Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid. Somehow I see Nosferatu possibility here for Vampire.

Almost any villain from that list could be a good antagonist for a campaign with next to no modification, some could be modified or obvious ones could be put in totally different genre to create something new.

[PS2] Silent Hill 4: The Room - Is it Silent Hill and how to rpg it?

I just finished playing Silent Hill 4: The Room (I refer it as SH4 further). It took almost 8 hours and three evenings, so the game wasn't that long but mediocre in survival horror and adventure games. The cover is cool as artwork and layout in user's manual, but was the game good itself?

Story In Short

You are stuck in your room. There are chains in your door, and you don't have a idea what is going on. But you find a portal in your bathroom what leads you out from your room to different realms. As travelling outside from your room through the portal you investigate what is going on and find out, that if you don't do anything, the 21 sacraments will be fulfilled and world won't be the same.


Is This Silent Hill?

Game looks like Silent Hill in graphics and controls are similar, but it doesn't feel like Silent Hill. In previous SH games you explored the sleeping and damned city of Silent Hill with horrible secrets and from time to time landscapes changed in horrible twisted ways to rust and blood. There is no this mood in SH4.
You basically travel between your room and portal to places what I see as levels. You don't explore continous setting, but travel from your room to the location and back. World doesn't change, it is at it is rendered at the first place.
This level based design does take a great amount of feeling out of the game. When you finish the level by running through it to the end, there is a cut-scene and you are back in your room and next time portal takes you to a new location where you travel as long untill you fulfill all the requirements to finish the level.

Levels are quite short. There are few areas you travel back and forth finding items to get a bit further to the end of the level. There are next to none brain challenging puzzles, main idea is to collect items and use them in the right place. Even though the aren't necessarily keys, their function is like keys to the lock. Find item, place it where it belongs and get further.

Monsters From Hell

In previous Silent Hills you had radio what went crazy when monsters were near. In SH4 this feature no long exists. You can hear monsters near from noices they make, or from music, but that's it. I really, really missed the radio, as in my opinion it is a part of Silent Hill game.
What about monster design? It sucked. There weren't many different kind of monsters in the count, and the design of them was quite dull. They were boring and far from scary. More like annoying. Worst monsters in game were monkey/gorilla type things what made noises like a chimpanzee. Lame.
Worst and most annoying monsters in game were ghosts. You can beat them down, but they never die. Soon they resurrect and continue haunting you again. In whole game there is total of five items you can permanently nail ghosts to the ground so they stop haunting you.
In some levels or rooms ghosts continue to follow you through the walls for some time where ever you go. I quess that the idea of these immortal and undestructable ghosts was that they are scary as you cannot kill them, but must run away from them. I found this more annoying. It is easy to kick ghost down for a small period of time even though they eat your healthpoints when near.

Level Design

Level design was a bit boring. Mostly you run corridors. Even woods was basically corridors with just different texture. And in a level there is lots of running back and forth finding items or unlocking doors or places after you find the right item. And areas are small.
Most of the places look ordinary. A bit deserted maybe, but not that twisted. When you get to the end game the surroundings start to look more like real Silent Hill terror, but that's it. World doesn't change as you walk by. It is twisted or is not when you enter the place.

Your Room Is Your Sanctuary, Or Is It?

You travel back to your room during each level through portals scattered here and there. In your room you basically do these things:

• Save game
• Put items in your item chest with unlimited space when your inventory's space is limited
• Find notes to flesh out the story
• Regenerate HP during time spent there

But at some point your room starts to be haunted. Windows clatter, TV shows static screen and you cannot turn it off, your slippers have moved with bloody foodprints etc. When the haunting starts, you don't regenerate your HP anymore and when you go near haunted spot (ie. windows or TV) you start to loose HP. But you can collect holy candles what you can lighten up next to haunted spot to prevent the haunting for short period of time.

Puzzles

As I said previously, most of the puzzles are just finding the right item and using it in a right place. There are few exceptions though, what were great and good variation. For example obtaining code to open door at bar and when re-visiting the place obtaining the changed code. Besides of those, there weren't much brainstorming. Basically you just needed to search everyplace to find items to use.

Mechanics

In survival horror games moving a character is a bit slow. They don't attack fast or are agile. It suits well. This is not an action game, so no need to ravageous and fast swinging of a pipe. At some points character's slow movement was a bit annoying though.

So Is It Any Good Then?

For a Silent Hill series? No. Silent Hill 1, 2 and 3 were way much better in all areas. Silent Hill 4 failed in mood, level design, monsters, locations, puzzles etc. It is not a bad game, but for Silent Hill brand it could be better. I think that only title Silent Hill gives a bit more credit for the game. But there was not that much Silent Hill in this, so it could have been called just The Room.

How To Use This As RPG?

I have to say, that SH4 did not give that much inspiration in running horror/mystery rpg adventure. It was too boring, unoriginal and straightforward. I don't reveal the plot, but it could be used as stand alone idea for rpg adventure but that's almost it. Monsters were too boring to convert into any system and locations weren't original or exciting enough.
So sadly, I don't see any rpg value in SH4. You might take an idea from here and there, but in general this game is useless inspiration. If you want to use something, here are what I could rip:

• 21 sacraments story
• orphanage story
• two puzzles for opening bar door involving phone

 As I wouldn't run SH4 as a rpg campaign or adventure, there is no particular system or setting I wanted to use for those three ideas. They work fine with any horror or mystery game. But for Silent Hill series in general (especially awesome 1, 2 and 3) I would most definately use Kult as it has similar system with mental balance and reality twisting.

Should You Play It?

Yes and no. Game wasn't that bad, it was more a disappointment. Luckily it was fast to play through, so you wouldn't be committed to this game too many nights what is a plus for this boring and unoriginal game. I liked to play it though, but even if there are four different endings I won't play it again. One time was enough for this experience.
If this game wasn't Silent Hill, I'd give it 3 stars. Silent Hill in title and nice package gives ½ star extra. So total of 3½ stars from me.

DnD + Perfect World... well screw that!

Okay, I was really excited on doing my DnD campaign on mmorpg Perfect World, but screw that. Don't get me wrong, but there is too much in a world to handle.

I decided, that our hero sorceress Luv Mina who wanted to see world did not go to some lame camp at the middle of nowhere, but instead went to a city.

If you have lived your whole life in a small town or inn and everytime you saw those heroes wanted to be something, and when finally you leave home wouldn't you go to a place where actually is happening something? Answer is: Yes.

So, city it is. Forget Perfect World. City shall be named... well, I think I bash my head on the keyboard on that and twist the result a bit to get something intelligent and readable.

But how to make the city then? Using this:
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2009/12/urbancrawl-rules-for-slacker-dms_21.html

It'll be fun, I can prepare it in advance or randomly generate it during playing.

What is good in city there could be many different encounters, sewer systems go as dungeons, mansions, cults... and you can always get out and find that lovely countryside dungeon to raid.

So, onwards to new start with DnD!

D&D character and campaign planning - Character portraits

 These pictures are from mmorpg Perfect World my-en server. Reason why I post them here, I will run my DnD campaign in Perfect World!

 This beautiful young lady is Luv Mina. Main character (character "sheet" here)

Here are few characters I will make as NPC's. I hope my player who rolled her PW character for DnD will be thrilled meeting our alternative characters in mmorpg!

L

Azathara is werefox, what basically is a half furry half hottie. And that character class can turn into fox. Also they can tame pets to use in combat... Not sure what race in DnD would do that part. Sorcerers got familiars... bur race. Maybe I gotta homebrew one.
Another chick on the right is ~NeoSlut~ (my character grau). She is human mage. I think she will be a wizard maybe. But if I introduce her as a NPC in my DnD game maybe I should came up with a better name, don't you think?

SaulCold. This is my main character in PW. Actually he got his name from one rpg NPC, and now I will make from my mmorpg character a NPC again. What goes around and so on.
Saul Cold is a warrior class in PW and so shall he be in DnD also! He's my highest level character, has been officer in 2 guilds and finally was a guild master of his own. So I will make Saul definately higher level character in DnD.
SaulCold (in rpg and now on Saul Cold) is quite... original. He has changed his outlook many times and was a lady's man. In rpg before PW, in PW and will be in DnD. This picture on the right is from Saul Cold's emo period.

Another picture of Saul Cold after his emo-period before. Notice the flying sword. Yeah, in PW after lvl 20 you get flying thingie (different types for different races) to travel around. I think that won't work on DnD, or would you like to see above human city people with flying swords?

Elven archer called Izeree. Is there archers in DnD or should I make him a rogue? Rogue might suit quite well I think. And blue hair in DnD? Hell yeah.

At this point I have to say it sucks as I am not familiar with character classes and I cannot determine who will be what. I mean, NeoSlut will most definately be a wizard, but our werefox Azathara I am not sure at all. Druid maybe? Could Izeree be a ranger, as rogue doesn't quite suit him I quess.

Well, back to introducing characters.

This character is actually from International server, not My-En like previous characters. I had this Ankaran Werebeast in my-en though (that's why there is text Ankaran vol. 2 at the bottom). I liked the character so much I did it on another server also (this was character I rp'd 95% of the time). Ankaran would most definately be a barbarian class. In game they can change into a tiger, but barbarian + weretiger would be a bit too much? Would it? I think Ankaran would be good half-orc barbarian. Yes, that's it.

This strapping young lad... cannot remember his name. Also in PW International. But he is elf cleric. I think I will make this one to be a halfling cleric. There are already some elven, and I'd like to introduce other races also to my NPC gallery. So halfling cleric he will be.












As I will base my DnD campaign to Perfect World mmorpg, those will be NPC's to start with. There is an open slot for a dwarf though. Not sure do I have spare characters in PW to take dwarf's place or should I rip it from my World of Warcraft character gallery. Currently I cannot remember my dwarf characters from there, but I might as well create an original character as my gf/player hasn't played WoW that much so she doesn't have that many connections there. Can dwarf be a paladin? Don't know but what the heck, I will make Dwarf Paladin!

These are NPC's and character for my DnD - Perfect World campaign.

How heroes kick multiple asses?

I use Dynasty Warriors console/PC game as an example. There are those normal enemy forces, what you kill whit few hits. And in one scenario, you can easily kill hundreds of them.

But how is it in rpg's? You kill few mobs one by one, hitpoint by hitpoint.

I have dreamed of making a game of legendary warriors, whose swordsmanship and battle skills cannot be compared with common folk and soldiers. Those, who run through battle field and swing their sword. Instead of taking 10 blows to one enemy, they kill 10 enemies with 10 blows. Fast and furious and deadly.

But how to make this work? Seriously, in rpg's combat usually is quite slow phased, and you don't get these situations, where in few turns hero character has cleared one room full of guards.

I am not aware, if there already is a rpg system what can handle mass combats. Where is one agains tens. Or hundreds.

I have a small idea though, what I am working out to make this happen. It is just idea, what I need to write down and test it.

I hope, some day my player can be asian warrior with a sword, who can run through the battle field to attack the main boss. And kill or wound several minions with less to no effort.

I think the concept of system I am working on could be universally adapted to any system, but I will also make it additional rule, or even legendary hero supplement(tm) for Ydin.

GTA: Vice City to rpg

I know, that GTA: Vice City is older game. But it is great fun. Point here is, that when I did read GTA: Vice City's manual, I couldn't but to think about making this 80's Miami Vice style game into Vampire: the Masquerade.

I wanted long time to run V:tM in oldschool. 90's would be great, as V:tM is product of that time. But running Vampire setting in 80's? How awesome is that?

Basically Vice City is about reputation and controlling town. Doesn't that suit into Vampire very well? Also the manual is written like travel procure, so it is easy to convert into V:tM setting city.

Now I am not going to write about it, but I will. This is just a taste, what I am feeling now. So, GTA: Vice City converrted to Vampire: the Masquerate? Rad kicks!

The Sims, tool for rpg's?

(Note, in this post I talk about The Sims 2, as The Sims 1 is not advanced enough for this purpose and I don't have experience from Sims 3).

The Sims 2 is life-simulation/doll house game, where you create your sims and build houses and community places for them. Basically Sims 2 is building and decoration game but also advanced virtual pet.

So, how can one use The Sims 2 for roleplaying purposes?

I don't mean, that you could use The Sims for roleplaying in the matter of actual play, but you can use it as a tool. In a fun way.

I myself have sometimes troubles drawing a map. I am too "artistic" (read sloppy) person to use rulers, so usually I have problems with dimensions. Also another problem when drawing is how to array everything. I see only lines I have drawn and the visualization is a bit problematic especially when I don't have anything special in the mind what I want a place to look like.

Here The Sims steps in. As you know, quite big part in The Sims is building buildings. With The Sims you can quite easily build buildings for your roleplaying games. I have used it for:

- spaceships
- bars
- motels
- character's and npc's apartments
- warehouses
- etc

If you know how The Sims builder works, you can quite fast get your own 3D building done. If you are "advanced" roleplayer and use your computer as gaming assistant, you can easily show players in real 3D mode what kind of place they are in. Or you can take screenshots and print them out, what isn't bad option either.

Only problems are, that when you create houses, apartments, buildings etc. in The Sims, you actually "play" the game. And it takes time. So you don't necessarily put together the bar for next gaming session in 5 minutes, it can take even hours depending of the complexity of the building.

Good part is, that internet is full of custom content from new wallpapers to medieval weapons. Everything for your needs. You can make medieval castles, spaceships, wild west pubs etc.

And if you are really into playing with The Sims, you can make your NPC's and roleplaying characters into sims! It might be fun to create your cyber commando, 21th century vampire or even elven ranger for sims (you can easily find everything you need for this characters from internet). And if got humour enough, you can play with them making them do stupid stuff... Well, I don't go that far, I am builder type (my player has told me how this and this character did bully that and then bullied one cried...)

So, The Sims 2 can be a tool for rpg's. It is slow, takes time, but fun and you can easily build 3D buildings without knowledge of programming or advanced applications.