There have been some rabid Palladiumbooks fans who have been claiming good 'ol Kevin Siembieda would have included the Super Shadow Fighters and starcruisers in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles if his hands hadn't been tied by the bad people at Harmony Gold.  As far as I know, the company reps themselves haven't said anything to this effect, but they certainly don't discourage the belief among the rabid Palladiumbooks defenders.

When Tommy Yune was asked if Harmony Gold required certain material not be covered in the latest Robotech RPG, he replied as follows:


http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/read.php?id=1899492&forumid=10&pagenumber=2

The reason why every possible mecha is not released in the first edition is simply practical. Kevin wants to roll them out on a timetable that's more realistic. He always wanted to produce specific sourcebooks such as an upcoming edition on spaceships much in the vein of the D&D Monster Manual, but included a few in the Shadow Chronicles deluxe edition based on immediate feedback to the original release.

So, there you go.  The decision to leave material out and what to include was up to Kevin Siembieda.  It's exactly like I said in my very first blog entries about the Robotech RPG.  KS threw any old recycled crap he could find into the book and waited for the fans to wet themselves in anticipation of the supplement stream.

Seriously now.  An RPG based on The Shadow Chronicles without the Super Shadow Fighters is like sending the Macross II RPG to press without the VF-2.  But it's a damn good thing those Medical Cyclones are in there!  From what I'm told, the deluxe version wastes some time on agricultural tractors.

I like buying RPG books.  It's silly to even be in the hobby if you don't want to buy shiney new books.  But I do expect a certain degree of effort.  I don't take kindly to core material being intentionally discarded just so another book can be sold.

And what does all this matter in the grand scheme of things?  Not much of anything.  No one is going to die because stats for the Shimakaze weren't in the book.  However, if you're a fan of Palladiumbooks, then you should pay attention and realize this is an example of how the company treats its fans.   

Tags: Robotech Palladium

Meesa sick today.  I guess the good news is that I have time to think up some RPG stuff.  The bad news is that it's all going to be written through the filter of a drug induced haze.

Last year (I think), I discovered some really kewl "gothic" anime style art.  I soon found out this art was from an anime called Trinity Blood.  Searching for more information I discovered this show was about Vatican priests who ranged from being swordmasters, to robots, to super-beings fighting Vampires.  The art looked great.  The atmosphere sounded like it was dripping with a sort of cybergothpunk kewlness.  And how can you miss with a story like that?

So, I bought the anime.  Overall, I was a bit disappointed.  It never worked up the atmosphere the art pieces exuded.  Plus, the baroque detail of the art vanished in the anime.  The theme of Vatican vs Vampires was still there, but it almost immediately devolved into the typical anime trope of generic reluctant superbeing against generic omni-evil superbeing.

You can see the contrast between the artwork and the actual look of the anime here:

Trinity Blood Characters with cool remix version of Vampire Killer from Castlevania
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-YrIaGIjWY

It does have one kickass piece of music of its own.  The piano version of "Broken Wings"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWMMsdIyLD4

Even though it disappointed, Trinity Blood is a very gamable type of idea.  A team of "priests" (the religious overtones are pure window dressing) with various super abilities seek out and destroy vampire plots against humanity.  Along the way they must deal with corruption and politics in their own organization.  And...

Well, come on.  It's about too kewl 4 skewl vampire hunters.  What more do you want?

I don't think I'd want to do it as a straight adaptation of the show, although I believe you could certainly support a game based on that alone.  What comes to my mind is something akin to a mix of Dark Heresy with John Carpenter's Vampires.  There's also Trinity Blood's broad similarities to Silent Mobius.  Mix in some of Rifts: Vampire Kingdoms, and there might be something epic hiding in there.

Either that, or the dope is typing.

Tags: Vampires Anime

Time for another frothing Palladiumbooks rant.
Lately, Kevin Siembieda has been getting some backlash about his decision to make the new Robotech RPG books manga sized.  It seems a good number of fans don't like this format for the RPG and are complaining about it.

Of course, ol' KS never does anything wrong, and never came up with an unpopular idea in his life.  He's just a victim of circumstance.  So, fans have been told that Palladiumbooks was contractually ordered to release the books in the manga format.  KS didn't have any choice.  If fans have complaints, they should go complain to Harmony Gold because Kevin's hands are tied.

So, there has been a thread on Robotech.com regarding the manga format.  There have been the typical rabid Palladiumbooks defenders who say all the flaws of the new Robotech RPG are Harmony Gold's fault.  Then recently, Tommy Yune, one of the big Harmony Gold Robotech head honchos visited the thread.  He states:

http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/read.php?id=1899492&forumid=10&pagenumber=2

For the folks who do not prefer their manga size, there's no malice behind the introduction. Kevin Siembieda's always prided himself in trying out new ideas and wanted to experiment with a new format. Of course, Harmony Gold has to approve such proposals, and we ran the format poll (after discussion with Kevin) to see if enough of the fan base was open to the idea. The numbers didn't indicate a majority, but didn't reflect enough opposition to rule out giving it a try and it ended up selling quite well.

When asked for a little clarification, he adds:

There is no contractual mandate for a specific format other than it simply being a conventional role-playing game.

In other words, the manga format was never something Harmony Gold dictated.  It was Kevin Siembieda's pet idea.  Now that it's unpopular, he's trying to shift the blame, like he always does.

Tags: Robotech Siembieda

I've always had a fondness for this game.  I mean, it's a RPG about playing RPGs, how awesomely self referential can you get?

I feel today's younger players would be completely bewildered by this game.  It's a mere 128 page softcover compared to modern 300 page monster hardcovers.  So, the inclination would be to think it's a very limited game.  Right?

Wrong!  In those 128 pages, Dream Park has several quick start tactical games, full character creation rules, as well as basic material for psionics, magic, superpowers, and futuristic, modern, and archaic equipment.  It has a GM tips section with some really good stuff on structuring the flow of a night's game.  Not to mention the game itself uses a light and quick playing basic system which emphasizes fast paced cinematic play.  All this... 128 pages. 

It does more than many games do after 2 dozen heavy supplements. 

The idea in Dream Park is the GM would use the multi-genre nature of the system to mix separate genres into a unique experience.  This was typical for the period.  The sample adventure suggests combining Pulp, Horror, and Swashbucking in a post holocaust struggle by a submarine crew against dinosaurs and zombies.

But the really big conceit of Dream Park was the idea the players were themselves playing characters who were players in a virtual RPG.  Like players wandering from game group to game group, the characters would meet different GMs with different adventure worlds and different styles.  One game they might be playing a game where the GM had mixed the idea of Swords and Sorcery with  Superheroes and the next they may be playing a scenario of Space Opera Mecha Gangsters.

One nice thing about this was the flexibility of the characters.  Each character had core abilities which remained the same from game to game, but everything else was an add-on which could be swapped out from session to session.  One adventure your character could be a double-O level gadget using spy, the next he could be a radioactive superpowered vigilante.

Mega-cool stuff.  I'm so happy I bought my copy back in the day.  It makes me a bit sad that I never hear about the game.  Consider this a bit of spreading the word.  Although, good luck finding a copy.

Two stories from RPG books stick in my mind.

The first one is from Cyberpunk 2020.  It's most easily found in the Deep Space supplement, but I think it briefly appears in the corebook as well.  It's a story about how a netrunner performed a run out to the Voyager 2 probe outside of our solar system.  And... that's about it.  Oh yeah, the hacker planted an image of a camel and then a camel exploding along with the message of "Look at how far I went to smoke a camel," but that's really the whole story.

I suppose it helps that I was a big space buff in my youth, and the mission of the Voyager probes fascinated me.  The fictional concept of netrunning is exciting to me as well, so the idea of combining the two and "walking" out into deep space to visit that lonely explorer at the edge of our solar neighborhood is a very appealling idea.

The next one is from the original Rifts corebook.  I have no idea why it was cut from the Ultimate Edition, because it was one of the coolest things about the original Rifts.  The historian Erin Tarn is telling of her visit to south Texas in her quest to find out more about the rumored vampire menace.  A stranger asks to talk with her and tells her a story of vast kingdoms of undead bent upon conquest of the world.  She asks him how he knows these things and he responds by informing her that he is one of the vampires, and tries to kill her.  She is saved by her companion cyber-knight, who later decides that mankind must know whether the tales of the destroyed vampire are true.  So, he rides off to explore south of the Rio Grande, and is never heard from again.

I first read that bit in a very dimly lit room in near total silence, and it creeped the heck out of me.  The thought that those brave heroes had met some hideous and unknown fate captured my imagination.  That story is the sole reason I've been captivated on Rifts all these years.

Anyone else have any strange bits from RPG books which you just can't forget?

Tags: Rifts Cyberpunk Fiction

Last night, while talking about the Battle Fortress Independence campaign with the player of the character known as Vermillion, I finally said the identifying name of the VF-22 out loud.

As anyone glancing at my blog should know, I happily loot the variable fighters from Macross, give them some stats of dubious accuracy, and plop them into my campaign.  I often give them new designations.  While the VF-2 from Macross II is still the Valkyrie II, the YF-19 from Macross Plus becomes the VF-19 Phoenix, and the VF-25 Messiah from Macross Frontier becomes the VF-25 Aurora with an entirely different weapons allotment.*

*Kinda like the Beta fighter in the original Robotech RPG.  But that's OK, because I'm running a campaign for me and my friends, not writing the official Macross or Robotech RPG. 

So, my copy the Macross Plus (and Macross 7) YF-21/VF-22 had been codenamed the Ninja, rather than the official designation of Sturmvogel.  Although I suppose I could have just named it the Stormbird, the in-game designer of the fighter wouldn't have wanted it to have a name so thematically similar to the one given to the VF-19 (Phoenix).  Since it was supposed to be a stealthy aircraft with deadly precision, I decided "Ninja" would be a good name.

But sometimes what seems like a good idea and what looks like a good idea on paper is not a good idea.  When I announced that Vermillion's fighter was of the "Ninja" variety, both he and I started laughing.  It just sounded silly to us.  Perhaps it's just because of years of cheesy ninja movies.  Perhaps it's because we've met too many gamers who say "I'm a real ninja!"  Regardless, after saying it aloud, we knew it wasn't going to work as the identifying name of the fighter any more.

So, after a little bit of thought, it was decided the name of the VF-22 would be changed to "Wraith."  That has a similar connotation and it sounds cooler.  It ties into the mythological name convention many of the mecha have.  Plus, it matches Michelle's (the in game creator of the fighter) tendency for darker names.  (She has plans for a starship she calls the "Megiddo.")

In story, this is going to reflect the reality of the situation and add a little bit of humor.  Michelle is, like us, going to realize the name of her fighter sounds silly.  So, she is going to petulantly insist it retroactively be changed.  That fits her personality too.

The other thing I noticed was I had mistakenly started saying my VF-25 Aurora had 48 micro-missiles instead of the load of 24 SRMs (of the type the VF-2 uses).  Ooops!  I covered my BACK-SIDE by saying the 48 micro-missile variant was the VF-25A, a recent upgrade where the old leg thrusters were replaced with a new type carrying launching systems similar to those on the VF-19 Phoenix.  This was an officer or elite variant, so I also tossed in the idea the head assembly was replaced with a 4 laser version instead of the 2 laser version.  I added a new fighter type to the SDF-5's complement without even trying! 

The morals of the story?  First off, when you name stuff, be sure to try saying it out loud a few times.  It can spare you some unintentional humor later.  Second, be flexible.  Oftentimes, there will be stuff in game which will allow you to change some details and add a little bit of flavor to your continuity in the process.  Addressing any problems by admitting them in universe and then tying them into your story makes things more verisimilitudinous.

Tags: Macross Robotech Mecha GMing

This evening I discovered that Silent Mobius: The Motion Picture and Silent Mobius: The Motion Picture Part 2 have finally gotten North American DVD releases.

Hell yeah!  I love those two animes!  I first saw them on a raw bootleg VHS.  In fact, that's still my sole source for TMP2, which never got a localization.  The first one got a localization by way of Streamline Video, and my VHS copy of that is well worn.  The thought of a nice DVD transfer for both makes me giddy with glee.

Every once in a while I've toyed with the idea of a Fuzion adaptation of Silent Mobius to RPG form.  Maybe I'll revisit that idea and try it with BESM3.

Tags: Anime

Inspired by a recent entry by Obliviax, I feel the need to share the (lack of) musical talent of one of my players.  The following is an iconic song for my friends and I.

Charles "Wolf" Walker sang the following while killing Invid during the Expeditionary Mission (sung to Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze):

Invid, runnin' thru my brain
Make me want to quit this game
They shoot at me, and I don't know why
'Scuze me, while I shoot their eye
::air guitar riff::

There are more lyrics, but I forget them right now.

Also created by Wolf is the Horizont chant, sung to the tune of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"  It was invoked whenever our characters desperately needed evac.

Swing low, sweet Horizont
Comin' down to carry me home

Tags: Robotech

Pure, distilled awesome?

Or epic fail?

MAID: The Roleplaying Game

Maybe Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles ISN'T so bad.  After all, it's provided me many hours of entertainment already by way of simply hunting down the ways it utterly fails to emulate its namesake.  Last night I found myself reading it and getting a bit of a nostalgia groove on for games of Invid slaying in years gone by.  That's when I wandered headfirst into the combat section and it dawned on me that combat had changed much more than I realized.

First, it would be a good idea for me to summarize combat in the Palladium game system as I had been led to understand it.  My view of it was formed after reading the combat examples in Ninjas & Superspies and the original Rifts corebook.  I'm fairly sure my interpretation of it was how the game was intended to work back then.

Each character has several attacks per round, and each character can perform one attack in initiative order.  Each attack is a phase.  Everyone's first attack is during phase 1.  Everyone's second attack is during phase 2, and so on.

When you just used regular attacks and parries (or auto-dodges) this is a very simple procedure.  When you toss defenses which use an attack, like dodges, or attacks which use multiple attacks from your total, like power punches, it gets more complicated.

A power attack normally cost 2 attacks to perform.  So, the first phase would be spent preparing for the attack.  The attack didn't actually go off until the second phase when your initiative came around again.

A dodge cost your next attack that melee round.  So, when you were attacked you spend your next attack and rolled your dodge.  The dodge roll stayed in effect until the next phase when your attack came up.  But since that attack had been "borrowed" in order to dodge, you didn't actually get to do anything that phase.  Your dodge roll expired and combat proceeded.

This was how I understood Palladium combat to work until now.  But upon more careful reading of
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles and Rifts Ultimate Edition, I'm convinced the world has changed.  Combat now follows a subtly different procdure with a great impact on how things are handled.

In the new method, characters still have several attacks per round.  Although, now it's best to think of them as a sort of Action Point pool rather than as a literal number of attack phases a character can act.

There are still attack phases.  The winner of initiative goes first, followed by the next, and so on until it all wraps around and the high roller comes up again.  But, instead of a phase representing a certain Attack number, it now represents an opportunity to spend attacks from the pool.  When it's your turn, you simply deduct the action cost of your attack from your total.  The same is done whenever you must defend.  Here's an example:

Bill and Ted are having a gunfight.  Bill has 5 attacks per round.  Ted has 6 attacks per round.  Bill wins initiative.

For his turn, Bill chooses to fire a quick shot at Ted.  This uses one attack.  Bill notes he has 4 attacks remaining.  In response, Ted dodges the attack.  This uses one of Ted's attacks.  Ted notes he has 5 attacks left.

Now Ted's turn comes up.  Ted decides to perform an aimed called shot on Bill.  This takes two attacks.  The two attacks are deducted from Ted's total of 5, and he is left with 3 attacks.  Bill dodges, reducing his total to 3 attacks remaining.

Bill responds by trying to close the distance.  The GM determines it will cost him 2 actions to close the distance.  Bill deducts the cost and has 1 attack remaining.

It's Ted's turn again.  He decides to perform a quick snap shot costing a single attack.  This reduces his total to 2 attacks remaining.  Bill decides to dodge the point blank shot, using his last remaining attack.

Bill has no actions left, so he doesn't get any more attack phases.

Ted still has 2 attacks, and can use them both to shot Bill. 

And that's how I understand it works now.  Another major difference is that dodges don't work like they used to.  A dodge roll used to stay in effect until your spot in the initative order came up again.  Now a dodge roll is only applicable against he single attack dodged.  Another dodge difference is that dodges can now be borrowed from the next round's attacks, whereas they could not be in the old rules.  Altogether, this new way is like a blending of the old combat procedure and the one found in the Rifts N-Gage game.

I think I'd keep the old dodge rule rather than use the new nerfed one, and have each regular action using dodge roll remain in effect until the character next gets an attack phase, or the end of the round, whichever comes first.

 

Tags: Palladium Robotech Rifts Combat

Many many years ago, I was rolling up a new villain for my Marvel Super Heroes game.  I needed a new baddie for the night for a solo fight with the team's tank.  I was devoid of ideas, thus the need to roll on charts to jumpstart some creativity.  The dice weren't being of much help.  I rolled up a super-strong guy with four arms and the ability to generate light like a flashcube.  Not having much time before the game, I declared the NPC to be named VISHNU!

The background I gave VISHNU was minimal.  He was a guy who had one day just sprouted multiple arms and become a total freak.  This drove Vishnu pretty crazy, but not towards the typical villainy you'd expect.  No, Vishnu was going to use his newfound powers for GOOD!  He was going to fight supervillains and protect the weak!

Since the hero team was a mutant group, this was the 80s, and we were raving fanboys for the X-Men, Vishnu targeted the clearly criminal mutant heroes.  All he had to do was lie in wait for one to appear.  To jumpstart the adventure, I decided Vishnu knew Tank's (yes, he was a tank named Tank) secret identity and planned to ambush him.  I figured Tank would make short work of the loser and send him off to a mental asylum or something.

It didn't really go that way.

Vishnu couldn't hurt Tank much, but could do just enough damage and knockback to be extremely irritating and destructive.  To add insult to injury, Vishnu's flashcube maneuver constantly left Tank blinded and unable to lay the smackdown on him.  The battle severely damaged several buildings spread among 2 or 3 city blocks before Vishnu got a truck thrown into his face, and decided to withdraw from the battle.

Of course, Tank and our heroes got blamed for all the damage and the endangering of helpless citizens.

After that, I used Vishnu a few more times.  He would always catch Tank unaware and shout his battle cry of, "I AM VISHNEWWWWW!"  or sometimes "SURRENDER TO THE RIGHTEOUS LIGHT OF VISHNEWWWW!"  I always hammed Vishnu up and made him crazier and crazier with each encounter.  And for some reason Tank's dice just wouldn't let him cream this bastard.  Vishnu always escaped to fight another day.  My stupid random roll one shot baddie became a major villain in the campaign. 

I feel kind of bad about sticking Tank with such a stupid nemesis, but the player still remembers Vishnu to this day.  He still dearly wants to kick Vishnu's sorry ass.  Sometimes you do something right entirely by accident.

Tags: Marvel Superheroes Random MSH FASERIP

I found this sitting on my hard drive.  It was a adaptation of the Alpha Veritech from New Generation of Robotech (MOSPEADA) to BESM3.  One of these days I need to get back to working on BESM3: Robotech.

Anyway, this write up has never been playtested and is one of my first attempts at designing anything with the system.  Input is appreciated.

Alpha Fighter (282 points, 141 point item)

Jet Mode  (Base Form)

Armor.  Armor Rating 50.  Health Points 50.  Level 25 (50)
Flight.  Hover.  3,250 kph.  Level 6 (48)
Spaceflight.  10,000 kph.  Level 3 (6)
Special Defenses. Freezing Cold 2, Lack of Air 2, Low Pressures 2.  Level 6 (12)
Features.  Smoke Dispenser, Radio.  Cyclone storage  Level 4. (4)
Supersense.  Radar.  Level 5 (10)
Tri Barrelled 80mm Gun Pod. Level 10.  Penetrating 2.  Range 3 (25)
190mm Short Range Rockets.  Level 9.  Autofire.  Range 3.  Spreading 2.  Ammo, 6 shots.  Stoppable (12)
Combat Technique.  Steady Hand.  Level 1.  (2)
Alternate Form.  Battloid.  Level 5 (45)
Alternate Form.  Gerwalk.  Level 5 (45)
Awkward Size.  Level 3 (-12)
Special Requirement.  Level 1.  Maintenance and protoculture.  (-2)
Impaired Manipulation.  No Hands.  Level 3.  (-9)

Gerwalk Modifications (+45)

Flight.  Level 5, 775kph.  -1 level.  (-8)
Land Speed.  Level 3, 30kph.  +3 levels.  (+6)
Superstrength. Level 4, 8 tons.  +4 levels.  (+32)
Melee Attack.  Level 5.  Muscle.  Added  (+6)
Impaired Manipulation.  Removed.  (+9)

Battloid Modifications (+49)

Flight.  Level 4, 368kph. -2 levels.  (-16)
Land Speed.  Level 5, 140kph.  +5 levels.  (+10)
Superstrength.  Level 5, 15 tons.  +5 levels.  (+40)
Melee Attack.  Level 5.  Muscle.  Added  (+6)
Impaired Manipulation.  Removed.  (+9)

Tags: BESM Robotech Mecha Alpha

It's time for the second installment of The Sweatshop, and this time the focus will be on Robotech and Macross II, the Palladium games ostensibly adapted for anime mecha action.  As usual, the Palladium rules leave quite a bit to be desired, but I'm going to focus on the single aspect of guided missiles for this episode.

To explain what I'm going to patch today, let's say you're watching Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, the original Robotech series, or Macross II.  The character in the show is facing down half a dozen enemies in their Veritech/Valkyrie.  They quickly lock on to multiple targets and blossom forth with a missile volley.  Multiple enemies die in a wall of fireballs.  Once again, this never happens in the RPGs when playing by the rules.  The most targets you can attack in any single action is ONE.  Some may say the blast radius rules solve this problem, but blast radii for the short range missiles and mini-missiles are inadequate to the task of replicating the destruction of the widely spaced enemies blasted in the respective films.  Many enemies would have to be in a romantic embrace in order for multiples to be caught in the blast area.  Even if they were, damage to targets merely in the blast radius is halved, so we once again run into the problem of the inflated Palladium MDC values.  It's time the break out the wrench again.

Luckily, there isn't any real reason why we can't follow the most obvious course of patching.  In the films, characters can fire single missile volleys at multiple targets.  My group called this the MLS rule (Multi-Lock System), and we used it for many years.

The attacker designates his targets.  He can designate as many targets as he desires.  Then he chooses the number of missiles to fire.  This can be any volley size his mech may normally fire in a single attack.  The total number of missiles are then evenly divided among the targets seleced.

We nearly always ruled the volley size had to be evenly divisible by the number of targets, but it doesn't hurt if it's an uneven amount as long as the missiles are targeted across the selected enemies as evenly as possible.

The attacker then rolls a single strike roll.  This strike roll applies to each mini-volley against each target.  From there on, the normal rules apply.  The target could possibly dodge, shoot the missiles down, or just die.

This alone greatly increases the ability of PCs to emulate the activities seen in the show.  But it has another benefit.

(The following notes are based on the old Palladium rules for shooting down missiles.  The official rules in the current Rifts and Robotech RPGs are actually different, and not entirely bad!  I'll add a brief discussion of the new rules at the end.  But, since I've used the following method for years, I decided to include it, even though I'm referring to and refuting an outdated rule.)

One iconic bit of Robotech is shooting down incoming missiles.  The New Generation segment has the most dramatic example of this practice, as Scott is known to blossom forth innumerable contrails to intercept huge missile attacks by Corg.

In the game, this doesn't happen the same way.  Incoming missile swarms aren't met in the air by similarly large countermissile swarms.  The response is typically a single missile targetted to detonate a single projectile of the incoming volley.  The reason why is because the size of the countermissile swarm is irrelevant because the way the rule is written.  Any use of a missile to intercept an incoming missile volley destroys the single missile targeted and has an 85% chance of destroying every other missile in the incoming swarm.  This is the same whether it's a single mini-missile or 44 long range missiles.

MLS comes to our rescue in this, because it allows the character shooting at an incoming swarm to target each and every missile in the incoming volley.  This creates a situation where the number of countermissiles fired will explicitly eliminate an equal number of incoming missiles.  From there, we can use the normal Gun Pod versus Missile rule which states any remaining missiles have a 45% chance of detonating.

My players like sure things, so my experience with this house rule shows players will fire a number of countermissiles large enough to eliminate the enemy swarm.  If they fire fewer, they'll fire as many as possible or at least enough to make the remaining incoming missile damage survivable.  But the simulation of the show's masses of missiles filling the sky is created by the rule, and therefore things feel much more appropriate.

I tend to make the chance to destroy the remaining missiles less depending on the number of incoming missiles remaining.  I generally apply a 5% penalty per extra incoming missile.  So, if there were 4 leftover incoming missiles after the countermissile attack, there would be a mere 30% chance for them to be consumed by the countermissiles as well. 
 
But you could create a system where you roll for each remaining missile separately.  You could roll a d6 for each remaining missile.  On a 1-3, it's destroyed in the blast along with the rest.  On a 4-6, it survives.   

The point is, there are any number of ways you could handle the leftover volley.  It depends on your comfort level and how many dice need to be bouncing across the table. 

(As promised, here's the rest of the story.

Shooting down missiles with a gun pod has drastically changed in Rifts and Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.  Instead of a flat 45% chance of destroying the entire volley if you've managed to destroy one missile, there is now a variable chance to destroy the incoming volley.  There's still a 40% chance to detonate the whole thing, a 30% chance to detonate half the missiles, and a guarantee of destroying at least one additional missile.  This is actually quite a bit of an improvement over the old 45% or nothing rule.

Shooting down missiles with countermissiles has changed slightly and now features a note that an equal number of countermissiles fired in response to a volley has a 100% chance of detonating the entire attack.  If the number of countermissiles is less, there's still a 75% chance of destroying the entire incoming volley.

I feel this second change is inferior to the MLS solution.  The countermissile firer can still only target one incoming missile.  If there is only one less countermissile than the incoming volley, then the result is still only one incoming missile destroyed and only a 75% chance to destroy the rest of the volley.  If you can't match the incoming volley, might as well just fire one countermissile because there will be no difference between firing 1 and 500 if there are 501 incoming.)

Tags: Palladium Robotech Rifts Macross

In addition to the VF-25 Aurora, the SDF-5 Independence operates several other fighter craft.

The most prevalent of these is the late REF designed Valkyrie II.  The VF-2 was given it's trial by fire in the Battle of Earth Reflex Point in 2038, and with constant upgrades has served the forces of the Sentinel Alliance ever since.  But, in the current era, after decades of service and attrition, the SDF-5 only carries about 4 squadrons of the venerable fighter.

While it's old, the VF-2 is still well respected, and pilots love to be assigned one.  Their long fold drive range makes them excellent recon and long range strike craft, and their heavy ordinance allows them to deal with a wide range of threats once they get there.  The over-shoulder particle cannon can be adjusted to a destabilizer mode to deal with enemy force field emplacements.  And the entirely internal weapons load allows the craft to enter a planet's atmosphere without jettisoning payload (as a hardpoint equipped fighter would have to.)  The VF-2 is even equipped to internally carry Angel of Death anti-starship missiles in it's wing pods.

The VF-19 Phoenix is the next most common uncommon fighter on the SDF-5.  The VF-19 was a design pressed into service for the Marduuk invasion.  It was lower cost than the Valkyrie II, but it was similarly effective at dealing with Marduuk mecha.  The Phoenix is an optimized dogfighter.  The Phoenix carries weapons suitable to this role: high maneuver missiles, mauler energy cannons, and a hybrid railgun propelled explosive shell gun pod, but this tends to make the Phoenix is weak in other roles.  Carrying any sort of mega-heavy ordinance requires mounting on hardpoints which limits the fighter's manueverability and deployment options.

The VF-22 Ninja is a rare fighter on board the SDF-5.  Only a handful are on board.  Designed by Michelle Saxton, the VF-22 is a baroque example of technology available at the time, incorporating livemetal, advanced sensor systems, stealth systems, pinpoint barriers, and some examples even carry cloaking devices.  The best way to describe the VF-22's role is as an assassin.  The Ninja can fold into a system, remain unnoticed and strike with extreme precision.  Like the Phoenix, it is primarily a dogfighter, but additional weapon pallets can be added which expand it's role without restricting the fighter's operation.

There are a few other unique fighters on board the SDF-5.  The Metal Siren and Black Cat X are the most notable.  But most notorious and whispered about is the Super Logan.

The Southern Cross Logan has always been Michelle Saxton's favorite veritech fighter for some infathomable reason.  Years ago, when she was on the Sentinel Alliance starship Macross II and the chief engineer James Donaldson was looking for something for her to do, he told her to work on an old, unused, and forlorn Logan held in one of the ship's reserve bays as a training/punishment craft.  Michelle made it a labor of love, and has worked on the Logan for many years, just as a car lover might work on a hot rod, or Han Solo might work on the Millenium Falcon.

Although still vaguely appearring like a old Logan, the fighter has been rebuilt in every way.  Anything that the tech obsessed Michelle has ever thought was neat has been integrated into her Super Logan's systems.  Many people wonder just what this means the fighter is capable of.  In reply, Michelle invites the prospective pilot to take the fighter for a test spin.

To this date, no pilot has ever taken Michelle up on her offer.  Her Super Logan sits quietly in a special reserve bay of the SDF-5 awaiting the day someone is curious enough to set aside the stigma the Logan fighter has attached to it's name.
   

Tags: Robotech Macross Veritech

So, I had an idea I'd try to get myself to do a new kind of "feature" for my blog.  I like bitching about Palladium's horribly produced games, and I like tinkering, so why not combine the two passions?  I identify something which drives me crazy about a Palladium game, then I offer something resembling a localized patch.  Maybe it will help someone out there both in the aspects of knowing they're not alone noticing how broken the rules are, and in trying to actually gather some decent gameplay from their Palladium materials.

Therefore, I present The Sweatshop.  I'll be throwing out some thoroughly untested and half assed rules fixes to various Palladium rules problems.  Then again, the Palladium rules themselves are half-assed and unworkable, so what have you got to lose?

I begin with a problem faced by every Palladium GM and player.  Combat takes too long.  This is a complex problem and has many facets, but the one I'm going to focus on is the prolonged HP attrition problem of the Palladium system.  It seems everything has FAR too many Hit Points.  Even the standard guy on the street has 20 hit points or more (10 SDC and 10 HP according to Heroes Unlimited), meaning they can shrug off 9mm pistol rounds (2d6 damage).  This doesn't even venture into the realm of enemies described as common thugs with triple digit hit point scores.

Since I love Robotech, I'm most familiar with it, and it has the most standardized values, I'm going to be using it as an example from now on.  In the latest Robotech RPG, the weakest enemy a PC can face is an Invid Scout.  This type of enemy has 100 MDC.  Meanwhile, the primary weapon of the Alpha (the archetypical UEEF mecha) does 1d4x10 damage for a 5 round burst.  As you can see, it's mathematically impossible to kill an Invid Scout in one hit from this weapon, even on a critical strike.

In the Robotech TV show*, the Alpha's gun pod is shown to be capable of easily dispatching an Invid Scout, even from a single blast.  A burst wasn't required, but obviously helped.  The only Invid Scout which ever survives a successful strike was the one which eventually evolved into Corg.  Corg's protoform gets a leg blown up by a missile.  Any other example shown in the show indicates a Scout struck by gun pod fire in the wide main body dies.

In a game function, the Scout isn't even a particularly interesting enemy.  It doesn't make much sense forcing a pilot have to hammer away on it for an average of 4 to 5 attacks to kill it.  Worse yet, the Scout is a horde attacker.  Meaning it should attack in large, easily dispatched numbers.  The Scout's high MDC has created a situation where what should be the reliable gun pod standby weapon of the Alpha is nothing more than a useless popgun.  The player is going to get bored, and wonder why missiles are his only valid attack option.

At first blush, it seems as if everything has too high of a MDC value.  But wait!  In a later episode of Robotech, Scott's Alpha gets directly struck by Corg's arm cannon.  The resulting damage to Scott's mecha is... completely negligible.  Similarly, Corg's mecha is pretty tough when resisting Scott and crew's fire.  So much for the one shot/one kill theory of Robotech.

The simple reason is that Scott and Corg are aces.  They're stars.   They're supposed to have elaborate dogfights before they shoot each other down.  Hit Point attrition works to simulate that to a certain degree.  It also acts as a safety net for your players' minor mistakes.

What this means to me is that any fix to the Palladium damage problem requires a sliding scale.  It needs to account for the star players as well as the disposable cannon fodder.  To complicate matters, it also reveals how different enemies would have different roles.  For example, the Alpha piloted by Scott is significantly tougher than an Alpha piloted by a generic nameless pilot.  We don't want to actually modify the stats of all mecha, because the math would be tedious and we'd just have to recalculate everything again if we wanted an enemy of the same type with a different toughness.  Doing a blanket increase of damage isn't the answer for much the same reason.

To solve this, I suggest a concept called Vulnerability.  Each enemy has an Index which indicates how vulnerable they are to damage.  When the enemy is struck, any damage they sustain is multiplied by their Index.  Each enemy type has a Vulnerability Index assigned which can be modified for different specific enemies.  The higher the Vulnerability Index the flimsier and more disposable the enemy is.  And since Palladium stats are so inflated, we can proceed from the basic assumption that all base stats listed in the book are those for a PC Hero or Main Villain.

The recommended range of the Vulnerability Index is a value from 1 to 5.  Each number means the following:

1 = PCs, Heroes, Major Villains

2 = Henchmen, Semi-Important NPCs

3 = Elite but standard recurring troops

4 = Tough Thugs

5 = Mooks, Cannon Fodder, Disposable Bad Guys to be cut down in droves.

With these guidelines, the Standard Invid Scout gains a Vulnerability Index of 5.  This means whenever they're shot at, they take 5 times the normal amount of damage.  This makes it quite probable a 5 shot burst from the Alpha's Gun Pod can deplete its 100 MDC.

An Invid Shock Trooper might have a standard Vulnerability Index of 4, while a Invid Enforcer would have a standard value of 3, reflecting their tougher and more prestigious nature, but still being less invulnerable than their current MDC values indicate.  Since these values are independent of the actual MDC of the mecha, any enemy could be upgraded or downgraded.  For instance an Invid Commander might have a standard value of 1, but a GM wanting PCs to battle a large number of such enemies might dial them down to values of 3.  Or a crafty Invid Scout may be upgraded from a VI of 5 to a VI of 1, indicating future evolution to a new form if he survives.

PCs always have Vulnerability Indexes of 1.  They're the stars of our story after all.  How else do you explain Rand's survival of the mauling Corg gave him in the final episode of New Generation?

Since this solution is independent of MDC or SDC conversions, it can be used anywhere.  While I've used Robotech as an example, since it is near and dear to my heart, the same solution could easily be applied to Rifts.  Applying a VI of 5 to Coalition Grunts makes them more like the stormtroopers the setting projects them as.  It also helps turn quite a few of the monsters described as cannon fodder in their description text into actual cannon fodder instead of party destroyers.  Beyond Rifts, the same solution could be applied to the high SDC/HP fights in TMNT, After the Bomb, and Heroes Unlimited.

Best of all, it can be used to dial in the lethality, not only for cannon fodder enemies, but also for PCs.  Want to run an extremely lethal game?  There's no reason a PC can't have a VI other than 1.  It can conceivably satisfy those wanting a "grittier" game as well as those wanting a more cinematic experience.

The patch has a degree of open endedness, more in the direction of increased lethality than anything else, but that should be fine as the vast hit point pools in Palladium represent a sort of zero lethality end of the scale anyway.  Even still, there's no reason you couldn't create a Vulnerability Index of 1/2 or 1/3, indicating those characters take even less damage from successful strikes.

Anyway, that's the kludge for this installment.  Try it until it breaks and let me know what you think.  Remember, if the people at Palladiumbooks put at least this much thought into their rules, they wouldn't be so broken as to require all this kludging!

* The latest edition of the Robotech RPG is ostensibly based on The Shadow Chronicles, so the argument could be made that my examples taken from the original series New Generation segment are not appropriate.  My counter argument would be the Shadow Chronicles RPG is clearly not based off the Shadow Chronicles film, and shows itself more as a recycling of old material from the original series than as a new simulation of a new film.

Tags: Palladium Rifts Robotech TMNT BTS Houserule Heroes Unlimited

I have an sheepish admission to make.  July 20th isn't my birthday.  I didn't set out to deceive anyone.  I just chose a nifty date and pluged it in.  I never expected anyone to pay any attention to it.  Imagine my surprise when I notice Happy Birthday messages in my new comments.

All of you who wished me Happy Birthday, thank you.  I don't go into personal matters on messageboards, but I'm feeling down lately because of work and some health issues.  So, those Happy Birthday wishes have really cheered me up.

So, thank you.  I really needed some positive reinforcement, and you guys making a couple of clicks and typing a handful of words made a real difference.
 

I find myself stimulated by bush today.

Meaning, I got my economic stimulus check (bonus tax refund) today. 

What to spend it on?  Hmmmm.

I've done the periodic loading of the game box!  I have a box where I keep the RPGs I'm currently running, playing, or have an intention to play sometime in a vaguely forseeable alternate timeline.  Quite frankly, I have too many RPGs.  I keep them in boxes I get from work which were originally used for 20 lb / 5000 sheet containers of printer paper.  I have 16 boxes like that packed with RPG stuff.  Since I have such an overwhelming amount of stuff, it helps me to compartmentalize rather than just have it in one sprawling mass.  By separating my "currently playing" RPGs out like I do, I find I get less distracted by the rest of my collection.

So, what's in the box now?

Mekton Z, Mekton II, Mekton Z Plus, Mekton Tactical Display

Mekton is nearly always in the box.  It's a game I always gravitate towards.  Right now Battle Fortress Independence Neo Zeta is on hold, but I know I'll be getting back to it.  The Macross Frontier soundtrack is giving me too many good adventure ideas. 

Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition (PHB, DMG, MM)

The honeymoon is still going.  This is my newest love.

I never liked D&D3 and it had even gotten to the point where older editions had lost their lustre.  The other D&D revamp/copies like Castles & Crusades and Hackmaster just hadn't been doing it for me.  Then 4e came along and seems to have rekindled my love for D&D.  It certainly is a change of pace, because I thought the dreary decade of d20 was never going to end.

My player is still enjoying using his Dragonborn Fighter and henchmen to hack up goblins.  I'm looking forward to playing next week.  All the upcoming products for 2008 (except the Forgotten Realms stuff) are on my Amazon wishlist already.

Dark Heresy, Dark Heresy GM's Screen

A while back, I saw this game on the shelf at a used bookstore and just couldn't resist it.  I find it kind of rough to read through, but still intruiguing.  I have hopes of running it someday, but my current lone player isn't exactly of the temperment this game seems to require.

Maybe I can get him to agree to a one shot of it.


Other than that I got the good news that my Wave 8, Aquilla's Alliance, and Ticalla's Jungle sets for Heroscape shipped the other day.  That means my Knights and Cavalry will soon have their leader hero.  It also means I'll have more elves.  Oh, and a big red dragon.  KEWL!

Tags: D&D 4e Dark Heresy Mekton

Sorry.  I have to take a few sentences to vent about this.

I was over at RPGnet looking and reactions to the new D&D.  Some people don't like it.  That's cool.  If they don't like it, then they don't like it.  Many have legitimate reasons for not liking it, just as I had legitimate reasons for disliking the last edition.  But some people...  well, they're using arguments I view as highly dubious against D&D4.

By far, the most illogical argument against D&D4 is how evil it is because the errata was released the other day.  These errata pages are in LARGE print with plenty of white space.  They're mainly clarifications with almost none of them being actual changes.  And there isn't even a whole 6 pages to this errata document for all 3 large books.

Having errors is bad, m'kay?  But this example is far from enough to claim the D&D4 books are the most flawed products of all time. 

For these errata haters, I recommend they pick up Rifts Ultimate Edition first printing.  That book still had known typos which were cut and pastes from things written 15 years ago.  Whole columns were swapped around randomly.  Whole mandatory rules sections were just left out and unexplained.  Text was repeated and/or prematurely cut.  Yet, Palladiumbooks sat on the errata for 2 years (even after the corrections were all compiled by fans for free).  So, if you're wanting a company which refuses to answer your questions for clarifications or corrections, then Palladiumbooks is the place you need to buy books from.  I think someone looking for an example of unacceptably error ridden books would find their products a good baseline case.

If you're wanting an absolutely perfect book with no errors at all which is perfectly clear to all readers, then it's an endless quest.  You might get close, and the writers should always try for the best, but you're never going to reach the goal.

End rant
Fanboy dedication to my new game = check
Obligatory Palladiumbooks bash = check

Tags: D&D 3e Errata

So, I bought D&D4 and my reactions are extremely positive.  I've raved about it in my preceeding blog post, and I'll probably be babbling about it for some time to come.

But what if it hadn't been Dungeons & Dragons?  What if that powerful brand name hadn't been on the cover?

If it weren't Dungeons & Dragons, I might not have heard of it.  I would be ignorant of it's existence.  When you don't know something exists, it's sort of difficult to buy it and get into it.

If it weren't Dungeons & Dragons, would I have had the inclination to buy it?  Would I have possessed the same curiousity?  Would I have bought three hardcover books totaling over $100 in price which provided the rules for what appears to be a miniature combat game with a fantasy theme?  Well, I did buy Descent: Journeys in the Dark, and that was $80.  So, it's possible.  Then again, Descent came with lots of toy value: tons of cards, playing chits, interlocking boards, and miniatures.  With D&D4, all those miniatures I need are separate.  I have to say that lacking the toy value, I probably would have skipped on a non-D&D game in the same format that D&D4 was released in.

If it weren't D&D would it be an interesting game?  Oh, hell yeah, it would still be an interesting game regardless of what name it went by.  I'm just saying that if it weren't D&D, I probably wouldn't know to check it out and would be extremely reluctant to check it out even if I did know.

Luckily, it IS Dungeons and Dragons, and bears the name prominently.  Considering the power of that brand name, almost all other considerations are irrelevant in terms of how widely the game will be embraced.  I'm sure tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, will be buying it for the name reason alone.  And I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a factor in my embrace of the game.
The same was true with D&D3 and 3.5.  The difference being I didn't like those variants.  I still ended up with a box full of the stuff.

Tags: D&D 4e