Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Adventurer
Specialization: Pilot
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxxx
Willpower: xxx
Resistance: xxxx
Essence: xxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00|00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00|00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Pilot aircraft: xxxx
Repair aircraft: xxx
Persuasive Charm: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Pistol: xx
Brawl: xx
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Strafe: xx
Lose ’em in the clouds: xx
Dive out of the sun: xx
I know some maneuvers: xx
Flying Ace: xx
Land on a dime: xx
Eagle Eye: xx
Thread the needle: xx
Improvised Explosives: xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Flight suit
Pistol
Parachute
Compass

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

PILOT AIRCRAFT
Take off, land, and navigate between a departure point and destination in any form of aircraft.
REPAIR AIRCRAFT
Make basic repairs to the engine, wings, rotors, etc. of a damaged aircraft and restore it to useable (if not as-new) status.
PERSUASIVE CHARM
The ability to exude gallantry and charm that makes people want to agree to do whatever the pilot asks.
PISTOL
The ability to load, aim, fire, and maintain a pistol.
BRAWL
The ability to fight in close quarters using hands, feet, and any makeshift weapons that might be handy (bottles, chairs, etc.).
STRAFE
Engage in aerial combat engaging in an attack every phase without taking a penalty to the attack roll.
LOSE ‘EM IN THE CLOUDS
The ability to shake an aerial pursuit by hiding in a bank of clouds.
DIVE OUT OF THE SUN
The ability to get into a pursued aircrafts blindspot and deliver a double damage blast from the aircraft’s guns once per turn.
I KNOW SOME MANEUVERS
The ability to maneuver so effectively that damage received is reduced to 1 wound (once per turn).
FLYING ACE
When activated this ability grants an extra wound of damage on all targeted attacks made by the pilot.
LAND ON A DIME
The ability for a pilot to land on/in (and take off from) a cliff edge, a clearing, or other non-conventional landing areas.
EAGLE EYE
The ability to spot hard to see things from a great height, see to fly in low visibility conditions, fly at night, etc.
THREAD THE NEEDLE
The ability to fly an aircraft through tiny spaces with tiny amounts of clearance (under bridges, through caves and tunnels, etc.).
IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVES
The ability to construct bombs, grenades, and explosive traps from household chemicals.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Adventurer Pilot – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Mystic
Specialization: Sorcerer
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxx
Willpower: xxxx
Resistance: xxx
Essence: xxxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00|00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00|00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Esoteric Fire: xxxx
Mystic Shield: xxx
Mystic Sword: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Research (Esoteric Knowledge): xx
Careful observer: xx
SPECIAL ABILITIES
ShapeShift: xx
Enslave Monster: xx
Summon Monster: xx
Command Familiar: xx
Fly: xx
Phase through walls: xx
Transfigure: xx
Scry: xx
Astral Travel: xx
FLAW
Don’t get out much (slow): -2x
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Wand
Spell book
Cloak

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

ESOTERIC FIRE
The ability to throw a ball of flame at a target. This is an area effect that causes 4 wounds of damage to all targets within 8 feet of the impact point.
MYSTIC SHIELD
Reduces the damage received by a target to a maximum of one wound per phase.
MYSTIC SWORD
While in use this sword does 3 points of cold damage per phase to any target hit in that turn.
RESEARCH (ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE)
The ability to search libraries and ancient tomes in search of specific answers to questions such as “What predators roam the interplanar realm of Thunn?” etc.
CAREFUL OBSERVER
The ability to spot when someone is lying, hiding something, or omitting important information.
SHAPESHIFT
The ability to shift one’s shape into that of a bird or animal of comparable size (for example a giant bat, or a small elephant). The caster gains the benefit of any ability inherent in that shape (eg. flight, claws, bite, trample, etc.). The shape that the caster assumes is fixed by its first use (eg. if the caster turns into a bat the first time they use this ability, they can only turn into a bat thereafter).
ENSLAVE MONSTER
The ability to enslave and command a supernatural creature. This ability places a creature (often over the creature’s strenuous objections) under compulsion to follow a set of commands provided by the caster for the duration of a single combat or the accomplishment of a single task. It also makes the creature available for summoning.
SUMMON MONSTER
The most recently enslaved creature (enslaved by the caster using the Enslave Monster ability) can be summoned to complete a task or fight a combat on the caster’s behalf.
COMMAND FAMILIAR
This ability allows the sorcerer to choose a familiar (animal companion such as a cat, eagle, chimpanzee, etc.) that can be commanded to follow simple instructions. Once chosen, the familiar cannot be changed. It is imbued with 1 point of life from the character and the character will suffer one wound if it dies).
FLY
When activated this ability allows the character to fly and or hover above the ground. They cannot carry more weight when flying than might be contained in a typical backpack.
PHASE THROUGH WALLS
The ability to pass through up to six feet of solid material.
TRANSFIGURE
The ability to turn an individual into an animal, bird or fish of choice. This is a permanent effect but can be reversed by the caster. It can be cast on friend or foe alike.
SCRY
The ability to locate any object or person previously encountered at any distance with absolute precision.
ASTRAL TRAVEL
The ability to take an astral form and visit locations unseen by ordinary mortals. It does not guarantee that the caster will not be seen by individuals with supernatural abilities (such as ghosts, monsters, and mediums). While traveling astrally the physical body is not protected from harm and can be killed (or die of starvation or thirst). The astral form cannot be harmed physically, but damage inflicted in the astral realm reduces the player’s essence.
DOESN’T GET OUT MUCH (FLAW)
This character is very awkward in social situations and always says the wrong thing (either out of cluelessness, or arrogance). They reduce all attempts at persuasion by 2 if they are present, regardless of who is attempting the persuasion.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Mystic Sorcerer – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Adventurer
Specialization: Prize Fighter
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxxx
Willpower: xxx
Resistance: xxxx
Essence: xxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00|00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00|00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Knock out blow: xxxx
8 punch combination: xxx
Counterpunch: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Clinch: xx
Smashing blow: xx
Pistol: xx
Brawl: xx
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Target Weakness: xx
Lightning Reflexes: xx
Roll with the punches: xx
Indomitable Will (Perseverance): xx
Contacts – Bookies: xx
Contacts – Criminal Underworld: xx
Contacts – Sports fans: xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Gloves
Pistol
Brass knuckles

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

KNOCK OUT BLOW
The ability to deliver a knock out blow. A successful roll allows the player to roll a consequence dice. On a six the target is rendered unconscious for the duration of the combat.
8 PUNCH COMBINATION
A success allows the player to deal 4 points of damage to a target (with 8 points being delivered if a six is rolled on a followup consequence dice).
COUNTERPUNCH
If the player receives damage from an attacker they may return the equivalent damage plus two wounds during their action phase.
CLINCH
The ability to grapple and immobilize an opponent. The player cannot take any actions while the target is immobilized, but the grapple can be held indefinitely.
SMASHING BLOW
The ability to punch through wooden doors, smash small machines, and put holes in walls with the aid of the fists. No opposed roll is required.
LIGHTNING REFLEXES
When activated, this ability allows the character to land a blow during every phase of combat without taking the usual penalty for being “frenzied”.
CONTACTS (BOOKIES, CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD, SPORTS FANS)
The ability to contact individuals with specialist knowledge among bookies, small-time criminals, and sports fans. They can report on rumors and supply answers to specific questions regarding people and activities involved in the players’ investigations.
INDOMITABLE WILL (PERSEVERANCE)
The ability to continue fighting after taking the usual number of wounds. This ability adds two wounds to the character’s maximum for the duration of the fight. After the fight, if this new maximum is used up, they will need medical attention to stabilize at zero wounds, but they will have been able to continue fighting beyond the normal limit.
ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES
When activated this ability allows the character to reduce all damage received to a single wound per phase of combat.
TARGET WEAKNESS
The ability to disable an opponent for the remainder of a battle using a targeted attack. A successful attack is disabling after rolling a six on a consequence dice. This removes the individual from the fight but results in a minor but permanent disability (such as a limp, shaking hand, reduced hearing, blurry vision, etc.).
BRAWL
The ability to fight in close quarters using hands, feet, and any makeshift weapons that might be handy (bottles, chairs, etc.).
PISTOL
The ability to load, aim, fire, and maintain a pistol.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Adventurer Prize Fighter – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Mystic
Specialization: Occult Detective
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxx
Willpower: xxxx
Resistance: xxx
Essence: xxxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Research (Occult and Folklore) : xxxx
Ghost Trapping: xxx
Speak with the dead: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Search: xx
Perception: xx
Persuasion: xx
Pistol: xx
Brawl: xx
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Command the dead: xx
Ethereal Energy Disruptor: xx
Indomitable Will (Shield)
Contacts – Journalists xx
Contacts – Police x
Contacts – Esoteric Subculture xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Ghost Trap
Occult Library
Ethereal Energy Disruptor

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

PERCEPTION
A passive ability. The ability to notice things that are out of place, unusual, threatening, or of special interest in the surrounding environment.
RESEARCH (OCCULT AND FOLKLORE)
The ability to search libraries and ancient tomes in search of specific answers to questions such as “What are the weaknesses of the Chupacabra?” etc.
GHOST TRAP
A machine that will trap and hold a ghost until sunrise. It can also be used to transport a ghost from one location to another.
SPEAK WITH THE DEAD
The ability to hear and talk to the dead. It does not compel the dead to answer or guarantee that what is said is true.
COMMAND THE DEAD
The ability to give the dead simple commands that they are compelled to complete. The dead generally resent being commanded in this way and, in some cases, may seek revenge after the set task is completed.
ETHEREAL ENERGY DISRUPTER
A ranged weapon that can inflict damage (3 wounds) upon ghosts, spirits, and beings made out of supernatural energy.
CONTACTS (ESOTERIC SUBCULTURE, POLICE, JOURNALISTS)
The ability to contact individuals with specialist knowledge among the police, journalists, and the esoteric subculture of occultists, mediums, and investigators into the macabre and unusual. They can report on rumors and supply answers to specific questions regarding people and activities involved in the players’ investigations.
INDOMITABLE WILL (SHIELD)
The ability to resist mind control (from the undead, vampires, mystics, mad scientists, mediums, and the like).
SEARCH
The ability to thoroughly search a location for clues, hidden items, secret doors, traps, safes, etc.
PERSUASION
The ability to convince another person that they are telling the truth and gain their cooperation and trust.
BRAWL
The ability to fight in close quarters using hands, feet, and any makeshift weapons that might be handy (bottles, chairs, etc.).
PISTOL
The ability to load, aim, fire, and maintain a pistol.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Mystic Occult Detective – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Adventurer
Specialization: Noble Savage
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxxx
Willpower: xxx
Resistance: xxxx
Essence: xxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00|00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00|00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Wilderness Scrounger: xxxx
Construct Weapons: xxx
Spear combat: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Brawl/Hand to hand: xx
Tracking/Guide: xx
Snares: xx
Herbalism: xx
Break bonds: xx
Throw: xx
FLAW
Lack of social grace: -2x
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Athletics (Swim, Run, Jump, Climb): xx
Communicate with animals: xx
Tame Wild Beast: xx
Ride animals: xx
Stealth: xx
Too savage to bleed: xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Spear
Animal Hides
Medicine Bag (herbs)

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

WILDERNESS SCROUNGER
The ability to find impossibly scarce resources in a wilderness area. Need a spark-plug? It can be found in the wreckage of a long-forgotten jeep or truck at the bottom of a ravine. Gold? Diamonds? Whatever is needed can be found, either on the remains of those who came before, or in the crashed wreckage of missing boats, planes, and land vehicles that came to an unfortunate end in the local area.
CONSTRUCT WEAPONS
The ability to create weapons from raw materials – flint knives, bow and arrow, spear. Any weapon so created that is used adds one to the appropriate combat skill of the user because of its craftsmanship and durability.
SPEAR COMBAT
The ability to fight using a spear in close quarters or throw it with accuracy.
BRAWL/HAND TO HAND
The ability to employ standard blows in combat, in this case inflicting an extra wound of damage due to increased strength.
HERBALISM
The ability to find and create remedies for poisons or heal light wounds (2 points maximum) from local plant life. In an urban environment, this can only be used where a large park or garden is available to provide the raw materials necessary.
STEALTH
The ability to move about without being detected, seen, or heard.
SNARES
The ability to create and conceal traps and snares (that will hoist an unwary victim off their feet and dangle them in the air) from vines, ropes or cables. The materials for the construction must plausibly be available to the character (either carried in a backpack, or hanging from trees, or lying around in the form of electrical cables, etc. within the immediate environment).
HIDE TRAIL OR SCENT
The ability to cover one’s tracks or hide one’s scent when being pursued by human or animal hunters.
TRACKING/GUIDE
The ability to always know where one is (above or below ground/water) and to pick up a trail and follow it (without getting lost).
BREAK BONDS
The ability to use their prodigious strength to break any bonds (snap ropes and cables, break chains and manacles) that are used to restrain the character.
THROW
The ability to throw an object with deadly accuracy.
ATHLETICS (Run, Swim, Climb, Jump)
The ability to engage in all manner of athletic feats at a high level. Jumping up to 15 feet. Climbing at twice normal speed. Remaining underwater for 6 to 8 minutes without suffering harm. Gaining an extra increment per turn during chases
SPEAK WITH ANIMALS
The ability to interrogate animals for information and give them simple commands –only available to Shaman and Noble Savage Characters.
TAME WILD BEAST
The ability to render a (non-sentient) wild beast docile. The animal cannot be given instructions but will stop and be docile while the effect is sustained. It does not work on wounded or mentally damaged animals. Neither does it work on swarms, insects, worms or other creatures of negligible intelligence (eg. below the level of a house cat or bird). At four dots in strength, this ability can permanently render a wild beast docile.
RIDE ANIMAL
The ability to ride, and control while riding, any animal of sufficient size to carry a human being (eg. Elephant, Pterodactyl, Velociraptor, Tiger, and Shark, as well as more traditional mounts such as horses). The animal must first have been tamed (see above if the animal is a normally wild beast).
TOO SAVAGE TO BLEED
When activated (BEFORE combat begins) the player gains the ability to survive an extra two wounds of damage before being killed or rendered unconscious.
LACK OF SOCIAL GRACE
A minus 2 penalty is experienced by anyone trying to engage in persuasion when this character is present in an urban environment due to their uncouth behavior. In primitive villages and wilderness environments, the penalty becomes a plus 2 bonus.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Adventurer Noble Savage – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Mystic
Specialization: Martial Artist
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxx
Willpower: xxxx
Resistance: xxx
Essence: xxxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Item smash (melee): xxxx
Run up Vertical Surface: xxx
Float on air: xxx
Swordsmanship: xx
GENERAL SKILLS
Brawl/Hand to hand: xx
Herbalism (medicine): xx
Stealth: xx
Calming Flute: xx
Persuasive Wisdom: xx
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Knife hand (piercing): xx
Wind strike (ranged): xx
Improvised weapon: xx
Deflect and return: xx
Disarming blow: xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Alms Bowl
Flute
Sword

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

ITEM SMASH
The ability to destroy an item with a single blow. Armor, machinery, and weapons all become inoperable after a single successful strike. This ability can only be used during a targeted attack.
RUN UP VERTICAL SURFACE
The ability to run up (or along) a wall, cliff, tree or light pole, etc. and balance upon its top without the use of ropes or other climbing gear.
FLOAT ON AIR
The ability to leap 50 feet at a jump and find purchase upon a leaf floating in the air (or a stick floating upon water etc.) in order to leap again. It can be used repeatedly to cross canyons, crevices, rivers, etc. A failed roll results in a fall, however, and normal falling damage applies.
SWORDSMANSHIP
The ability to fight using any kind of sword in close quarters.
BRAWL/HAND TO HAND
The ability to employ standard martial arts moves in combat (kicks, open-handed strikes, etc.).
HERBALISM
The ability to find and create remedies for poisons or heal light wounds (2 points maximum) from local plant life. In an urban environment, this can only be used where a large park or garden is available to provide the raw materials necessary.
STEALTH
The ability to move about without being detected, seen, or heard.
CALMING FLUTE
The ability to play the flute and provide a calm and tranquil environment. Dispels fear/panic effects and can provide a +2 bonus to other players who are attempting any academic tasks.
KNIFE HAND
The ability to execute a piercing blow with the hand that will enter the body like a knife wound and does 3 points of piercing damage.
WIND STRIKE
The ability to throw and punch or kick that displaces air as a solid force over short distances and deals 2 points of clubbing damage as if it were a ranged weapon.
IMPROVISED WEAPON
The ability to use any handy item (a bench, a ladder, a saw-horse, a car antenna, a banana, etc.) as a weapon dealing +1 damage over and above its standard use (clubbing, or piercing).
DEFLECT AND RETURN
Redirect and return the kinetic energy of an attack back upon the attacker. The player reduces the damage dealt by half (rounded up) but returns the full damage to the attacker. (Eg. An attacker fires their pistol at the player, the player then uses this ability during their action phase to catch the bullet and return it to the attacker. The player reduces the damage they took by half (rounded up) so that they only take 1 wound, but return the full 3 wounds of damage to the attacker.
DISARMING BLOW
On a success, this attack allows the player to seize a weapon from an opponent’s hands. This ability can only be used during a targeted attack.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Mystic Martial Artist – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Adventurer
Specialisation: Spy
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength xxxx
Willpower xxx
Resistance xxxx
Essence xxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Persuasion: xxxx
Pick locks: xxx
Pistol: xxx
Swordsmanship: xx
GENERAL SKILLS
Brawl: xx
Search: xx
Decypher Codes: xx
Stealth: xx
Pick Pockets: xx
Decypher Languages: xx
LANGUAGES (Read/Write/Speak)
Mandarin: x
French: x
German: x
Russian: x
Spanish: x
Arabic: x
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Lock picks
Sword
Pistol
Climbing harness
Sacks and bags

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

PERSUASION
The ability to convince another person that they are telling the truth and gain their cooperation and trust.
PICK LOCKS
The ability to unlock doors, safes, padlocks, strongboxes etc. without the necessary keys.
PISTOL
The ability to load, aim, and maintain a pistol.
SWORDSMANSHIP
The ability to fight using any kind of sword in close quarters.
BRAWL
The ability to fight in close quarters using hands, feet, and any makeshift weapons that might be handy (bottles, chairs, etc.).
SEARCH
The ability to thoroughly search a location for clues, hidden items, secret doors, traps, safes, etc.
DECYPHER CODES
The ability to decypher encryptions, cyphers, pictograms, codes, anagrams and other forms of hidden messages.
STEALTH
The ability to move about without being detected, seen, or heard.
PICK POCKETS
The ability to remove personal possessions and items of clothing carried upon the person without the owner detecting the removal.
DECYPHER LANGUAGES
The ability to decypher, at a rudimentary level, any human language.
LANGUAGES
As well as their native tongue, this character can speak, read, and write the following languages fluently; Mandarin, French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Adventurer Spy – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

The Shaman may create up to four magical effects for use during play. These effects can have any flavor preferred by the player.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Mystic
Specialisation: Shaman
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength xxx
Willpower xxxx
Resistance xxx
Essence xxxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Tracking: xxxx
Speak with animals: xxx
Tame wild beast: xxx
Bow and Arrow: xx
GENERAL SKILLS
Herbalism (Medicine): xx
Search: xx
Snares: xx
Hide trail/scent: xx
Ride animal: xx
Climb: xx
MAGIC SKILLS
Chameleon: x
Elemental Dance (Command Element): x
Locate Person/Object: x
Summon Ghost: x
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Medicine Bag (containing healing herbs for treating wounds – not poisons)
Rope
Animal bones for use with the summoning and location ability
Bow and arrows
Hunting knife

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

TRACKING
The ability to pick up a trail and follow it (without getting lost).
SPEAK WITH ANIMALS
The ability to interrogate animals for information and give them simple commands – only available to Shaman and Noble Savage Characters.
TAME WILD BEAST
The ability to render a (non-sentient) wild beast docile. The animal cannot be given instructions but will stop and be docile while the effect is sustained. It does not work on wounded or mentally damaged animals. Neither does it work on swarms, insects, worms or other creatures of negligible intelligence (eg. below the level of a house cat or bird). At four dots in strength, this ability can permanently render a wild beast docile.
HERBALISM
The ability to find and create remedies for poisons or heal light wounds (2 points maximum) from local plant life. In an urban environment this can only be used where a large park or garden is available to provide the raw materials necessary.
SNARES
The ability to create and conceal traps and snares (that will hoist an unwary victim off their feet and dangle them in the air) from vines, ropes or cables. The materials for the construction must plausibly be available to the character (either carried in a backpack, or hanging from trees, or lying around in the form of electrical cables, etc. within the immediate environment).
HIDE TRAIL OR SCENT
The ability to cover one’s tracks or hide one’s scent when being pursued by human or animal hunters.
RIDE ANIMAL
The ability to ride, and control while riding, any animal of sufficient size to carry a human being (eg. Elephant, Pterodactyl, Velociraptor, Tiger, and Shark, as well as more traditional mounts such as horses). The animalmsut first have been tamed (see above if the animal is a normally wild beast).
CHAMELEON
The ability to blend into the background, shadows, etc. in order to be effectively invisible. This only works while the character is being perfectly still and will cease to operate if they move, are bumped into or physically touched.
ELEMENTAL DANCE
The ability to command an element in the immediate vicinity of the player to launch itself at a target. Eg. Launch a rock (up to the size of a bowling ball) or a ball of flame, or solid ball of air/wind, or a ball of water at a target. The element being commanded must be in the immediate environment in sufficient quantity to be harnessed.
LOCATE PERSON/OBJECT
The ability to know with certainty the location of any person previously met, or object previously handled.
SUMMON GHOST
The ability to call up and question a ghost. The ghost can only answer questions related to what they have seen and done in life. They cannot provide information about anything that they did not personally witness, or anything that has happened since they died.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Mystic Shaman – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Chapter 7. Getting Feedback

Ok, we all like to get feedback from time to time. We all like to know how we are doing. And the skills we employ as a GM, like all skills, must be learned and developed. As such we like to find out how we are progressing.

Anyone who has been running games for a while will tell you that feedback is essential to helping you grow as a GM. They will then tell you that feedback is impossible to get (it is actually quite hard to come by) and usually not all that helpful (unless you are looking for the right type of feedback). There are two questions that will help you get good feedback; what did you like most about the session?; and what did you like least?

These two questions, asked regularly, and in a positive way (by email is my preferred mode) will get you the best feedback you can find. Player’s want to have fun. The fun they are having is reflected in their answer to the “like most” question. Things that stop your players having fun are identified in the answer to the “like least” question.

Generally, avoid asking “why?” and “what can be done to improve/fix it?” The fact is most of us are actually quite lousy at analyzing why we are having fun and why we are not. It is much better to identify what was and wasn’t fun and then look for ways to maximize one and minimize the other. Collect suggestions, by all means. Just don’t solicit solutions.

And when you gather feedback, NEVER explain, defend, or rationalize your decisions to the feedback provider. Just thank them (ALWAYS thank them) and turn your attention to how to build on the things they like most while minimizing or trying to eliminate the things they like least.

Chapter 8. Conclusions

If you have been working through this book systematically then you will be aware that it has presented the skills of running games in an ordered manner.

It talked about what a GM is and does, what players look for in a game, how to start a game from scratch and how to run your very first session.

It introduced you to the basic interaction of the game (asking players what they want to do and explaining the results – sometimes with the assistance of dice).

Next, it identified, and discussed in general terms, the three major (and essential) skills that the GM employs (narration of the situation, querying the players, and adjudication of the results of player actions).

Finally, it talked in detail about the complex process of running a game; (opening a game, narrating situations, roleplaying the world, querying player actions, adjudicating the results, resolving actions and their consequences, concluding scenes, transitioning between scenes, concluding sessions, and concluding storylines. It also looked at the advanced skills of managing the mini-games, maintaining pace and tone, and improvising in response to unanticipated player actions.

These skills should equip you pretty well for the job of running your own games and providing your players with fun and memorable adventures.

In the next section of this volume, we will explore the design and construction of games, providing you with the tools and skills needed to build your own adventures – from scene to scenario, to sandbox, to campaign.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Getting Feedback and Conclusion to the GM’s Guide – Chapter 7 & 8 – HYOOTRD RPG Game Master’s Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

IMPROVISING RULES

Two kinds of improvisation pop up within games, and always in response to player actions. The first is where a player asks a question about whether they can accomplish a particular task. “Can I use my fire magic to set the pond alight?”. “Can I throw my knife to smash the broach that we now know is being used to inflict mind-control on the countess?” In such cases, where there is no clear rule to apply, you need to improvise to arrive at a ruling. Remember, the rules are all optional. They are tools to help you run a good game. As such, you can make and add your own rules to supplement or even replace the existing rules as written. Just remember that once you decide that the situation should be handled a particular way, you should be bound to continue handling the situation that way until the situation is altered or a story-driven reason to do otherwise emerges.

When you create a new rule to govern your players’ actions you need to assess how often it is likely to be needed, how often the players will want to take advantage of it, and how NPCs and monsters might take advantage of it. You can create major problems for yourself if you introduce a rule that unbalances the game by giving the players (or their enemies) an unfair advantage. If the rule will only be called upon rarely, then it won’t necessarily be a problem.

Likewise, when creating a rule you need to consider how well the rule fits into the world you are playing in. Is the action believable/possible? Does it violate the laws of physics (and/or magic) that apply in this world? Is there a good reason to believe this action would be impossible? Is it prohibitively difficult to accomplish?

Lastly, consider how it feels. Sometimes the action the player wants to undertake is possible (within the framework provided by the world), and doesn’t create unfair outcomes (with regard to the balance of the rules), but is tonally wrong. A player in your realistic police procedural game may decide to attempt to play soccer with the head of an enemy. If that feels wrong to you, then you should probably trust your instincts and veto the action (or warn of some really significant negative consequences that will follow – perhaps being taken into custody for psychological evaluation, for example).

Sometimes these three things will all line up (tone, balance, realism) but sometimes they won’t. Where you encounter a conflict you will have to decide which is most important for yourself.

Tip: Always record your rulings. The ruling you improvise today creates a precedent for your rulings tomorrow. In order to maintain the consistency of your world you need to write down the rules you add to it and keep them for future reference.

IMPROVISING STORY

The second kind of improvisation occurs where the players want to interact with an element of the story that hasn’t been invented (an NPC for whom you don’t have notes, a location or scene that hasn’t yet been defined, an object or prop that was originally just ornamentation but a player suddenly wishes to use).

When you improvise these elements of a story, you are engaged in design. You need to prepare all of the things that the game designer would prepare as part of the design process, only at the table while under extreme time pressure. As such you need to identify the minimum key requirements of the design of each thing.

An NPC must have their own goals and reasons for cooperating/resisting cooperating with the player characters as well as an attitude, look, and any props. The NPC also has to have resources, information, and/or clues that may be useful to the players

A scene must either be a space to explore (with items of interest scattered about it), or it must have a clear goal with an obstacle or obstacles to overcome. All improvised scenes must have exits that lead back into the game. The scene must also contribute something valuable to the rhythm of the narrative (convey information, provide a moment of tension and excitement, or allow an emotional reaction).

A prop or object must have a use/purpose and a means of operation as well as a look/description.

When you improvise, you must make sure that the things you produce have a purpose and contribute something to the story. This means you MUST know your story, and your world, well enough to make a judgment about how to integrate your improvisation into it.

You must also beware of introducing anything to the game that will invalidate or mess with the planned elements of the story. Work to make sure your improvisation will serve the story rather than sabotage it.

Tip: Just as with rulings, record everything you improvise for the story. You never know when this location, character or object may come in handy further down the track. Once you have created a story element it becomes a persistent part of the world and, regardless of whether you would ever have reason to return to it, your players will remember it and will want to know it is still there should they decide they need to access it again.

Tip: Keep tools and aides on hand to help you with things you aren’t good at. If you struggle to come up with names, be sure to have a pre-generated name list on hand for those times when you create a new character for the players to interact with. If you don’t draw maps well on the fly, then have some pre-generated generic maps on hand Likewise, if you need some generic stat blocks and abilities to give some thugs you just created to kick down a door, keep some lists handy.

DONT WORRY ABOUT THE QUALITY OF YOUR IDEAS WHEN IMPROVISING

An improvised scene only becomes necessary where the players have wandered off the edges of the map prescribed by the planned adventure. As such it will rarely be the case that what you are generating on the fly will have more than a minor impact on the plot. As such, don’t obsess over the quality of the ideas you are coming up with. The fact is, when you are improvising, the okay idea you can make use of in-the-moment is more important (and more essential) than the great idea you might come up with next week.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Improvising – Chapter 6 – HYOOTRD RPG Game Master’s Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Unlike film, where the pace is controlled by cutting material together in a carefully chosen order, roleplaying takes place “live” at the table.

Scenes of high action and excitement, scenes with loads of tension and uncertainty, demand fast pace and fast resolution. Scenes that involve exposition, drama, emotion, and emphasis require a slowing of the pace. Unfortunately, the rules of roleplaying games (particularly the rules involved in the mini-games) tend to slam the brakes on right at the point that you, as the GM, want to ramp up the speed at which things are happening. It is actually far quicker to deliver an expositional scene than it is to resolve a combat scene.

The pace in a roleplaying game is controlled by the presentation of choices. Each time the narrative stops so you can ask “what do you do?”, the flow of the narrative is interrupted and the pace is brought to a halt. This is also true of each time a dice is rolled, each time the game is halted to consult a rule-book, each time the players or GM gets distracted, and each time you break into a mini-game within the larger narrative. To keep the illusion of pace going these “breaks” must be kept to a minimum and, ideally, need to occur only at meaningful points in the game where meaningful choices are being made.

The making of meaningful choices within a world while playing a character is the heart and soul of role-playing. As such, the players’ sense of pace is directly tied to how meaningfully they are presented with choices and to what extent meaningless choices are excluded from the game.

The most obvious and easy way to keep the flow of the game going is to skip empty time. Empty time should never be experienced by the players. Choices presented in empty time are not choices at all. They are the role-playing equivalent of “hit this button to continue”. If the players, while in their hotel room, indicate they want to visit the old house at the top of the hill, you want to avoid having an exchange like the following…

GM: You walk out of your hotel room. A corridor leads to other rooms on this floor and some stairs going down. What do you do now?

Player: We take the stairs.

GM: You enter the lobby, the front door leads outside, there are doors leading to the kitchen, and an administrative office, along with a set of stairs leading up to the guest rooms. What do you do now?

Player: We go outside.

GM: The street leads north up hill towards an old mansion. To the south it leads down into the centre of town. What do you do?

Player: We head north.

GM: You come to a crossroads. The East and West branches lead over some hills to neighbouring farms. What do you do?

Player: We continue north.

Etc.

As you can see this is boring. None of the decisions are meaningful. The time spent playing this out is “dead” time. The choice to continue in the direction the players have already stated they wish to go is a non-choice.

Far better to say “You walk out of the hotel and up the hill to the mansion. It is long abandoned and surrounded by weeds and tangled shrubbery. You stand on the somewhat rotted front porch. The door appears barred and planks have been nailed over most of the first-floor windows. What do you do?”

If you wish to present a decision before the players’ reach the destination made clear by their stated goal, only do so if they are encountering a meaningful obstacle or interruption.

You could have your players walk straight into Doc Halloway’s consulting rooms if that is where they wish to go, but if the Doctor is out on a house call you might have them stall at the door to the doctor’s office. This would be a (very minor) obstacle to their intention. The road leading to the offices being washed out might be another. Stopping to overcome an obstacle is a meaningful decision point in the narrative. Likewise having Jane West run-up to the characters and beg them to come and help her husband who just broke through and fell into an underground cavern while trying to dig a new well, constitutes a meaningful interruption of the players’ intent.

Unless and obstacle or interruption get’s in the way of the players’ intent, however, the empty time before the presentation of the next meaningful decision should always be skipped.

MANAGING EXITS

We noted that, from time to time, you will need to motivate your players to seek out an exit from the current scene. The most common reason will be to keep the pacing or flow of the story moving. It is far better to provide reasons to exit that pull the characters forward rather than try to push them. Characters who are pushed tend to resist. When chased by a monster, the characters tend to want to stop and fight it. When told that the Prince has a well-guarded secret library containing all the blackmail information he uses to maintain control of his Kingdom, the players tend to want to go and find it.

TIME

There are three kinds of time in a role-playing game; slow time, real-time, and elided time. The most obvious is real time, where decisions are being made and acted upon in the present. Slow time is the time taken to play through a mini-game; the few seconds of real-time that a combat would take broken down into multiple actions and dice rolls. Elided time is time skipped to avoid “dead” time. “Three days later you arrive at…” etc.

Slow time has a very obvious impact on the pace of the game (as the action heats up, the game slows down – a far from ideal situation and one that is unique to role-playing games), but so long as the choices players make are meaningful and interesting, the impact on the pace will not be negative. This is one of the key reasons that transitions between actions in a mini-game are important.

The combat mini-game, for example, is quite dull if it is not narrated.

GM:What do you do?

Player #1: I attack the wolf.

<<Dice are rolled>>

GM: You do 3 wounds of damage. Player 2, what do you do?

Player #2: I attack the wolf as well.

<<Dice are rolled>>

GM: You do 3 wounds of damage to the wolf as well. The wolf now attacks player #1.

<<Dice are rolled>>

GM: And you take 2 wounds of damage. What do you do?

Player #1: I attack the wolf.

<<Dice are rolled>>

GM: You kill the wolf.

Narration helps make the choices in the mini-game become meaningful and therefore gives the mini-game its sense of pace. When the outcome of a mini-game has been determined (it is no longer uncertain) then feel free to end the mini-game at that point. There is never a need to play it through to the end if the outcome is no longer in question.

Real-time is the most unpredictable time in the game. It is the time characters spend taking actions to achieve their goals. This time is highly variable. Again, the time should only be spent on achieving player goals. Once it is known whether or not the players can achieve their objectives, it is time to move on.

Elided time is the mechanism by which time, that would otherwise be spent without meaningful choices arising, is skipped. It is expressed through phrases such as “Two weeks later…”, “You walk into the next room…”, “After a short half hour’s rest…” etc.

When do you pick up the story again after eliding time? Usually, this is obvious. It is always at the next point that presents the players with a meaningful decision. This point is introduced by setting (or resetting) the scene (see Narrating Situations above) and querying the players regarding the actions they wish to take next.

VARYING THE PACE

Pacing is the speed at which things happen within a scene. The GM has a great deal of control over the pace of scenes via the narration, via an appropriate focus on the most urgent and attention-grabbing elements of the scene, via management of external interruptions to the game (dice rolls, distractions, consultation of the rules, etc.), and via the control of time. But the question remains; to what end should this control be exercised?

For a story to be satisfying you will want to vary the pace. Place your fast scenes between slow scenes. Provide relief from the tension created by exciting scenes by alternating them with scenes that focus on information and scenes that focus on emotion.

A useful pattern is to alternate scenes so that an informational scene leads to an action scene that leads to an emotional (reaction scene) that leads to another informational scene and so on.

The information discovered in the first scene should lead to the action in the second. The players then react and explore the emotional consequences of the action prior to going in search of further information. Information scenes, action scenes, and emotional (reaction) scenes tend to take up about one-third of the story each.

Players will become fatigued if all they encounter are action scenes. They need to rest and think and explore and react as well. Slow scenes give them this opportunity. Most players have an intuitive grasp of this. They will themselves stop, regroup, and discuss things if they feel the need for some respite from the action. A drawn-out transition is no substitute for this and you should not try to short-circuit this process if you notice it is happening.

Likewise, if all the scenes are contemplative exploration scenes that provide no sense of jeopardy, the players will become bored and start itching for a fight (even if it’s only with one another). If the players are bogged down in an endless spiral of naval gazing inactivity, feel free to have some ninjas kick down the door in order to get things moving again.

If you are using a pre-published module, it can be hard to vary scenes on the fly. The best solution is to improvise the scenes you need in order to keep the pace varied. The section below on improvising explains how you can do this (but be aware that this is an extremely advanced skill to master and will probably require a fair bit of practice before you have it perfected).

THE IMPACT OF PACE

Fast scenes tend to invite us to disengage our brains, engage our emotions (usually just one strong emotion at a time – fear, anger, joy, etc.), raise our anxiety, excite us, and make our hearts beat faster. Slow scenes, by contrast, engage our brains and invite us to pay attention to the details.

The main way we control the pacing of the scene is through the narration and its focus. If we slow down our exposition, start to get wordy and descriptive, focus on lots of details, and a leisurely sense of urgency (wherein the players feel they have time to explore and think without pressure) we are presenting a slow scene. If our sentences are short, concise, to the point, and care little for extraneous details, with a focus on things that demand the urgent attention of the players (and we impress on the players the time critical nature of their choices such that they realise opportunities to act are slipping through their fingers) we are presenting a fast scene.

By always skipping to interesting and meaningful decisions, recognizing the purpose of the scene (information, action, emotional reaction), adapting the narration to that purpose, and by varying the type of scene that the players encounter, you will maintain an effective pace.

TONE

A game’s tone is established in terms of what does and does not “feel” right within it. It is the emotional comfort the GM (and players) have with the activity taking place in the story. A hard science fiction world has a different tone to a world in which cartoonish physics is commonplace. If you violate the tone of your game it achieves two things. Firstly it breaks your players (and your own) willing suspension of disbelief – immersion is lessened – and it makes it harder for players to predict the consequences of the actions they take within the world. Since decision making is severely impacted by this and meaningful decisions cannot occur where players are unable to predict how their choices will be handled, the second impact is by far the more serious.

The tone of a game can shift to allow comic relief or to increase the drama, but it must do so within fairly narrow limits and in a way that is consistent with the basic rules of the world. Magic must behave the same way today, tomorrow, and forever, and should not vary wildly because you found a way to milk it for a joke in one situation only to treat it like a form of rules-bound trigonometry in another. Likewise, the physics of your world must be tonally consistent. The ability to leap fifty feet into the air and balance on a twig floating on a lake may be appropriate in a Wuxia style story, but it won’t work if suddenly introduced to a gritty hard-boiled detective story. It is important, for pacing reasons, that the tone of your game shift a little from scene to scene, but wild swings in tone are always a bad idea and should not be entertained without a strong story-based justification, one that introduces a consistent change to the way the world works.

It’s part of your job to police the tone of your game. Trust your gut at those times when a player in your gritty detective-noir world decides they want to be known as Jake Poo-Poo-Splat-Bing the Third. Veto those things which mess with the tone.

Improvisation is an advanced GMing skill that you have to learn and develop from the very beginning. This is horribly unfair, but also unavoidable. Regardless of how well constructed a pre-published module (or your own game preparation) might be, at some point in the game you are going to be called on to improvise because, at some point in the game, the players are going to do something you don’t expect. They will try to perform an action that you haven’t considered before and need to figure out if it is possible, or they will go somewhere and talk to someone that the module didn’t anticipate. Sometimes you will find that, for pacing and tonal purposes, you need to insert an action, information, or an emotional (reaction) scene. In any of these cases, you are being called upon to improvise.

Why is improvisation an advanced skill? After all, the GM is just roleplaying the world. In many ways, it differs little from what the players are doing constantly, except that it involves you responding to player choices on the basis of your knowledge of the entire world rather than (as is the case for players) your knowledge of a single character you are playing. Well, while this is true, the added complexity should be obvious and, where you are called upon to create new scenes, you face the pressure of becoming a game designer (with a super-tight deadline and extremely high, in-the-moment, pressure to perform.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking improvisation is simply making things up on the fly. This is a personal observation, but as I approach nearly 40 years of sitting at tables playing in RPGs I shudder to think of how many GMs I’ve known who have taken pride in coming to the table unprepared, and of how many hours of my time have been wasted playing games that were mediocre simply because preparation wasn’t taken seriously. As I get older, time becomes much more precious to me, and the waste of time involved in sitting at the table with a lazy GM who hasn’t prepared adequately and, worse still, takes pride in their lack of preparation (“oh, I never prepare – I just improvise great games”) results in a LOT of resentment on my part – and I’m not alone in feeling that way. Playing an RPG is a time-intensive pursuit. I don’t get to game as often as I once did, and arriving at the table to find the GM hasn’t prepared and that the party spends one third or more of game time wandering around without a goal or focus because the GM “just wants to go with the flow and see what happens” is an insulting waste of my time.

Improvisation (done properly and well) requires all the planning and effort that goes into good module design, only it has to happen in-the-moment, and under great time pressure. As a result, and before we get into how you go about it, we need to talk about when it should happen and the risks that it exposes your game to.

Never improvise when you don’t have to. Snap decisions have a tendency to result in unpredictable consequences. These consequences can break the predictability of your world by accidentally introducing anachronistic and inconsistent elements to your game. The world you plan is more likely to be consistent and predictable (and players require predictability/consistency in order to make meaningful choices) than the world you construct on the fly. Anachronism has a tendency to break the willing suspension of disbelief your players bring to the table and you really don’t want the players to start questioning how much the world makes sense. You can guarantee that if they are, they have pretty much stopped having fun.

Secondly, if you do have to improvise, do so as minimally as possible. That is, do the minimum of improvisation necessary to respond to the players’ actions while continuing with the game as planned.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Maintaining Pace and Tone – Chapter 5 – HYOOTRD RPG Game Master’s Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

We’re going to digress for a moment to let you in on one of the best-kept secrets in gaming; the rules of the mini-games (such as combat, chases, social conflict, and vehicular combat) within a roleplaying game are all completely optional. They provide a helpful way to keep score and determine when certain types of interaction have ended, but they aren’t essential and should be dropped whenever you have a good reason to do so.

Combat, a chase, a social conflict, or a bi-plane dogfight high in the sky are all simply means used by the players to achieve an objective. Combat etc. occurs when the players (or the NPCs) attempt to achieve their goals through violence. You can always resolve the situations dealt with in the mini-games by using the standard query, adjudicate, resolve pattern above. The mini-games themselves could, in this way, be dispensed with entirely.

So why are the mini-games included? They provide a scoring mechanism and a means to model certain actions at a higher level of abstraction. In short, they provide a useful administrative tool for the GM, one that identifies the conditions of success and failure in a way that is seen to be both clear and fair by most players.

The mini-games also, however, represent a speed-bump in your game. They slow things down substantially, usually breaking what would, in real-world terms, be a fairly quick exchange into something that takes considerably longer to play out at the table.

For this reason you, want to ensure that you are always aware of the following; even within a mini-game players are simply declaring and resolving actions, the rules are optional, and reference to the rules should be avoided wherever possible (don’t slow things down further by opening the rulebook to look things up unless you absolutely have to).

Further, you want to ensure that you transition into and out of each player’s turn with narration while you are in the mini-game.

Because narrative is what drives the game forward, you need to ensure that each player’s turn in the mini-game begins and ends with narrative. You need to move the focus of attention from player to player, turn by turn, using short narrative transitions.

These transitions should only be about a sentence long but should accomplish the same things that they do when moving between player actions within a scene.

The narration at the beginning of a players turn must locate the player in relation to what is happening around them (either establishing the situation or recapping the current circumstances) and acquaint them with those things that are clamoring for their attention with the greatest urgency.

“To your left and right your companions are locked in desperate hand to hand combat with the pirates. One large, burly pirate with a red sash is charging towards you swinging his cutlass, and it appears that another is attempting to swing one of the cannons around to point at your group. What do you do?”

“The mayor appears to be considering your arguments carefully, but there is still doubt in his eyes, and you can also see the growing impatience of his secretary as she watches the clock tick ever closer to his next appointment. What do you do?”

After the action has been declared (remember that even in the mini-games you need to identify both what the player wants to do and how they want to do it) and resolved, you need to reset the scene and narrate the outcome and consequences.

“You stab the charging pirate in the stomach, neatly sidestepping his lunge and sending him, lifeless, to the deck. Your companions are all still occupied with attacking pirates, and the cannon is now aimed directly at you. Worse, it looks like one of the pirates, not currently engaged in the fight, is about to touch off the powder.”

“Commenting on how the bandits have negatively affected the tourist trade, causes the mayor’s brow to furrow with frustration. He has heard this many times from different townsfolk. He’s not interested further analysis. He needs solutions.”

Lastly, you need to transition to the next player’s turn.

“Sally, you see all this but are currently grappling with a swarthy pirate of your own – one who is pressing in and trying to grapple with you for control of your pistol. What do you do?”

“Sally, you see the mayor’s increased frustration and sense his need for a solution. What do you do?”

This process of transitioning into and out of each turn within the mini-games (whether the game concerns combat, social interaction, or a chase etc.) is one of the keys to keeping the game flowing.

You create a sense of urgency by emphasizing the greatest threats within the current location and by demanding that players state their actions quickly in order to avoid losing their actions because they are being indecisive.

Chases

Chases, like combat and other scenes, can be improved with planning. In a pinch, rolling obstacles on a randomized table will work fine, but a little bit of preparation will go a long way towards increasing the enjoyment provided by the scene.

To begin with, determine what sparks the chase. What prompts the chasers to pursue the chasee? Are they looking to assassinate their quarry? Did the quarry take something they want? Have they been given a grievous insult? Be sure of what the chase is trying to achieve. In most cases, the chaser is trying to catch or kill the chasee, but in some, the chase is about recovering an object from the chasee or something else. As for the chasee, they are usually trying to escape. But ask yourself where to, and whether they are leading the chasers into a trap or away from something else etc. Be clear what the objective is for both parties and what, if anything, would cause them to abandon the chase.

Specify the conditions that end the chase. The combat board has a chase track on it. Perhaps your chase ends with the quarry being lost after 8 spaces on the board have been traversed. Perhaps you need to make the track shorter. Perhaps another circumstance triggers the end (such as discarding the golden idol the heroes are carrying). Be clear about when the chase will finish.

Okay, now treat it as a scene where obstacles arise in series to interfere with the players’ chances of achieving their goals. As noted before, you can randomly determine the obstacles, but if you have time it is almost always better to plan them out to suit your specific scene.

Lastly, prepare your resolution. What happens if the heroes are caught? What if they escape? What if the bad guy escapes? What happens if the police get involved, etc.? If you know the answers to these questions you won’t have any trouble running your chase scene.

Combat

Designing a fun combat experience is an art form. The key to it lies in the design of the environment. Wherever possible populate the environment with things the players can use. If the battlefield is a garden, then make sure there are abandoned rakes, pruning shears, wheelbarrows, sacks of horse manure etc. around that the combatants might make use of. If it’s a cave fill the space with dangling roots, stalagmites, and stalactites, mud pools, shards of crystal etc. Add obstacles that both hinder and help the heroes. Be creative. You can even impact the mood of a scene by your placement of objects and enemies. If the heroes are standing on a ridge looking down at the enemy, the mood is quite different from one in which they stand at a low elevation looking up at a cliff wall bristling with spears.

Your selection of opponents is the next thing to consider after the environment. In order to keep things balanced, we have some general guidelines to apply when throwing opponents at your heroes.

Henchmen are the weakest level of opponent. They are usually intended to function as the hapless fools who rush our heroes guns and get mowed down in droves. Essentially they make our heroes feel heroic and competent.by not providing too great a challenge. They tend to be used exclusively in the first half of any given adventure.

Henchmen are represented by a wound pool. Don’t think of them as a group of individuals so much as a swarm that tries to lay some smack down on each of the heroes every turn. Every successful attack by the heroes results in a kill (or a bad guy being put out of the fight if the heroes are trying to be non-lethal). When the pool of wound points reaches zero the bad guys have fled or died.

Henchmen need not be humans. They can be anything that the plot calls for (alligators, psychic squid monsters from another dimension, gangsters, mutated chimpanzees, etc.). The important point to note is that they are relatively weak but plentiful.

Give them a generic description (one that will bring them to life) but don’t bother differentiating them from one another too much (or at all).

If you want a balanced fight, give the henchman a pool of wounds equal to the total wounds belonging to your group of heroes. This will keep things pretty even during the fight. But, DO NOT FOR A MINUTE THINK YOU MUST BALANCE FIGHTS. It is perfectly acceptable, in a world full of obstacles of varying strength, to hit your heroes with an occasional bunch of weak opponents.

Set the NPC modifier to novice (-2) or standard (0). Generally, henchmen do not undertake targeted attacks. They either fight using standard or frenzied attacks.

Named Servants are significantly tougher (and fewer) than henchmen. They tend to appear in the second half of an adventure when the stakes are starting to rise. When adding Named Servants your descriptions will want to be more personalized. Differentiate them from each other, the henchmen and the boss villain.

Let’s say you are throwing a tribe of intelligent alligators at your heroes. The general horde (of henchmen) should be virtually indistinguishable “green, scaly, ranging in length from 5 to 9 feet, with sharp claws and gleaming teeth through which they huff their fetid breath”. The lieutenants of the horde (named servant) are three in number. All are 15 feet long. One has a large scar over one eye, another has a hump, and the last is unmarked but unusually quick.

To give them wounds, take the total of the heroes’ wounds and divide them in half. Apply the number to each of the named villains in the adventure. Each of the named villains gets that many wound points each. Because this generally puts a lone named villain at a disadvantage, field them in groups or singly but in combination with a horde of henchmen.

A well-armed group of heroes will usually make short work of a lone villain, regardless of how strong, unless the villain can do multiple attacks each phase. By adding more villains or giving the villain more attacks you even the odds.

Named servants should be given NPC modifiers of skilled (+2) or expert (+5) and, don’t forget, they can earn action points by using the environment in their actions just like the heroes can. They can also use targeted attacks, trying to strategically damage weapons or disable characters.

Villains are the big bosses of the adventure. There is usually only one (though there is no reason the villain could not be a cabal of sorcerers if you so choose). Be sure to give the boss extra attacks (or supporting numbers) to keep the fight a challenge. Your villain should have wounds equal to twice the total of your team of heroes. Give your villain the best description you can. “The chief of the alligator tribe is twice the size of the others. and 6 feet wide. It is old (possibly one thousand years) and shares more in common with its dinosaur ancestors than its more recent offspring. One eye gleams redly with predatory intelligence while the other is milky. Its bellow is enough to cause rockslides on the distant hills and cause flocks of birds to take to the air. Armored hide and foot long razor sharp teeth grin wickedly at you as it positions itself for combat with frightening speed.”

Villains should always have expert NPC modifiers (+5) applied, can make targeted actions, and can earn action points by making use of the environment in their actions.

Just as it is perfectly acceptable to hit the heroes with a weak opponent from time to time, it doesn’t hurt to remind them that the world is full of things far stronger than they are as well. If you do throw certain death at them, however, make sure you telegraph that the fight will not be survivable. Players are often poor judges of when it is time to run away so be sure to give them plenty of warning (coming across the corpses of the uber-marines who kicked their butts in the practice ring yesterday or something similar is a good signal).

If you do construct your own opponents then give a little bit of thought to how they might coordinate (or not). A team of soldiers might try to hold the entrance while runners go for reinforcements or raise the alarm. A group of sandworms might strike and attempt to down and drag away victims to eat leaving their compatriots to the fight.

When vehicles are involved don’t forget to apply the damage to the vehicle’s armor before applying it to any occupants. The occupants can only be hit after the armor has been dealt with. Likewise, targeted actions cannot be used to blow the gas-tank while armor still protects the vehicle.

Are social actions different?

The simple answer is no. Player actions and GM adjudication is no different when a social interaction takes place than when any other interaction is occurring. The player wants to achieve something, they attempt to achieve it in a particular way, and the GM is called upon to adjudicate the outcome.

A character may wish to get information from the witness to a brutal murder. That is the thing they wish to achieve. They then may choose a number of means of achieving that end. They may threaten, persuade, bribe, etc.

The complicating factor with regard to social actions is that, unlike a door or wall, the acted upon can react in a broader number of ways in return. Determining whether the action is likely to achieve a desired result, figuring out whether to roll the dice and adjudicating the outcome can seem complicated as a result… but they aren’t.

To adjudicate this kind of action you need to know whether the NPC is favourably disposed towards the player characters, whether there is a reason for them to withhold their aid, and what that reason is, whether they can be influenced one way or the other, and what sorts of actions will likely move them in one direction or the other, and, significantly from a dramatic point of view, what’s at stake in the outcome.

Armed with this knowledge you are able to adjudicate the situation easily.

For example, in the case of our murder witness, if we decide he or she is basically an upstanding citizen who sees the players positively and wants to do the right thing but is terrified that by speaking out his/her loved ones will be put at risk, you can more or less adjudicate the outcome fairly easily. All the elements for an interesting scene are present.

The characters have an aim: they wish to gather information from the witness.

There is a conflict: The witness is afraid and does not wish to provide that information.

There is an obstacle: The level of fear the witness has regarding the safety of his/her family.

If the players approach with threats, the NPC might respond by stubbornly clamming up, or maybe they are timid enough to capitulate (that’s up to you), but the threat will need to be pretty strong if it is going to overcome the fear they are already experiencing. The NPC may be extreme enough in their responses to make the outcome an easy decision (no dice rolls), or you may call for a skill test (intimidate perhaps). Regardless of how you choose to respond, the NPC is likely to no longer be positively disposed towards the characters.

If the players approach with persuasion, the NPC might be won over (no dice roll required) or maybe it doesn’t seem so clear (roll the dice). Perhaps the NPC is persuaded but still won’t help until the characters provide some guarantees regarding the safety of the NPCs loved ones.

If the players approach with the offer of a reward, or witness protection, etc. it may be that these will entice the NPC into providing the information they are looking for.

With or without a dice roll (and whether to roll depends on how certain you feel the NPCs response will be) you can tell fairly easily whether a player’s actions are likely to overcome or strengthen the obstacle between them and cooperation. It may take some teasing out to uncover the player’s aim in an interaction (don’t be afraid to ask) and see what is taking place. It may be helpful to think of the action as being encapsulated in the conversation fragment that reveals the aim and method of the action.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Managing the Mini-Games – Chapter 4 – HYOOTRD RPG Game Master’s Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

ROLLING THE DICE

Once you have queried the player, figured out what the player wants to do, how they want to do it, whether it is possible, what consequences are attendant upon it, how many steps are required to achieve it, how difficult it is to accomplish, and what skill should be used, it is now time to call for a dice roll.

The player will roll the dice. Add any modifiers supplied by their level of skill and subtract any modifiers that apply because of the degree of difficulty.

If the player rolls a twelve or higher (after all the modifiers have been added and subtracted) that means the action the player wanted to take has been successful.

If the player rolls an eleven or lower (after all the modifiers have been added and subtracted) the action has been unsuccessful.

We’ve already noted that rolling the dice determines a simple failure or success state (rolling a twelve is as good as rolling a twenty for the purpose of determining a success and rolling a one is as good as rolling an eleven for the purpose of determining a failure) and that you might want to call for a consequence roll to determine the extent of that failure or success.

In interpreting the outcome of a player’s action, the dice roll represents the sum of all factors influencing player success; skill, knowledge, dumb luck, the interference of active and passive elements of the environment (things and people), the strength of any obstacles, and the emotional state of the character. This allows a deal of room for GM creativity to be employed. It may be that the character simply failed because they weren’t good enough at performing the action… but it also might be that other significant factors intervened. You may decide that the failure of the dice roll means that the player simply wasn’t good enough at climbing to get up the rocks beside the waterfall, or you may decide that the rocks are too slick with moisture to provide effective purchase for climbing. In this way, the dice roll can rewrite the world to an extent.

At first blush, this has big implications for whether you will allow repeated attempts at actions. But remember, if you are rolling the dice at all, you should already have established consequences for failure such that repeated rolls are unnecessary. If the player could simply try again and again until successful, then the actions should have been declared an automatic success.

RESOLVING ACTIONS

Now that you have the result of the dice roll, it is time to return to narration. Here you communicate the result and the consequences to the players.

First, tell the player whether the action succeeded or failed and why. Add the consequence that follows from this. Provide any exposition the scene may require. Reset the scene. And lastly, query whether there are any other actions the players wish to undertake.

For players to effectively make actions within the world of the game, they need to be able to predict and understand the outcomes of their choices. For this reason, it is important that you tell players, not only that they succeeded or failed in an action they have attempted, but also why they failed or succeeded. This information assists players in making future decisions and is therefore essential.

You should always try to include the consequences (including long-term consequences) that follow from the players’ actions in your resolution description. It is the simplest and easiest means at your disposal for letting the players know how their decisions affect the world around them. Withholding this information short-changes players in terms of the immersion they can experience within the world and minimizes one of the key rewards of role-playing (to have a meaningful and significant impact on the game world through our choices).

As part of the resolution, you may need to provide the players with some exposition by which you explain what they have discovered or role-play the reveal of information to the players. Make sure that all relevant and important information is communicated.

Always reset the scene. This is accomplished by highlighting any changes that have occurred as a result of the action attempt, describing again where the players are and what they are doing. Be sure to state whether the dramatic question of the scene is still open or not. This is an invaluable prompt that helps players refocus their attention and determine whether the scene is over or not, prior to asking them what they wish to do next.

Once the scene is reset we return to querying what the players wish to do next. As before we are concerned with discovering the players’ goals and the methods they wish to employ in pursuing them. This process (querying the players, adjudicating their choices, communicating the result) is repeated until the scene is concluded and it is time to transition out of the scene.

Don’t try to pre-empt player choices. The players may choose to rest, or ask more questions, or attempt to placate the angry shop owner or make some purchases. Simply present the situation anew and let the players state their intentions once more.

“You attempt to climb the moisture slicked rock-face but it is too slippery to find adequate purchase (attempt-result and reason). The sound of pursuit is drawing ever closer and it does not appear you can escape the canyon using your current method (consequence). You still stand at the base of a waterfall that blocks the end of the canyon you have been fleeing down. The hunters that have been pursuing you are now much closer to your position (reset of scene). What do you do now? (query)”

“You threaten the shopkeeper and, fearing for his safety, he quickly hands over his ledger, showing you what Mr. Smith bought in the shop (attempt-result and reason). The shopkeeper is a popular man in town and you can see from the bitter set of his mouth that he is likely to make trouble for you in the town from this point on (consequence). The shop has quickly emptied of patrons leaving you facing the shopkeeper alone. You have the ledger before you. It reveals that Mr. Smith has ordered (and paid cash up front for) a new piece of lab-equipment, specifically a centrifuge used to separate chemical components (exposition). Having obtained what you asked for, the door to the street stands open behind you and a rear exit can be seen behind the counter (reset of scene). What do you do next? (query)”

MANAGING TROPES

Adventure tropes are not generally lethal in nature. They are exciting, common, features of adventure tales, that, while potentially harming our heroes, rarely result in their deaths. Instead, they add flavor. They are great as the stuff of cliff-hangers so always be ready to end a play session at the point where the heroes crash their car in a chase, or land in the death trap or the bridge snaps beneath them. Such moments are great opportunities to create that Old-Time-Serial feel.

Now some readers may be thinking, “where’s the challenge in non-lethal tropes?”. It’s a fair question, and look, if you really feel it is important to make the tropes you employ in your game genuinely lethal, go ahead and do so. But making them non-lethal doesn’t mean they can’t be meaningful and involve real consequences for the players. Make sure there is always something at stake, some obstacle to overcome, and some consequence for success or failure. The consequence doesn’t have to be instant death in order to be serious and worth avoiding.

Death-traps

Here’s a little-known secret regarding death traps. Ready? You don’t have to design them with a way out. All you really need to know about death traps is (and don’t ever let your players know this) that death traps don’t work. Listen to any radio play, read any pulp novel, or watch any action/adventure movie and it will become quickly apparent to you that death traps don’t work.

Death traps serve a purpose in games but almost never as a means of killing off the players. They are a way of signaling that the story is moving into the third act. They serve as a means of allowing the villain to gloat over the players and give away his super-secret plan in a ridiculously short-sighted monologue. They serve as a way of upping the tension. But they DO NOT serve as an opportunity to kill the players.

Knowing this saves you from having to come up with a fatal flaw in your death trap that the players can exploit to escape.

Huh? How does not having a way out of the death trap make it easy for the players to escape?

Well, it doesn’t make it easy, but it does stop the death trap from being tied to the discovery of that one thing you planned that will make the death trap fail. Instead, almost anything the players come up with will work (so long as it is at least a little plausible). But how do you stop it becoming so easy that the death trap never seems like a threat?

Easy, you alternate between these two simple pieces of advice, using the first on one occasion and the second on the next, back and forth as often as is required.

Instance 1: The second useful idea the players come up with works and defeats the death trap.

Instance 2: The first thing they try works but they must add something to the action to complete it.

You can spring escapable death-traps on your players for years without them ever realizing that it isn’t their own cleverness that has been saving the day.

By the way, this doesn’t mean that death-traps can’t hurt you. They most certainly can. Characters are almost certainly going to be injured by the trap. It’s just that the trap won’t kill them so long as they make a reasonable effort to get out of it.

Be sure to make the event meaningful as well. Escaping the trap should have consequences and real jeopardy.

Remember a death trap is still a scene. What is the player goal (beyond mere survival)? What obstacles stand in the way? What happens if they succeed quickly/slowly/loudly/quietly/etc.? What is the resolution?

Environmental Hazards

Environmental hazards are another staple of radio adventure; boiling mud pools, rivers of lava, quicksand, sandstorms, rickety rope bridges over gaping chasms, landslides, earthquakes. Treat them in much the same way you would a death trap – as an obstacle to slow or hurt the players, but generally not to kill them.

Falling from a rope bridge into a chasm is generally going to kill a player. When the rope bridge snaps, make sure the player has the opportunity to grab onto something and swing into the wall. They’ll take damage but they won’t be killed. Likewise, getting thrown through the cockpit window of a plane. If a fall does happen then determine whether it is a lethal fall or not. A non-lethal fall (say from a second-floor window) is going to do damage but not kill. Treat non-lethal falling damage as the equivalent of club or rock damage (2 wounds). If a lethal fall occurs, then a player may need to cash in their opportunity to cheat the odds, landing in a fortunate haystack or a cushioning bog that leaves them injured (see above) but alive.

It is a good idea to have a few “safety nets” planned for such exigencies. Guide ropes hanging from the bottom of the balloon or Zeppelin may be a good way to save the life of an otherwise doomed character. Some passing driftwood, when dumped in the ocean, may likewise. If the lava is about to overwhelm the player standing on the rock, have the rock break loose and allow the player to surf it to safety (scorched and burned (4 wounds) by the experience.

Again treat the hazard as a scene and make it meaningful. Generally, hazards are obstacles. What do the players want that is driving them to cross the lake of lava? What obstacles lie in their way (the hull of their vessel is melting; geysers explode up around them showering them in boiling magma etc.)? What consequences are attendant on their success (they find fresh tracks and realize they are approaching the place of sacrifice)? What happens if they are forced to turn back (it will take two days to skirt the lake and their quarry may be lost)?

Capture and the villain monologue

“Argh! You shot me, right in the monologue.”

A near-universal feature of radio adventure is the villain monologue. It is a good idea, from the outset, to impress on players the fact that it is no bad thing to be captured and hear the villain out before escaping and spoiling his fun. It is often in the midst of capture that the heroes finally uncover the villain’s plan. At that moment when the villain feels he has triumphed and now has the characters at his mercy, our bad guy, stupidly overconfident, prepares to reveal all… and then one of the players shoots him.

Incredible as it may seem, one or more of your players are highly likely to value getting a clear shot at the bad guy over finding out all the important information you’ve buried in the monologue, especially if you decided the bad guys were too incompetent to search the characters and remove their weapons before the encounter. There are a few common ways around this (and you should try to plan things so the monologue can be delivered safely). You can always have the bad guy address the players through a loudspeaker from a control room behind bulletproof glass etc. But eventually, you will be caught out. The best thing to do is ensure there are other sources for the information you were hoping to share; the villain’s journal, an as yet unsent communique to the villain’s henchmen, and/or a fellow prisoner who can fill the heroes in.

The “villain monologue” is a form of scene resolution, but don’t be surprised if your players turn it into a scene and prove to be their own worst obstacles. The section on preparing mysteries below will give you more on the importance of redundant sources of information.

Puzzles

Puzzles are another common feature of radio serials. Resist the temptation to use the characters’ passive abilities to determine the answer to puzzles. Puzzles are part of the challenge of a roleplaying game. If the players can’t uncover the solution then let the consequences of failure follow. But don’t substitute a dice roll for player smarts. Yes, the player may be representing a character with a brain the size of a planet. And yes the character’s ability to decrypt alien languages may have revealed the puzzle. But the players should be the ones to solve it (or not as the case may be).

CONCLUDING SCENES

Remember we said earlier that when you set the scene you should identify the dramatic question that needs to be resolved? The dramatic question is your guide to when a scene has been concluded and it is time to move on. While the dramatic question remains unanswered the scene has tension and excitement. Once the question has been clearly answered the excitement of the scene disappears. It is the sign that the scene is complete and a new scene needs to begin. Never continue a scene after the dramatic question has been answered. This will only bore your players.

The final decision point in every scene is the moment you ask the players what they wish to do once they have decisively achieved, or failed to achieve, the objective within that scene. Be on the lookout for the markers that indicate the scene is over: the dramatic question has been answered, the available options have been reduced to zero, and/or the conflicts in the scene have all been decisively resolved.

The players understand the scene has concluded when they respond to the “what do you want to do next question” by choosing an exit out of the scene.

Don’t be afraid of your players coming up with a unique, fast, and unanticipated means of answering the scene’s dramatic question. If you are doing your job properly you present the players with a situation and leave it up to them to attempt to get through it using any actions that they choose. If you pre-judge that they need to get through a particular scene by engaging in a fight you are failing in your job. The players might decide to drug the wolves that are on their trail rather than fight them. If you don’t have any preconceived notions about how the players are supposed to achieve their objectives, you will manage the scene more effectively and respond more flexibly to your players’ actions.

As the players progress towards their objectives, the number of choices available to them diminish until either the objective is achieved or the opportunity to achieve the objective has been missed. Unfortunately, players (and GMs) sometimes fail to realize that the number of available answers to the question “what do you do next?” has been reduced to none.

This occurs most frequently in situations of social conflict. The players are trying to convince a shopkeeper to help them but have accidentally insulted her to the point that there is no way she will ever give them assistance. The scene is over, but the players fail to realize this and keep on trying to find ways to get the shopkeeper’s cooperation.

In such circumstances, it can be helpful to have an explicit scoreboard to refer to (see mini-games below). Combat, for example, uses wounds to keep score. When a participant has had enough wounds inflicted upon them, they lose the combat. The presence of a scoring mechanism is very useful as something to point to in order to make it clear that the dramatic question of the scene has been answered.

That said, there will be times when the fact that the scene’s question has been answered is lost on the players. Here you will need to be explicit and spell things out for them.

The following may prove to be a helpful model to follow when ending a scene. Once you realize that the action that ends the overall scene has been undertaken and resolved (with consequences), re-state the objective of the scene, recap the main action that has taken place, and explicitly state that the objective has been met or missed. You then highlight some of the exits out of the scene and ask the players what they intend to do now. Give the players a chance to rest, loot the bodies, do some minor book-keeping (give out experience if you think it is worthwhile), heal and dress wounds etc. , and then transition to the next scene.

“You set out to clear a path to the three doorways on the opposite side of the chamber. After a short but ferocious battle, the giant spiders which blocked your path now lie dead at your feet – what do you do now?”

“You came into the shop hoping to win the shopkeeper’s assistance. After an involved conversation, a number of unintended insults have led her to conclude she will NEVER cooperate with you. The exit to her shop beckons and it is clear she is only a moment or two away from calling for the assistance of the constabulary – what do you do now?”

Normally there are multiple exit points from a scene. But if all the decision points within a scene have been used up and only one option remains (namely, leave the scene through the only available exit), you should quickly narrate the exit. Don’t present players with artificial choices where the only choice is obvious.

“When you entered this room your intention was to clear a path to the lone doorway on the opposite side of the chamber and now the giant rats that blocked your path lie dead at your feet. A quick search of the room reveals nothing but a few gnawed bones (birds and bats most likely). You make your way through the exit”.

Once the exit from the scene has been communicated, be sure to take a moment or two to finalize things. Explicitly give the players a chance to dress any wounds, etc., and also seize the opportunity to award any experience points or loot etc.

Now it’s almost time to introduce the new scene and begin the process all over again. But before we do that we need to manage the transition between the current scene and what is coming up.

TRANSITIONING

A transition is just a phrase or couple of quick sentences that mark the movement from one scene to another. A transitional phrase can be as simple as “You walk into the next room”. It doesn’t have to involve a new location though. It could introduce some new action in the same location. “The door bursts open and six ninjas pour into the room”. It can also be used to pass over time. “Three days later you arrive in Paris.”

A good transition will acknowledge the end of the previous scene, the players’ choice of exit, and indicate the change from that scene to a new scene. “Having killed the spiders you choose the exit on the left and walk through”.

The transition is preceded by the conclusion of the previous scene and the players’ choice of an exit to take and is followed immediately by the narration required by setting the next scene.

The intention behind a transition is to move the players to the next meaningful scene. A meaningful scene is one which presents the players with choices that matter. “Do you keep traveling?” is not a meaningful choice. Always transition to the next point of meaningful decision (locations or events that present players’ with decisions that have consequences for their story). When the next scene has been set, the question “what do you do now?” needs to have an interesting answer.

CONCLUDING THE SESSION

More often than not, your adventure will take more than one session to complete. This means you will want to manage the ending of the session carefully. You could just finish when your time runs out, but that is, frankly, one of the least satisfying ways to end your gaming session. Where possible you want to end on a major story beat – that is, a significant story moment that has some significance for the plot.

Make sure you can see the time during your session. Have a clock handy, or a watch, or another timepiece so that you can see when the end of your session is approaching.

Never run over time. In fact, aim to always finish early. It is always better to leave players wanting more than it is to leave them tired and wondering when the game is ever going to end.

When you see the end of the session approaching, you will want to start looking for an appropriate place to end. As stated above, some places in the story make better endpoints than others.

Good story-beats to end on include after a major success (where a significant goal has been accomplished), after a major reversal (where a significant disaster has struck – often presented as a cliff-hanger), and just after a new goal has been introduced (another form of cliff-hanger).

If the adventure itself ends, that is a special case, discussed below. But if the session ends with the adventure unfinished, look for one of these moments to end on, provide a quick summary of what has been achieved and learned during the session and bring the game to a halt. “And that’s the end of our session” is all the transition out of the game that you need. Pack up, thank your guests for coming and show them out.

Your work doesn’t end there, though. You need to make a record of the events of the session while they are fresh in your mind. You also need to make a record of any experience points earned during play (again while the events of the game are fresh in your mind.

Experience points should be awarded for the achievement of objectives, moments of heroism, and the solving of puzzles. Generally, you do not want to award more than 10 points per player in any given adventure (10 points being sufficient to earn a journal cover representing the publication of the adventure in the Journal of the League of Adventure Seekers).

CONCLUDING THE GAME

When a game comes to an end (that is when the objective of the game has been achieved or missed), a final bit of narration is required.

If the game ends in a victory for the characters, those who survive need to be given the aftermath of the story. As usual, you don’t want this to be long (just a few sentences) but the story has to have a resolution in which all the loose ends are tied up.

The players must return to the place where the call to action (where the goal of the game) was communicated to them. They must receive, or be reminded of the rewards they have won. And they must learn about the consequences that flow from the conclusion of the adventure.

If the game ends in defeat, the content of the final narration is a little different but the broad pattern is the same. The surviving players must return to their starting point. They receive any rewards they have earned and must be reminded of the rewards they failed to get. And they must learn of the consequences that flow from their failure.

Lastly, if the game ends in the players’ total destruction (as can happen from time to time), the final narration should simply inform them of the consequences that result from their failure.

Eg. If the kidnappers are defeated: “You return safely to the township of Harper’s end (return). The town fete’s you for several days and your fame is spread far and wide (rewards). The kidnapped children, a little thin, but otherwise unharmed, are returned to their relieved parents). The kidnapping ring is destroyed, and while it will take some time for the children’s nightmares to end, the townsfolk can sleep secure in the knowledge that this threat has been permanently removed (consequences).”

Eg. If the kidnappers escape: “You return safely to the township of Harper’s end. There are no parades in your honor resulting from this adventure. The townsfolk stare at you with grief-stricken and disappointed eyes. The kidnapped children are never seen again and few will ever sleep easily in their beds here ever again.”

Eg. If the players are destroyed: “You die, lost in the secret lair of the kidnappers. The kidnapped children are never seen again and the evil kidnapping ring continues its reign of terror, preying upon the innocent, enriching itself on the misery and grief of simple farming folk. Your own disappearances are left unremarked – strangers lost to strange happenings in a time of great sorrow.”

FUTURE SESSIONS – PREGAME

Pregame there are a number of things you want to make room for. You need to provide room for people to have a bit of a catchup – this is a social experience after all, and friends want to have time for a quick chat and catch up on the week’s news. When the preliminary schmoozing is done you want to take care of any book-keeping that is required. Hand out any experience points from the previous session and healing etc. earned by the players. Give them a chance to advance their characters if they wish. You want to do all this at the start of the current session (not at the end of the previous session) if at all possible. Then it is time to transition into the game itself with a recap.

RECAPS

In an ongoing game, the recap at the beginning is an important element that you need to get right. It is also rather dull (being exposition). That said, there are ways to make this chore easier.

The reason recaps are important is two-fold. Firstly the recap is a chance for you (given your knowledge of where the game is going) to emphasize the important information from previous sessions that will be relevant in the current session. Player memories are notoriously poor (even about the sessions you have felt were astonishingly gripping and memorable). They also, perhaps even often, latch on to elements that are less than essential to the plot. The recap is your chance to emphasize what is important.

Secondly, the recap helps players transition into the game. It signals that the game is beginning and helps players move out of the “Hi everyone, let’s catch up” mode they are in when they arrive and enter the “hi everyone, “I’m in character and ready to participate” mode of the game itself.

Don’t skip over that unstructured social time at the beginning of the game. We all participate to be social and catch up with friends. That time is necessary. But when it’s time to start playing, the recap helps us make the transition.

Good recaps take preparation. Preparation for your recap begins at the end of the previous session (or as close to it as possible). You MUST make a habit of jotting down notes regarding what took place in each session of your game as soon as possible. You simply can’t rely on your memory for this. Write down a list (dot points are fine) of the things that happened during the game and keep that list on file for future reference. Your recaps will require you to be in command, not just of what happened during the last session, but also all the sessions that came before it. As such, that reference material will be invaluable.

Be sure you don’t just record the game events from your sessions. Also, include any big reveals (especially as they pertain to the characters). The spontaneous events and revelations concerning the player-characters in the game are just as important as the plotted events and revelations of the game, so make sure you record them too.

In a long-running series of sessions, it is not uncommon for seemingly unimportant elements of the early sessions to take on a larger significance later. This is why recaps don’t necessarily just relate to the last session you ran but relate to the entire history of your game.

Your recap, like the introduction to your opening scene, must begin with the current goal and motivation for the current game. Are the players trying to determine who murdered the head of the Corleone crime family because they want to prevent a full-scale mob war from breaking out? Then remind them of this straight away.

Now remind your players of the important information from previous sessions. The important clues that have brought them this far, the clues they haven’t followed up yet, the major obstacles that are standing in their way, the resources and allies available to them, the progress they have made towards their goal, and any important environmental conditions affecting their situation. Note, this is not about giving the players a comprehensive history of their game. You want to keep the recap short (because, as stated earlier, recaps are important but boring). Leave out EVERYTHING that is not important. Just emphasize those things that are important for the current session.

It’s also important, having communicated the important features of past sessions, that you provide a quick summary of what took place in the immediately previous session. Here you include the big victories, defeats, story beats, and character revelations that happened last time.

Finally, conclude your recap by informing the players of their current location and what options lie in front of them.

Tip: Part of your job is to make sure the players have the relevant information necessary to properly participate in the current session of play. The poor memories of your players are your friend here. If, during actual play (back in a previous session), they found but ignored the important clue that will become important in today’s session, simply pretend they didn’t and include it in the recap. Is this bending things a little? Yes, but if TV shows can do this (and they do) in order to keep the story moving forward, so can you. Remember, it’s your game. Try not to mess with your own continuity too much, but don’t be afraid to place a metaphorical thumb on the scales of your backstory from time to time if you feel that is what is needed.

Tip: Some dot points under the headings “Goals and motivation”, “previously”, “last session”, and “current location and options” can be helpful to have on hand to guide your recap as you begin your session of play.

E.g.

Goal and Motivation: You are investigating the murder of Don Corleone, head of the Corleone crime family, murdered in his central city penthouse three nights ago, and you are trying to uncover who’s actually behind the attack before an all-out mob war starts in reprisal.

Previously: Your investigation of the scene indicates he was killed with a high powered rifle fired from the rooftop of a neighboring building. The rounds are of a kind not seen in the city before, suggesting the shooter may be an outsider (perhaps a contract killer from out of town). The current theory (held by the police and by the Corleone’s themselves) is that this is an attempt by one of the established crime families to muscle in on Corleone turf. The main suspects are the Cordova and the Ingliss families (who stand to gain most by the break-up and absorption of the Corleone territories). However, some cryptic references in Corleone’s private journal suggest there may actually be a new criminal organization maneuvering things in the background.

Last Session: Last session you were warned off the case by some thugs claiming to be members of the Cordova family and had an uncomfortable interview with the mayor (who seems to be trying to micro-manage your investigation) that suggests she is in the pocket of at least one crime family, maybe more. Following up some leads of your own, you were shot at while interviewing a contact in the black market about how and where unique guns and ammunition might be smuggled into the city. Your contact was killed, but not before identifying Pier four at the city docks, controlled by the Cordova clan, as the main place that weapons enter the city. After a short chase, the shooter escapes into the city’s sewer system.

Current Location and options: You’ve decided to visit pier four and now stand at the gate. It is only an hour until the curfew that local police are enforcing as they prepare for the expected mob war.

There are numerous armed guards patrolling the dock and two large, surly, armed, and somewhat twitchy thugs who are manning the gate have just finished asking you what business you have on pier four. You need to give them an answer…

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Advanced Play – Part 3 – Chapter 3 – HYOOTRD RPG GM’s GUIDE appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

QUERYING YOUR PLAYERS

When you have presented the scene to the players it is time to find out what they want to do next (query them). The easiest way is to simply ask. “What do you want to do?” is a perfectly satisfactory way to begin eliciting the actions your players want to carry out. You are interested in two things in particular and, until you have them, you may need to ask a few clarifying questions.

Firstly you are interested in what the player wants to achieve – “get over the fence” – “convince the mayor to release the prisoners” – “smash the mind control device”.

Secondly, you are interested in how the player aims to achieve this – “using a rope and grappling hook” – “using threats and intimidation” – “hitting it with a hammer”.

Without both of these bits of information, it is impossible to adjudicate the outcome. Without both pieces of information, you will not be able to determine how to adjudicate the outcome.

You have to know how the player is going to attempt to get over a fence before you can call for the appropriate dice roll (or even decide if a dice roll is necessary). You have to know what the player is going to use the hammer for before you can decide whether the action is successful or not.

If the player is being ambiguous, keep asking questions until you are confident you know what they want to do and how they are going to go about doing it.

Don’t allow players to simply call for a skill check (e.g. “I want to roll my psychology skill”). Always explore further and determine what they hope to achieve and how they hope to achieve (e.g. “I want to determine if the Mayor is lying by closely watching his body language”). The players tell you what it is they want to do and how, but it is up to you to determine what skill check(s) may be involved.

There’s no hard and fast rule about who gets to go first declaring their actions in a game. You can simply go round the circle asking players to state their actions one at a time, or you can ask them according to some kind of marching order. You can deal with one group of players first, and then another. You can let players volunteer their actions on a first come – first served basis. In combat, the order is determined on the basis of an initiative roll. So long as everyone gets their say, it really doesn’t matter.

Don’t worry if players start to modify their actions in light of what the other players are doing, even after they have told you what they wish to do. No action is ever really set in concrete until the dice are rolled or you declare a result. Just keep going until everyone is satisfied that what they wish to achieve and how they wish to achieve it has been communicated and understood.

Generally speaking, you will want to resolve actions as soon as they are clearly identified rather than waiting for everyone at the table to state their actions before beginning adjudication.

ADJUDICATING ACTIONS

IS IT POSSIBLE?

Is the outcome that the player is looking for possible? The first thing to work out is whether, given the result of your query, the constraints of the world you are playing in, the action the player wishes to undertake is even possible. A lot of things impact this. Generally, you will want to err on the side of treating most actions as possible. The world of radio drama is (and I am aware of the irony of using this term) cinematic. This means that the action is heightened for greater excitement. Players can crash through glass windows without being cut to ribbons. They can swing on chandeliers without the apparatus giving way under their weight. They can smash a chair or bottle over the head of an opponent. All these things are actually fairly implausible in the real world but are commonplace in cinema and radio drama. Be careful to be consistent in the way you bring your world to life. If you decide magical fire can be put out, be consistent and don’t arbitrarily decide on another occasion that magical fire is magical and therefore can’t be put out.

Next, determine whether the method the player wishes to use could actually work. It might be possible to get across the chasm, but it may not be possible to simply jump it (a rope, bridge or other means may be required). If it is clear that the action being attempted, or the method the player chooses to use to attempt it, can’t possibly succeed then the action fails.

When an action the player is attempting is impossible, there is good reason to believe that a misunderstanding has occurred.

“I want to leap over the edge and attack the spear throwers in the riverbed.”

“You leap over the edge and are killed by the fall”.

“Wait, what? How big a drop is it?”

“Two hundred feet”.

“But I thought it was just a low embankment”.

Don’t let situations like the above happen. If a player attempts an impossible action, probe a bit further to make sure they understand why the situation is impossible.

“I want to leap over the edge and attack the spear throwers in the riverbed.”

“The embankment you are standing on is nearly 200 feet above them. Are you sure that’s what you want to do?

“What, no. I thought it was just a low embankment. I get my rifle out and sight it at one of the spear throwers who looks in charge”.

Sometimes a simple clarification is enough.

“I try to jump the chasm.”

“You can see that the chasm is too wide for that to be possible. You’ll need to find another way over”.

Sometimes the player doesn’t know an action is impossible because they have encountered something new. In such cases it is fine to play out the consequences, just make sure you explain the reason to the player.

“I try to put out the magical fire by smothering it with a blanket”.

“You try to smother the fire, but, try as you might, it keeps burning. The magical nature of the fire makes it impossible to smother.”

Regardless, if the goal or the method used to achieve it are impossible then the action fails.

CAN IT FAIL WITH CONSEQUENCE?

If the action that the player wishes to undertake (the result of your query) is possible, then you need to decide if there is a chance it can fail or not. Actions that are possible without any chance of failure just happen.

Actions which can be repeated indefinitely until they succeed (even if there is a chance of failure in any given attempt) also just happen. The exception to this is where the action that is repeated is likely to draw attention that will interrupt further attempts or where there is a specific time limit (ticking clock) in place.

For example, there is no reason you should ask players to continually attempt to open a door if there is nothing to stop them from eventually succeeding in opening it after repeated tries. In such a case the attempt should simply succeed. If however, a regular guard patrol is likely to interrupt them if they don’t succeed quickly, or if their chosen method of opening the door (say, breaking it down with an axe) is likely to attract unwanted attention, then there is a good reason to treat the attempt at the action (opening the door) as uncertain.

Once you know whether the action is uncertain and failure could occur, you need to determine whether there are significant consequences that follow from the failure. For example, leaping a pit that opens onto a 30-foot drop onto razor-sharp spikes has a significant consequence if the player fails. A leap across a pit that is only two feet deep and can be simply climbed out of on the other side with ease, has no significant consequence attached to it, even if the leap itself might prove unsuccessful.

Don’t call for a dice roll where there is no chance of failure, where repeated attempts can be undertaken freely without interruption, or where the failure is inconsequential. In any of these cases, the action should automatically succeed.

CONSEQUENCES

It’s only worth calling for a dice roll when there are consequences, so it is essential you have a clear idea of what those consequences will be before you call for a roll.

Sometimes the consequences of success and failure are obvious. “You negotiate for a good price on the shotgun and manage to get it for way under cost.” “You fire your rifle at the villain and miss”.

At other times you will want to have consequences that are dependent on the extent of the success or failure. In this game, this is determined by the use of a consequence roll. The consequence roll for a success is the difference between uncovering all the information you were looking for and getting some nice hints. The consequence of a failure is the difference between simply being unable to open the door, and tripping the silent alarm, or bringing the automated countermeasures online. Beware, however, of ridiculous consequences. Remember that, in as much as the guideline is important for player actions and reactions, it is equally important when considering the behavior of a piece of the world (a non-player character, item, or element within your world) that you determine whether the action being taken is possible. You may be tempted to treat a catastrophic consequence roll in such a way that it results in a particularly humorous or ludicrous result, but, if the result you determine is impossible, it will break the verisimilitude of your world. Don’t do this.

The consequences of an action, whether successful or not, alter the world in some significant way. They can be immediate or long term with regard to how the players experience them.

Consequences are usually attendant on the method used by the players to achieve the goal. Smashing a door down, rather than picking the lock, is noisy and may alert guards or the inhabitants of the room being entered etc. (an immediate consequence). Threatening a well-liked shopkeeper to get information might result in the animosity of the town’s entire Chamber of Commerce, making future interactions very difficult (a longer term consequence).

Successful actions can have negative consequences and failures can be beneficial. Threatening the shopkeeper can gather the information being sought but makes it more difficult to gain cooperation elsewhere in town. Failing to pick the lock may mean the guards remain unaware of the players’ presence in the complex.

The important thing is that you have decided on the consequences and that they flow from the method used by the players to achieve their goals.

Tip: It can be useful to think of outcomes in terms of, what some people refer to as, a hierarchy of consequences;

• Yes, and: the action succeeds and a positive consequence applies.
• Yes, but: the action succeeds and a negative consequence applies.
• No, and : the action fails and a negative consequence applies.
• No, but : the action fails and a positive consequence applies.

DOES THE ACTION NEED TO BE BROKEN DOWN INTO SUB-ACTIONS?

Actions are generally simple – fire a gun, jump a crevice, climb a wall, throw a punch. As such they don’t take much time. In combat, this is built into the system. Sometimes, however, it is tempting to break the action down into a number of dice rolls. While this is perfectly allowable, I would recommend against it most of the time. If the player expresses what they want to achieve and how they want to achieve it, you should only need a single dice roll to resolve it. However, if you feel the action being attempted is complex you can break it down into multiple actions.

For example, the player might say they wish to fire on the enemy from the cover of a nearby cliff. It would be perfectly reasonable to ask how they wish to reach that cover (as an action) before resolving the shot (in the next round if reaching the cliff is successful).

When a declared action is more of a process made up of smaller actions, work backward from the goal to arrive at each of the steps;

Fire on the enemy <— Get behind cover <— Climb to the ledge <— Run to the cliff wall.

Clearly communicate the steps you believe must be completed to achieve the goal to the player. It is possible they expected the action to be much simpler and may wish to alter their declaration accordingly. That is fine and the player should be allowed to change their action. No action is set in stone until the dice are rolled. And no player should ever be forced to undertake an action that was not genuinely their intent.

Successes here count as progress towards the goal. Failures interrupt that progress and demand that the player adjust either the method they are using or the goal itself.

Remember there should be consequences attendant on success or failure, otherwise, the step should be treated as an automatic success (or possibly shouldn’t exist at all).

If the player who wishes to do fire from the cliff-face is setting up an ambush and there are no opponents or other reasons why they are likely to be interrupted, then the process of getting into position on the ledge should probably be treated as a simple action with an automatic success. If, however, there are obstacles in the way or the scene is dynamic and changing in such a way that new factors are constantly intruding upon the action (lava is flowing across the floor, or a pitched battle is occurring in the space the player must cross), or the enemy is approaching such that getting into position is a race against time, then treating the action as a process requiring multiple dice rolls with consequences attendant on each success or failure is totally appropriate.

HOW HARD IS THE ACTION?

Generally speaking, most attempted actions can be assumed to be easy. That is, while it is possible to fail at them, they can be attempted and completed by anyone.

Player characters within the world of radio are considered to be exceptional by default and so they attempt most actions with their action-bonuses unaffected.

Despite this, even actions deemed possible by the GM can vary in terms of their difficulty. Difficult actions are harder to complete and attract a penalty to dice rolls (applied after any other bonuses have been added).

There are a total of 11 grades of difficulty that can be applied to actions. Most of the time, actions are standard and require little effort to identify, but sometimes you may want to think a bit more deeply about the level of challenge that the action your players wish to undertake presents.

Below is a chart that can be used as a guide to the penalties to be applied for different levels of challenge.

The chart isn’t exhaustive, but merely a guide. You will have to estimate the amount of challenge that different activities present – BUT if you define the majority of challenges as easy, then you won’t go too far wrong.

Easy: This action can be completed by anyone (running, playing chess etc.): no penalty.

Standard: A typical physical or mental challenge (outrunning pursuit, solving a logic puzzle): – 1 to dice rolls.

Difficult: All difficult physical or mental challenges (winning a championship sprint, beating a chess champion): -2 to dice rolls.

Challenging: Some very difficult physical or mental challenges (placing in an Olympic sprint, achieving grandmaster rank in chess) : -3 to dice rolls.

Very Difficult (levels 1 to 3): All very difficult physical or mental challenges (winning an Olympic sprint, beating the world champion at chess): from -4 to -6 to dice rolls.

Extreme (levels 1 to 3): Some extreme physical or mental challenges (winning an Olympic sprint by half the length of the field, beating the world champion at chess in the minimum possible moves while blindfolded): from -7 to -9 to dice rolls.

Titanic: All extreme physical or mental challenges (outrunning, on foot, a car full of Tommy-gun wielding gangsters while snatching bullets out of the air with your bare hands, beating 5 grandmasters at chess while blindfolded and at the same time deciphering an alien language): -10 to dice rolls.

PASSIVE SKILLS

One class of skills requires some special explanation. These have come to be known as passive skills and relate to things the characters passively know already rather than actively learn. The characters that the players assume for the purposes of the game often know things the players themselves do not. A player might play a chemist with a grasp of six languages and the ability to differentiate seventeen different types of tobacco ash even though in the real world he or she never engages in science, can barely speak the mother tongue, and doesn’t smoke. When such a player encounters a letter written in French it is typical to ask for a skill roll to determine if it can be read. However, you might want to handle it quite differently. You wouldn’t ask players to roll the dice to determine if they can read their mother tongue (it is assumed they can), neither does it make sense to call for a roll of the dice to determine whether they know things they have already learned as part and parcel of gaining a particular skill – and a dice roll always impedes the flow of the story. Instead, you might rather assign the knowledge a specific difficulty (from 0 to 10 based on how common or archaic the dialect etc.). On the basis of the character’s skill in French, as represented by the number of dots they have put into the skill, you can determine whether they can read the letter simply be comparing their skill with that of the difficulty you have assigned to it. So long as you have the characters’ ability scores written down in front of you, there is no need to roll the dice.

Likewise, on entering a location, you could call for a perception roll to uncover anything the players notice that is out of the ordinary. Alternatively, you could simply compare the players’ perception skill to a predetermined difficulty score in order to determine what they see. What they see could then be incorporated into the scene setting exposition without the need for a dice roll.

WHAT SKILL WILL THE PLAYER NEED TO EMPLOY TO COMPLETE THE ACTION?

You should make sure you have a list of the players’ skills and abilities in front of you throughout the game. Because players invent their own skills (if you are not using pre-generated characters) it is essential you know what they are and how they work. It is also important that you have discussed them (and their limitations) with your players prior to play.

Most of the time, the skill needed to accomplish an action will be fairly obvious. In fact, characters in a game set in the world of radio drama are assumed to be able to do most things unless they require specialist training, even if they haven’t listed those things as specific skills. All characters can, for example, try to pick a lock, hot-wire a car, or improvise a bow and arrow. If they haven’t listed such a skill then simply assume they can attempt it as if they have a single dot in it.

Skills that require specific and lengthy training need to be listed specifically if they are to be attempted. While anyone can be expected to know how to maintain a car, and while heroes in the world of radio drama can be expected to be able to conduct basic repairs (at one dot), they probably can’t build a car from the ground up using parts found at the scrap yard without a suitable skill being explicitly listed on their character sheet.

Part of determining whether the action is possible is figuring out whether the character wanting to take the action actually has the skill to accomplish it. You should already know if the action is possible, if the skill is one the character can use, and, where the skill is not part of the character’s explicit skill list, how difficult it is.

But what if there is more than one relevant skill to choose from? In this case, choose the skill that will give the player the highest chance of success. In deciding to call for a dice roll you should always err in the character’s favor.

Sometimes a player will suggest a skill they wish to use. This is okay, in so far as it goes, but ultimately it is your role as the GM to decide which skill is the most appropriate to be used to achieve a specific goal via a specific method. If the player says “can I make a perception check to see if there are any hidden compartments in the cupboard?” they’ve indicated the goal (find hidden compartments) but not really a method of achieving the goal. By asking what method the player wants to use (“I smash it open with an ax”) you can assess whether the dice roll they wish to use is appropriate or not – “Okay, I don’t think perception is what you want here, roll the dice using your ax-manship skill”.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Advanced Play – Part 2 – Chapter 3 – HYOOTRD RPG GM’s GUIDE appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Preparing for the Game

Being prepared (preparing) is the key to running a good game.

Select a game that is appropriate for your group. Is your group made up of seasoned adventurers who are committed to long-term gaming? You may want to open a campaign. Is your group made up of newcomers who are just learning how to play for the first time? You may want to select a “dungeon crawl” style of game to get things going. Are your gamers hard pressed to find time for gaming? You may want to choose one-shot episodic games that people can plug themselves into as their schedules allow. Remember, your job is to provide a fun experience for your players, so choose with them in mind.

Be sure you have carefully read over your game notes (even if it is the sample game that came with this book). You will certainly be forced to think on your feet at times during the game and knowing your notes well is what will get you through those moments. Ensure you have any maps, handouts, and reference sheets ready before your players arrive.

Make sure you have a space ready for the game; table, chairs to comfortably seat your players, paper and pencils, dice (if your players don’t have their own), and, if running a game for the first time, some pre-generated characters for them to choose from.

It’s also helpful to have some drinks and nibbles (chips, chocolates, what have you) on hand to help break the ice.

Don’t be too quick to start the game (especially if the group is new). Allow people a bit of time to get to know one another, catch up on news, and generally chat.  When your newest player is making jokes and looking relaxed, that’s when you are ready to start the game.

If it is your first game together, have everyone go around the table and introduce their characters. Start with the most experienced players and ask each to briefly introduce their character’s name and a little bit about themselves.

Eg. “I’m ‘Texas’ Tim Hampton, and I’m a two-fisted archaeology professor who likes to solve problems with his fists, whip, and six-shooter” or “I’m Professor Thadeus Observer, an elderly inventor who would prefer to spend all my time in my library if it weren’t for the fact that I am constantly being called on to participate in various adventures” etc.

Now it’s time to start. Set the scene and let the fun begin.

INTRODUCING THE GAME – THE OPENING SCENE

Let’s start by looking at the skill of introducing a game to your players. You’ve gathered a group of players at your table, given out or generated some characters, and made sure you know the scenario/module that you wish to run. What next?

Well, now you have to begin the story and that means you need to narrate the opening scene.

According to the very brilliant Scott Rehm (one of the go-to people in gaming for advice on running games), the opening scene has to accomplish four things.

1. It has to gather the adventurers together.
2. It has to provide the goal of the adventure.
3. It has to provide a reason for pursuing that goal.
4. And it has to provide the players with some clearly marked exits out of the scene and into whatever scenes come next.

Gathering the adventurers

This is only necessary the very first time a group of characters comes together. In future games, they will have a history, but in the first game, they need to be introduced to one another. If you have engaged in character generation via the rules in our Players’ Guide then the characters will already know each other and have an imagined history in the world. Let the players introduce themselves to each other (a sentence or two, that describes the character and their connection to the group will do). Now they must be provided with a reason to meet. That reason tends to be one of only a handful that is commonly presented.

The players are presented with the adventure at the request of a third party – they are hired to complete a mission, they are given a mission by an authority that they can’t or generally won’t refuse, a bystander requests that they complete the mission – or the mission is requested by a member of the group – a member of the group has asked everyone to gather to help accomplish a particular goal.

Regardless of the reason chosen for gathering the players, the scene begins with that gathering, and the reason for it needs to be communicated (quick and to the point is best). Once the characters know that they have been gathered by the League of Adventure Seekers in order to take on a special mission, or that the mayor has requested a meeting with them, or that Wild Bill Buckshot (a member of their team) needs some assistance, it’s time to tell them the goal.

It’s worth pointing out, here, that in the setting we have built for this game, we suggest that all player characters should be members of the League of Adventure Seekers.  The League is committed to saving the world from all manner of threats (mundane, supernatural, or even alien) and provides a great in-world means for assigning missions to your team.

The adventure’s goal

The goal of the adventure is the measurement that the players will use to know whether they have “won” or not. When the players can say “I know we’ll have succeeded when…” and can complete that sentence, then they know what the adventure’s goal is. If they have no clear idea of when the adventure will be over, then they don’t understand the adventure’s goal. Again, quick and to the point is best.

“The mayor informs you that his daughter has been kidnapped and asks that you rescue her.” “The League has received solid information that the Sky Pirates of Languedoc intend to reign fiery death upon the city of Paris and must be stopped.”

“Wild Bill Buckshot has come into possession of a treasure map and wants your help in recovering the valuables.”

“General Wexford offers you $5000.00 each if you will travel to an Amazonian plateau and return with a live Pterodactyl.” Etc.

In each of these cases, the goal identifies a victory and defeat condition for the game.

To win the mayor’s daughter must be returned safely, Paris must not be destroyed, the treasure must be recovered, or a Pterodactyl must be captured and returned to civilization. To lose the group must simply fail to rescue the mayor’s daughter, Paris must burn, the treasure must be lost, or the expedition must return empty-handed.

It’s okay for the initial goal of the adventure to change later on as the story develops. But for now, in order to get the game underway properly, a goal (even a temporary one) MUST be communicated.

Motivations

The opening scene needs to provide motivation for the characters. There are two sets of motivation that you need to be concerned with when beginning the adventure; the motivation of the characters, and the motivation of the players. Of the two, the players’ motivations are the more important. Players will always drag their characters along with an adventure if they find the adventure motivating regardless of how motivating (or otherwise) they feel the adventure is for their characters. As such the opening scene needs to present the players and their characters with both a reason why the characters would want to pursue the goal and why the players would want to play the pursuit of the goal. This reason is always the thing that is most cool about the adventure, the promise regarding what the adventure will give the players and their characters.

Characters are motivated by three things; external rewards, ideals, and internal rewards. External rewards are things like money, treasures, fame, artifacts, etc. Ideals are abstract notions such as justice, kindness, fair play, world peace, etc. Internal rewards are concerned with self-actualization – becoming the world’s greatest swordsman, or mastering a skill etc.

Generally speaking, it is better to observe what a player (and by extension the character being played) does during play than listen to what a player says about what motivates them.

Players tend to be motivated by challenge, discovery, immersion, story, and clear (achievable) objectives.

Challenge refers to difficulty. Some players are never so happy as when they are facing difficulties, solving problems, or defeating challenges.

Discovery is provided through a sense of mystery and the presentation of the unknown.

Immersion occurs when players can enter into the world of the game, in character, and make meaningful choices within it.

A story is motivating when it is well structured with a clear and satisfying beginning, middle, and end.

And of course, the presence of clear and achievable objectives also motivates the players.

The last three motivations (immersion, story, and clear and achievable objectives) are part of the natural promise of a role-playing game and don’t need to be labored particularly.

You also don’t need to present players and their characters with every type of motivation in the opening scene of your game, but you do need to present and emphasize the major motivating factors.

The Sky Pirates of Languedoc are a challenging foe (challenge) who threaten the peace and safety of the world (ideals).

The hunt for the Pterodactyl requires an expedition into the unknown (discovery) in order to bring back a prize (external reward).

The recovery of the mayor’s daughter will require the solving of the mystery of her disappearance (discovery) and the honing of the group’s investigative abilities (internal reward).

The treasure hunt promises riches (external reward) but another unscrupulous expedition has already set out to recover it (challenge).

Try to remember that your sales pitch for the game (and that is what the motivation is – a sales pitch) doesn’t have to be long. A sentence or two is fine.

Exits

Once the players know what they are trying to achieve and why they are trying to achieve it, you need to give them some clearly marked exits out of the scene and into the game proper. Essentially, when the scene is over the players should know what their options are regarding where to go next. These options will, by their nature, not be exhaustive, but they should, regardless, be obvious and clearly communicated.

“General Wexford has chartered a boat to take you up the Amazon, leaving early tomorrow morning. You now have eight hours to engage in any research you feel is necessary or gather any equipment you wish to take along before meeting at the docks at 7.00 am.”

“The mayor offers you direct access to the crime scene and explains that the files of the investigating police officers are at your disposal”

“The informant who contacted the League about the sky-pirates is a member of a black market smuggling ring with contacts in the underworld. In particular, she may be able to point you to anarchists and bomb makers who are supplying the pirates with their explosives.”

“The treasure map suggests there are clues to be found to the treasure’s exact location at the Castle of Greymalkin, and at a ring of standing stones located in Sherwood Forest.”

In conclusion…

The opening scene, as a scene, can also pull “double duty” allowing exploration, interaction, exposition etc. (see later). The scene can be framed as an action scene, or as a mission briefing, or as a mystery or as a dramatic scene containing character choices etc. The important thing, however, is that the scene explicitly and clearly accomplishes the four goals listed above and that it is short and to the point so that players can get on with the fun stuff of playing the game.

Tip: When you are preparing the opening of your game, jot down the reason for gathering, goal, motivation, and exits related to the first scene. If you are using a published module and it is missing any of these elements, invent and record them.

Eg.

Reason for gathering – General Wexford has invited you to his club in order to make a business proposal.

Goal – He is offering $5000.00 each as a reward for traveling to an Amazonian plateau and capturing a live Pterodactyl.

Motivation – If you go you will be the first to explore this mysterious region. Fame, fortune, and adventure will be yours. It is not without challenge, however, as a rival expedition has already set out.

Exits – Wexford is placing his personal library at your disposal for the undertaking of any research you might desire, but points out that he has chartered a boat to leave at 7.00 am tomorrow morning. You may now engage in research, gather equipment you wish to take on the journey, or simply get a good night’s sleep, so long as you are on the dock at 7.00 am sharp.

NARRATION

As noted earlier, narration (telling your players about stuff) is one of the essential skills of being a Game Master.  Essentially narration, while playing a role in setting the mood, tone, and pace of a scene, concerns itself with communicating important information to the players.

INFORMATION CATEGORIES

There are a number of different types of information that you will want to take note of in your preparation, broken into two categories.

Obvious information – by obvious information, we mean, things that players and their characters would notice as a matter of course; things which have not been deliberately hidden from view.

Hidden information – this is information that is either deliberately or incidentally hidden from view. Deliberately hidden information may be behind a secret door, under a floorboard, or within a secret compartment. Incidentally, hidden information may simply be inside a box or cupboard. Hidden information can be found when someone looks for or examines the items in which it is contained.

EXPOSITION

Exposition is the basic means used by the GM to tell players the information that is available to them in the scene.

This information could be essential for the completing the adventure, or details within the scene, or backstory, or perhaps even information that foreshadows later parts of the story. As noted above the information may be obvious or hidden.

There are generally two points at which you are engaged in exposition. When setting the scene, and when describing what the characters find in response to exploration, investigation, and examination.

Generally speaking, when you are engaged in exposition you want to communicate the information that the players cannot be allowed to miss. You must provide everything they need to know. To do this you have to understand the nature of the information in the scene. Some published materials break this down for you nicely, but many don’t.

SCENE SETTING

Scene setting is something that can cause even the most attentive of players to lose concentration and drift off. As such it must concern itself with concise, clear, and economical communication of information.

Aim to be brief, don’t use complex language and keep the details provided to no more than three or four.

The imagination of your players is your ally in this. You don’t have to provide a great amount of detail because your players cooperate with you in constructing the world. When the GM says that “upon a hill stood a tall fir tree” the players fill in all that is absent. They don’t merely imagine the tree and hill but the sky and the surrounding atmosphere, clouds, time of day, shadows, grass, dirt, etc.

Narration is used to set the scene, transition from one scene to another, and provide exposition.

When setting the scene you need to provide the players with the scene’s goal, the obstacle(s) in the scene, and information about any exits and objects within the scene to be investigated. Ideally, you should aim to accomplish this in just a handful of sentences.

Start with the general location. Be brief and leave plenty of room for the players’ imaginations. Add a detail or two that help establish the mood and then identify any exits/ways to leave, goals, and obstacles that are part of the scene. It is best to FINISH with the element of the scene that demands the most urgent attention. Players have a tendency to stop listening once presented with a serious challenge, so it is always best to finish with the most urgent matter (in order to make sure it isn’t lost on your group).

Every scene (even an exploratory one) should have a clearly identified dramatic question associated with it. This is a question that motivates the players’ interaction with the scene. In general terms, it is the question “can the players achieve their immediate objective?”

In each scene, this takes a different specific form.

“Can the players find any useful information in the ransacked room?”

“Can the players sneak past the guardian robots?”

“Can the players defeat the wolves that are attacking them?”

Sometimes there are further complicating factors as well.

“Can the players open the door before the room fills entirely with water?”

“Can the players expose the villain while keeping their own identities secret?”

Regardless, the dramatic question is always the players’ immediate objective rephrased as a yes/no question.

The dramatic question that drives the scene is important to know and to communicate to the players as it is your key benchmark for determining when a scene is over. Be aware also, that the dramatic question may not be immediately evident during the setting of the scene. Sometimes it won’t solidify until you have asked the players what it is they are attempting to do, why, and how.

Scene setting is a call to action so be sure the problem to be solved is clearly communicated.

Here’s a quick model.

1. General description (A twilit lounge room in an abandoned house)
2. Incidental details (Heavy dust, and faded and torn wallpaper,)
3. Exits (A door leading to a hallway)
4. Goal (A door leading to the stairs leading to the attic)
5. Items of interest (A locked desk, a lop-sided painting, a rug with a corner turned up, and a walk-in-cupboard – currently closed)
6. Closing emergency/obstacle/dramatic question (An angry specter materializes)

TIP: Use these headings to organize what you are going to say when you introduce a new scene.

TIP: Try to use words in your descriptions that activate at least three senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, even taste if appropriate). These can help your players become immersed in the setting.

E.g. You enter a twilit lounge room, the floor-boards creaking (sound) under your weight. It is covered in heavy dust and has the musty odor (smell) of a place long abandoned. The rough (touch) patterned wallpaper (once vibrant and full of color) has faded (sight) and is peeling away in jagged (touch) strips.

TIP: While it is generally important for a scene to contain an obstacle to be overcome, not every location in a game needs to be a scene in that sense. Locations can provide a point in which the players can rest and take a breath. Try to avoid providing too many general purpose locations, though.

EXPLORATION

Exploration reveals hidden information that can then be revealed to the players. The list of ingredients for a potion that is hidden within a cardboard box lying in the corner of the room can’t be revealed until a player deliberately chooses to examine the box. All information revealed through exploration is intrinsically missable.

If a module has not been designed well, it is occasionally the case that essential information has been hidden from the players. In such cases, you will need to identify that information and place it where it can be revealed as part of the exposition. For example, if the construction of the chemical compound is essential to the solution of the game, but the recipe has been hidden in a cupboard that could easily be missed by the players, you may want to include the list of ingredients as part of the scene’s exposition. Simply change its location so that when the players enter the room they are told they can see a list of chemical ingredients lying on the desk nearby.

INFORMATION TYPES

There are several types of information to be managed within the game

Mandatory information – this is the information that is essential to the running of the game; a clear picture of the goal of the game, the motivation the characters have for taking part, the obvious exits from any given scene, and any obvious information that helps explain the game or things within it. This information should never be hidden from players. Players must also learn the objectives they must meet along the way in order to achieve their goal and the means required to achieve them. Unlike initial scene setting information (that appears at the start of the game), this is information that is seeded throughout the game itself and should be communicated as each relevant scene is introduced.

Assistive information – this is (optional) information that aids in the completion of the game’s objectives. The information can be obvious or hidden but isn’t essential (at least not in any one place). This kind of information is usually seeded throughout the game in the form of clues. A good game will usually scatter (at a minimum) three clues for every conclusion the players are expected to reach. The players are usually called upon to assemble the clues in order to find the right answer. For example, a room might contain three doors above which may be affixed three plaques covered in writing in a strange language. All are locked, two lead to certain death, and one leads to safety. Elsewhere in the complex is an alphabet (the key to understanding the writing), a key to the door leading to safety, and a device that reveals danger. When the device is used the deadly doors glow a cold blue. The key only opens the safe door (and shocks the user if applied to the others). And the Alphabet deciphers the plaques to reveal which is the exit. It is not necessary to find any of these clued (since breaking down each of the doors will reveal the exit) but the clues will make finding the exit far easier.

Background information – this is information that reveals about the events, location, or characters involved in the story. They include things such as the police report on the victims of a crime, the Who’s Who extract concerning a particular politician, the engraving on the temple wall that explains how and why it was built, etc.

Foreshadowing information – information that hints at or tells of a future event that the characters may encounter. It may not be relevant to the game at hand, but it can help set up future scenes and games.

TIP: While you can write out the information in a scene under the headings above, it might be simpler to highlight or underline the information using different colored highlighters or pens to indicate the different information types.

ROLEPLAYING

Acting is not roleplaying. It’ can be an optional part of roleplaying. But it should never be mistaken for an essential part.

Roleplaying is putting yourself in the place of a character and trying to act and react as they would to the situations you are presented with. The GM has to be a role player because the GM stands in for every non-player character in the player’s world.

Acting is a unique talent involving a specific set of skills. Some GMs have them. Some don’t. If you don’t, that’s fine. You don’t have to act to role-play. It really doesn’t matter if you can speak for the characters you play in the first person or the third person. So long as you can imagine what a specific character would do in a specific situation and can communicate that to your players accurately, the lack of acting skill won’t matter.

Clarity is more important than acting.

That said, it is helpful to learn to speak in character and out of character. Some of your players will do this (eg. “I walk up to the bar. Can I have a pint of ale, bartender?”) and some will simply describe what they are doing (e.g.. “I walk up to the bar and ask for a pint of ale.”) and some will alternate between the two.

If you can master this particular ability you will be able to respond to your players in the same mode that they seek to interact with you.

Be natural, even when playing a role. Use the non-player characters that you are running to ask questions of the players when things seem unclear. Use your non-player characters to provide the players with information that can help them. Don’t be afraid to throw in a few leading questions that might lead the players to the next step in their quest etc. If your players throw a question or comment at you that leaves you uncertain how to respond, let your character react as you would. Take a moment to think, stroke your chin, scratch your head, say “hmmm” etc. Just do it in the way your character might.

Tip: To bring your characters to life it can be helpful to write short descriptions of your non-player characters to help guide your performance.

Make sure you know the non-player character’s goal in any scene they are a part of. That goal can be “to get home quickly after a grueling day in the market” or it can be “to kill as many people as possible”. But a goal is needed in order to guide your actions.

You should also give the character a disposition (a reason why the character would want to cooperate with the players and a reason that they would not want to cooperate). For example, the barfly might “want to see the murderer of Katie Blossom brought to justice” but might also “mistrust anyone who won’t have a drink with him”.

Identify a word or phrase that describes their personality (surly, obsequious, fawning, cheerful, brave, stupid, etc.)

Describe one or two distinctive features of their appearance (short, tall, thin, fat, a scar over one eye, a taste for the latest fashions, covered in ashes, etc.)

Give the character a posture or expression. Stooped, straight-backed, nose up, a squint, leering, frowning etc. When you adopt the posture it will help remind you to stay in character.

Give the character a quirk – some kind of habitual physical behavior or twitch. They might always lean in conspiratorially when talking with a player. Their eyes might dart around, constantly looking for danger. They might steeple their hands or fiddle nervously with their hair, etc.

Also give the character a good pause behaviour (to indicate they are in thought), like turning their head to gaze away, looking up and to the left while saying “indeed”, etc. (handy for dealing with those moments where the players ask a question and you need time to think before you respond).

Tip: You can fit all these details on an index card.

Eg.

Name: “Thieving” Nigel Skrat

Goal: To get home after a hard day of picking pockets.

Disposition: Willing to help when there is something in it for him. Generally doesn’t want to get involved in situations.

Personality: Snide, cowardly

Posture: Stooped, furtive, frowning

Quirk: Quick movements, darting eyes, says “yeah” before answering each question (even when the answer is “no”.

Appearance: Ratlike, tatty grey clothes, crumpled hat

Pause indicator: Clicks tongue and eyes dart to upper right.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Advanced Play – Part 1 – Chapter 3 – HYOOTRD RPG GM’s GUIDE appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Three Key Skills

There are three basic skills (fundamentals if you will) that every beginning GM must have…

1. Narration – the ability to set the scene, roleplay the world, report the results and consequences of actions, and transition to new scenes.

2. Querying – the ability to draw out of players their goals and the means by which they are attempting to achieve them when they set out to declare actions.

3. Adjudication – the ability to determine the difficulty, skill to be employed, and the result of an attempted action and the consequences that follow from success or failure.

These skills must be mastered to run a game and, thankfully, they are pretty easy to learn. They basically require you to explain the current situation to the players, ask the players for their actions (and roll dice if necessary), and explain the results of those actions to the players – that basic exchange again. Not hard at all (especially if you have a pre-published module with all this information readily at hand). The more you practice this basic exchange the better you will become at it. The remaining skills (discussed in the remainder of this section of the guide) explain and build on these foundational skills to help you become a better GM.

Game Fundamentals

The fundamentals of running a game are fairly straightforward. The key skills are narration (including roleplaying), adjudication, and pacing (and a bunch of special cases such as introducing scenes, transitioning scenes, concluding scenes, and communicating the results of actions). A further skill is that of improvisation – an essential though advanced skill for managing those moments where the players depart radically from the game you had planned. Each of these skills is considered in detail in future sections of this volume. For now, it is enough to master the basic game interaction…

Tell the players why and where they are. Start at the first scene of the game and describe what happens (Introduce, Narrate, and Role-play).

Ask the players what they wish to do (Query). Make sure you understand what they are intending to accomplish and how.

Figure out the results (Adjudicate) and communicate what happens to the players (Resolve).

Describe the new scene that results (Transition) and keep doing this over and over (Maintain the pace and tone).

When the game reaches its conclusion (the players have achieved what they set out to – or failed) sum up what has happened, thank everyone for coming, and bring the game to a close (Conclude).

Your very First Session

If you are a brand new GM, then this section is specifically for you.

Without meaning to discourage you inordinately, you need to understand from the outset that you will run a bad game to start with. This is perfectly normal and should take most of the pressure you are feeling off you. The first time you ride a bike it is wobbly and you have a high chance of crashing. The first time you run a roleplaying game, it is likely to be bad (at least by comparison to the games run by people with experience). The good news is that your players will probably have a good time anyway. Most players are highly forgiving of someone sitting down in the GM’s chair for the first time.

To make your first game manageable, give it a limited duration – a single session (of three to four hours) with an endpoint that you are not going to go beyond – and tell your players.

Provide the players with pre-generated characters. For your first game, you don’t want to be looking up rules relating to character abilities on the fly. By using pre-generated characters you avoid this frustration and can concentrate on running the game for characters whose abilities you understand and have had time to prepare. The process of creating a handful of characters can also be a good way to introduce yourself to the rules and how they work. It also helps the players keep from getting attached to the characters (making it easier to limit the game to a single session).

Lastly, use a pre-published module or scenario (like “The Temple of the Vetalla” included in this volume) for your first game. If you’re a new GM you want to make it easy to concentrate on learning the fundamentals of running a gaming session. The design of a game from the ground up is an advanced skill that you don’t want to be distracted with, the first time you sit down to run a game. And a pre-published module lets you do this. Players are also more likely to blame the module for the quality of the game than they are to hold you accountable. And it will be easier to say “no” when players deviate too far from what you can manage during the game.

Make sure you communicate all of this to your players (limited time, pre-generated characters, and pre-published module) so that they are committed to playing the same game you are going to run.

The next point is obvious. Get to know the rules of the game and get to know the module you are planning to run. Understand the rules in their basic form, but also revise a few areas in detail. Specifically, revise the section on getting things done, combat, and magic.

Be sure to read the module through in detail. Read it all the way through at least once and be sure to skim it as near to the game’s start as you can. You’ll know you’ve read it enough if you can explain to yourself, out loud, the basic run-down of what happens in the module during play.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post FUNDAMENTALS – CHAPTER 2 – HYOOTRD RPG GMs GUIDE appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Chapter 1: The Job of the GM

The primary responsibility and characteristics of the GM

In the introduction to our player’s guide (an essential resource that you should read before attempting this volume), we mentioned that Role Playing Games are a form of dialog. Remember the fundamental exchange we quoted;

GM: What do you want to do?

Player: I want to do X.

GM: When you attempt that <<often requiring dice rolls>>, this happens… What do you want to do?

Well, where our player’s guide was aimed at helping players understand and engage in the player portion of the conversation, this GM’s guide is intended as a guide to Game Masters.

What is a game master, you ask?

A game master is responsible for everything that happens in response to player actions. Where players are responsible for the characters they play, the GM is responsible for everyone else the players encounter, as well as being responsible for bringing the world to life for the players, and adjudicating the rules and dice rolls that make the game possible.

But even beyond these things, the GM has one MAJOR responsibility, and that is to ensure everyone at the table has fun.

Understood in this way, the GM’s role is utterly pivotal to the success of the game. Not only is the GM responsible for bringing the story to life, but also acts as referee, guardian of fairness, smoother-over of ruffled player feelings, and maintainer of a positive table.

Daunting isn’t it?

Still, it is also incredibly rewarding. Seeing your group of players have fun and leave the table talking about the great game they had (possibly for years to come if you “knock one out of the park”), watching your idea for a story come to life, or seeing that off-the-cuff character you invented to meet an unexpected game circumstance take on flesh and blood, all these things are hugely rewarding and creative endeavours.

They are also a lot of work, and being a good GM requires commitment and lots of practice.

But, right now, we want to focus on some fundamentals. The primary characteristic of a good GM, beyond creativity, and a willingness to work hard, is… unselfishness.  If you are primarily concerned with how the GM’s role meets your own needs, you are going to fail to run an effective game at the table.  Below are some common mistakes, beginning GMs make by misunderstanding this key point.

If you see the role of the GM as a competition between yourself and the players, your players will NOT enjoy the experience and you will have failed in your primary responsibility. It’s an easy trap to fall into, particularly if you are a competitive sort- seeing yourself as being in competition with the team of players at the table and seeing it as your job to “beat” them – but the GM’s job is not to “beat” the players.  It is to be the facilitator and impartial referee of an unfolding story.  If you turn the game into a competition in which you set out to be the winner, then you might be thoroughly enjoying yourself, but no-one else will be.  The power to shape events inherent in the GM’s role far outweighs that of any group of players.  If the GM is adversarial in his/her approach then the players don’t have a chance (and will find the experience miserable).

Creative types can be selfish too.  If you see the role of GM as a means of showing off your creativity by telling your carefully crafted stories in such a way that you corral your player’s choices to the point they are merely the passive audience for your genius, your players will NOT enjoy the experience and you will have failed in your primary responsibility. Players want to take part in the story, shaping it through their actions and making it their own via their own choices.  If you are determined to be the sole creative force in the game, then you will stifle and limit the choices made by your players for the sake of your own vision of what direction the events should follow.  This will frustrate your players (who will feel like they are not contributing anything meaningful to the experience and, regardless of how good a story you are telling, will feel (rightly) that they are not being allowed to participate.  A roleplaying game is a game and not a book.  Interaction and participation is key.  If you limit interaction for the sake of your vision of the story, you might be thoroughly enjoying yourself but no one else will be.

Watch out for the desire to be in charge as well.  Being a GM does require a fair degree of people management skill.  You are responsible for getting the game happening, keeping the players focused, etc.  It can be a heady feeling to be in charge.  But if you indulge in the role just to be in charge and fail to put in the work necessary to entertain your players, you will quickly gain a reputation for running a joyless table.  If you see the role of GM as primarily one of being in charge, and you are unwilling to put in the work necessary to provide a great experience for your players, your players will NOT enjoy the experience and you will have failed in your primary responsibility. You might be thoroughly enjoying yourself but no one else will be.

If however, you look beyond yourself and see the role of the GM as hard work, true, but a creatively rewarding task aimed at ensuring everyone at the table has fun, then your players will love coming to your table, and you will have met your primary responsibility… and by choosing the path of unselfish GMing you will have found the key to your own enjoyment as well.

If you want to help your players enjoy themselves at your table, then this book is for you.

Getting a game together

Old hands at role-playing games generally have an established network of players to draw from (and should feel free to skip over this section) but if you are new to RPGs this section may be helpful in gathering your first table.

Typically role-players are awful at explaining their hobby to others without sounding like they are from Mars. You’ll want to avoid doing a bad job of this, if at all possible.

Let’s assume you have some friends that you want to invite to your table for a game (four to six players works best). There are definitely some things you want to avoid doing.  Don’t start explaining the rules (your listeners will be lost after 10 seconds), don’t explain why it’s fun (people can figure that out for themselves), and don’t monologue (whatever their interest level you will turn them off with a monologue). Instead, following the advice of Scott Rehm (the Angry GM – who developed these questions) present a really quick pitch and give them the opportunity to ask questions.

“Hey, I’ve got this great new game I want to try out. In it, you are like Indiana Jones or those folks from the Mummy movies and you have a mystery/adventure to solve or quest to complete (like “find the kidnapped heiress” or “prevent the sacrifice from going ahead on Skull Island” or “discover the lost treasure of Ubar”). Are you interested?”

Then allow them to ask questions.

Make sure your answers are short and to the point (avoid explaining the rules in detail, explaining why it’s fun, and monologuing as before) and say just enough to prompt more questions.

Q: So how do you play?

A: It’s pretty straightforward. All the players (except one) choose or create a heroic character that they are going to represent. The remaining player is the game master and takes responsibility for running the game. The game master will explain where you are and what’s happening. For example, the game master might say “You’ve entered a wide cavern which is dotted with the mud huts of a colony of lizard people. There are plenty of stalagmites around the edge of the cavern that could provide cover and you can see a tunnel that leads out the other side. Suddenly a scaly lizard creature steps in front of you brandishing a spear, what do you do?” You then explain how you respond. Maybe you run for it, maybe you draw your gun and shoot the creature, or maybe you try to talk to it. The options and variations are up to your imagination. The game master will then determine how that works out (usually with the help of dice) and explain how the situation has changed giving you a new opportunity to act.

Q: So what’s the point of the game?

A: To complete the adventure (you know, explore the caverns, rescue the fair maiden, defeat the bad guy, find the missing treasure, or solve the mystery).

Q: How do you win?

A: If you complete the adventure you win, if you die or the villain gets away, etc. you don’t.

Q: How do you die?

A: At the start of the game you have a number of wound points. Every time you are injured you lose some. If they go below zero you die. You can heal them back up during the game as well.

Q: How do I know what I can do?

A: You can do anything you think of (that fits with your character). If you’re a pilot, for example, you can fly a plane. You can also do any ordinary things you can think of (run, jump, fight, swim etc.). Often you have a specific set of skills that you are good at and you roll a dice to see if you succeed at them.

Q: Is it complicated to play?

A: There are a lot of rules, but players don’t have to know many of them. It’s the game master’s job to know the rules and figure out what is happening. Players just need to use their imaginations and work together to accomplish the goal of the game.

Q: How does the Game Master know what happens?

A: The game master has a set of notes to guide the story (telling him or her what challenges are that you will face etc) and the game master also has a set of rules to use to determine how your attempted actions will work out (usually by rolling dice).

Q: Is the Game Master the bad guy?

A: No. The game master is responsible for the details of the game, creating the challenges etc. But the game master isn’t the bad guy. He ensures everyone has fun and that the challenges are fair, but doesn’t try to kill you.

Q: That sounds fun. When can I play?

A: How about coming over Thursday for a game, say around seven o’clock.

Don’t feel you have to answer all those questions. They are just examples. Just remember to be short and to the point, and the moment the person you’re talking with indicates the idea might be fun, give them the invitation.

Understanding player needs

Believe it or not, different types of players get different things out of role-playing. If you are just starting out, you may not have much of an idea what kinds of gamers you have in your group. They may be a homogenous bunch or they may be really diverse. Regardless, over time you will need to get to know what drives them and what you need to do in order to ensure the game is enjoyable for them.

Here are some typical player types (from a list developed by Robin Laws in his book “Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering”)…

Soldiers: Some players love combat, dice rolls, and stats. They need at least one good fight in every game in order to stay engaged.

Treasure Hunters: Other gamers are all about “really good loot”. If they don’t feel like they are building up their personal stockpile of wealth and cool gadgets, they feel the game is somehow flawed.

Specialists: Some players are all about building the most awesome character they can, specializing in the powers and abilities of their archetype and specialization in order to become (in game terms) famous and world-renowned. If they can’t increase their abilities they feel thwarted.

Character Actors: Some players play in order to get inside their character’s heads. They want to live the adventure, feel the drama, face choices that have significance for them personally and spend some time in the spotlight with regard to the plot (having it connect directly with their character’s lives).

Tacticians: Still other players look for tactical challenges, a chance to sneak their way through things and outwit their opponents. If they never have the chance to feel clever, they find little else to satisfy them in a game.

Storytellers: Some players are at your table for the story. They want a beginning, middle and end (even if it is only on an episode by episode basis) and grow bored with long meandering “open worlds” and “sandboxes”. They love twists and sub-plots and intriguing characters. They love huge story arcs and intimate little subtexts.

Social gamers: Then there are some for whom the game is actually secondary and the game is just an excuse to get together with friends. For these folks, the pre and post-game catch-up is the most rewarding part of gaming.

There are probably more than these few types and they certainly overlap to an extent. You probably fit into one or more of these broad categories yourself and some of them have a tendency to conflict.

Players who are into story and character tend to feel irritated by players who are focused on the mechanics of character building and loot acquisition (and vice versa). Players who love a good fight tend to find themselves irritating the players who like to get tactical and sneak around the combat opportunities. And the social player is just there to chat and laugh (irritating the more serious players who want to just get on with things).

As the GM it is your job to see that everyone has fun. This means, when designing games, that you need to share the spotlight around, focusing on the story here, a character there, having a good fight here, beating a tactical challenge there, presenting a puzzle here, providing opportunities to increase abilities there, and find cool loot here, while making it a fun social occasion to play.

It sounds pretty complicated, but in practice, most games will deliver this variety without too much effort.

Gamers also differ with regard to the kinds of things they enjoy in games.

Some gamers enjoy having access to really nice playing materials and props, others enjoy the sense of immersion the game provides, some enjoy the story the game creates, others enjoy overcoming obstacles, while still others enjoy the social opportunities the game provides. Some players enjoy learning new things (about the world, their characters etc., sometimes even the rules), others like the chance to be creative (in expressing the character they are playing and solving problems), while still others enjoy playing for the distraction it provides from everyday life.

None of these sources of enjoyment are necessarily exclusive either. They all overlap and can appear to different degrees in different people. It is helpful to know this, both for understanding the needs of your players and for helping to recognize that there are lots of reasons a particular game may not be delivering the specific brand of “fun” that a player is looking for. Not everyone wants what a role-playing game delivers and so there is no reason to necessarily decide that their departure from a game is your fault.

Remember the most important part of being a GM. You are there to try to ensure everyone at the table has fun. Knowing your player’s preferences will help you. Try to run a well-rounded game with lots of general appeal, but don’t beat yourself up too much if your game doesn’t deliver for everyone equally.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post THE JOB OF THE GM: PROVIDE FUN – CHAPTER 1 – HYOOTRD RPG GM’s GUIDE appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Chapter 8 – Victory or death

The story so far (An ending)

Episode 6

Dr Herbivore strategically forces some of the stonework in the side of the well loose at a height just below that of the bottom of the cage.  The cage falls the last inch and rests on the bricks.  The cage sinks no further and the three of them are left standing knee deep in the briny darkness.  Slowly the chain slackens and sags above them. Malefice quickly conjures up some light and Jake looks at the rusted looking hatch above them along with the padlock that holds it in place.   It is a standard pin barrel tumbler lock and he is certain he can make short work of picking it.

“Boost me up” he asks Dr Herbivore.

Herbivore gave him a dirty look and boosts him up onto his shoulders.  “You could do to loose a little weight, you know?” he says.

“And you could do with being a bit taller”.

A few moments of creative cursing later and the lock is opened.  It takes short work to climb the chain onto the cage’s roof, but the climb up the chain to the surface looks long and tortuous.  Jake looks down at the others and offers to climb up and see if he can find some controls to bring the cage up.

The climb is just as arduous as it looks, but at the top the well opens into a darkened control room. It is short work to find the lever that bring the cage back to the surface.  The well itself is situated inside a large shed of some sort.  Malefice gasps in shock when they step outside.  They stand in the grounds of the Mayor’s residence.  The Necromancer is none-other than the mayor of the city.

Diverting just long enough to call the police, Nick, Dr Herbivore and Malefice charge into the Mayor’s private study.

Mayor Green, who is giving  instructions down the telephone line, looks up in shock.  Jake slugs him in the face with jarring force before he can speak, afraid he will attempt to use a spell on them.  Dr Herbivore immediately moves to inject the mayor with his own special magic retardant serum.

“That should hold him” he says smugly.

In the mayor’s desk, Malefice finds a list of warehouses around the city.  “I’ll bet these are where the barrels of Pathogen have been stored.”

“Good work team”, said Jake.  “I think we’ve just saved the city”.

Heroic Deaths

Roleplaying games, for all that you are participating in a form of cooperative story-telling, are still games.  As such your character can, and just may, die.

In good adventure stories and radio serials the death of a character is never trivial.  It is always a moment covered in glory; tragedy, true, but also glory.  As a result players who die may still perform one last free heroic action.  This action is one that they may put all their remaining hero points etc. into (converting them to damage) in order to shine one last time as they go down in history.

Example

Malefice has received a mortal wound in the fight to prevent Count Otto Von Schaffendorf from escaping with the kidnapped Princess Olga.  The Helicopter is powering up and many henchmen lie between the heroes and their target.

Malefice thinks for a minute and elects to use her free final heroic action to throw her knife and try to jam the coupling on the helicopter’s rotars.    The throw is a success.

The GM solemnly intones “As the last of her life’s blood ebbs away, Malefice succeeds in disabling the helicopter and preventing Count Otto’s escape.”

Cheating the odds

Once per adventure a player may cheat the odds.  A player cheats the odds by redeeming an event where “all is lost” (one of the characters would normally be dead or something catastrophic would happen). This allows the character who falls off a cliff to catch a branch on the way down and survive, or having been thrown from a plane without a parachute land in a haystack, or have the metal cigarette holder in their pocket catch the fatal bullet or otherwise defeat the odds in a borderline miraculous or overly convenient manner typical of over-the-top heroics and daring-do.

This cannot be used to undo a major plot event.  It merely makes an event survivable that otherwise would not be.

Example

The rope bridge beneath Dr Herbivore’s feet gives way and he plunges towards certain doom.  Rather than rolling a skill check to grasp the falling rope and swing to safety, he cashes in his opportunity to cheat the odds once in this adventure, and swings against the chasm wall.

Plot Devices

The Game master may trump a “Heroic Death Action” or trump an attempt to “Cheat the odds” with a “Plot Device” if the heroic moment would significantly derail the story.  A Plot Device is merely an event that the players would normally be able to prevent that the GM makes happen in order to forward the story or plot.  Some adventure tropes (such as being captured by the villain) are such a part of the radio-adventure experience that they ought to be allowed to play out for the story to remain appropriately adventurous.

When a “Plot Device” is enacted, however, all players gain an extra hero point as compensation (whether they currently have their maximum number of hero points or not).

Example

Dr Frankenheimer’s mutation machine is mutating dozens of animals into monsters and throwing them at the heroes with no end in sight.  Jake has been mortally wounded and wishes to use his dying action to wreck the machine with a hand-grenade.  The GM is aware that if the machine is destroyed outright the heroes will lose their capacity to return the Princess Olga (trapped elsewhere in the castle in mutated form) to her original shape.  The GM might choose to let the consequences of this play out, but in this instance feels future plotlines depend on Olga’s rescue and applies a “plot device”  to modify Jake’s action so that rather than resulting in the total destruction of the machine, the grenade bounces to one side blasting through its power supply.  The machine has been prevented from operating further (Jake’s goal) but can be repaired later to heal Olga.

All players gain a free hero point as a result.

The rewards of play

Participating in a roleplaying game is enjoyable and rewarding in itself.  But there are rewards built into the game to allow your character to improve at things over time.  This growth in ability over time is measured in experience points.  Whenever you achieve a game related goal you earn experience.  For every 10 experience  points you earn, you gain  your own magazine cover-story in the journal of the League of Adventure Seekers.  You can then trade these covers in for new abilities or improvements in skills.

Experience is tallied by the GM and distributed at the end of each discrete adventure or episode.

At the end of each adventure the GM will also give away a bonus experience point for role-playing, and each player can award a single point to any other player at the table for any reason they choose (a cool action in game, excellent roleplaying, saving their life etc.).

A new skill costs two journal covers.

A one dot improvement in an existing skill requires you to spend covers equal to the current number of dots in the skill.

The maximum number of wounds you can take before being killed can also be improved by spending covers equal to the current number of wounds you can take.

Example

Jake earned 23 experience points in his last adventure.  This means he is featured in two covers of the Journal of the League of Adventure Seekers.  Jake really wants to improve his Perception skill (currently 2 dots) and spends 2 covers to raise it by 1 dot to 3 dots in total.  The remaining 3 experience points are carried forward into the next adventure.

A Final Note

There you have it; all the rules necessary to participate as a character in a fun Radio style adventure.  If you wish to run games as a GM however, you will likely want to read the GM’s guide (containing tips on running your first game, adjudicating dice rolls, narrating action, pacing scenes, designing scenarios, making combat sizzle, building memorable NPCs, inventing challenging yet fair death traps and puzzles, and much more).  Enjoy!

That was the final chapter in our Players’ Guide Rulebook.  We hope you enjoyed it.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Victory or Death – Chapter 8 – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles.

The story so far (Captured)

Episode 5

Jake awakes to find his face lying in a puddle of lapping water.  He spits slightly as he sits up.  The water tastes of salt; the sea, perhaps. Malefice and Dr Herbivore lie nearby.  He props them up to keep them from drowning and takes in his surroundings.  They are in a cage sitting in approximately an inch of water.  Suddenly the cage sinks an inch further with a jerk.  A light switches on and a voice, electronically disguised, begins addressing them through a loud speaker.  The light, wetness, and noise are enough to bring Jake’s companions around as well.

“I see you are all awake” the electronically masked voice begins.  “Don’t bother looking for a way out.  You are currently locked in a cage that is slowly being lowered down a well into an underground grotto of sea water.  Little by little you are going to drown and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Even through the disguised speech the malevolent delight at their predicament is obvious.

“You aren’t the first to die inside this chamber, you know.  It might interest you to discover that my business partner, the famous mobster, Franco Gionelli, predeceased you by only a few days.  I am now in sole control of his criminal empire.”

The laugh which follows sounds insane, full of crazed delight.

“Sadly, Gionelli proved unexpectedly squeamish.  He was not in favour of my plan to release a plague on the city and use the resulting depopulation to blackmail the country.  Naturally, I can’t risk allowing you to stop me either.  Once the country sees the sheer scale of the death I can bring down upon its head, no city will dare refuse my demands. “

This time the laugh sounds even more unhinged.

“I, you see, am The Necromancer, master of life and death and soon to be overlord of the world.  You, are mere bugs to be squashed beneath my feet.”

The cage drops another inch and the light suddenly goes out.  Unless they figure something out fast, Jake, Malefice, and Dr Herbivore will die from drowning, lowered slowly, inch by inch, into the water until at last they are submerged.

Death Traps

Death traps, like cliff-hangers and chases, are a staple of adventure story telling.  Capture by the villain is rarely as terrible as it might seem (and often proves quite advantageous).  When a villain has you, supposedly, in his power, he is far more likely to spill the beans regarding his final plan.  Being captured is a great way to gather information.  But of course, once the villain captures a hero, that hero is likely to be consigned to a death trap in fairly short order.

At first glance this may seem like a terrible thing, but villains are surprisingly bad at employing their overly elaborate mechanisms of death against heroes.  There is almost always a simple means of escape if the hero can but find it.

Don’t let the presence of a death trap phase you too much.  In a well-designed game there is always a way out.  Use your skills and don’t forget to be whacky and inventive.  You never know what idea is going to save the day.

Example

Jake, Malefice, and Dr Herbivore are in a cage being lowered down a well into an underground grotto of salt water.

Dr Herbivore examines the structure of the cage.  Rolling a success in the use of his perception skill he discovers that the bottom of the cage is hinged and that the salt water has been corroding the hinges.

Malefice successfully creates a light source for the group with her magic revealing the crumbling stonework in the walls of the well.

Jake attempts to pull one of the stones out of the side of the well.  He is successful and begins smashing at the hinges.  Another successful roll and they give way allowing the trio to swim down into the grotto where an underwater passage leads, via a short swim, into the sea.

Puzzles

Unlike obstacles that require skill rolls to overcome, sometimes a game may present players with real world puzzles (riddles, word games, math problems etc.).  In such cases the players will need to actually solve the puzzle to succeed.

Example

Jake, Malefice and  Dr Herbivore approach a large (and apparently immovable) stone door.  The door contains a three by three panel.  Each segment of the panel contains a series of 9 holes. Some contain pegs some do not.  On the floor, littered about are a bunch of pegs.

Jake realises that this is a puzzle lock.  The puzzle is a magic square where the pegs in each section  represent numbers.  To solve the puzzle the players must place pegs in the three empty sections so that the numbers vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, can be added up to equal 15.

The solution would appear as follows

or

When they add the right number of pegs to each space the door opens.

Hazards

Another mainstay of adventure is the hazard.  The rotting rope bridge across the chasm, the stepping stones across the pool of boiling lava, and the rockslide or avalanche are all examples of hazards that you might encounter.  Sometimes (as in the case of trying to outrun an avalanche, the lava flow of an erupting volcano, or the wall of water created by a collapsing dam wall)  these might be resolved as a non-sentient chase (where the pursuing force of nature progresses at a single increment at a time).  Others, such as navigating the rotting rope bridge, might require the application of one or a series of skill checks.

In the case where a chase mechanic is used to resolve the hazard, the result is typically serious injury (if not death) in place of capture.  Likewise failure to navigate a hazard using skill checks will likely result in serious injury (or death).

Note also that hero deaths are never trivial (see next chapter).  If a character is going to be overwhelmed by the lava, then part of the GM’s job is to ensure that the death occurs achieving something important.  Heroes never merely trip and fall to their deaths; they sacrifice themselves protecting others, fight their way to the switch that turns off the lava flow before succumbing etc.

Example

Dr Herbivore is the last to attempt to cross the rope bridge and is currently cursing his timidity.  Each person who crossed before him has weakened the bridge slightly.  It may hold, or it may not.

He rolls the dice to attempt to maintain his balance as he crosses, trusting to his luck.  He rolls a 13 +1 (balance) = success and gets half way over.

Another roll is called for to travel the remainder of the way.

A roll of 6 +1 (balance) is not a success.  The bridge has been so weakened by the passage of the group that it snaps under Dr Herbivore’s weight.

Dr Herbivore grabs the rope of the bridge as it falls away beneath him, hoping to be able to swing on it across to the chasm wall.

He rolls a 15 +1(swing) to succeed but takes a point of clubbing damage when he strikes the rock wall.  Now he must successfully climb up to his companions.

He rolls a 10 +2 (climb) in order to succeed.

Safe and sound, he stands once more among his companions.  It was a close call though.

NEXT TIME: Chapter 8 – Death and Victory.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright <a href=”http://www.weirdworldstudios.com”>weirdworldstudios.com</a> and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Death Traps, Hazards, and Puzzles – Chapter 7 – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

An Example Chase

Round 1

The players and Lizard people elect to make standard chase actions in round 1.

Navigation phase 1

On the obstacle table (see charts following this example) a 15 is rolled indicating an unbreathable gas pocket has been encountered.

The players will need to hold their breaths to get through this obstacle. This is a new skill, one they haven’t been called upon to employ before, so they only have +1 in it.

Jake rolls a 10 +1 (holding breath) = 11 fail.

Dr Herbivore rolls a 19 +1 (holding breath) = 20 success.

Malefice rolls a 13 +1 (holding breath) = 14 success.

The Blue Wren rolls a 5 +1(holding breath) = 6 fail.

Dr Herbivore and Malefice both advance one increment each. The others maintain their position on the chart (being unable to progress as quickly through the gas) and take 1 wound each.

The pursuing lizard people roll 11 +2 (skilled) = 14 success. They also advance one increment.

Action Phase 2

Dr Periodical and Gerald may act in this round. They target their pursuers with their weapons and fire upon them using their shoot skills of +2 and +2 respectively.

Dr Periodical rolls 10 +2 (for shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 11 miss.

Malefice rolls 14 +2 (for shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 15 hit. She rolls a 2 on 1d6 doing normal damage of 3 points.

The lizards HP pool is reduced to 31 as one of their number goes down.

The lizards elect to make a single attack and target Nick (determined by the GM) attempting to club him in melee range.

They roll a 3 +2 (-1 for fighting on the run)  = 4 miss.

End of phase 2

Navigation phase 3

On the obstacle table a 17 is rolled indicating that a flock of bats is disturbed.

The players elect to use their dodge skill to avoid the bats.

Jake rolls 11 +1 (dodge) = 12 success.

Dr Herbivore rolls 10 +1 (dodge) = 11 fail.

Malefice rolls 15 +1 (dodge) = 16 success.

The Blue Wren rolls 13 +1 (dodge) = 14 success.

Each of the players except Dr Herbivore advances 1 increment.

The pursuing lizard people roll 9 +2 (skilled) = 11 fail. And remain where they are.

Action Phase 4

Jake, Malefice, and The Blue Wren are at range and shoot at the lizard folk.

Jake rolls 7 +4 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 10 miss.

Malefice tries to add an obstacle to her opponents by firing at the ceiling to cause a rockfall and rolls 10 +2 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 11 miss.

The Blue Wren rolls 9 +2 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 10 miss.

The lizard people are unable to act this round.

End of phase 4

Round 2

The players elect to engage in standard actions while the Lizard people decide it is time to be a little reckless.

Navigation phase 1

On the obstacle table a 12 is rolled indicating that the players must climb a cliff ahead of them.

The players elect to use their climb skills (Jake +1, Dr Herbivore +1, Malefice +1, The Blue Wren +2)

Jake rolls 7 +1 (climb) = 8 fail.

Dr Herbivore rolls 19 +1 (climb) = 20 success.

Malefice rolls 19 +1 (climb) = 20 success.

The Blue Wren rolls 18 +1 (climb) = 19 success.

Dr Herbivore, Malefice, and The Blue Wren all advance 1 increment while Jake remains in place.

The lizard people have chosen to take a more reckless path up the cliff in the hopes of gaining an extra increment or two.

They roll 10 +2 (skilled) (-2 reckless)  = 10 fail.

The players all gain an extra increment because of the lizard people’s failure..

Action phase 2

Despite gaining an increment from the recklessness of the lizard people, Nick’s own fail prevents him from acting this turn.

Dr Herbivore, Malefice, and The Blue Wren try to shoot at their pursuers.

Dr Herbivore rolls 12 +2 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 13 success. He rolls a 6 on 1d6 doing double (6 points) of damage.

Malefice rolls 10 +2 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 11 fail.

The Blue Wren rolls 13 +2 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 14 success. She rolls a 6 on 1d6 doing double (6 points) of damage.

The lizard people’s HP pool is reduced to 19.

The lizard people cannot act this phase.

End of phase 2

Navigation phase 3

On the obstacle table a 7 is rolled indicating that the players encounter super-heated steam vents that they must thread their way through.

The players elect to use their dodge skills (Nick +1, Der Periodical +1, Gerald +1, Kirk +2)

Jake rolls 19 +1 (dodge) =20 success.

Dr Herbivore rolls 7 +1 (dodge) =8 fail.

Malefice rolls 11 +1 (dodge) =12 success.

The Blue Wren rolls 15 +1 (dodge) =16 success.

The Lizard people are getting more reckless in their attempts to catch the group and decide to risk taking a 2 point penalty to gain 2 increments.

The lizard people roll 15 +2 (skilled) -2 (reckless)  = 15 success.

Jake, Malefice, and The Blue Wren move forward 1 increment while Dr Periodical remains in place.

The lizard people advance 2 increments.

Action phase 4

Jake, Malefice, and The Blue Wren open fire on the Lizard people in an attempt to further thin their numbers.

Jake rolls 12 +5 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 14 success. He rolls a 1 on 1d6 for 3 points damage.

Malefice rolls 8 +2 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 9 fail.

The Blue Wren rolls 2 +2 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 3 fail.

The lizard people (who are level with Jake) attack, striking at him with their clubs.

They roll 5 +2 (skilled) -3 (for attacking while engaged in something reckless) = 2 miss.

The lizard people’s HP pool is reduced to 16.

End of phase  4

Round 3

The players elect to continue advancing at a standard rate while the lizard men attempt some more recklessness.

Navigation phase 1

On the obstacle table another 17 is rolled, disregarded (because we just encountered this obstacle, and re-rolled getting a 14 that indicates a cave-in is occurring up ahead.

The players elect to rely on their dodge skills to avoid the falling rocks (Nick +1, Dr P +1, Malefice +1, The Blue Wren +2)

Jake rolls 7 +1 = 8 fail.

Dr Herbivore rolls 9 +1 = 10 fail.

Malefice rolls 13+1=14 success.

The Blue Wren rolls 10 +2=12 success.

The Lizard people decide to risk a 2 point penalty by recklessly pursuing the group through the collapsing cave.

They roll 13 +2 -2 (recklessness) = 13 success.

Malefice and The Blue Wren advance 1 increment each, but the lizard people advance 2 increments.

Action phase 2

The lizard people are in melee range of Jake and Dr Herbivore.

Malefice and The Blue Wren both fire upon them while they attempt to take down Nick and Dr Herbivore.

Jake and Dr Herb ivore are unable to act this round.

Malefice rolls 5 +2 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 6 fail.

The Blue Wren rolls 15 +2 (shoot) -1 (for firing on the run) = 16 success. She rolls 6 on 1d6 doing double (6 points) damage.

The lizard people roll 6 +2 -2 (for acting while reckless) = 6 fail.

The HP pool of the lizard people is reduced to 10. Their numbers have been significantly reduced.

End of phase 2

Navigation phase 3

On the obstacle table a roll of 3 indicates that exhaustion is beginning to overcome the participants.

The players choose to employ their willpower rolls (+4, +3, +3, +4)

Jake rolls 7 +4 (willpower) =11 fail.

Dr Herbivore rolls 16 +3 (willpower) =19 success.

Malefice rolls 8 +3 (willpower) =11 fail.

The Blue Wren rolls 13 + 4 (willpower) =17 success.

The lizard people are being reckless in their pursuit.

They roll 16 +2 (skilled) -2 (reckless) = 16 success.

Dr Herbivore and The Blue Wren advance 1 increment.

The lizard people, however, advance 2 increments.

Action phase 4

The lizard people have closed to within melee range of all the players.

Dr Herbivore opens fire and rolls 3 (+2 shoot) -1 (firing on the run) = 4 miss.

The Blue Wren likewise rolls 9 (+2 shoot) -1 (firing on the run) = 10 miss.

The lizard people are attacking while reckless and roll 11 +2 -2 (reckless) = 11 miss.

No one takes any damage.

End of Round 3

Round 4

Malefice and The Blue Wren feel escape is within their grasp and elect to be reckless this round.  The Lizard people do likewise.  Jake and Dr Herbivore elect to continue to use standard actions.

Navigation Phase 1

On the obstacle table a roll of 3 indicates that a crevice appears.

The players choose to employ their leap skills to bridge the gap.

Jake rolls a 13 +1(leap)  =  13 success.

Dr Herbivore rolls 11 +1 (leap) = 12 success.

Malefice rolls a 9 +1 (leap) -2 (reckless) = 8 fail.

The Blue Wren  also rolls a 9 + 1 (leap) -2 (reckless) = 8 fail.

The Lizard People roll 15 +2 (-2 reckless) = 15 success.

Jake and Dr Herbivore move forward one increment each.

Malefice and The Blue Wren do not move but, because they failed at being reckless, give the Lizard men a bonus increment EACH to the 2 increments they already earned.

This puts the Lizard men at the finish line first and indicates they have captured our heroes.  There is no need to complete an action phase at this point.

End of Chase.

NEXT TIME: Chapter 7 – Death traps, hazards, and puzzles.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright <a href=”http://www.weirdworldstudios.com”>weirdworldstudios.com</a> and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Chases – Chapter 6 (Part 2) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Chapter 6 – Chases

The story so far (Above the rooftops)

Episode 4

The stairs were metallic and rickety, crisscrossing the rear of the warehouse on the way to the roof.  Dr Herbivore led the way with Jake and Malefice close behind.  As they approached the final landing the door to the roof opened and a large gas bottle came tumbling through it and down the steps.
Leaping to the side the three heroes watch the gas bottle shoot past and out over the edge of the stairs into the open air.  Striking the concrete floor of the warehouse far below, the bottle explodes with an ear popping “boom” sending a superheated conflagration upwards.  Diving through the door onto the roof they land in a pile narrowly missing being caught in the blast below.  Across the other side of the roof they can hear the hiss of a zip-line in use.

Racing to the edge they could see a man disappearing across a neighbouring roof.  Behind them flames begin to lick at the roof on which they stand.  Dr Herbivore grabbed his belt and constructed a makeshift sling to use on the zip-line, hurling himself over the gap.  Jake did likewise, scooping up Malefice (who’s wardrobe was a little less well adapted to the task) and shot out over the abyss likewise.

Safely on the other side, our heroes continue their pursuit.  The figure racing ahead of them wears a long dark cloak.  The furtive glances made back over the shoulder at the pursuers reveal him to be a man, dark of beard and glittering of eye.  He arrives at the edge of the current building directly above the roof of the next and turns, gesturing with one hand while muttering beneath his breath.

“Get down”, yells Malefice.  “He’s using magic”.

A bolt of sizzling electricity shot across the roof top narrowly missing the flattened group.  When they looked up once more, their quarry cannot be seen (though his footfalls can be heard pounding across the roof of the next building.

Leaping after him, they continue their pursuit.  By now, Dr Herbivore is beginning to feel the strain.  Jumping to the lower roof, he lands badly, and begins to favour his right leg.  The figure they are chasing clambers up a wall onto the next roof and sprints towards a stairwell door.

Malefice and Herbivore both need assistance climbing up onto the final roof.  Their quarry is no longer in sight and they race towards the stairwell door. Bursting through it, there is an audible click and a hiss.

“Oh no!” thinks Jake. “Gas!”  His vision wavers and the lights go out.

Obstacles

No chase is complete without obstacles.  Whether you are the pursued or the pursuer, things are bound to get in your way.  Sometimes you’ll have to avoid them, other times you’ll have to go through them, and still other times you may need to remove them altogether.  Whatever the case, you are going to encounter (and will need to overcome) them.

Example

Obstacles include everything from clichés such as a pair of workman carrying a pane of glass or a huge painting across the road in front of you to a sudden chasm opening below your feet as you pursue or are pursued through a city collapsing in the middle of an earthquake.  Your GM will describe the obstacles you encounter during the chase and will adjudicate the chases outcome.  You will respond with descriptions of the actions you will take to try and close the gap on your opponent, overcome the obstacle, or stay ahead of your opponent.

Manoeuvres

To overcome obstacles will require a successful skill check, one that can be modified with a manoeuvre (if appropriate).  Appropriate skills might include run, jump, drive, pilot, etc.

If you have a drive skill it may include subskills (or manoeuvres) such as slide, car jump, drive on two wheels, doughnut, etc.  In the case of a pilot skill you may have subskills (or manoeuvres) such as flat spin, dive, stall turn, loop the loop.  Using a manoeuvre lets you add to the chance of success (but increases the chance of a negative consequence if you fail).

Example

Running through a market crowd in pursuit of an assassin, a fruit cart is suddenly wheeled into Jake Stead’s way.  He has an acrobatics skill of 2 but also has a number of acrobatic manoeuvres (dive roll, backflip, cartwheel, vault, and swing).  He chooses to vault the cart.  He rolls a 7 (+2 acrobatic skill, +1 vault manoeuvre) = 10 a fail.  Jake crashes into the fruit requiring that he extricate himself from amongst it before continuing in the chase.  An unsuccessful consequence roll results in him being tackled by the fruit vendor demanding payment for the damage done.

Including combat and other actions

As well as manoeuvring around obstacles, characters can engage in other actions (such as firing a gun, overturning a barrel, or climbing a wall etc.

Example

A gap appeared in the highway, the result of explosives set by Jake’s enemies.  Fortunately his motorcycle leapt the chasm (navigating the obstacle) with ease.  Now he takes action, swivelling on his seat to fire his pistol up at the pursuing helicopter (rolling 7  +2 in pistol = 9, a miss).  The bullet bounces harmlessly off the canopy.

Resolving and concluding the chase

In the rules outlined below a chase is concluded when either, a fight ensues that forces the chase to stop, a barrier is encountered that prevents the chase from continuing, or the one or other of the parties involved in the chase reaches the end of the chase track.  If prevented from continuing in chase, the players will roleplay the consequences (perhaps switching to a fight or engaging in some other activity that is appropriate to the plot).  If one or the other of the participants reaches the end of the track, then whoever does so first resolves the chase in their favour (the pursued escape if they get there first or the pursuers captures the prey if they get there first).

Chase rules

These chase rules are intended, in an abstract way, to simulate the pace and excitement of a cinematic chase while creating a sense of competition between the pursuer and pursued.

They involve dealing with obstacles, taking action while on the run, and cinematic risk taking and reward.

Set Up

The chase requires a small board on which the relative progress of the chase is tracked.

Pursuers and pursued start at the beginning of the chase track.

It is easiest to abstract groups as single entities (though players can have a track each).

Speeds are determined as fast, medium, and slow. Before the chase determine the relative speeds. For example, a helicopter is fast, compared to a motorcycle (medium), and a person running on foot (slow).

These are relative determinations based on the slowest participant in a chase. A horse and cart might be considered fast compared with a bicycle (medium), compared with a rickshaw (slow).

Fast entities gain +2 to their increment

Medium entities gain + 1 to their increment

Slow entities gain no bonus to their increment (being a base increment of 1)

As well as modifying the increment in a chase the speed determines relative starting positions on the chase track (how much of a lead if any the pursued has over the pursuer).

Fast entities gain a 3 increment lead over all pursuers.

Medium entities gain a 2 increment lead over all pursuers.

Slow entities begin with a 1 increment lead over all pursuers.

The track is 10 increments long with three starting positions before increment number 1.

The pursued always begins on increment 1 while the pursuer is placed relative to them according to their relative speed.

Base increments are determined by speed.

Equivalent speed entities advance at 1 increment per round.

In a chase between a slow and a medium entity, or a medium entity and a fast entity, the faster travels at 2 increments per round while the slower travels at 1 increment per round.

In a chase between a slow entity and a fast entity, the faster travels at 3 increments per round while the slower travels at 1 increment per round.

Relative speed should be adjusted if, for example, someone on foot pursuing a target riding a bicycle grabs a bicycle in turn and continues the pursuit. Being equivalent the two participants in the chase now move at 1 increment each.

Rounds

A chase is conducted in rounds made up of two obstacle navigation phases and  two action phases.

There are only two broad actions which can be undertaken.

Players can elect to engage in standard actions or reckless actions for the duration of the round (unlike vehicular combat, a chase does not include a defensive option).

Standard actions involve manoeuvres which accrue no penalty and advance the player one space on the chase track if successful.  Actions conducted on the run always incur a minimum -1 penalty.

Reckless actions involve manoeuvres which accrue a -2 penalty but advance the player two spaces on the chase track if successful.  Actions conducted while reckless incur a -3 penalty but add +1 to any damage done to enemies (as a payoff for the extra risk involved).

Navigating Obstacles

Ground is gained or lost, not so much on the basis of speed (though it is a factor), as on the effectiveness of manoeuvres and stunts intended to navigate obstacles.

It is preferable to plan and custom design obstacles for your chase, but you can also use a random table (see appendix) if it suits your purpose.  If using a random table, the first obstacle is rolled up on a random obstacle table for the terrain in which the chase occurs. If the same obstacle is rolled in a subsequent round,, simply re-roll to find another (or choose one from the list).

As noted previously, it is usually preferable for the GM to have a pre-prepared list of obstacles for players to face.

At the beginning of the round all participants state how reckless they intend to be in their attempt to pursue or flee by choosing an action.  The action chosen modifies the target number needed to roll a success at navigating the obstacle. Where most actions require a 12 to succeed a reckless action would raise the target number to 14. By increasing the difficulty of a stunt or manoeuvre aimed at navigating the obstacle, success becomes harder to achieve but increases the number of increments you make on the chase chart.

Typically a player taking a reckless action might say “As the truck pulls out in front of me I recklessly leap up from the street onto a nearby balcony and from there to a roof (using my climb skill) in order to maintain my pursuit from the rooftops”. Descriptions must include one or more elements of the environment in order to earn the bonus due to recklessness.

A success indicates that the entity has navigated the obstacle successfully in a way that was designed to give them an advantage in the chase. This advantage is represented by the increment they have earned. The marker representing the entity is moved their standard increment plus any increments for the type of action that have been chosen.

The description must also allow for a consequence if failed (eg. “Leaping for the balcony you miss and fall heavily back into the street where you are forced to continue the pursuit by more conventional means as your target gains ground and gets further away”.

Failing will result in your opponent advancing on the chase track by 2 increments if you are taking a reckless action, or, if not being reckless, it will result in your staying still.

Failure implies that you are slow at navigating the obstacle rather than that the obstacle stops you. For example the failure of a swim roll does not place you in danger of drowning, it just means that you fail to gain ground as you muddle slowly through the water, and, if being reckless, that your opponent gains ground while you do so (though you may, if the GM thinks it appropriate,  take a point of damage as well).

Actions

If the pursuer is behind the pursued on the chase track then they cannot engage in melee actions and are considered to be ranged. If they are ahead or adjacent to the pursued they may engage in melee actions.

The pursued always encounters obstacles first but actions are performed first by whoever is ahead on the chase track (initiative in adjacent positions always being awarded to the pursued).

Action phases give entities the opportunity to engage in an attack or other action unrelated to navigating the obstacle (fire at their quarry or pursuer, toss the vital evidence down a nearby drain while no-one is watching, or add a new obstacle to the chase such as toppling a garbage can behind them or hurling a chain to entangle the pursued).

In order to undertake any action the entity must succeed at navigating the obstacle first. If they fail, they will not be able to take an action that round.

Actions are taken on the run. They cannot be targeted and are always made at a minimum of -1 (-3 if reckless) to the skill being employed to attempt them. Combat on the run does damage as normal (+1 point if reckless).

An action which aims to add a new obstacle to the chase (if successful) allows the acting participant to move forward one extra increment.

Villains who undertake actions always target the nearest player (the player who is furthest behind on the chase track if they are pursuing or the player who is furthest ahead on the chase track if being pursued).

Villain groups are generally treated as an abstract HP pool for the purpose of actions.

Eligible participants may only engage in one action per action phase.

In the case of a villain group they get one action against each player participating in the chase.

Conclusion

The chase ends when an entity reaches the end of the track. If it is the pursuer, the pursued is caught. If it is the pursued, then the pursuer has been lost.

Variation : Non Sentient pursuit

Sometimes the heroes are being pursued by something non-sentient (a lava flow from a volcanic eruption) or are pursuing something non-sentient (a pilotless boat that has drifted out into the current). In these situations the non-sentient participant is not required to navigate obstacles and cannot take actions. The position of the non-sentient participant on the chase chart is worked out in response to the players actions. The non-sentient participant is deemed to move forward along the track at their base increment (of one space) each round but can increase this where players fail their recklessness rolls.

NEXT TIME: An example of a chase scene in play.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright <a href=”http://www.weirdworldstudios.com”>weirdworldstudios.com</a> and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Chases – Chapter 6 (Part 1) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Vehicular combat (on land, on and under the sea, in the air, and in space)

Maneuvering on a flat plane or in 3D space

Vehicular combat can occur as specific combat or as part of a chase and is handled the same way whether it is being conducted in surface vehicles (like cars or boats), or in vehicles that are maneuvered in 3D space (such as submarines, jetpacks, spaceships, or aircraft).

Armor

Vehicular combat differs from standard combat in a couple of important particulars.

Vehicles have armor giving them their own wound ratings.

Vehicles of different types have different armor values.  If the armor value is reduced to zero the vehicle crashes and must be abandoned.

Vehicles can engage in ramming attacks and may also have built in weapons.  Weapons are of the same basic types as occur for characters (area, piercing, or clubbing).

Attaching a weapon to a vehicle reduces its maximum armor points by the weapon’s damage. This reduction is cumulative.

For example a machine gun mounted on a motorcycle does 3 points of piercing damage when used.  The maximum armor of the motorcycle is therefore 5 -3 points or 2.

Likewise a long haul truck which sports a cannon (4 points area damage) and a machine gun (2 points piercing damage) has a maximum armor of 20 – 6 or 14.

Ramming

A ramming attack does 3 damage to the opponent’s vehicle but also does 1 point of damage to the driver’s own vehicle.

Drivers and passengers

Participants are either drivers or passengers and it is important to determine who the drivers are first as this effects how well the passengers can perform actions during combat.

Initiative

Roll initiative as normal (settling ties between players and opponents in favor of the players and having players re-roll the dice if a tie occurs between themselves).

Action Selection

All drivers select their actions first.

There are two actions to choose from while driving;  a standard action and a reckless action.

Essentially a standard action is one using an unmodified drive or piloting skill (-0).  Ignore the second (yellow) modifier on the action strip for now (it only applies during chases).  Because of the difficulty of acting while driving all actions take a -1 penalty.

A reckless action is one where the driver/pilot elects to take more risks in order to get an advantage.  In this case the driver must take a -2 penalty to the use of their piloting skill (but gains +2 to the opposed roll – see opposed roll below – and + 1 to damage).  Actions however receive a -3 penalty.

Passenger actions are limited by the choices made by the driver (which is why drivers specify their actions first).

The passenger of a reckless driver can only engage in reckless passenger actions.

The passenger of a standard driver can only engage in standard passenger actions.

Combat Rounds

The phases of combat are a little different also.

There are still four phases to each round but the first and third phase are reserved for maneuvering vehicles (around obstacles and in order to secure a better attack position).

Obstacles

Firstly, the GM will determine whether an obstacle has been encountered and must be navigated (for example, the plane flies into a flock of birds, or a woman with a pram is slowly crossing the street in front of the car).  This can be determined randomly (1 or 2 on 1d6) or as the GM decides.  If using obstacles it is best to have them prepared ahead of time.  Drivers must navigate the obstacle successfully if one appears during the maneauver phase and cannot engage in ramming attacks while an obstacle is in play.  During this phase a driver/pilot can pull out any of their special “sub-skills” to try and gain an advantage.  Successful use of a subskill gives the player +1 to the opposed roll at the end of the maneuvering phase.

The Maneuver Phases

Phases 1 and three are reserved for maneuvering vehicles.

A successful skill roll is required to maneuver the vehicle around obstacles and jockey for position.  Failure results in a consequence roll. A roll of 1-5 on d6 results in a complication of some kind (determined by the GM) while a 6 results in a catastrophic failure (the plane goes into a dive and is going to crash, or the car swerves and crashes into a telegraph pole, etc.).

Crashes

Crashes result in area damage (4 points) for surface vehicles (boats, cars etc.) and death for air/space/and undersea vehicles.  In the case of air/space/and undersea vehicles, players can use the action phase to attempt to “bail-out” or otherwise escape the crash.

A crash always brings vehicular combat to an end.

Position Roll

At the end of the maneauvering phase (after the skill roll), assuming no crash has occurred, drivers make an opposed roll (the position roll) to determine who has the best relative position to undertake their actions.  This is equivalent to determining who has successfully lined up who to gain advantage in an attack. If a driver fails the maneauver roll (and the vehicle has not crashed) then they have an opposed score of zero and do not get to roll the dice.  The position roll uses 2d10 and is either unmodified (standard) or +2 (if reckless).

Participants in the position roll who roll higher than their opponents are deemed to have achieved a better relative combat position and gain a +1 bonus to any damage they inflict as a result of actions undertaken.  If opponents roll the same result then neither side gains an advantage.  Rolling less than an opponent means the player will take an extra point of damage as a result of any successful attacks from an opponent.

The Action Phases

Phases two and four are reserved for actions (such as shooting, ramming, etc.).  Passenger actions include anything that a passenger could do in a vehicle (from firing a gun out the window to climbing onto the roof and surfing to leaping from one vehicle to another).  Actions undertaken while driving or as a passenger attract a -1 penalty to the skill roll (when standard).  The penalty is -3 if you are a driver attempting a reckless action or -2 if a passenger in a vehicle where the driver is engaged in a reckless action.  Damage inflicted as a result of a successful action is increased by +1 if the actor is driving (or is a passenger in) a vehicle that won its opposed roll.

Distributing Damage

Damage is always distributed to the vehicle’s armor first, then to the passengers, and lastly to the driver.   When a vehicle’s armor is destroyed it crashes (distributing any overflow of damage to the passengers and driver as above).  A crash results in 4 points of damage to everyone in the vehicle (in the case of surface vehicles) as described above (see Crashes).

Escaping Combat

If you wish to escape combat you must engage in defensive driving for a round.  At the end of the round you must make a consequence roll (1-5, you escape the combat and your opponents do not pursue; 6, and the combat becomes a chase). Passengers cannot elect to escape combat, only the driver can do so.

Procedure

1. Determine initiative
2. Determine actions
3. Determine obstacles
4. Resolve vehicle maneuvers
5. Determine relative advantage (opposed roll)
6. Resolve actions
7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 until the round is complete.
8. Repeat all steps until combat is resolved (or a chase ensues).

Example

Jake Stead (7 wounds) and Dr Herbivore (6 wounds) have stolen a motorcycle and side car and are in combat with a group of Nazi motorcycle thugs with machine guns in their sidecars (3 bikes in total).  The Nazi bike teams are skilled (+2 to manoeuver and action rolls). Jake is driving while Dr Herbivore is positioned in Jake’s side car with a hand gun.  The Nazi thugs are represented by a pool of wounds (12 points).

Jake’s bike has 5 points of armour while the Nazi bikes also have 5.  The presence of the machine gun, however, reduces the maximum armour of the Nazi bikes to 2 each.

Round 1

Initiative

Initiative is rolled. Jake rolls a 2, Dr Herbivore rolls a 3, the Nazi motorcyclists roll a 3 while the men in the sidecar roll a 1.

Action Specification

Jake chooses a standard driving action while the Nazi drivers choose to be a little reckless.

Dr periodical is given a standard passenger action while the sidecar Nazi’s are given reckless passenger actions.

Obstacles

The GM rolls a 6 indicating no obstacles at this time.

Maneouver Phase 1

The nazi cyclists go first and roll 19+2 (-2 for being reckless)  = 19 (success) in applying their drive skills.  This sucess gives them +1 to any damage they inflict during the action phase.

Jake rolls 18 (+2 for his drive skill) unmodified (a success) and succeeds in keeping the bike on the road.

Position roll

The Nazi’s roll for position (10).  Jake rolls likewise  (16).

Jake’s roll places him in prime posiiton (giving him + 1 to any damage he and Dr Herbivore inflict during the action phase).

Action Phase 2

Dr Herbivore goes first.  He leans out of the sidecar and fires at one of the Nazi bikes. He rolls 11 (+2 pistol skill – 1 passenger) = 12 (success).  The shot does 4 damage to the Nazi vehicle causing it to crash (8 wounds deducted from the pool) +1 damage for being in prime position.

The two Nazi cyclists attempt to ram Jake’s vehicle and drive him off the road.  The first rolls 7 (+2 skilled -3 reckless) = 6 and fails.  The second rolls 11 (+2 skilled -3 reckless) = 10 and also fails to ram Jake’s rapidly dodging cycle.

Jake decides to use his wheelie manoeuvre to ram his front wheel into the driver of one of the bikes and drive it off the road.  He rolls a 6 (+3 manoeuvre -1 action) = 8 and fails.

The first Nazi Sidecar brings its machine gun to bear rolling an 8 (+2 skilled -2 reckless) = 8 and misses.  The remaining sidecar rolls 5 (+2 skilled – 2 reckless) = 5 and misses also.

Maneouver Phase 3

The Nazi cyclists go first and roll 17 +2 (skilled) -2 (for being reckless) = 17 (success).  This success gives them +1 to any damage they inflict during the action phase.

Jake rolls 13 (+2 drive) unmodified = 15 (a success).
All participants in the combat remain on the road and unhindered.

Position roll

The Nazis roll for position (12).  Jake rolls as well (14).

Jake once more takes prime position (giving him +1 to any damage he and Dr Herbivore inflict during the action phase).

Action Phase 4

Dr Herbivore takes another shot (4 +2 pistol -1 passenger =  5 failure) and misses.

The first cyclist pulls out a grenade and attempts to hurl it at Jake and Dr Herbivore (12 +2 skilled -3 reckless).  The grenade misses and explodes harmlessly beside the road.  The second cyclist tries to ram them again (9 +2 skilled -3 reckless = 8) resulting in another miss.

Jake pulls out his pistol and fires it at one of the bikes (8 +3 pistol -1 action = 10, a miss).

The machine gunners take aim at Jake and the good doctor.  The first rolls 11 (+2 skilled -2 reckless) = 11, a miss.  The second rolls 8 (+2 skilled -2 reckless) = 8, another miss.

Close of round 1

At the end of the first round one of the Nazi bikes has been destroyed and the henchmen’s pool of wounds has been reduced by 9.  No other injuries to vehicle or passenger have occurred.

Round 2

Initiative

Initiative is rolled. Jake rolls a 4, Dr Herbivore rolls a 1, the Nazi motorcyclists roll a 4 while the men in the sidecar roll a 2.

Action Specification

Jake chooses a standard driving action while the Nazi drivers choose to be a little reckless.

Dr periodical is given a standard passenger action while the sidecar Nazi’s are given reckless passenger actions.

Obstacles

The GM rolls a 2 indicating an obstacle has arisen.  The GM decides there is a car accident ahead with people milling around.

Maneouver Phase 1

Jake manoeuvres to avoid the crash first. They roll 17 +2 skilled -2 reckless = 17 success. Jake gains plus one to any damage he and Dr Herbivore inflict during the action phase.

The Nazi bikers maneouver next rolling a 12 +2 skilled (no bonuses) = 14 success.

Position roll

Jake rolls 10 +2 drive – 3 reckless = 9.

The Nazi bikers roll 10 +2 (no bonus) = 12.  The bikers have achieved prime position and gain a +1 to any damage they inflict on Jake and Dr Herbivore.

Action Phase

Jake fires his pistol once more rolling 4 +3 pistol -3 reckless = 4 (a miss).

The first biker tries to ram Jakes bike rolling 9 +2 skilled  -1 standard = 10 (a miss).

The second biker tries to ram Jake’s bike as well rolling 6 + 2 skilled -1 standard = 7 (a miss).

The first sidecar machine gunner fires and rolls 4  + 2 skilled -1 standard = 5 (missing).

The second machine gun barks resulting in a roll of 15 +2 skilled -1 standard = 16 (hit). On 1d6 the Nazi rolls a 6 (indicating double damage).

The machine gun inflicts 6 damage +1 (position bonus) tearing through the armor around Jake’s bike like tissue paper and inflicting 1 point of damage on Dr Herbivore.  The vehicle crashes at the side of the road inflicting 2 wounds each to Jake and the Dr.

Vehicular combat now ends.

At the end of combat…

The Nazis remain on two bikes and have a wound pool of 5.

Dr Herbivore and Jake’s bike is destroyed.

Jake has received 4 wounds and Dr Herbivore 6.

Injury and Recovery

Wounds heal at a rate of one point per day unless they are piercing wounds (from blades or projectiles). Piercing wounds heal at a rate of one point per week.

Example (Healing standard wounds)

Veronica is mugged and receives five wounds from her assailants club.  Each day thereafter she heals one of the wounds. On the sixth day after the mugging she is fully recovered.

Example (Healing piercing wounds)

The Blue Wren has 9 wound points. In a fight she is stabbed twice and hit once causing her 7 ((2 x 3) + 1) wounds of damage before she escapes.

She adds a dot of piercing wounds for each time she is stabbed.

The Blue Wren will recover from 5 (7 standard wounds minus 2 piercing wounds) of the wounds she received in 5 days. The remaining two wounds (one for each dot of piercing wounds she received) will take a week to recover from each.

Rub out each standard wound dot as it is recovered daily first. Then rub out the remaining dots (with their corresponding piercing dots) as each is recovered with the passing of each subsequent week of game time.

Generally, it is safe to assume all wounds recover between adventures.

NEXT TIME: Chapter 6 – How to conduct an in-game chase scene.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Combat – Chapter 5 (Part 5) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Magical Combat

Magical combat is a little different to standard hand to hand melee and ranged combat in that a magic user prepares the spell for use before applying it.  Further the effect of the spell can be maintained after its first application (but must apply for two phases each time) with additional successful rolls of the dice (and this includes maintaining a double damage critical success).

For example Malefice might choose to use a spell to attack an opponent. The first phase will be spent preparing the spell.  The second phase will involve casting the spell (rolling the dice) and calculating it’s effect.  Let’s assume the effect resulted in double damage (by rolling a 6 on a consequence test).  In the third and final phase of the round the dice are rolled to maintain the effect (as if being cast for the first time) and, assuming the rolls are successful, the double damage is maintained as well.  The player can elect to maintain the result of any consequence roll or roll again in subsequent phases.  Alternatively Malefice might choose to prepare a completely different spell for use in phases 3 and 4. Lastly, spell effects can be maintained across rounds.  When this occurs the spell must be maintained for the first two phases of the following round (two rolls of the dice).

Example

Malefice has an essence of 4.  This means she can apply a spell for four phases or can attack four targets simultaneously for a single phase.

She has 4 magical effects.  They are

• Emily Binford’s Spontaneous Conflagration (a spell that sets fire to a target; 4 damage).
• Mordant’s Irresistable command (a spell that forces a target to perform one action).
• Master Alaikhum’s  flying fist ( a spell that strikes a target for bashing damage;  2 damage).
• Swami Sucravarti’s astounding snake summoning (a spell that summons poisonous snakes, in number equal to the character’s essence and having 1 wound point each, to fight on her behalf – damage 2 wounds per phase until cured or 4 phases pass).

Her opponent, the evil vizier, Khumankhaten, has four essence, three magical effects, and two henchmen armed with knives.  The effects are

• The Grand Djinn’s weapon fortification (a spell that makes a weapon stronger (+1 damage)).
• The Grand Djinn’s lightning redirection (a spell which strikes a target with a bolt of lightning (3 damage)
• The Grand Djinn’s cloak of shadows (renders the attacker invisible – minus 4 to opponents attack rolls).

Khumankhaten has 17 wound points.

His henchmen have a pool of 8 wound points.

Malefice has 8 wound points.

Malefice is facing her opponents in the sacrificial chamber of the Temple of Grond deep underneath the city of Cairo in Egypt.  The space is full of sarcophagi and canopic jars.

All magical attacks are treated as targeted (requiring one phase of preparation to perform).

Round 1

Roll initiative

Henchmen 3

Khumankhaten 4

Malefice 1

Khumankhaten is first and chooses to use a spell action.

Khumankhaten’s henchmen elect to engage in a standard action.

Malefice also chooses to use a spell action.

Phase 1

Khumankhaten intends to use his magical abilities and selects a spell action.  He does not act this phase (as he is readying his first spell; fortifying his minions weapons).  He announces the spell he is readying and that it will target his minions.

The Henchmen elect to engage in a standard action for the round and attack rolling 8 each (+2 for skilled – they both miss).

Malefice (like Khumankhaten) is using magic and does not act this phase (as she is readying her first spell; summon snakes).  Malefice announces the spell she is readying and that it will target the henchmen.

At the end of the first phase no damage has been dealt.

Khumankhaten has 17 wounds.

Malefice has 8 wounds.

The Henchmen have 8 wounds.

Phase 2

In phase 2 Kumankhaten acts first.  He casts the prepared weapon fortification spell (rolling 13 +2 = 15 – success) on his henchmen.   He roles a consequence roll (3 on 1d6 – no adverse effect).

The Henchmen (now with fortified weapons) do not act this phase.

Malefice casts the previously prepared snake summoning and calls forth a swarm of snakes (13 +1 – success) to attack Khumankhaten’s henchmen.  She rolls a consequence roll (4 on 1d6 – no adverse effect).

The snake swarm is an area effect and does 4  points of damage.

The henchmen are reduced from 8 to 4 wounds.

At the end of the second phase

Khumankhaten has 17 wounds.

Malefice has 8 wounds.

The henchmen have been reduced from 8 to 4 wounds.

Phase 3

Khumankhaten elects to maintain his spell this phase (allowing the spell to continue to operate this phase and the next). He rolls (11 + 2 = 13 – success).  The spell is maintained.

The henchmen attack again with fortified weapons (+ 1 to damage) rolling 4 and 2 (+2 for skilled – they miss again).

Malefice does not act this phase, readying her irresistible command spell.  She announces the spell and that it is intended to effect Khumankhaten.

At the end of the third phase

Khumankhaten has 17 wounds.

The henchmen have 4 wounds.

Malefice remains unhurt.

Phase 4

Khumankhaten must maintain his weapon fortification spell this phase.

The  henchmen do not act this phase.

Malefice casts her irresistible command spell.  She rolls 9 +1 =10 – a miss.  The spell fails (but not critically).  (This being the case she can begin readying a new spell at the beginning of the next round).  She rolls a consequence roll and gets a 2 on 1d6 – no adverse effect.

At the end of the fourth phase (and completion of the round)

Khumankhaten has 17 wounds.

Malefice has 8 wounds.

The henchmen have 4 wounds.

Round 2

Roll initiative

Henchmen 5

Khumankhaten 4

Malefice 1

This time the Henchmen go first.  They elect to continue utilising a standard attack.

Khumankhaten and Malefice continue to take spell actions.

Phase 1

The henchmen attack (rolling 8) +2 – a miss.

Khumankhaten  prepares a lightning spell and targets  Malefice.

Malefice prepares a conflagration spell and targets the henchmen.

At the end of the first phase…

Khumankhaten has 17 wounds.

The henchmen have 4 wounds

Malefice has 8 wounds.

Phase 2

The henchmen do not act this phase.

Khumankhaten releases his spell. He rolls the dice (16 +2 = 18- success) doing 3 points of damage to Malefice.

Malefice rolls 13 (+1 = 14 – a hit) to cast her conflagration spell on her opponents.  She rolls 6 on a consequence roll against 1d6 – inflicting double damage. She applies the effect to the two henchmen .

The henchmen catch on fire and takes 8 damage. Their pool is reduced to -4.  The henchman die in the flames.

At the end of the second phase

The henchmen have been reduced to 0 wounds and lie dead.

Khumankhaten has 17 wounds.

Malefice has been reduced from 8 to 5 wounds.

Phase 3

The henchmen are dead and do not act this phase.

Khumankhaten maintains his spell (rolling 11+2 = 13- success) doing another 3 damage to Malefice reducing her to 2 wounds.  He rolls a 3 on a consequence test  (normal damage – no bonuses).

Malefice rolls 11 (+1 = 12 – a hit) to maintain her conflagration spell but now targets Khumankhaten.  Because of her successful consequence test last phase she can maintain the full portion of damage without needing to make another.  Khumankhaten is reduced by 8 points to 9 wounds.

At the end of the third phase

The henchmen lie dead.

Khumankhaten has been reduced from 17 to 9 wounds.

Malefice has been reduced from 5 to 2 wounds.

Phase 4

The henchmen are dead and do not act this phase.

Khumankhaten maintains his spell rolling (10+2 = 12 -success) and doing another 3 points of damage to Malefice reducing her to -1 wound and killing her. We could roll to see if double damage occurs but there is no point.

Malefice is dead but has the opportunity to complete one last heroic action (without being required to roll any dice) before passing away.  She chooses to maintain her spell doing a further 8 points of damage to Khumankhaten and adding in any remaining hero points as damage (8 points + 2 hero points = 10 points of damage.  Khumankhaten is reduced from 9  to – 1 wound and dies.

Heroic final action:  “As the electricity from Khumankhaten arcs through her body, Malefice can feel death approaching and the rising glee of her opponent.

With a last heroic effort of will she locks her mind on the task of maintaining her conflagration spell.  “Die you animal”, she thinks forcing the last of her life’s power into the task.

Khumankhaten shrieks as awareness of his danger washes over him.  With grim satisfaction, Malefice watches as his shrieks of pain are swallowed by the horrific magical fire of her spell.

Khumankhaten topples over, nothing left but a smoking corpse, and Malefice, grateful to have rid the world of this menace at last, passes on to whatever destiny awaits her beyond this life.”

At the end of the third phase

The henchmen  lie dead.

Khumankhaten has been reduced from9 to -1 wound and lies dead.

Malefice has been reduced from 2 to -1 wounds and lies dead.

Malefice is dead but, because she was able to enact one final heroic action and take Khumankhaten with her, she has succeeded in freeing the world from his hideous presence forever.

NEXT TIME: An example of vehicular combat involving armored vehicles.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Combat – Chapter 5 (Part 4) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Combat Example

Location – The boiling pools of the Temple of Chardron.

Heinrich’s men (about 11 of them) stand on pathways amidst boiling pools of superheated, sulphurous water that are spread around the temple floor leading to a vine covered stone bridge over a chasm upon which stands Heinrich himself (the Nazi servant of the Outer gods). Behind Heinrich, sitting upon the dais in the temple sanctuary, is a huge, sanity shattering monster of twisted flesh – the current avatar of Heinrich’s masters.  The ceiling, up to the bridge, is covered in hanging gibbets (swinging on chains) containing the bones of the long dead. Many of them hang so low that they swing at approximately knee height.  The bridge is covered in vines, many of which hang down into the chasm that it spans.  Huge stone spears and swords ring the dais on which the monster pulses and undulates.

Our heroes include Jake Stead, Malefice (Mistress of the mystic arts), Dr Herbivore, and The Blue Wren (Masked Woman of Mystery).

Villains

Heinrich’s men (11 wound points pool – hence about 11 of them) (novice -2 to rolls)

Heinrich (22 wound points) (Skilled +2 to rolls)

The avatar of the outer Gods (17 wound points) – Its wound points are only this low because it gets four attacks per phase. (Elite + 5 to rolls)

Protagonists

Jake (10 wound points)

Malefice (8 wound points)

Dr Herbivore (8 wound points)

The Blue Wren (8 wound points)

Round 1

1. Roll initiative

The Blue Wren 1

Heinrich’s Men 3

Malefice 3

Dr Herbivore 4

Jake 5

The tie between Heinrich’s men and Malefice is resolved in Malefice’s favour.

Phase 1 combat (Heinrich’s henchman come into play).

Jake’s action

Three of Heinrich’s men are charging down a narrow path between boiling pools in order to attack Jake.

Jake elects a standard attack.
He is using a gun (this gives him 3 damage and allows him to target 3 or less henchmen if he wishes).
Jake describes his action; “I try to gun down one of the henchmen in order to crash him into two more taking them all into the boiling water where they die screaming.”
Jake rolls 9 (+3) (+1 for using the environment in his description) = 13 a hit.

Jake rolls 4 on 1d6 indicating non critical damage.

Jake earns 2 action tokens (for description in standard combat).
Henchmen pool is reduced from 11 to 8.

Dr Herbivore’s Action

Three other thugs take up a defensive position among the gibbets.

Dr Herbivore elects a targeted attack and holds his action for a phase.

Malefice’s Action

Three more thugs rush towards Malefice, quickly covering the unveven ground and will soon be in melee range.

Malefice has chosen a frenzied attack.
She is using a revolver (which does 3 damage)

She describes her action; “leaping up onto one of the gibbets to get a clearer shot I open fire on the nearest of Heinrich’s men”.
Malefice rolls 18 (-2 frenzied) (+4) (+1 for using the environment in her description) = 21 a hit.

Malefice rolls 5 on id6 indicating non-critical damage.

Malefice earns 1 action token (for description in frenzied combat).
Henchmen pool is reduced from 8 to 5

Henchmens’  action

The henchmen regroup so that two are facing each Player character.

Heinrich’s men attack (pool 8) in standard fashion

Two will attack each character with pistols (doing damage 3).

Against Jake

The henchmen take cover behind the gibbets and fire at Jake.

Henchman #1 rolls 11 (-2 novice) = 9 a miss.

Henchman #2 rolls 13 (-2 novice) = 11 a miss.

Against Dr Herbivore

From their places behind the gibbets they open fire on Dr Herbivore.

Henchman #3 rolls 16 (-2 novice) = 14 a hit.

Dr Herbivore takes 3 damage.

Henchman #4 rolls 6 (-2 novice) = 4 a miss.

Against Malefice

The henchman charge in firing at Malefice.

Henchman #5 rolls 19 (-2 novice) = 17 a hit.

Malefice takes 3 points of piercing damage.

Henchman #6 rolls 7 (-2 novice) = 5 a miss.

Against the Blue Wren

Firing from behind the gibbets the henchmen attempt to circle around behind the Blue Wren.

Henchman #7 rolls 15 (-2 novice) = 13 a hit.

The Blue Wren rolls 11 (+1) for dodge = 12 a success (and takes only 1 point of piercing damage).

Henchman #8 rolls 8 (-2 novice) = 6 a miss.

The Blue Wren’s Action

Phase 1 is complete.

At the end of phase 1

Jake has 10 wound points and 2 action tokens

Dr Herbivore has 5 wound points

Malefice has 5 wound points and 1 action token

The Blue Wren has 5 wound points

Heinrch’s men have a pool of 8 wound points

Phase 2 begins.

Jake’s action

Jake is not acting this phase.

Dr Herbivore’s action

The attackers are difficult to see behind their cover but Dr Herbivore’s attack is targeted and he has been lining them up.

He brings his elephant gun to bear (which can do 3 damage).
Dr Herbivore describes his action; “I aim up into the ceiling at a chain holding a gibbet over a cluster of our  enemies and fire in order to bring it down and crush them beneath it”.

Dr Herbivore rolls 10 (+3 ranged) (+2 targeted) (+ 1 for using the environment in the description) = 16 a hit.

Dr Herbivore rolls 6 on 1d6 (critical).

GM’s description – “The gibbet crashes down causeing a cascade that crushes three of Heinrich’s men but also collapses a path that tumbles three more into the boiling pools.”

Dr Herbivore earns 2 action tokens (for description in targeted combat).

The henchmen pool is reduced to 2.

Malefice’s action

Malefice has chosen a frenzied attack.

She is using her revolver (which does 3 damage).

Malefice describes her action; “Leaping to another gibbet I fire off another shot on the move trying to keep the chains between me and my opponents”.

Malefice rolls 3 (+4 gun) (-2 frenzied) (+1 for description) = 6 a miss.

Malefice earns 1 action token (for description in frenzied combat).

Henchmens’ action

Heinrich’s remaining men are not acting this phase.  They remain partially obscured by cover as they continue to circle the Blue Wren.

The Blue Wren’s action

The Blue Wren’s attack is targeted.
She brings her Lee Enfield to bear (which does 3 damage).

The Blue Wren describes her action; “I line up the last 2 of the soldiers and fire, aiming to hit them consecutively in the throat”.
The Blue Wren rolls 15 (+3 rifle) (+2 targeted) no environment bonus = 20 a hit.

The Blue Wren rolls 4 on 1d6 normal damage.

The Blue Wren earns 2 action tokens (for description in targeted combat).

The henchmen pool is reduced to -1 (henchman are destroyed at 0).

Phase 2 is complete

At the end of phase 2

Jake has 10 wound points and 2 action tokens

Dr Herbivore has 5 wound points and 2 action tokens

Malefice has 5 wound points and 2 action tokens

The Blue Wren has 5 wound points and 2 action tokens

Heinrich’s men have been destroyed.

Phase 3 begins

(Heinrich comes into play maintaining the villain’s initiative and completing the existing villain’s combat action)

The GM sets the scene.  “His men all too easily despatched, Heinrich, wearing the robes of a priest of the outer gods, stands at the entrance to the bridge barring the way with his sword at his belt and a pistol in his right hand.  He is preparing his first shot.

Jake’s action

Jake elects a standard attack.
He is using a pistol (that does 3 damage).
Jake describes his action; “Now the henchmen are out of the way I join Malefice atop the gibbets and run forward firing upon Heinrich himself”.
Nick rolls 15 (+3 guns) (+1 for using the environment in his description) = 19 a hit.
Nick rolls 2 on 1d6 indicating non critical damage.
Nick earns 2 action tokens (for description in standard combat).
Heinrich is reduced from 22 to 19 wound points.

Dr Herbivore’s action

Dr Herbivore elects a targeted attack and holds his action for a phase.

Malefice’s action

Malefice has chosen a frenzied attack.
She is using her revolver (which does 3 damage).

Malefice describes her action; “running along the gibbets with Nick I fire away at Heinrich”.
Malefice rolls 13 (-2 frenzied) (+4 gun) (+1 for using the environment in his description) = 16 a hit.

Malefice rolls 1 on id6 indicating non-critical damage
Malefice earns 1 action token (for description in frenzied combat).
Heinrich is reduced from 19 to 15 wound points.

Heinrich’s action

Heinrich enters the combat.
The GM describes his action; “Seeing the two heroes coming towards him over the gibbets he fires up at one of the chains hoping to drop Jake into a pool of boiling water”.

He is using his gun but the damage will be distributed by clubbing damage from the fall (2) and scalding damage (4) from the pool (total 6 points).

Heinrich rolls 3 (+2 as a skilled opponent) (+1 for using the environment in the description) = 6 a miss.

Heinrich earns 2 action tokens (for description in standard combat).

The Blue Wren’s action

The Blue Wren does not act this phase.

Phase 3 is complete

At the end of phase 3

Jake has 10 wound points and 4 action tokens

Dr Herbivore has 5 wound points and 2 action tokens

Malefice has 5 wound points and 3 action tokens

The Blue Wren has 5 wound points and 2 action tokens

Heinrich has 16 wound points and 2 action tokens

Phase 4 begins

Jake’s action

Jake takes no action this phase

Dr Herbivore’s action

Heinrich’s attempt to bring down the gibbets and dump his friends in the boiling pools galvanizes Dr Herbivore into action.

Dr Herbivore’s attack is targeted.
He brings his elephant gun to bear (3 damage).

Dr Herbivore describes his action; “Racing through the forest of chains and gibbets I place myself where I can take careful aim and disarm Heinrich”.

Dr Herbivore rolls 11 (+3 elephant gun) (+2 targeted) (+ 1 for using the environment in the description) = 17 a hit.

Dr Herbivore rolls 4 on 1d6 non critical.
Heinrich attempts to dodge but his right hand is now useless (the gun dangling limply in his hand).

Dr Herbivore earns 2 action tokens (for description in targeted combat).

Heinrich is reduced from 16 to 12 wound points and draws his saber with his left hand.

Malefice’s action

Malefice’s attack is frenzied.
Now that Heinrich has been disarmed she will attempt to use her pistol as a club (2 damage).

Malefice describes her action; “I leap from the gibbets to the bridge and grabbing onto a vine to anchor myself I swing my gun, pistol-whip style, at Heinrich.
Malefice rolls 9 (+1 melee) (-2 frenzied) (+1 using environment in the description) = 9 miss.

Malefice spends a hero point to re-roll.

Malefice rolls 14 (+1 melee) (-2 frenzied) (+1 using environment in description) = 14 hit.

Malefice rolls 6 on 1d6 = critical damage (4).

Malefice earns 1 action token (for description in frenzied combat).
Heinrich is reduced from 12 to 8 wound points.

Heinrich’s action

Heinrich takes no action this phase but staggers from the punishment he has received thus far.

The Blue Wren’s action

The Blue Wren’s attack is targeted.
The Blue Wren switches to her bayonet (3 damage).

The Blue Wren describes her action; “Seeing that Heinrich is armed only with a sabre I fix a bayonet to my Enfield and leap up onto the bridge thrusting the blade forward to attack his right leg”.

The Blue Wren rolls 11 (+2 melee) (+2 targeted) (no environment bonus since it is not being used) = 15 a hit.

The Blue Wren rolls 2 on 1d6 for standard damage.

A successful consequence roll preserves his leg for use..

The Blue Wren earns 2 action tokens (for description in targeted action).

Heinrich is reduced from 8 to 6 wound points.

Phase 4 is complete

At the end of phase 4

Jake has 10 wound points and 4 action tokens

Dr Herbivore has 5 wound points and 4 action tokens

Malefice has 5 wound points and 4 action tokens

The Blue Wren has 5 wound points and 4 action tokens

Heinrich is reduced to 6 wound points, has two action tokens, and has lost the use of his right hand.

With phase 4 complete the current round is brought to an end.

Round 2

Initiative

Heinrich 6

Dr Herbivore 5 (roll off 4)

The Blue Wren  5 (roll off 2)

Jake 4 (roll off 4)

Malefice 4 (roll off 3)

Dr Herbivore and the Blue Wren rolled the same number (5) and rolled again to see which of them would go first.

Jake and Malefice both rolled a 4 and did likewise.

Phase 1 begins

Heinrich’s action

Heinrich appears seriously injured and holds his sabre clumsily.

Heinrich makes a targeted attack using his sabre (3 damage) against the Blue Wren.

The GM describes his action;. “Heinrich grasps one of the vines and swinging off the side of the bridge uses the momentum to bring himself back around in a sweeping attack at the Blue Wren’s  forward arm.”

Heinrich rolls 11 (+2 skilled) (+2 targeted) (+1 description bonus) = 16 a hit.

Heinrich rolls 5 on 1d6 (normal damage) and 6 on a 1d6 consequence roll = a critical hit on the targeted weapon..

The Blue Wren takes 1 point of damage and her rifle spins away into the abyss (landing precariously on a ledge some thirty feet away on the far wall) but her hand, while injured, can still be used.  (NB. When a character aims to disable and gets a critical hit the targeted character loses any weapon they are holding while retaining the use of the targeted limb etc.)

Doctor Herbivore’s action

Doctor Herbivore elects to use a targeted attack and does not act this phase.

The Blue Wren’s action

The Blue Wren also elects to use a targeted attack and does not act this phase.

Jake’s action

Jake chooses to attack in a standard manner.

Jake is fighting hand to hand (and can do 1 point of damage).

Jake describes his action; “Running along the bridge’s guard rail I swing my boot at Heinrich.
Jake rolls 13 (+1 melee) (+1 for description) = 15 hit.

Jake rolls 4 on 1d6 = normal damage.

Jake earns 2 action tokens.
Heinrich is reduced from 7 to 6 wound points.

Malefice’s action

Malefice chooses to attack in a frenzied manner.

Malefice wants to change his attack to allow her to employ bashing damage from a rock (2 points).

Malefice describes her action; “I grab a large (Fist-sized) rock from the rubble nearby and, tying a length of vine to it, swing it like a flail at Heinrich”.

Malefice rolls 13 (+1) (-2 frenzied) (+1 environment description) = 13 a hit.  She rolls 5 on 1d6 = normal damage.

Heinrich takes 2 points of damage and is reduced from 5 to 3 wound points.

. Malefice earns 1 action token (for description in frenzy).

Phase 1 is complete

At the end of phase 1

Jake has 10 wound points and 6 action tokens

Dr Herbivore has 5 wound points and 4 action tokens

Malefice has 5 wound points and 5 action tokens

The Blue Wren has 5 wound points and 4 action tokens

Heinrich has 3 wound points and 2 action tokens.

Phase 2 begins

Heinrich’s action

No action this phase.

Doctor Herbivore’s action

Doctor Herbivore attacks.

He wishes to use the water in the boiling pool to attack (4 points scalding damage).

Doctor Herbivore describes his action; “Grabbing a helmet from one of the defeated henchmen I fill it with boiling water from a pool and run to the bridge hurling it at the face of Heinrich”.
Doctor Herbivore rolls 6 (+2 ranged) (+2 targeted) (+1 environment bonus) = 11 a miss.

Doctor Herbivore earns 2 action tokens (for description in targeted).

Heinrich remains at 3 wound points.

The Blue Wren’s action

The Blue Wren attacks.
She draws her own sabre (3 damage).

The Blue Wren describes her action; “Taking up a traditional fighters stance I lunge forward along the bridge trying to disarm my opponent”.

The Blue Wren rolls 4 (+2 fencing) (+2 targeted) (no environment bonus) = 6 a hit.

The Blue Wren earns 2 action tokens.

Heinrich remains at 3 wound points.

Jake’s action

Jake has no attack this phase.

Malefice’s action

Malefice attacks using her improvised flail (2 damage)

Malefice cashes in 5 tokens to do extra damage.

Malefice describes her action; “Swinging my improvised flail in a figure of eight I move in and try to entangle Heinrich’s legs.”

Malefice rolls 6 (+1) (-2 frenzied) (+1 environment bonus) = 5 miss.

Malefice chooses to spend a hero point to reroll.

Malefice rolls 14 (+1 melee) (-2 frenzied) (+1 environment bonus) = 14 a hit.

Heinrich is entangled.

Malefice earns 1 action token for description.

Double damage is applied for cashing in tokens.

Heinrich is reduced to -1 wound points from the extra damage and tumbles off the edge of the bridge into the abyss, his final wail – “I must protect my Master….”.

Phase 2 is complete

At the end of phase 2

Jake has 10 wound points and 6 action tokens

Dr Herbivore has 5 wound points and 6 action tokens

Malefice has 5 wound points and 1 action token

The Blue Wren has 4 wound points and 6 action tokens

Heinrich is dead.

Phase 3 begins (The avatar of the outer gods comes into play)

Avatar’s action

The monster goes first (it has four attacks with tentacles and huge stone swords (3 damage)).

The GM describes the Avatar’s action; “From high on the dais there is activity.  Seeing its high priest relegated to the abyss, the huge avatar of the outer gods rolls forward extruding a multitude of tentacles, gripping and drawing forth four huge stone swords from the dozens that are surrounding the dais.  It wields them by passing them from tentacle to tentacle in a spinning vortex of death.  It rises up hugely above you, hesitating at the edge of the bridge, and strikes.”

Against Dr Herbivore

Tentacle #1 rolls 8 (+5 elite) (+1 environment bonus) = hit.

Tentacle #1 rolls 3 on 1 d6 normal damage.

Dr Herbivore 3 points damage reducing him to 2 points.

Against the Blue Wren

Tentacle #2 rolls 16 (+5 elite) (+1 environment bonus) = hit.
Tentacle #2 rolls 5 on 1d6 normal damage.

The Blue Wren takes 3 points of damage leaving her with 1 point.

Against Jake

Tentacle #3 rolls 13 (+5) (+1) = hit.

Tentacle #3 rolls 3 on 1d6 normal damage.

Jake takes 3 points of damage leaving him with 7.

Against Malefice

Tentacle #4 rolls 17 (+5) (=22) = hit.

Tentacle #4 rolls 3 on 1d6 normal damage.

Malefice takes 3 points of damage leaving her with 2 points.

The Avatar earns 2 action tokens.

Doctor Herbivore’s action

Doctor Herbivore has no action this phase

The Blue Wren’s action

The Blue Wren has no action this phase

Jake’s action

Jake withdraws from the bridge calling out “its too heavy to cross after us – we can pick it off at a distance”.

He attacks with his pistols (which do 3 damage).

Jake cashes in 5 action tokens to do extra damage.

Jake describes his action; “I pull back amongst the hanging gibbets and, using them for cover, open fire on the thing.”
Jake rolls 10 (+3 guns) (+1 environment) = 14 hit.
Jake rolls 1 on 1d6 normal damage.

Damage is doubled by the action tokens spent.

The Avatar is reduced from 17 to 11 wound points.

Jake earns 2 action tokens.

Malefice’s action

Malefice withdraws across the bridge firing up at the beast (to do 3 damage).

Malefice describes her action; “I leap backwards, sliding down the bridge on my back and firing up at the beast as I roll away to reach a safe distance”.

Malefice rolls 10 (+4 guns) (-2 frenzied) (+1 environment bonus) = a hit.

Malefice rolls 4 on 1d6 normal damage.

The Avatar is reduced from 11 to 8 wound points.

Malefice earns 1 action token.

Phase 3 is complete

At the end of phase 3

Jake has 7 wound points and 3 action tokens.

Dr Herbivore has 2 wound points and 6 action tokens.

The Blue Wren has 1 wound points and 6 action tokens.

Malefice has 2 wound points and 1 action token.

The Avatar has 8 wound points and 2 action tokens. (NB- action tokens are not transferable between monsters).

Phase 4 begins

Avatar’s action

The monster strikes again.

GM describes this action; “The creature, sensing the attempt to get out of range, drops two of the swords with a crash and starts ripping up the masonry of the dais to launch at the intruders”.

Against Dr Herbivore

Tentacle #1 (with sword 3 damage) rolls 3 (+5 elite) (+1 environment bonus) = 9 a miss.

Against the Blue Wren

Tentacle #2 (with sword 3 damage) rolls 9 (+5 elite) (+1 environment bonus) = 15 a hit.

Tentacle #2 rolls 6 on 1d6 and applies double damage.

The blow is lethal and gives the Blue Wren the chance for one final heroic action.

Against Jake

Tentacle #3 (with rock 2 damage) rolls 13 (+5 elite) (+1 environment bonus) = 19 hit.

Jake takes 2 damage reducing him to 5 points.

Against Malefice

Tentacle #3 (with rock 2 damage) rolls 5 (+5 elite) (+1 environment bonus) = 11 miss.

Doctor Herbivore’s action

Doctor Herbivore, using the elephant gun, attacks (3 damage).
Dr Herbivore cashes in 5 action tokens to do extra damage.

Dr Herbivore describes his action; (“I aim carefully at one of the creature’s tentacles that are holding a sword.  I use the curve of the bridge for cover and fire”.
Dr Periodical rolls 10 (+3 gun) (+2 targeted) (+1 environment bonus) = 16 a hit.

Dr Periodical rolls 1 on d6 – normal damage.

The creature drops its sword and takes double (6 pts) damage.
The Avatar is reduced from 8 to 2 wound points and Dr Periodical earns 2 action tokens.

The Blue Wren’s action

The Blue Wren (suffering from a lethal wound) undertakes her final heroic action.

GM description “The stone sword effectively pins you to the bridge and, knowing you are about to die, you have time for one last action”.

The Blue Wren describes her final heroic action; : “I reach for Dr Herbivore’s Elephant Gun.  “My mother’s rifle is in the ravine… see (cough) that it’s returned to her (cough cough).”  I aim up into the ceiling of the temple and fire, hoping to strike a weak point and bring the temple down on the creature’s head.”

The Blue Wren rolls 11 (+2 gun) (+2 targeted) (+1 description bonus) = 16 a hit.

GM Description (addressed to the Blue Wren) : “The roof comes crashing in on the creature burying it.  With satisfaction you note its last twitches before it lies still, green fluid bubbling from its ruined remains. Then, the last of your own life’s blood spent, you breathe once, and pass beyond this world.”

Phase 4 ends and so does combat

At the end of the combat

The Avatar, Heinrich, and his henchmen are dead.

Jake has 5 wound points and 3 action tokens

Dr Herbivore has 2 wound points and 3 action tokens.

The Blue Wren is dead, having brought an end to the threat within the Temple of Chadron.

Malefice has 2 wound points and 1 action token.

NEXT TIME: An example of magical combat involving special powers and abilities.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Combat – Chapter 5 (Part 3) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

A set of Print and Play components for tracking Combat during the game

NEXT TIME: An example combat that will step you through the process of running combat in game.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Combat – Chapter 5 (Part 2) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

The story so far (Under attack)

Episode 3

The three shambling monstrosities clamber up out of the concrete floor and begin lurching towards our heroes.  Jake begins placing shot after carefully aimed shot into the lead creature’s chest.  Each bullet leaves a relatively large hole but seems to be doing little to slow the monsters down.

“They’re already dead” calls Malefice.  “If you have to shoot them, go for the head”.

Jake hurriedly reloads his handgun while Malefice mutters arcane words under her breath.  Dr Herbivore is assembling some kind of gadget behind them.  It is a long tube with a trigger at one end, perhaps a gun of some sort.

Malefice manages to release her first spell to great effect.  The head corpse begins to smoke and then to burn.  The shambling corpse of the missing mob boss, Falzetti, lets out a long moan and crumples to the ground.  In moments, nothing remains of the corpse except ashes.

The two remaining corpses, Falzetti’s missing lieutenants no doubt, do not seem phased by the loss of their boss.  One lurches toward Dr Herbivore who manages to get a shot off with his hastily assembled weapon.  It melts a football sized hole in the back wall of the warehouse but misses its target.  The monster swings an inhumanly strong fist at the diminutive little doctor, sending him sliding across the floor in a daze.

Jake makes his next two shots count, the bullets bursting the head of the nearest assailant like an overripe melon.  However, the remaining monster, having knocked Dr Herbivore to the ground,  closes in on Malefice and is trying to choke the life out of her. The creature is too close for Malefice to use a spell without being caught up in it herself.

“Jake”, she coughs. “Get it off me!”

Fortunately, Dr Herbivore has recovered slightly.  Lying prone on the floor he carefully raises his weapon and sights along its length.  There is a slight hiss as he pulls the trigger and the monster’s head melts away.

“Thanks!” whispers Malefice hoarsely.  She is still catching her breath when the sound of a skylight latch closing is heard followed by footsteps running across the roof.

“Someone’s up there” shouts Jake.

“Probably the sorcerer who raised the corpses” shouts Dr Herbivore, already running towards the rear of the warehouse where a series of ladders make their way to the roof.

The chase is on!

Melee and Ranged Combat

At various times in the game players may find themselves in a fight.

Fights are conducted in rounds of four phases each.

At the beginning of each round the players and their opponents (whose actions are determined by the GM) roll 1 six sided dice (1d6) each.

The order of action is determined by the dice roll from highest to lowest. Ties are settled in the players’ favor.

Each non-player-character (NPC) has a combat skill based on whether they are a novice, standard, skilled, or elite fighter. This figure is added to their dice rolls during combat.

They also have a maximum number of wounds they can sustain before dying (see GMs Guide for detailed advice on determining the relative strength of opponents.

At the start of the round players and opponents specify their actions. There are five typical actions to choose from in standard combat and they govern when combat tests are required during the round. The actions are…

1. Frenzied attack

The player or opponent will make a combat test each phase but will do so with a minus 2 modifier.

2. Standard attack

The player or opponent will make a combat test on the first and third phases of the round with no modifier.

3. Targeted attack

The player or opponent takes careful aim and makes a combat test on the second and fourth phases of the round with a plus 2 modifier.

4. Spell attack

The player or opponent prepares or sustains a spell during the first and third phases, releasing its effect during the second and fourth phases.  A spell caster is committed to using magic for the entire round. (see magical combat for further details.

5. Defensive action

The player or opponent chooses to try to duck and dodge incoming attacks. A -4 modifier applies to the attacker in each phase. Damage is halved (rounded down to a minimum of 1).

Players may attempt to escape combat at the end of any round in which they engaged in a defensive action. A consequences roll must be successful (not a 6) in order to avoid pursuit.

A fail will keep the player in combat for another round.

The result of each phase is calculated (in initiative order) one phase at a time. Each success results in damage calculated on the basis of the weapon, gadget, or effect applied.

A player who is stabbed or shot (by any kind of projectile or effect that pierces the players skin) should record a piercing wound.

A player or opponent becomes unconscious when wounds reach 0.  At minus 1 the player or opponent dies.

When the leader of a group of opponents falls the group members must each make a consequence check to stop from fleeing.

Combat tends to be short and brutal.

By referencing the terrain in the description of combat actions the player gets +1 to their attempt to hit a target.

Targeted actions can render targeted limbs/weapons etc. useless.

Providing descriptions of combat actions that make use of the terrain also earns 1 action token per phase (2 for standard and targeted actions, 1 each for frenzied actions).

Spending 5 action tokens earns a double damage attack.  A critical hit can also be doubled.
As you fight you are assessing and weighing up your opponent’s weaknesses and the longer you fight the more you learn which in turn allows you to exploit those weaknesses with a particularly devastating blow.

There is no dodge skill in this game.

There are 3 types of opponents.

Henchmen – the waves of little guys that the good guys mow down in action movies (represented by a pool of wounds). You can dispense with as many of them as the damage points you inflict allow.

Minions – the middle management of any evil empire.  Tough enough to have their own statistics and they can earn special attack bonuses of their own, but they are not as tough as the villain.

Bosses – the big bad guys.  Tough hombre’s who are capable of wiping out a team of heroes all on their own.

Villainous NPCs with statistics (non-henchmen) can earn action tokens that can be spent on double damage attacks and get the same +1 bonus as players for utilising the environment in their descriptions of combat actions.

Combat can be tracked using a combat board and tokens like the ones below.

Place the combatants in initiative order from left (highest) to right (lowest) upon the colored squares.  Place their elected action types above them and then progress from left to right, top to bottom through the actions to complete a round of combat.

Re-roll initiative and reset the board for each following round.

Combat Cheat Sheet

Step 1 – Determine initiative

At the start of a round roll 1d6 initiative for each player character and for each NPC group involved in the conflict.

If there are several distinct groups of NPCs with different objectives then each group can be rolled for individually by the GM. (PCs always roll individually).

If there is a tie between players, roll again to decide who of them goes first).

If there is a tie between a player and the GM, the player always goes first.

Participants in the combat act in order from highest score first to lowest score last.

Step 2 – Specify combat types

Players and NPC groups choose one of five combat actions for the round (standard +0,  spell +1, targeted +2, frenzied -2, or defensive (-4 to enemies)).  These combat actions determine which phases participants act in.

Step 3 – Repeat steps 4 to 6

Repeat Steps 4 to 6 until the combat is concluded (there is no-one left to oppose the winning side) or until the current participant actions for this round have been resolved.

Step 4 – Specify action

At the start of a player-action (or NPC-group-action) in any given round, the acting participant must describe what they are doing.

If they incorporate an element of the environment into their description they get +1 to their chance to succeed in that action.

If they describe their action with more detail than “I shoot him” they earn 2 action tokens (standard or targeted actions) or 1 action token (frenzied and defensive actions).

If they choose to attack something then they must specify

• the weapon they are using (if any)
• whether they are cashing in any action tokens to improve the damage they deal (minimum 5 tokens to increase damage x 2).
• and who or what they are attacking

Step 5 – Determine the success of the action

If the player has chosen a defensive action then skip this step.

The player must roll 2d10.

A skill bonus must be added to the result for the skill being employed (typically melee, ranged, brawl, or a specific weapon skill).

The player must add the bonus related to the current combat action they are engaged in as well (0 standard/spell, +2 targeted, -2 frenzied, or -4 if attacking a defensive target)

If the player incorporated an element of the environment into their description they add +1 to the result.

If the result is > 11 a hit has been scored.

If a hit has been scored then the player must roll 1d6.

If the result is 6 then the damage is doubled.

If the player chooses to cash in 5 action tokens then the damage is doubled (this can stack with any previous damage).

Step 6 – Apply Damage and note consequences

If a targeted attack was used to try to disable an arm or leg etc. then a consequence roll on the part of the victim is called form.  If a 6 is rolled,  then any weapon held by that appendage is lost, but the appendage is still functional.

If a targeted attack succeeds (without a failed consequence roll) then the appendage is no longer operational and the victim must find another way to continue to fight.

Targeted head shots and heart shots are not allowed.  Alternatively they can be attempted at a -6 penalty (only with a piercing weapon) and automatically fail if the individual is wearing a helmet or armour.

If wounds < 0 the NPC target has been killed.  Player characters are considered skilled enough to NOT kill their opponents if that is their aim (so long as they are not using weapons, such as explosives or rocket guns, that employ an area effect).  If they only intend to knock an opponent out then the NPC is rendered unconscious when their wound points <0.

PCs fall unconscious at 0 but any successful hit thereafter kills them.

If a PC is dealt a lethal blow, then with their dying breath they may make one final heroic action upon their next action phase.

If all antagonists are dead or have escaped (or the PCs are dead or have escaped) then combat ends, otherwise the next player or NPC action takes place.

Step 7 – Return to “Step 1”

Determine Initiative (above) and repeat.

NEXT TIME: A set of print-and play components for tracking combat during the game.  While you don’t need to use them, we recommend them as a way of keeping track of the players and their opponents during a fight.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Combat – Chapter 5 (Part 1) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Consequence tests

Sometimes a player’s actions have the ability to cause results the player did not expect. In such circumstances the GM may call for a consequence test.
Consequence tests are conducted by rolling 1 six sided dice (1d6). On 1-5 nothing happens but a 6 will result in a negative consequence of some kind.
A consequence test is usually called for when a player fails an action but may also be required at other times as the GM chooses.

Example (Weapon jam)

Jake is trying to hit a soft drink can with his gun. The player rolls an 8 which, when his ranged skill (1 dot plus 1 default point = 2 points) is added, still results in a failure.
Jake then rolls a 6 on a consequence roll.
The GM concludes that not only did Jake miss the target, the gun jammed as well.

Example (Raising an alarm)

Although Jake was successful at shouldering the Principal’s office door open, the GM feels the noise may have attracted the attention of a security guard and asks for a consequence roll. The player rolls a 3. No guard hears the noise.

Perception

A successful perception test is almost always followed by a consequence roll. Perception governs whether a character notices what is going on around him or her. The extent to which such notice is taken is determined by a consequence roll.  The test itself is a default test unless the character has spent points on the perception skill.  If points have been spent on the skill it is a trained skill test.

While characters may use perception like any other skill, the game keeper has discretion over when a consequence roll will apply.

Example (Detecting an ambush)

A mugger and one of his friends is creeping up behind Jake. The GM asks for a perception test. Jake succeeds so the game keeper asks for a consequence roll.
The GM determines that on a 1-2 Jake will only see the shadow of his attackers at the last minute. A 3-4 will mean that Jake hears his attackers approaching as well. A 5-6 means Jake will catch sight of them approaching from the corner of his eye.
Jake rolls a 3 and so hears someone approaching him from behind.

Contests

Occasionally the action a character tries to undertake is opposed in some way. This is called a contest.  When trying to succeed in a contest (whether between characters or objects) the opponent should be assigned a challenge rating according to the chart below.

The two contestants roll 2d10.  The player adds the required skill points to the result of the roll while the GM adds the challenge rating to the opponent’s roll.  Whichever result is higher determines the outcome of the contest.

Example

Jake is attempting to hold a door closed against two strong thugs.  The GM decides the contest is difficult (that is, Jake will find it difficult to keep the door closed against the pressure from his opponents) and rolls an 11 on 2d10 adding +2 (the difficulty modifier for a difficult contest) to the result giving 13 to the opponents.  Jake rolls a 14 and employs his base statistic of strength as a natural skill (adding 2 (3/2 rounded up) points to the roll).  This gives him 16.  Jake’s result (16) is higher than the GM’s result (13). Jake manages to bar the door comfortably.

Special Skills

What the dots mean for ranged skills (magical and mundane)

The following rules help define how ranged and magical skills can be applied.

Line of sight rule

Many times you need a clear line of sight to your target in order to employ a weapon or spell.  The extent to which this is true reduces with increased skill.

Range rule

The general distance at which you can be effective is also determined by the number of dots in the skill you are using

Area effect rule

Lastly, the area of effectiveness of area effect weapons and spells (such as explosive shells, or raining fire from heaven) is determined by the number of dots in the skill you are using.

Example (Using a mortar – a ranged area effect)

Gunnery Sergeant Jones (Gunny) has lots of weapons skills including 3 points in the use of mortars.   This allows him to make an accurate guess as to the location of his targets within 50 meters, be accurate over 50 meters of range, and affect an area of 8 square meters with the mortar attack.

Example (Malefice’s rain of lightning area effect spell)

Malefice has 2 dots in her rain of lightning spell – a spell she intends to use as an area effect.  In order for the spell to work she must have at least a partial view of her target, be fairly close (about a room’s length from her target), and the spell will affect 4 square meters.

Duration and targets

Mystic abilities and some area effect weapons can have their effects maintained over multiple phases at the cost of not being able to perform other simultaneous actions. All spells are treated as targeted actions. The effect is calculated every 2nd and fourth phase while a successful skill roll must be achieved to maintain the effect every first and third phase.  A new target(s) can specified on every second and fourth phase (see Combat for details).

Example

Malefice decides that, having attacked multiple targets with her rain of lightning spell for 2 standard phases she will maintain the attack switching targets to the group’s leader for two further phases. She makes a skill roll to maintain the spell.

Gadgets

A gadgeteer has the ability to create gadgets to accomplish tasks.  To use a gadget requires a skill roll in the same way that using any skill does and should be listed on the character sheet with any dots spent on the skill.

Example

Dr Herbivore has designed a combination chronometer, sextant, and compass that he wears on his wrist like a watch.  He has placed two points in the associated gadget skill and calls it his personal locator.  Using it he can determine his location (in terms of longitude and latitude) by making a personal locator roll.  He has managed to get lost in the Jungles of Borneo and decides to use the skill to determine where he is.  Consulting his personal locator he rolls 15 on 2d10 and adds 2 giving him 17 – a success.  He now knows where he is and can continue on his way to his destination.

Weird Science

A weird scientist has inventions and abilities that allow him or her to accomplish weird science effects (anything from raising the dead to travelling in time).  To use one of these inventions or skills, a skill roll is required just as if it were a normal skill or ability.  Such abilities must be listed on the character sheet along with any dots spent acquiring the skill.

Example

Dr Herbivore’s faithful Orangutan butler has died of old age.  Unable to conceive of life without a simian companion he purchases a new Orangutan and prepares the creature for surgery.  Herbivore has a weird science skill that allows him to shape the intelligence and character of a creature (or person) through surgically modifying the bumps on their heads.  He has two dots in this skill (which he calls transformational surgery).  He rolls a natural 20 on 2d10 and adds 2 points to the result giving him 22 – a big success.  His new butler, who he names Mycroft is now ready to assume his duties.

Magic

Magical spells, rituals, items, and abilities must be recorded on your character sheet along with any dots spent in acquiring them.  To use the spell, ability, or object you must make a successful skill roll.

Example

Malefice has a magical staff which can read a person’s thoughts.  Her team have captured one of the lieutenants belonging to a major crime family and she wishes to identify the individual giving the orders.  She employs the staff rolling a 10 on 2d10 and adding her Magical Staff of Mind Reading points of 3. A 13 is rolled (success) and she learns that this Lieutenant reports to Robert Gotti, currently number two in the Gotti crime family.

Hero points

Heroes in the radio serials of the past have always been lucky individuals.  Where an ordinary person would fall from a cliff to their deaths, a radio serial hero would succeed in grabbing a vine on the way down and somehow survive.  To mimic this tendancy towards good fortune this game employs hero points to improve the players odds.  When a dice roll doesn’t go your way you can spend a hero point (reducing the available number by one) to either re-roll the result or add one to a result already rolled.  You can only spend one hero point per dice roll (so if, after spending a hero point, the dice still don’t go your way you will have to live with the result).

Example (Using Hero Points)

Eg. Wild Bill tries to shoot the lever that controls the gate to the Hyena pen but only rolls a 4. His six gun skill is at 3 which raises it to a 7 (still not enough). He elects to spend 5 out of his total of 6 Hero points to make the shot a success leaving 1 Hero point available for the rest of the session.

Alternatively, Wild Bill might cash in a hero point to re-roll the first result (saving a few hero points in the process). However, the re-rolled result is final and cannot be added to by further hero points.

Skill advancement

Each “single-session” adventure that players successfully complete (survive) results in the player being awarded one “Radio Times” magazine cover detailing their exploits. These magazine covers can be traded for new abilities or skill levels.

A new ability costs 1 cover.

For each dot of skill a player already has it will cost 1 magazine cover to increase it. Eg. a 3 dot skill will cost 3 covers to increase to 4.

It is also possible to earn experience points throughout the game (awarded for accomplishing various objectives).  Every 10 experience points earns a Radio Times Magazine cover as well.

Experience points and Radio Times Covers are awarded at the discretion of the GM (though you should always receive at least one cover for completing/surviving an adventure).

Skill advancement can only occur between adventures.

Example

The jewels have been recovered and the bad guys are on the run.  Malefice figured out the meaning of the secret symbols on the map that led to the treasure being recovered so the GM awards her an extra 2 experience points.  Each of the players gains a Radio Times magazine cover recounting their adventures for radio listeners everywhere.  The cover is worth 10 points and with the 2 extra points she has earned, Malefice records 12 experience points on her character sheet.  She then decides to give herself a new starting skill (spending 10 of these points to give herself one dot in it) that she is calling intimidate.

Example

Jake Stead already has two dots in ranged weapon skill.  With the cover he has just earned he now has 3 magazine covers (or thirty experience points) available to spend on skill advancement.  To raise his ranged skill one more dot he must spend covers equal to the number of dots already present (2 or 20 points).  He adds a dot to his ranged weapon skill and reduces his experience points by 20 leaving 10 to be recorded on his character sheet.

NEXT TIME: Chapter 5 – Combat.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Getting things done – Chapter 4 (Part 2) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Chapter 4 – Getting things done

The story so far (An obstacle overcome)

Episode 2

“Something’s wrong here” muttered Dr Herbivore.

“You think?” noted Jake Stead, sarcastically.

The little group were staring up at the lurid five pointed star painted on the main door of Franco Gionelli’s dock-side warehouse.  The slight coppery smell made it clear that the sign had been recently painted in blood.

Malefice felt her stomach sink as she stared at the hideous emblem.  “I think we’d better hold on a moment.  If magic is involved we’ll need to be especially careful.”

“Do you have any mojo we can use to check if it’s safe to head on in?” asked Jake.

“Sure”, Malefice replied.  “Jo-jo should do the trick.”

“Jo-jo?” asked Herbivore, raising a quizical eyebrow in Malefice’s direction.

“Yeah, Jo-jo!  He’s a little nature spirit I’ve got bound to my dagger.  He’ll run errands for me and do little things like that.  He can go in and take a look around to see if there’s anything particularly nasty and supernatural waiting for us.”

Quickly, and with minimal fuss, Malefice drew the dagger and called up the spirit.  After taking a moment to explain what she wanted she released the spirit into the warehouse.  It came back only a few moments later.

“All clear” she shrugged.  “It looks like the painting is just here for effect.”

“Some effect!” muttered Herbivore.

“Well, I’ll take care of the lock and we’ll be inside” said Jake, getting to one knee and pulling out some lock picks.

It only took a moment and the door creaked open revealing a dark, cavernous space beyond.

“What’s that in the center of the room?” asked Malefice.

“It’s a drum, sealed tight” answered Dr Herbivore.  “I’m willing to bet that’s our pathogen”.

“Our what now?” called Jake.

“Pathogen.  You know?  The infection that Gionelli is supposed to be smuggling into the city” answered Dr Herbivore.

“Are you certain?” asked Malefice.

“Not yet” came the reply as the little man strode forward into the dark warehouse interior.  “But once I attach my chemical scanner I should have a fairly good idea”.

It was the work of but a moment to hook the scanner up to the large barrel.

“It’s definitely biological” said the little doctor, looking up from his gauges.  “And given how carefully the barrel’s been sealed I’d say it’s highly toxic.”

“Then we’ve found our target” said Jake.  “But I’m surprised it’s not actually guarded more carefully.”

At that moment the floor in three separate places around the warehouse began to buckle and burst upwards.  Three hideous, partially decomposed corpses began pulling themselves out of the concrete.

“I thought you said the area was clear of supernatural nasties” wailed Herbivore, accusingly.

“I thought it was” answered Malefice.  “I didn’t think to ask Jo-jo to check under the floor”.

“At least this tells us what happened to Falzetti and his two lieutenants after they tried to double cross Franco Gionelli” Jake noted, pulling out his gun and getting ready for a fight.

(to be continued…)

A note on adjudication (or the Care and feeding of your GM)

Because of the unavoidable complexity and improvisational nature of role playing games there will be times when you are unhappy with the way the GM calls a skill check or adjudicates the outcome of an attempted action.  All rules are simply guidelines aimed at facilitating play and there are as many ways of adjudicating the outcome of a complex action as there are complex actions to attempt.  Your GM will try to apply the “rules” in as reasonable and consistent manner as possible given his or her knowledge of the players, non-player characters and situations being faced.

For example, imagine a situation in which two heroes are trying to infiltrate an upper class social affair.  Madeleine Wister is in fact a member of high society (being the heiress to an oil fortune) but her companion is a notorious gentleman thief named Dan Danby.  The two of them decide to try and pass Dan off as Madeleine’s distant cousin Bartleby.

The GM has an almost infinite number of choices available to him or her for resolving the success of this attempted deception.  The GM can ask Madeleine (who tends to intimidate her peers and behave very imperiously) to make an intimidation check to see if anyone would dare question her word.  Dan might be asked to make a successful bluff check to pull off the impersonation.  The hostess of the party might make a perception check to see if she notices anything amiss. Etc.  These rolls might be used singly or in combination and the GM might interpret the consequences of a failure as anything from raising a suspicious murmur in the room, to engendering an outrageous rumour regarding Dan’s identity, to having the hostess ask the event’s security to keep a careful watch on the couple, to complete exposure, ejection from the venue, and scandalous damage to Madeleine’s reputation.

Because of this potential variety and complexity, the GMs word regarding the means and outcome of event resolution should be treated as law.  It’s true that a better method might have produced a better result, but nothing sucks the fun out of a game faster than a half hour argument about the rules raised by a disgruntled player.  If you become the victim of what you believe is a bad ruling, let it go.  In all likelihood you’ll receive the benefit of another equally bad ruling at another time.  Don’t be the player that brings the game to a screeching halt and leaves everyone with a bad taste in their mouths by crying foul.  See the circumstance as adding a new wrinkle to the plot and keep on going.

But what happens when a GM is being consistently unfair or appears to be scapegoating a particular player?  In life clashes of personality, while unfortunate, do happen.  If you can respectfully confront the behaviour, then do so.  If it looks like the GM is unwilling or unable to modify consistently unfair behaviour then it is probably time to find another gaming group.  Life is too short to persist in gaming if you are no longer having fun.

General skill use

Character actions are made during the game by applying skill tests. A skill test is considered successful if a player rolls a 12 or higher on 2 ten sided dice (2d10) – after adjusting for modifiers.
The player’s roll is modified by adding the number of dots available in the skill most relevant to the action attempted.

Players should feel free to experiment with their skills (subject to game keeper approval).
The skills have been defined very loosely so that they can be applied in novel and new ways according to the circumstances faced by the players.

Skill Types

There are five kinds of skill available to players in this game.

Generally it is up to the GM to decide for him or herself which of the categories the attempted skill falls into and apply modifiers accordingly.

1) Trained skills are those skills the player has spent points obtaining (anything which has a dot added to it).

Example (Using a dagger – trained)

Malefice has a dagger skill with two dots in it.  She attempts to throw the dagger at a rope holding up a chandelier in order to bring it down on her enemies.  She rolls 11 2d10 and adds her dagger skill of 2 giving a result of 13 – a success.  The chandelier comes down  on her enemies doing 3 points of damage to each and (added bonus) the GM decides it entangles them for a round.

2) A Default skill is one that can be employed without necessarily requiring the spending of points (for example Hide, and Search).  Most default skills are listed on your character sheet and have a minimum of one point available to them already (marked by an x).

Example (Hiding in the shadows – default)

Dr Herbivore prefers to get out of the way rather than fight.  Hearing some guards coming along the corridor he chooses to hide.  He has not spent any points on this skill but can use it because it is a default skill (one that anyone can use).  It only gives him a one point bonus to his dice roll.  He rolls a 3 on 2d10 and adds one to the result.  The guards are clearly going to see him.

3) A Natural skill is a special kind of skill attempt that uses one of the base statistics (Strength or Willpower) in place of a related skill that the character does not have (and the skill must be related to the statistic to be allowed) adding two points if derived from the strongest attribute, 1 point for the lowest attribute, or 1 point if the two attributes are equal.

Example (Breaking into a room – natural)

Jake Stead is trying to break into the Principal’s office. He makes a skill test using his pick lock skill. Rolling 2 ten sided dice he gets a 7.
By adding his pick lock skill of 3 (2 dots plus the default of 1) he gets 10. He needed a 12 or better to succeed and therefore failed.
Frustrated, Jake then tries to force the door with his shoulder. He doesn’t have a specific strength skill so the GM determines that the door is rather flimsy (-1 to attempts to break)and allows Jake to use his base strength skill at half it’s value (rounded up). Jake rolls a 17 and adds 3 (his strength)/2 (rounded up) – a total of 2, and subtracts 1 (the penalty modifier).  This is a result of 17 +2 -1 = 18. The door gives way easily (if noisily).

4) A Difficult skill is a skill one does not have but might be able to employ (at the GM’s discretion) depending on the character’s specialty and archetype (basic electronics, simple cryptography etc) and requires a -2 to any attempted use.

Example (Fixing a lamp – difficult)

Jake is trying to fix his desk lamp. He does not have a skill in electronics but the problem is only a loose wire so the game master allows him to make a Difficult test (minus 2 to the player’s roll). The player rolls 2 ten sided dice and gets a 14. After subtracting 2 (the penalty modifier) from the roll the score is 12. Jake is successful but only just.

5) An Untrained skill is one that you could reasonably employ in ignorance but would never be good at without appropriate training. An untrained ability differs from a difficult skill (where you take a minus 2 penalty) in that it is a more or less natural ability you use on the spur of the moment.  There are only a few of these abilities and they are marked on your character sheet (Brawl, Jump, Melee Weapon, Ranged Weapon, Ride). An example might be where you’ve not been trained in the use of melee weapons but you take up an axe-handle to attempt to beat up a foe or where you’ve never ridden a horse but you need to try and stay on one while it gallops away.  Untrained skills are employed where you do not have specific expertise but still have a chance of successfully attempting the task.  An untrained person could fire a gun and kill an opponent, but probably could not defuse a time bomb or shut down a nuclear reactor.  Untrained skills allow you one dot and no more.  To be used at a higher level they must have points allocated to them.  If you allocate points to them they are no longer untrained.  The difference between someone untrained and someone trained in horse riding, for example, is that the untrained rider has a chance to hang on when the horse bolts, while the trained rider has a chance to bring the animal back under control and direct its energy.

Example (Using a gun – untrained)

Malefice has no gun skill but sees a gun lying on the desk during her fight with the Prison Wardens.  She grabs it and fires at the nearest target.  She employs her untrained ranged weapon skill (which can never be higher than one point unless she seeks out training) and rolls 9 on 2d10.  She adds one to the result getting a 10, insufficient to succeed.  Her bullet goes astray.

Example (Leaping a pit – untrained)

Jake is no acrobat, but the dead body of Marcel the thief is cradling the stolen treasure just on the other side of the pit which has opened up in front of him.  Jake decides to jump the pit.  He did not elect to spend points on a jump skill and so uses the untrained skill to leap across the chasm.  Jake rolls a 10 on 2d10 and adds 1 point for the untrained skill.  It is insufficient for him to get across.  The GM decides a consequence check is in order.  Jake rolls the dreaded six.  The GM decides he tumbles to the bottom of the pit taking 4 wounds worth of falling damage on the way.

When no relevant skill exists the attempt is usually impossible.

Example (Fixing a computer – impossible)

Jake finds a computer that is broken and wishes to fix it. The game keeper feels this is well outside Jake’s expertise and chooses not to allow the test.

Signature Moves, Subskills and manoeuvres

These are special skills that are purchased by the permanent spending of a hero point.  They must be related to a specific master skill but, otherwise, are used like any other skill.

Skill ranks

There are 10 levels of skills (roughly equating to each dot of skill applied to it).

You may find it helpful to consult the following table when trying to determine what kind of challenges can be tackled by your level of skill.

Signature Moves, Subskills and manoeuvres

These are special skills that are purchased by the permanent spending of a hero point.  They must be related to a specific master skill but, otherwise, are used like any other skill.

Skill ranks

There are 10 levels of skills (roughly equating to each dot of skill applied to it).

You may find it helpful to consult the following table when trying to determine what kind of challenges can be tackled by your level of skill.

NEXT TIME: Chapter 4 (Part 2) – Getting things done – consequence tests, perception, using special skills, and skill advancement.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Getting Things Done – Chapter 4 – (Part 1) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Step 8. Modify the character to accommodate any special conditions encountered during play (as required)

These rules only apply if your character is a subject to illness, injury, a disability (which can be identified at character creation to allow a gain of two more hero points) or if your character has been the victim of a transformative event (the bite of a werewolf, loss of a limb, scientific experimentation, or physical re-engineering etc.).  If these rules do not apply to your character at this point in time then your character is complete.

Illness and injury

Wounds heal at a rate of one point per day unless they are piercing wounds (from blades or projectiles). Piercing wounds heal at a rate of one point per week.

Example (Healing standard wounds)

Jake Stead

Jake was beaten severely and received five standard wounds. He  heals one of his wounds each day. On the sixth day after the fight, Jake is fully recovered.

Example (Healing piercing wounds)

Malefice, Mistress of the Mystic Arts)

Malefice has 6 wound points. In a fight she is stabbed twice rendering her unconscious. She takes all 6 points of damage before her friends rescue her.

She adds a dot of piercing wounds for each time she was stabbed and records the remaining four wounds as standard wounds.

Malefice will recover from the 4 (6 standard wounds minus 2 piercing wounds) standard wounds she received in 4 days. The remaining two piercing wounds (one for each dot of piercing wounds she received) will take a further week to recover from each.

Rub out each standard wound dot as it is recovered daily first. Then rub out the remaining dots (with their corresponding piercing dots) as each is recovered with the passing of each subsequent week of game time.

If subject to an illness the player’s character will generally recover after one to five days of rest.  Roll 1d6 for the number of days.  A 6 indicates that the player will not recover without treatment during that five day period.  Where treatment is required, the player rolls 1d6 to determine its effectiveness. A roll of 1 to 5 indicates the treatment works.  A 6 indicates that a permanent weakness has resulted. If the character fails to find treatment within the five days they die from the illness.

A permanent weakness might include a limp, partial paralysis, a recurring fever, loss of memory or any of a number of other disabilities that your GM might invent.

Insanity

Insanity may or may not be a feature of the stories your characters participate in.  Sanity is  represented by your character’s essence score.  Serious shocks can reduce your sanity and leave your character suffering from phobias of various sorts.  Some shocks (or the cumulative effect of a series of shocks) can be so great as to drive the character over the edge into suicide, psychopathy, sociopathy, or other forms of serious madness.

When characters encounter a shock sufficient to require a sanity roll they roll 2d10 + their essence.  If the result is higher than or equal to 12 they survive the shock intact.  If they fail they now roll 1d6 to determine the strength of the shock.  A 1-5 results in a phobia while a 6 results in a severe problem.  Hero points cannot be used to adjust sanity rolls.  Roll on the Phobia table to determine a phobia or use the Psychopathology table if a more severe problem is called for.  Re-roll identical results. If three phobias have been collected the player must roll for a severe condition and replace the oldest phobia with it.

Players may choose, at character creation, to sacrifice essence (taking on a phobia for each point sacrificed) in order to gain extra hero points (2 hero points for every point of essence sacrificed).

A player reduced to zero essence is incurably insane (and probably catatonic).  Such a character will be transferred to a mental institution and will no longer be available for play.

Phobias and serious mental illnesses are invented by the GM as required and usually relate to the conditions surrounding the shock that applied to the character (eg. A shock that occurred in a dark tunnel might result in a phobia regarding enclosed spaces or a fear of the dark etc.).  Serious mental conditions arise as means of escaping the triggering condition. Suicide, Multiple personality disorder where a protective personality is developed, memory loss/amnesia, and even catatonia are examples of conditions that might arise.

Examples (Sanity Loss)

Jake Stead

Jake Stead is afraid of small spaces after an experience in the great war.  He pays a point of essence to gain a two hero-point benefit from this phobia but must role play the effects of this phobia whenever faced with small enclosed spaces (spaces in which he is required to stoop or turn sideways to fit into etc.).

James Mitchell

Investigative reporter, James Mitchell, returns to his family home to find all his family members have been torn apart.  In the center of the ruin is a tentacled beast covered in hooks and beaks feeding on the remains.  The shock is immense and James rolls his sanity (2d10 + essence).  He fails and loses 1 essence point.  The GM decides the shock is severe and asks for a d6 consequence roll.  James rolls a 5 (saving him from a severe condition).  The GM decides he now has an uncontrollable fear of tentacles.  James runs screaming into the night.

The Blue Wren

An Occult Librarian, known only as the Blue Wren, is present during a ritual of summoning that calls forth a monstrous entity from another dimension.  This being is so alien that it drives many of the participants insane.  She rolls her sanity (2d10 + essence) and fails.  Due to a number of previous encounters she only had one essence point left which she has now lost.  She rolls a 6 on a consequence roll indicating a resulting severe condition.  The GM decides she has gone suicidally insane and she hands her character sheet over.

Bad Things (transforming events)

Bad things can happen to your character; things far worse than injury and illness (though they happen as well).  These bad things include, but are not limited to, being mutated by a mad scientist, turned into a vampire or zombie, bitten by a werewolf, killed and raised as a spectre, transformed into a ghoul, changeling, or promethean , or rebuilt as a cyborg.   Bad things don’t necessarily mean the end of your character, however.  If you want, you can continue on and try to maintain what remains of your humanity.  Who knows there may even be a cure out there somewhere that can help reverse the effects your character suffers?

Such events have results that share two characteristics in common; they require the maintenance of an animating principle and imply a potential loss of humanity.  The strength of the animating principle makes it possible for the character to continue in the transformed state without breaking down and is measured by Essence.  The strength of the capacity of the character to retain his or her humanity/essential personality in the transformed state is measured by Resistance.

Advantages

Transformed characters gain new skills (in keeping with their condition) that have as many dots in them as the character has in initial essence or resistance points (whichever is higher).  The player may invent any skills they wish to add these points to so long as they conform to the nature of the transformation. For example, if the player is mutated and develops gills it would be appropriate for the player to develop the ability to breath under water, or filter poison gases out of the atmosphere.  More traditional transformations may, but do not have to, embrace more traditional powers (such as a vampire’s ability to turn into a bat).  Claws and teeth may grant new attacks during combat etc.  A cyborg may gain the ability to lift heavy objects or do extra damage.

Disadvantages

Transformations have a generally negative effect on how the world sees a character (either in terms of trust or attractiveness) and the character must accept a -2 penalty to their persuasion skill.

Essence and Resistance can be lost.  Each month (or individual adventure whichever comes soonest) the player must make an essence AND resistance roll (2d10 + (the stat/2 rounded up)).

A successful essence roll indicates that the animating principle (keeping the character mobile) has not faded.  A failure reduces essence by one (along with any mental skills the player may have) and indicates they are beginning to fade – their ectoplasm is running out, or the electrical bonds holding them together are starting to break down, or the virus that infects and animates them is starting to break down.

Each point of essence or resistance that is lost is recorded under penalty points on your character sheet.  These should be deducted from every skill roll made thereafter.

If essence reaches zero the character is unable to continue play having faded, fallen into torpor, or physically disintegrated.

A successful resistance roll indicates that the character does not lose possession of their faculties and personality as a result of the transformation.  A failure reduces resistance by one (along with any manual skills employed by the character) and indicates the character is beginning to lose touch with their underlying humanity.  A failure indicates that the character runs amok for 24 hours.  During this time the character is unaware of what they have been doing (though the GM knows).

If resistance reaches zero the character is no more than a beast, unable to assert any control over their base drives.

Dealing with injury

The nature of the transformation alters the way players recover from injury.  Living creatures recover as normal.

Mechanical beings are repaired rather than healed.  Assuming the presence of sufficient tools and time, ordinary bashing damage is repaired at 1 point per hour while piercing damage is repaired at 1 point per four hours spent.

Mechanical beings have no magical skill.  Any previously held magic ceases to operate. The points spent on magical abilities are returned to the character to be spent on non-mystical skills and they are thereafter considered to belong to the adventurer or academic speciality.

Mechanical and undead beings are immune to illness.

Creatures which are dead must spend essence to heal.  A point of essence returns an undead character to full wounds.  However, the essence cost is permanent.

Mutation (mutant)

A character can be turned into a mutant (by being captured and experimented on by a Mad Scientist or through exposure to dangerous radiation etc.)  If this happens they will be subject to a number of (usually random) physical alterations. A character may have up to 3 mutations (made up by the GM or picked from a list such as the one below).

Example

James Mitchell

James Mitchell is captured by a mad scientist and subjected to a mutating energy beam.  The GM rolls 1d6 getting a 5 and dividing the result by 2 rounding up to determine how many mutations James is subject to (in this case 3).  He decides James develops multiple eyes on his face and body, a set of gills, and (1d6/2 rounded up or 3) tentacles which grow out of his back.  His freakish appearance gives him a -2 penalty to any attempts at persuasion or social interaction.

Rather than lose the character at this point, James decides to play on.  He has four points of essence and invents the following skills in line with his new condition. He adds a tentacle attack skill at one dot and can now add an extra (clubbing) tentacle attack to a combat phase.  He adds a breathe underwater skill at one dot also.  Finally he adds a two dot bonus to perception (for his multiple eyes).

Mechanization (cyborg)

A character may (either through capture by an insane gadgeteer or simply because they have been damaged beyond normal endurance) be subject to mechanization.  Mechanical parts are grafted onto the body as functional replacement parts etc.  It is even possible that the entire body (apart from the brain) may be replaced. Mechanization is always physically intrusive (making the character appear less human).  Generally speaking a human body can handle three significant simultaneous modifications at most.  Where the character seeks out a replacement limb (etc) they can control what replacements occur.  However, if they are captured and altered by an outside agency the changes are up to the GM.  Elements of mechanisation might include…

It is possible to add extra arms and extra legs to a full body replacement if so desired (so that it still technically adds up to three changes).

Example

Beth-Nalain

The mystic Beth-Nalain is captured by an insane clockmaker who succeeds in turning her into a clockwork cyborg.  The GM randomly determines that she will undergo three modifications.  When Beth-Nalain wakes up after the surgery she no longer has any mystical abilities, her legs have been replaced with clockwork as has her skull and both her heart and lungs.  Her appearance is now very frightening.  She has 4 essence points chooses to give herself the following new skills; frightening visage (which, after discussion with the GM, freezes opponents in place for a round and on a critical success consequence roll causes them to break and run away) enhanced speed, immunity to poison, and extra processing (which after discussion with the GM allows a second roll whenever an academic skill is required – she can choose the best of the two results).

Undeath

Disembodiment (ghost)

Having been killed it is sometimes possible to bring a character back as a ghost.  Ghosts are usually raised for a purpose.  It takes a successful resistance roll to defy that purpose or stay behind once the purpose has been accomplished.

Ghosts are generally visible as a glowing translucent memory of their original form.  Movement is achieved by gliding.  Ghosts are unable to touch, taste, smell, or otherwise handle real world objects.

Example

Elias Fergusson

Elias was trying to prevent the evil Mordric from raising an evil King to recover a lost treasure.  He succeeded in thwarting the plot but died in the process. Mordric, having survived, and, being a vindictive sort, decides to raise and enslave Elias as a ghost.  Elias has 4 essence points and invents the following skills for himself in ghostly form; pass through solid objects (one dot), turn invisible (one dot), possess living entity (one dot), and drain life (one dot, which on discussion with his GM allows him to drain 3 wounds of life each attack phase).  The possess living entity skill suggests Mordric may get more than he bargained for by raising Elias.

Reanimation (zombie)

A character may find themselves brought back from the dead to inhabit their own corpse.  This may be the result of mad science, voodoo rituals, or a zombie virus etc.  Generally, zombies are raised for a purpose.  Viral zombies may exist only to kill and eat, but the traditional zombie is a slave.   To assert a zombie’s independence over its primal urges (or its master’s orders) it must make a successful resistance roll at creation.  Zombies are subject to putrefaction up to the point at which they are raised (after which they do not decompose) but retain any physical wounds  (not wound points) and scars received prior to and at the time of death.  They do not need to eat, breathe, or sleep.  They do not get tired or bleed.  New wounds received, however, will not heal either (except at the cost of essence – see above).

Example

Samantha Hughes

Samantha was shot three times in the chest by her enemies before the vodoun found her and raised her to her new zombie state.  She has 4 resistance points and decides to invent 4 zombie skills for herself; hide in shadows (one dot), enhanced strength (one dot, which after consultation with the GM adds one point to all bashing damage), induce fear (one dot, which causes opponents to freeze in terror or run away on a failed consequence roll), and read death and decay (one dot, which allows the zombie to “see” the events associated with a place of death or decay).  The bullet wounds in her chest remain after her resurrection but are easily hidden beneath her clothing).  She was raised quickly so, while a little green in pallor, does not appear too rotted.

Reanimation (promethean)

Promethean Reanimation (typified by Frankenstein’s monster) occurs where the character has been turned into a recombined and animated corpse (the brain having been preserved while a number of body parts have been stitched together from a variety of sources, possibly with some mechanisation thrown in for good measure).  Changes wrought at reconstruction might include minor mechanical combined with major biological replacement parts such as…

Example

Andrew Steele

After being captured by the Technomaster, Andrew Steele awakes naked upon an operating table, energy surging through his body.  Looking down at himself he sees scars, stitches, and unfamiliar musculature.  This isn’t his body anymore.  In fact it appears to be an amalgam of body parts taken from diverse owners.  His left hand doesn’t even look human… perhaps clockwork.

Andrew’s player adjusts his character to fit the new reality in which he finds himself.  He has four essence points and invents some new abilities to use in his promethean state; enhanced strength, channel lightning (an area effect doing 4 points of damage, but only available for use 3 times a day), feline sight (he decides the Technomaster gave him cat’s eyes), and sense living creatures.

Andrew immediately tries to break free of his constraints.  He wishes to be revenged upon the monster who did this to him!

Vampirism (vampire)

Characters who have been subject to a vampire bite or turning may or may not have all the features of traditional vampires.  Regardless, vampires have a hunger that can only be met by feeding on the living. The GM will decide whether  or not this is a traditional blood thirst (who knows, the hunger may alternatively be for life force or mental energy?), how sparkly or otherwise they are, and whether they can handle sunlight etc.

Example

Richard Renfrew

While on a midnight mission in London, super spy Richard Renfrew, was set upon in an alley by thugs and left to die.  When he awoke he had a wound in his throat and an aversion to daylight.  After three days with a high fever he awakes to find himself suffering from an almost unbearable thirst for blood.  He is a vampire.

Richard’s player adjusts his character sheet accordingly and with four resistance points to spend takes exsanguination and turn/sire new vampire as skills, while also taking summon/control rats and wall crawling (one dot in each).

Lycanthropy (werewolf)

Lycanthropes transform into predatory bipedal animals (wolves, bears, foxes, mountain lions etc) at the full moon.  While the details of the Lycanthrope’s condition is left to the GM, some things are typical. They gain fur, teeth, claws, and a tail.  They are usually vulnerable to silver (which acts as a poison).  Wounds from normal weapons do damage but are regenerated during the day.  A  Lycanthrope cannot be killed in their transformed body unless by silver.  A transformed lycanthrope can only be killed by silver but turns back into an unconscious human when damaged (by normal weapons) to the full wounds points available.  If the human form is killed the Lycanthrope is permanently dead.

Example

Sarah (Six-gun Sarah) Henley

It had almost been a month since Six-gun Sarah Henley had fought off the wolves outside Duke Von Hohendorf’s chateau.  She had only received a small bite, but today the old wound is hurting a good deal and she feels very tired.  As the moon rises above her the pain in the wound begins to spread forcing her to her knees.  She can feel the change coming on even as she tries to resist it.  Fur sprouts, she falls to all fours, her jaw elongates and her joints reform themselves.  Before she fully realises what is happening to her, the change ias complete.  Sarah is a werewolf.

Sarah’s player adjusts her character sheet to reflect her new condition and records “Infectious Bite” as one of her skills.  She has three points remaining to spend and buys night vision, tracking/stalking and silent movement.

Necrophagy (ghoul)

Characters infected with Necrophagy (by having been fed dead human meat) undergo a number of physical changes.  They become gaunt and wasted with pointed ears, sharp teeth, and an inability to eat anything that isn’t carrion.  They are particularly drawn to dead human bodies as sustenance.  If essence reaches zero the character loses what remains of his/her humanity, hands their character sheet over to the GM, and becomes a monster dwelling in one of the ghoul colonies to be found beneath cemeteries.

Example

Angela Astbury

Socialite, Angela Astbury thinks there was something terribly wrong with the meal served at Lance Scarborough’s dinner table last night.  She has been feeling extremely unwell all day.  When she looks in the mirror her face appears withered, her hair is falling out, and she appears to be wasting away even as she watches.  She was fed infected, dead, human meat and has been turned into a  ghoul.

Angela’s player takes a few moments to adjust her character sheet and buy some new skills (in this case, enhanced strength, claws, night vision, and tunnelling) before deciding what her next move will be.

NEXT TIME: Chapter 4 (Part 1) – Getting things done – character actions and playing the game, especially general actions and skill ranks.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Creating a Character – Chapter 3 (Part 6) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Step 7. Modify the character to accommodate special items and abilities (as required)

The following rules really only apply if your character has the capacity to invent special items; scientific effects, enchanted items, or spells and potions etc.  If this does not apply to your character then skip to Step 8.

If you are a mystic, weird scientist, or gadgeteer you have invention points equal to your willpower that can be applied to the creation of unique effects.  In the case of mystics the effects are created by magic.  In the case of weird scientists and gadgeteers the effects are created by mechanical or scientific inventions.

Whether inventing gadgets, weird science effects, or magical spells, your character is generally trying to attempt a limited number of things.  It’s really only the methodology (or flavour) that is different.  A sorcerer might wish to blast someone with a bolt of electricity via a spell.  The gadgeteer may use a gizmo or ray gun to do it, while a weird scientist might use a serum, glove or some other thing to achieve the same effect.  The interesting thing to note is that while the means are different the effect accomplished is in each case the same.

Note:  It is extremely important that you balance the positive effects you can achieve with limitations.  It is too easy to create super-powers that destroy the balance of the game.  In order to maintain the enjoyment of the game for all participants you must be willing to submit to the GM’s veto and potential in-game changes to your abilities if the GM feels the ability as initially developed is too powerful.

Effect Types

These are all simply suggestions to help you define the effects you want to create.  The basic suggested effect types are as follows…

Create

Create is the most outright magical of effects.  It implies making something from nothing.  As such it should always be very difficult to accomplish.

Create [object, element, or individual] from nothing at [location] and [time] with [attribute(s)] for [duration]

A mystic might invent a spell that creates water from nothing.  This spell might affect a particular location and time (instantly in a glass jar for example), have particular attributes (such as being pure, holy, or poisonous), and may include a duration (such as lasting for an hour before vanishing, or being permanent).

A weird scientist might invent a machine, worn like a hat, that creates whatever the user is thinking about.  This machine might be solar powered and only work at noon on cloudless days, it might only create things that are smaller than a bread-box, and the objects might dissolve into nothing 45 minutes after creation.

Alter

An Alter effect is significantly easier to accomplish than a create effect.  It takes something and modifies it in some significant way (by adding to it, subtracting from it, or transforming it completely).

Alter the shape of [object, element, or individual] at [location] and [time] for [duration]

Alter [object, element, or individual] adding [attribute] at [location] and [time] for [duration]

Alter [object, element, or individual] subtracting [attribute] at [location] and [time] for [duration]

Transform [object, element, or individual] into [object, element, or individual] at [location] and [time] for [duration]

A mystic might invent a spell to turn a person into a toad for a 24 hour period.

A weird scientist might invent a mutation ray that mutates someone so that they grow permanent extra arms (but the victim will only survive for six months).

A gadgeteer might invent a laser scalpal that can cut through any known element (but it requires a stable electricity supply and can only be used in large cities).

Reveal

A reveal effect is concerned with learning things which are currently unknown.

Reveal [information] about [object, element, or individual, or event] at [location] and [time]

Query [object, element, or individual] about [object, element, or individual, or event] at [location] and [time]

A mystic might have a silver bowl of scrying that lets them look into distant locations once a week or the ability to summon spirits to reveal hidden information (but only in exchange for some kind of payment).

A gadgeteer might invent a wrist watch that uses radar to detect flying aircraft and missiles or an undead detector that picks up the absence of body heat – but the gizmos may only work for half an hour of continuous use before requiring replacement batteries.

A weird scientist might invent a camera that can see into the past at a particular location (but only half an hour into the past).

Control/influence

A control/influence effect is concerned with trying to bend objects and entities to your will.

Cause [object, element, or individual] to [action] a(n) [object, element, or individual] at [location] and [time] for [duration] using [object, element, or individual]

A mystic might invent a possession spell that allows them to take over another person’s body (long enough to complete a single simple action).

A weird scientist might invent a mind controlling device to force others to do their bidding (but it might burn out the victim’s mind if used more than once.

A gadgeteer might invent a remote control robot to follow simple instructions and act as his/her valet that requires the regular replacement of very expensive components (say bi-monthly).

Attack

Anything intended to hurt, harm, or destroy another person or thing is an attack effect.

Harm [object, element, individual, or attribute] with [object, or element] at [location] and [time] for [duration]

A firebolt spell employed by a mystic would be a good example of this.  As a side effect the character may be exhausted and forced to rest after any combat situation in which it is used.

A gadgeteer might invent a flame thrower that is good for five bursts before it runs out of juice.

A weird scientist might invent an invisible combustion ray that causes anything it sweeps over to burst into flames.  Each use makes the item increasingly unstable (2 in 6 chance it will explode in each use past the first).

Defend

Anything you invent that is intended to protect, heal, or repair someone or something is a defend effect.

Protect [object, element, individual, or attribute] with [object, or element] at [location] and [time] for [duration]

Heal/Repair [object, element, individual, or attribute] with [object, or element] at [location] and [time] for [duration]

A mystic might invent a shielding spell (perhaps a mystical circle) that prevents solid objects from penetrating to anything held within.  This may be possible once per day.

A gadgeteer might invent powered armor to move around in (that may require two weeks to charge up after a day’s use).

A weird scientist might invent a force-field that repels all living things (but emits a radiation that causes one to two wounds of damage whenever it is used).

Transport

Anything you invent that allows you to move from place to place is a transport effect.

Move [object, element, or individual] from [location] to [location] at [time] for [duration]

A weird scientist might invent a teleportation cabinet (that can only teleport small non-organic objects).

A gadgeteer might invent a jet pack (with a maximum ceiling height of a mere 50 feet).

A mystic might create a spell that opens a mystical portal between locations (but it can only be used one way).

As far as your character sheet is concerned you list your invented spells, gadgets, and gizmos as skills and apply dots to them as per any other skills you are required to use.  It is important to note their drawbacks clearly however, as (without balancing hindrances) these effects can quickly upset the balance of the game.  You will need to negotiate them carefully with your GM and be aware that they may need to be given substantial limitations and drawbacks to enable them to fit in the game world.    You also need to be aware that a number of “special” drawbacks  apply to the mystic, gadgeteer, and weird scientist (to balance the advantages provided by access to these effects.

Limitations placed on effects

If you are having trouble thinking about the limitations to place on your effects, you might consider using the following tables.

For each effect in use roll 1d10 to determine the limits placed on its use.

For each effect/gadget created,  roll 1d10 to determine what side effect occurs when it fails.  A significant failure (rolling 6 on a consequence check) results in a side effect).

These effects are also limited by the number of dots allocated to them.

Line of sight rule

Range rule (if a ranged effect)

Area effect rule (if an area effect)

Critical Failure

An unmodified roll of 2 on 2d10 when trying to apply an effect results in a critical failure in the application of the effect (not to be confused with a critical failure in the consequence roll above).  This results in the destruction and loss of the effect or the gadget which creates it (except in the case of the gadgeteer who can rebuild the gadget).

Gadgeteering

A gadgeteer is an inventor of machines and effects based on existing technology.  The gadgeteer can’t do the impossible but can design and enhance existing things.  A gadgeteer could design and build a personal airship for one passenger, or build a two way radio into a wristwatch.  Both of these ideas involve the modification of existing technology.  A gadgeteer could not, however, invent a means to look into the aether to communicate with ghosts of the long departed, or invent a time machine – these are the province of weird science (see weird science below). And while they can create effects based on existing technology they cannot base their effects on weird science technology.

For non-trivial gadgeteering tasks the character must first identify the underlying technology to be modified (eg. gas baloon, watch etc) and then add features to it.

Gadgeteers have a couple of special skills besides the gadgets themselves.  They have a “Gadgeteering on-the-fly skill” that they can spend points on. This allows them to throw together something at short notice from bits and pieces that are lying around.  They also have a repair skill which they can use to attempt to repair anything (even weird science items) so long as they worked at some point in time and their activity is merely maintenance.

Gadgeteering is not weird science.  A gadgeteer cannot invent the impossible in the way a weird scientist can.  Gadgeteers invent things that exist and function in the real world, just early (historically speaking) and with a twist.  “But how is that fun or special”, you ask?  The answer is simple.  Gadgeteers build these things and tweak them in unique ways.  A gadgeteer may not be able to construct a matter transporter but, it is quite possible to design and build a radar (not invented until the second world war) that fits in a wristwatch in the early 1930s (real world device + twist).  Likewise nuclear fusion, television, lasers, jetpacks etc.

Because gadgets have far less potential to unbalance the game you might not even need to apply drawbacks to them (negotiate this with your GM).

When you design a gadget it must be

• familiar yet different.
• something that exists today (with non-real world improvements) eg. radar (that fits in a wristwatch).
• something that exists today (with 1930s style limitations) eg. a computer (using valve technology and extremely limited memory).

Gadgets can have up to three abilities.  You can produce up to 5 copies (six items in total) of any gadget depending on the abilities it has.

1 ability – 5 copies.

2 abilities – 3 copies

3 abilities – 1 copy.

The abilities of gadgets are open ended (like skills) and have their own skill points (see subskills and manoeuvres, above) attached to their use.

The failure of a gadget during play requires a consequence roll.  A roll of 6 on 1d6 results in the permanent destruction of the gadget, otherwise the gadget can no longer be used until repaired (an investment of d6 hours of uninterrupted work).

A character can create as many gadget effects as they have points in willpower.  These inventions can be designed before play begins, or the player may create the effects during play as need arises, or a combination of pre-designed and on-the-fly inventions can be brought into play.

Gadgeteering (Example)

At character creation, Marcus’ character, Professor Watchspring, has 4 willpower points giving him 4 invention points to put into inventions.  He decides to create two general and one specialised gadget.

He decides he wants a combination watch, compass, and sextent (a sort of 1930s GPS) to enable him to always know where he is (cost 1 point).  He also wants a clockwork, mechanical lockpick (cost one point), and (after talking it over with his GM) a point to point televisual communicator (1930s Skype) to stay in touch with team members (cost 2 points).

Weird Science

Weird science achieves the impossible.  While it is possible to MacGuyver a hot air balloon from scraps found in the rubble of an earthquake using standard science or gadgeteering skills (see gadgeteering above), a machine that can look into the aether and allow communication with ghosts requires weird science.

The genius involved in weird science is different to real-world scientific genius in the following ways…

Weird science genius is more than brilliance/cleverness.  It is the capacity to do that which cannot be replicated by ordinary scientific means.  It is the capacity to create a miracle and capture it in a test-tube, to teach a machine to think and create great art, or to fire a pebble at a speed far in excess of the speed of light.  Science might not sensibly be able to create these effects – in fact any attempts to study a weird science effect by scientific means causes it to degrade and cease to operate – but a “scientist” with the “spark” of genius can accomplish the impossible.

The underlying mechanisms by which weird science effects are achieved may not be fully understood even by those who create them.

The only thing necessary to create such an effect is the self-belief of the genius and the “spark” or inspiration necessary to realise the impossible.  The weird scientist must also have a weird explanation for why the effect is obtained.

For example the genius might develop an antigravity device on the basis of some kind of hyper-geometrical mathematics.  He or she may theorise that the mathematical equations temporarily enslave inter-dimensional creatures and extend their existence into our space to carry the objects from one point to another in defiance of gravity. Whether this is true or not in terms of plain physics, it takes on reality when applied by the genius.  Having formed the hypothesis and created the effect, the genius must thereafter ensure that sufficient energy is in play to keep the dimensional intruders bound during the process and banish them back to where they came from once the effect has been achieved.

Alternatively the genius might settle on a different hypothesis for why the device works.  He or she may theorise that the effect of gravity is in fact due to the thinness of the air when cool and that heating the air makes it solid enough to be manipulated into carrying objects around.  Having created a working antigravity device on this basis the genius must thereafter believe to his or her dying day in the essential solidity of heated air and that this is what allows things to fly.

The theory by virtue of its proximity to the spark of genius brings the effect into being regardless of its plausibility so long as there is a catalyst available to activate it (a catalyst being a machine, serum, potion, gizmo etc.).

Needless to say, the laws of real-world physics have a tendency to break down in the presence of Weird Science.  The inventor of the anti-gravity device discussed above may create anomalous effects whenever he comes in contact with machines that bring his theory into conflict with real world physics.  For example, real-world aircraft may simply not work in his presence (requiring large amounts of heat to be present before they will fly).  And, as already noted, the application of “real-world” scientific study to a “weird science” effect causes the effect to degrade and collapse.

By its nature Weird Science is prone to this sort of conflict. It is important that “weird scientists” keep a clear record of their hypotheses.  Should they develop a hypothesis, while creating an effect, that contradicts or conflicts with a prior hypothesis the results can be dire indeed (to the point where the very fabric of reality is threatened).

There is also a risk involved in opening oneself up to the “spark of genius” in the first place.  The flash of insight that leads to the creation of a weird science effect may expose the “scientist” to “things which man was never meant to know”.  Exposure to such knowledge results in an immediate and permanent loss of essence.  When inventing a new effect the hero must make a successful resistance roll to avoid such exposure.  Hero points cannot be used to modify this roll.

Every time a weird science effect is used such exposure is risked.  A 1 on a consequence roll (1d6) will result in a permanent essence loss.

A character can create as many weird science effects as they have points in willpower.  These inventions can be designed before play begins, or the player may create the effects during play as need arises, or a combination of pre-designed and on-the-fly inventions can be brought into play.

A role of 2 on 2d10 when operating the catalyst will result in its destruction.  All weird science effects are unique and cannot be replicated once destroyed.

Example Weird Science Components

Below you will find a bunch of example machines and weird science components to use in the development of your effects;

Creating a Weird Science Effect (Example)

As an example let’s say that Dr Moreau has decided to raise the intelligence of a group of wild-animals to function as servants in his mansion.  He combines effects in the Independence category and Transformation category to create the effect of enhanced intelligence and basically bipedal motor functions.  Being a convinced Phrenologist, he theorises that the intelligence and physical superiority of human beings is largely due to the arrangement of bumps upon the human skull.  He engages in surgery in which he reshapes the bumps and crevices of his animal subjects’ heads in order to reconfigure them for optimal physical and mental development.  He must be careful neither to overdevelop nor underdevelop the shaping of their skulls in order to get the effects he is seeking.  3 months after the surgery is complete the previously “dumb” creature is capable of learning language, walking on its hind legs, performing unusual fine motor skills, and fulfilling the duties of a household servant.

Because of the nature of his theory regarding the link between intelligence and skull shape he will be able to create a number of other effects through the catalyst of his skull surgery – personality alterations, the realignment of criminal tendencies etc.

Rather than an invention, Dr Moreau creates the “phrenological surgery” skill.

Having invented the skill, it costs nothing beyond a successful skill roll for Dr Moreau to employ it to create the weird science effect he has been seeking (or apply it creatively to new circumstances).  He will, however, require suitable medical equipment and facilities to accomplish the effect.

The drawback he selects is that the subjects of his surgery now age unnaturally quickly and will die within 1 to 3 years.

Magic

All magical effects require a title.  This title should be made up of the originator’s name (usually the individual from whom it was learned) plus an adjective plus a description of the effect (Eg. “Sumak Singh’s astounding flame-burst” or “Madam Z’amora’s incredible hidden knowledge revealer”).  If you already have 5 or more learned effects you can name any new effects after yourself (on the understanding that your mastery is such as to allow you to invent rather than learn your own effects).

You may only master magical effects if you have a Mystic specialty and may only master as many effects as you have points of essence.  When you invent a new effect for your character it is assumed you have known how to perform it since before you began adventuring but have not activated it until the present.  Each time you create a new effect (NB. Initial creation is not the same as in-game use of a created effect) you need to roll your willpower to avoid being exposed to malevolent cosmic forces.  Such exposure permanently reduces your essence by one point.  Failed attempts at effect creation also result in exposure to malevolent cosmic forces (with the same accompanying cost in essence).

You will need (in consultation with your GM) to invent the process by which the effect is accomplished (reading the spell from a book, performing a ritual, drinking a potion, using up the charge in a wand etc.).

Example

Let us suppose that Marcus the Magnificent is a psychic.  He has an essence of 4 and so can create four effects.

The first effect he wishes to create is mind reading.  He decides that the technique was learned from the oriental master of mystery, Hwang Lee and is called “Hwang Lee’s confounding thief of thoughts”

It is a reveal effect. It is accomplished through mental effort and requires an arcane symbol to be inscribed upon the floor or wall (in this case a Chinese pictogram).  The ability is very time consuming to use (requiring one hour per dot of ability applied).  This effect cannot be applied during combat (unless the space has been prepared earlier) and initially requires physical contact to be effective.  The revelation will answer once (and only one) specific question held in the caster’s mind.

The next effect he wishes to create is mind control.  He decided that the technique was learned from an insane stage magician he once defeated named Mephisto the Great and is called “Mephisto’s terrifying enslavement”.

It is a control/influence effect.

It is accomplished by reading an incantation from Mephisto’s journal (taken from the magician when he was defeated).  The effect is powered by life energy trapped in Mephisto’s journal (which is written on human skin cut from his victims).  It allows the caster to command a single action.  The victim may not do anything else until the action is accomplished.

The next effect he wishes to create is a mental barrier against harm.  He decides that the technique was learned from his old master Hwang Lee and is called “Hwang Lee’s astounding invisible wall”.

It is a defend effect.

The protection is provided by a potion that is very complicated to prepare and mix up (requiring 1d10 days of prep).  It also requires a crystal bottle that cracks if the attempted use fails and takes (1d10 days to replace).

Lastly he wishes to be able to engage in telekenesis .  He decides that the technique was learned from a powerful western psychic of his acquaintance and is called “Emily Binford’s extraordinary immaterial transportation”.

It is a transport effect.

It requires a wand and is activated by a drop of blood. A failure causes the wand to break requiring 1d10 days to repair. It can only effect objects that can be carried comfortably in a normal person’s arms.

Bibliography

Some of the ideas used in this section of the chapter originate in the following works

• Genius the Transgression, a story telling game by Kyle Marquis that explores Mad Science (far deeper than my approach and an excellent resource in its own right)
  https://sites.google.com/site/moochava/genius
• Kellri’s weird science and random gadgets (a great little pdf containing random tables for creating weird science gadgets and effects – sadly this is now a dead link but I still want to give it credit for being such a useful tool).
  http://kellri.blogspot.com.au/2008/12/weird-science-random-gadgets-strange.html
• David Chart’s Ars Magica is one of the most interesting magic systems I’ve ever seen and was very inspirational with regard to the rules designed for play here.
  http://www.atlas-games.com/arm5/

NEXT TIME: Part 6 – The final step in Character Creation – Modify your character for any exceptional effects they may have undergone or encountered.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Creating a Character – Chapter 3 (Part 5) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Step 5. Create skills and assign skill points

If you have  completed the questionnaire above you will have already identified a minimum of 6 skills for your character (drawn from their life experiences).  If you didn’t complete the questionnaire you will need to invent your skills now.  This is easy.  Just invent a minimum of six skills that you think directly relate to your archetype.  For example a cowboy archetype might have skills such as ride horse, lasso, six guns, tracker, and find water.  A linguist might have speak new language, read new language, write new language, research, decipher code, and encryption.  A psychic might have telekenisis, mesmerism, telepathy, lie detection, cheat at cards, and confuse.

There is no upper limit on the number of skills that can be created (though more than ten would seem a little excessive) so long as they can legitimately be connected to your archetype.

Record the skills from your questionnaire (or that you have invented on the fly) on your character sheet  in order from most important/useful to least important/useful.

If you have selected a Mystical Speciality you may spend 7 + willpower points improving your skills. You must also apply your total willpower points to your essence and set your resistance to 0. Mystics do not have a resistance trait.

If you have selected an Adventurer Speciality you may spend 7 + strength points improving your skills. You must also apply strength points to your resistance and set your essence to 0. Adventurers do not have an essence trait.

If you have selected an Academic Speciality you may spend EITHER 7 + strength OR 7 + willpower points purchasing Academic skills. You must set both your essence and your resistance to 0.

Give 3 points to the most important skill, and 2 points each to the two next most important skills. Add a single point to each of the remaining skills until all points are spent.

You can usually assume you have an unlimited number of general skills (like running, brawling, etc.) at 1 point whether specified on your character sheet or not. More specialised skills (such as piloting a plane, manoeuvring a submersible, speaking a foreign language etc) will need to be listed on your sheet or purchased. The exact nature of what constitutes a generic or specialised skill is left to the discretion of the GM.

There is no dodge skill to allow  players to dodge during combat in this game and players should not attempt to create one.   Attempts to get out of the way are built into the dice roll and no modifiers apply.  A dodge skill does exist for the purposes of navigating obstacles during a chase etc.

No skill at character creation may be increased beyond four points initially.

Example (Skills and points)

Jake Stead (Gavin’s character)

Jake Stead has a strength of 4.  This gives him a total of 11 points to spend.  His skills brawling, shooting, mechanical repair, boating, lock-picking, safe-cracking, bypassing alarms, acrobatics, and sneaking.

Malefice, Mistress of the Mystical Arts (Beth’s character)

Malefice has a willpower of 4.  This gives her a total of 11 points to spend. Her skills include cold-reading, stage magic and illusions, occult knowledge, mind reading, hypnosis, and the binding of spirits.

Dr Herbivore (Michael’s character)

Dr Herbivore has a willpower and strength of 3 each.  This gives him a total of 10 points to spend. His skills include hiding in plain sight, establishing and using social contacts, impressing people, encryption, deciphering ancient languages, chemistry, and swordsmanship.

The exact nature of the skills needs to be approved by the GM as well as how they work.  With a system of skill invention that is so free-form, skills need to be approved to prevent them from throwing off the balance of the game.   Players need to also be aware that some modification of the skill may be required in-game to prevent the invented skills from giving players an undue advantage.

Generic Skills

Also available to characters are a set of generic skills. These skills are used by characters to attempt actions.

General skills can be purchased right away.  Characters add their strength and willpower to determine the number of points available to them for spending on generic skills.

Generic skills include bluff, catch, climb, drive vehicle (untrained – max additional points 1), firearm (untrained – max additional points 1), first aid, hand to hand (untrained – max additional points 1), hide, bludgeon (untrained – max additional points 1), jump, lift/carry/crush/bend, perception, persuade, ride (untrained – max additional points 1), run, search, sneak, throw, and swim.

A few skills are marked “untrained”. The generic skills so marked give players the opportunity to use firearms etc. without having been trained in their use.  A player with the firearms (untrained) skill can pick up an unfamiliar weapon and fire it (but would not be able to field strip and maintain it).  Likewise bludgeon (untrained) allows a player to pick up a tree branch etc. and attack someone effectively but will not allow them to do much more.  Skills identified as “untrained” can only be increased by one point and no more.  They cannot be advanced further in the game without becoming an archetype skill (see advancement). If you wish to give an untrained skill a higher level of competency it needs to become one of your archetype skills.

The x’s beside the general skills indicate that character’s already have 1 point assigned to them in each skill by default. For each spending point available the character may add one dot to a skill.

Radio heroes are assumed to be capable of almost anything so you can add any generic skill at 1 point to your list at any time.  Skills that are more specific, however should be handled as Archetype skills.

Examples (General Skills)

Jake Stead (Gavin’s character)

Jake has 4 strength and 3 willpower giving him 7 more points to spend on general skills.  He spends 2 each on bluff and perception, and 1 each on climb, jump, and swim.

Malefice, Mistress of the Mystic Arts (Beth’s character)

Malefice has 3 strength and 4 willpower giving her 7 points to spend on general skills.  She spends 2 each on bluff, perception, and persuade, and 1 point on first aid.

Dr Herbivore (Michael’s character)

Dr Herbivore has 3 strength and 3 willpower giving him 6 points to spend on general skills.  He spends 2 each on sneak and run, and adds one each to hand-to-hand and drive vehicle.

Once skill points have been distributed initial character generation is complete.

Subskills and Maneauvers

If you have an archetype skill that you think would allow for special sub-skills (signature moves in combat or special stunts in driving or piloting a plane etc.) You can permanently spend a hero point to buy three signature actions.  These actions are mostly flavour but you can add one skill point to each and use them during play.

For example, if you are a martial artist with a Kung Fu skill of 3 points you could spend 1 hero point to create three signature moves/ subskills that each have the same points as the master skill (kung fu) plus one (or 4 points).  You can then give them interesting names such as…

“Tiger’s claw” (a slashing blow that does 3 points of piercing damage).

“Feet of the whirlwind” (a flurry of blows that do 2 points of clubbing damage rather than the ususal 1).

and “Destructive Boulder Blow” (that lets you smash any non-living item if your attack is targeted).

You will need to negotiate the benefit of the move with your GM.

Alternatively you might invent a number of signature moves for driving…

“Tilt” (drive on two wheels as easily as four, in order to fit in narrow spaces)

“Jump” (jump the vehicle over pits etc.)

and “Reverse” (drive a vehicle backwards with as much speed and skill as forwards).

See “Using Signature Moves” in the next chapter.

Step 6. Equip the character

General equipment

There is no need to spend points to obtain general gear.  Generally speaking, your character can be assumed to be carrying any easily obtained items that would fit with their character archetype.  Record the main items (anything specific that you wish to keep track of) but you can assume the presence of common items such as matches, torches, passports etc.  For equipment ideas take a look at the worldbook.  You will also want to look at special items (below) if you have a character archetype that creates things (gadgeteer, artificer, inventor, alchemist etc).  Note that items like Geiger counters or other specialist equipment do need to be purchased (as do area weapons, armor, and vehicles).

Many items are very similar in terms of their statistics and effect.  This means that they have no effective differences in game terms and are more a matter of flavour (allowing them to be customized to your character without greatly effecting play).

Weapons

Weapons are of five types…

With one exception (see below) it costs you nothing to equip yourself with weapons.

A whip is a form of club as is a baseball bat with nails sticking out of it and do the same amount of damage.

A knife is a blade, as is a chainsaw and they likewise do the same damage.

A blow gun does the same damage as a sub-machine gun.

To purchase an area weapon as equipment you must permanently sacrifice one Hero Point.

At one level this may seem unrealistic (and it is) but, in the cinematic world of radio-adventure, it does allow you to select highly flavoursome gear that is customized to your character without being disadvantaged as a result.

Armor

Likewise armor is either strong (taking 6 points of damage before being rendered useless) or  medium (taking 4 points of damage) or weak (taking 2 points of damage).  These strengths are relative and allow a significant amount of flavourful description.  A mechanical battlesuit is strong armor and so is a medieval suit of armor.  A flack jacket is medium armor, as is hanging sheets of metal about your neck and wearing a Ned Kelly mask.  Weak armor might encompass anything from padding through to a helmet and gauntlets (that provide minor amounts of protection).  Area weapons render all armor weak.

Armor costs one hero point for each increasing type from weak, through medium and heavy armor.  This is a permanent loss to your maximum hero points to be calculated and recorded before play.

Because armor takes damage of its own you will want to record how many wound points it has.  Armor can be repaired between adventures.  While it can be regularly damaged to the point of ineffectiveness, it is almost never lost.

Vehicles

The ownership of a vehicle costs one hero point per level (above person powered) that is obtained. Vehicles are similarly simplified into types based on speed from fastest to slowest and speed within the types (fast, medium, slow)

A slow rocket is still faster than a fast aircraft etc. but vehicles of the same type are considered of the same speed for the purposes of play.  As a result a rickshaw and a bicycle are both considered medium person powered vehicles.  A surrey drawn by a single horse is considered a slow horse drawn wagon while a stage coach with a team of six horses is considered fast.  A train is considered fast or slow depending on whether it is steam driven etc.  A race car is faster than a Packard which is faster than a Model T.  Since these matters are relative the GM will determine their relative value during chases etc.

Armor (as applied to vehicles) effect the speed and wounds of the vehicle.  All vehicles have a base armor rating or base wounds.

Vehicles of different types have different base armor values.. Bicycles, motorcycles, jet-skies, motorised sleds, etc. 5 armor points.

Cars motor boats, vans, jeeps, etc. 10 armor points.

Lorries, caravans, barges, tugboats, light aircraft, etc. 15 armor points.

Long haul trucks, tanks, military patrol boats, heavy aircraft, and rockets, etc. 20 armor points

Heavy armor reduces the speed two ranks but adds six to the wounds.  Medium armor reduces the speed one rank and adds four to the wounds.  Light armor reduces speed by one rank and adds two to wounds.

A slow rocket with heavy armor is therefore slower than a medium aircraft and can keep pace with slow aircraft.

To Armor a vehicle will require you to spend one additional hero point per rank of armor you wish the vehicle to have.

Please note that spending hero points to purchase armor reduces the maximum level of your hero points permanently.

Make sure you record your hero point expenditure and the wound rating of any vehicle you purchase.  If your vehicle is destroyed you may be able to receive hero points equal to its creation-value that you can spend to replace it or use as standard hero points in future.  Repairs can be undertaken between adventures.

Example (Owning a car)

If your character begins with six hero points and you decide he/she owns a medium-armored race-car, your character’s hero points are reduced to 2 (2 points to buy the car and two points to add medium armor) and cannot be increased above two while the car is in your possession.  The car itself has 14 wounds and is of medium speed (assuming it was of fast speed to begin with).

Specialist Gear

Specialist gear is that which is not obviously part of a character’s ordinary equipment.  A chemist might have a portable chemistry lab, but a journalist probably does not.

Players may add specialist gear (gear normally considered outside their field of expertise) to the character sheet by permanently spending hero points during this step.

For every point spent they may add 1 item of specialist gear.

Examples

Jake Stead (Gear)

Jake Stead still owns his childhood slingshot, a fast motorcycle, two nickel plated automatics, a set of lock picks, and a locket which holds pictures of his parents.  All of these items are available at no cost except the motorcycle.  A fast motorcycle costs a permanent reduction in Jake’s available hero points by two.  The motorcycle has a standard 7 wound points.

Dr Herbivore (Gear)

Dr Herbivore still owns his first telescope, a bound collection of the works of Plato and Aristotle, a portable chemistry lab, a portable language library, a sword-cane and his PhD certification.

Malefice (Gear)

Malefice owns a mystic talisman she received from her Grandmother (just jewelery without any powers of its own), a protective bracelet she received from Volara, a crystal ball, tarot cards, knives, and poisons.  The talisman received from Volara counts as weak armor and costs Malefice one hero point. It does allow her to absorb two extra wounds of damage in combat.

NEXT TIME: Part 5 – Special Skills (Gadgeteering, Weird Science, and Magic).

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Creating a Character – Chapter 3 (Part 4) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Step 4. Fill out the background for your character

Here’s where you create the back-story for your character; their name, upbringing, personal history, etc. Some players find this the most rewarding and fun part of character creation. Others find it a daunting task. If you don’t feel up to writing your own character background we’ve provided a handy questionnaire¹ to help you out. Regardless of whether you use the questionnaire or not (and we recommend using it because it will be a great help to your GM in creating adventures that tie into your history) you should complete the very first and the last two questions.

The first question, of course, asks you to supply your character’s name.

The last two questions ask you to supply some information regarding how you know the characters belonging to the players on your left and right. These two questions are especially important as they establish the connection you have with the other members of your team and give you a reason to jump into game play without a lot of tedious “let’s meet each other” roleplaying.

Name

 

 

Appearance

(A cross between two actors, characters from radio, characters from film, characters from television, characters from fiction, or characters from comic books).

 

 

 

Clothes and physical quirks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family background and childhood

Describe your family background and childhood. Who were your parents? Where were you born? How were you raised etc.?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*A skill you were born with

 

A trait you inherited from your father

 

A trait you inherited from your mother

 

A trait shaped by your environment

 

*A unique possession acquired

 

 

 

 Teenage years

Describe your teenage years. Who were your friends? What was your schooling like? What were your interests and work experience (if any) etc. ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Two skills you developed as a result of personal interests

 

 

 

Two traits you discovered during adolescence

 

 

 

Two traits formed in your peer group

 

 

 

*A unique possession acquired

 

Adulthood

Describe your adult life. What is your vocation? Who are your peers? Do you have a family of your own etc.?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Three vocational skills you learned

 

 

 

 

 

Two traits you developed on the job

 

 

 

One trait that grew out of your first adult encounter with tragedy

 

One trait that describes your view of romance

 

One trait that defines your view of authority

 

*Important possessions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Details

Dark Secret or Hidden Weakness

 

 

 

 

 

Romantic Past

 

 

 

 

 

Proudest Moment

 

 

 

 

 

Greatest Regret

 

 

 

 

 

Best Qualities

 

 

 

 

 

Worst Qualities

 

 

 

 

 

Favorite things

 

 

 

 

 

Dislikes

 

 

 

 

 

Most cherished principles:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Most cherished possessions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most cherished people:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nemesis (and the reason for the enmity):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allies :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social Goals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professional Goals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Romantic Goals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Motivation for adventuring:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title of your most recent adventure: [Name] and/in [Adventure Title] eg. "Jake Stead in the Lost Idol of Shamballa" or "Jake Stead and the Fabled City of Mu"

 

Guest appearance in the back story or a recent adventure of the player on your left (in which you saved his/her life): [Character’s Name] and/in [Adventure Title] eg. "Dr Herbivore and the Seven Pillars of Hercules"

 

Guest appearance in the back story or a recent adventure of the player on your right (in which you helped save the world): : [Character’s Name] and/in [Adventure Title] eg. "The Mysterious Maleficent and Banquo’s Ghost"

 

The questionnaire above can be used as the basis for developing the characters’ skills.

Transfer the six skills you invented in the questionnaire (identified with a red star *) to the skill list on your character sheet. You can also transfer the important possession you have created (identified by a green star * ) to the space on your character sheet headed equipment.

Examples (background)

Jake Stead (Gavin’s character)

Jake Stead is your typical lantern jawed hero. He has a small scar over his right eye (picked up in a knife fight in Cairo, Egypt and dresses in attire fitting for a desert expedition. His sturdy boots, cream jeans, shirt and flight jacket are topped with twin pistols in a shoulder rig and a pair of crossed ammunition bandoliers.

Jake was raised on a Mid-western farm, among the stalks of corn, and developed an early love of the outdoors and the water. He was very active, something of a scrapper, and excelled in sports while being no slouch in school. As a teen he was increasingly called upon to work the farm and ran about with a group of friends exploring the countryside and getting up to good natured mischief. He also enjoyed many hours boating on a nearby lake and working on a motorcycle he rebuilt almost from scratch. He was the object of a local girl’s unrequited attention. Her name was Sally Wicks and, though at the time, other interests held his attention, Jake still remembers her and she still carries a torch. He occasionally wonders about settling down with her after his adventuring days are through.

When the war came he lied about his age and enlisted, getting exposure to the wide world. He was assigned to a special unit engaged in infiltration and assassination (something he keeps very quiet about) and learned some unusual skills associated with breaking and entering.

On one assignment he was trapped in a narrow tunnel for nearly eight hours and has developed a distinct dislike for dark, enclosed spaces. On another occasion he was captured and tortured by Heinrich Von Traupt, a sadistic prison commandant. Stead organised the successful escape of the entire camp, humiliating Von Traupt and earning him Von Traupt’s eternal enmity.

His finest hour occurred when his team infiltrated the harbour of Diet and allowed the allied landing there to take place successfully. Unfortunately, while engaged in the war effort overseas, both his parents were killed in a car accident and he regrets not being there to this day.

After the war he kept up with the doings of his old unit and is fiercely loyal to them. He has military contacts all over the world. He also keeps a distant eye on Sally Wicks. He is not a glory hound and takes pride in describing himself as a working man. Having seen the devastation created by the war and having been exposed to the grave threats that exist to the peace and well-being of ordinary people, his keen sense of duty pushes him to help fight evil and injustice wherever it is found.

Those who know him best describe him as compassionate, brave, a lover of nature, independent, a leader, loyal, interdependent, with a keen eye for detail and a strong sense of regret regarding past failures. He is seen as a charming but uncommitted rogue around the ladies, and a respecter of legitimate authority.

He is skilled in brawling, shooting, mechanical repair, boating, lock-picking, safe-cracking, bypassing alarms, acrobatics, and sneaking.

He still owns his childhood slingshot, a fast motorcycle, two nickel plated automatics, a set of lock picks, and a locket which holds pictures of his parents.

Jake Stead appeared recently in “Jake Stead and the Undead Marksman”, “Dr Herbivore and the Crystal Claws” (in which he helped save the world from an insane sorcerer who wished to release an ancient plague), and “The Mysterious Malefice and the Temple of Shakti” (where he saved Malefice from being sacrificed on the altar of Shakti).

Dr Francoise Herbivore (Michael’s character)

Dr Francoise Herbivore is small, stooped, bow-chested, and, aside from his wild prematurely gray hair, so average in appearance that he is easily ignored and forgotten. He is generally found in a brown suit, wearing a bow tie, no hat, a walking cane, pens poking out of his pockets, brown shoes, and a bundle of books under one arm.

His early years were spent in Paris as the son of a successful diplomat (his mother) and an equally unsuccessful writer (his father). He loved books and study but hated sports and physical exertion of any kind. An avid reader of fiction in his early years, he came to abandon this pursuit when he came to realise the lack of success enjoyed by his father. Driven by a deep need to be seen as successful he quickly came to despise his father, considering him an embarrassment who wasted his life as a “scribbler”. He remains close to his mother however.

At the outbreak of the war he returned with his family to Washington where he made many useful political connections. He entered university early and read classics. He became especially competent at ancient languages, chemistry, and encryption. He earned his doctorate in linguistics.

While he was studying, a colleague committed suicide in the belief that Herbivore had stolen his research. No theft had occurred and the young man’s theories were fundamentally flawed, but the mud stuck. The university hushed it up and Herbivore regretted never having the chance to expose the man for the idiot that he was.

It was also during this time that he met his nemesis, Professor Richard Halvard. Halvard was working on some ethically questionable research that threatened to pre-empt the findings of some of Herbivore’s own studies. He turned Halvard in, out of professional jealousy more than anything else, and earned himself a lifelong enemy.

Dr Herbivore has many acquaintances, and can be quite charming, but has few friends. He is gregarious when he chooses to be, but can also be extremely abrasive. He has little time for women, those in authority, his scientific rivals, or those he deems stupid (so almost everyone). He plays the social game well (needing to attract benefactors and donors for his research) and is almost comically determined to achieve a Nobel Prize. He is motivated by an almost pathological need for the acclaim of others (his participation in adventuring is simply one more way to achieve fame and notoriety). He cherishes curiosity above all other traits and is committed to the discovery and extension of knowledge regardless of the cost. As laudable as these traits are, he is also ruthless, proud, and impatient.

Those who know him well see him as curious, intelligent, ruthless, logical, quick thinking, studious, private, charming, unemotional, and disdainful of the opposite sex and authority figures.

He is skilled at hiding in plain sight, establishing and using social contacts, impressing people, encryption, deciphering ancient languages, chemistry, and swordsmanship.

He still owns his first telescope, a bound collection of the works of Plato and Aristotle, a portable chemistry lab, a portable language library, a sword-cane and his PhD certification.

Dr Herbivore appeared recently in “Dr Herbivore and the Glass Sarcophagus”, “Jake Stead and the Lake of Fire” (where he helped save Stead from a group of natives intent on throwing him into a volcano), and “The Mysterious Malefice and the Idol of many hands” (wherein his ability to decrypt ancient languages helped him to disarm an ancient doomsday device, saving the world).

Malefice, Mistress of the Mystic Arts (Beth’s character)

Malefice, Mistress of the Mystic Arts looks like a cross between a gypsy fortune teller and a turkish belly dancer. She is tall, lithe, and very beautiful, wearing a silken gown displaying a bare midriff, a veil that highlights her beautiful eyes and hints at her full red lips, and silken slippers. Throughout the folds in her robe are numerous knives and poisons in case of trouble.

She was raised among gypsies and travelers, seeing large portions of the world before the age of four. Her mother was a fortune teller and her father a knife thrower. At an early age she discovered a remarkable ability to read people and assisted with her mother’s performances.

A headstrong girl with a taste for adventure, she ran away at sixteen and lived on the streets of Vienna (performing magic for children and telling fortunes). There she very nearly became the victim of a street prostitution gang run by Carlotta DeVries. Carlotta’s son tried to kidnap her in a back alley but made the mistake of attempting to rape her first. She filetted him neatly (a memory she keeps hidden) earning the eternal hatred of Carlotta.

Things might have gone badly still if it weren’t for a circus owner who found her and smuggled her out of the city. To earn her keep she began work as a sideshow magician and came into the orbit of Volara (an elderly lady and true magician who taught and trained her). Her proudest moment was the first time she performed a feat of genuine magic.

While travelling with the circus she had the opportunity to fall in love with a young trapeze artist. Unfortunately the war broke out and interrupted her training and her love. Her paramour signed up as a soldier and was killed somewhere in France. She and the rest of the circus were separated during the bombardment of one of the cities in which they were touring. She survived until the war’s end by scrabbling for bread among the ruins. After the war she went searching for Volara but, with so many displaced people to search amongst, she never found her and has always regretted this failure. Instead she began adventuring, attempting to help the many orphans and displaced people of the times.

Malefice has a soft spot for the weak and vulnerable (especially children for whom she loves nothing more than to stage a magic show) and is fiercely loyal to the Romany people. Circus folk and gypsies are her special allies and she knows most of the travelling bands in Europe. She is also fiercely independent, and disdainful of men – feeling none have yet proved themselves her equal. Between adventures she dreams of performing before the crowned heads of Europe (or at least those who are left).

Those who know her best describe her as fearless, having a mischievous sense of humour, empathetic, secretive, charming, cautious, opportunistic with regard to male attention, suspicious of authority, cunning, self-confident, and manipulative. She is close to no-one, determined to never allow herself to undergo the pain she suffered over her young man’s loss again. The ruin of Europe (which she experienced first-hand) taught her the need for people to protect the innocent and the fragile peace. She believes in kindness to all (especially children and the weak) but is suspicious by nature and expresses an open hatred of authority figures. She is fearless and has a strong moral compass but is unwilling to open herself up to others. Her skills include knife throwing, and poison use.

She owns a mystic talisman she received from her Grandmother, a protective bracelet she received from Volara, a crystal ball, tarot cards, knives, and poisons.

Malefice is skilled at cold-reading, stage magic and illusions, occult knowledge, mind reading, hypnosis, and the binding of spirits.

She appeared most recently in “The Mysterious Malefice and the Vision of Death”, “Jake Stead and the Hobgoblin of Bremen” (where her magical skills were used to shut down a portal to a hostile dimension and, so, save the world); and “Dr Herbivore and the Mysterious Monkey Caper” where she saved Herbivore’s life when an assassin sent some apes into his room to strangle him in his sleep.

As you can see, by creating a deep background for your character, you supply the GM with a great deal of material around which to build stories; enemies to combat, prized possessions to threaten, important people to endanger etc. All of these elements will make your game richer and provide the GM with opportunities to give your character time in the spotlight.

¹ The inspiration for this questionnaire was drawn from the fantastic Castle Falkenstien role playing game by R. Talsorian Games (a must own game if you love high fantasy and steampunk Victoriana).

NEXT TIME: Part 4 – Defining your skills and customizing your character’s gear.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Creating a Character – Chapter 3 (Part 3) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Steps in character Creation

Step 1. Choose a speciality

To begin creating a character for the game you will need to develop a character concept.  The heroes of the age of radio tended to be of three broad types;

• Adventurer,
• Mystic,
• or Academic.

There are some clear points of overlap between them, but, by and large, they remain a helpful starting point for character development.

An adventurer lives by his or her brawn.  They are action oriented and settle things with guns, fists, and bravery.  Adventurers include Tarzan, the Green Hornet, and the Lone Ranger.

A mystic employs various forms of magic, hypnotism, and illusion.  They are less action oriented, preferring the powers of the mind over the powers of the body.  Mystics include Chandu the Magician, Olga Mesmer, and the Shadow.

An Academic, like the name implies is a science hero, using learning to overcome evil.  They employ deductive reasoning and specialist expertise to astonishing effect.  Academics include Professor Challenger, Violet Ray, and Phineas Fogg.

Deciding on a speciality often comes down to a matter of emphasis.  Dr Henry Jones Jr (otherwise known as Indiana Jones) is clearly an Academic (being an Archaeology professor by profession) but more properly fits the Adventurer category (solving most problems with his fists).  Discuss your selection with your GM if you are uncertain quite which one to pick and negotiate the solution.  If it makes it easier, think of a character from film, radio, or fiction on whom to model your own.

When you have decided on your speciality record it on your character sheet under Archetype (see the form below).

Examples (Specialities)

Gavin thinks he’d like to create a character along the lines of Indiana Jones; an archaeologist who is handy with a gun.  Talking it over with his GM they decide the concept he is looking for is more adventurer than academic and record his speciality as Adventurer.

Michael wants to try a more bookish character; a detective and medical doctor.  Michael’s character is definitely leaning more towards the academic end of the spectrum and the speciality is recorded as Academic.

Beth wants to play a character similar to Mandrake the Magician with skills in ancient languages.  In this case the speciality is clearly that of a mystic and is recorded as such (though a case might have been made for a character who was more of an academic – researching the mysteries of ancient languages and magic).

Step 2. Choose an archetype

Here’s where you flesh out your character concept, narrowing down the role they will take on.

Having chosen a speciality you need to choose or invent an Archetype from within that speciality.

Adventurer Speciality

Includes the archetypes…
Doctor, Pilot, Mercenary/ Legionnaire/ Soldier, Noble Savage, Cowboy, Masked Avenger, Explorer, Gentleman/ woman thief, Detective etc.

Academic Speciality

Includes the archetypes…
Reporter, Priest, Nun, Dilettante, Archaeologist or other Academic, Science Hero, Gadgeteer, Linguist etc.

Mystic Speciality

Includes the archetypes…
Medium, Magician, Hypnotist, Psychic, Martial Artist, Sorcerer, Gypsy etc.

There are a huge range of archetypes to pick and those above are just suggestions.  Think of them as possible occupations you can choose and you won’t go far wrong.  If you have settled on an Adventurer speciality but would like your character to be a two fisted mechanical engineer,  that’s fine.  Don’t let it bother you that it is not listed here. Talk it through with your GM and record it under Archetype on your character sheet.

Examples (Archetypes)

Gavin wants to stick with the Indiana Jones theme and chooses to make his adventurer an Archaeologist.  He records Archaeologist on his character sheet under the label Archetype.

Michael is trying to figure out whether to make his character a private detective or a doctor.  He decides he will make the character primarily a doctor who has detective skills.  He records Doctor under the label Archetype on the character sheet.

Beth decides she wants to affect people’s minds with illusions.  As such she wants the power of a hypnotist (or, more in the flavour of the thirties, a mesmerist).  She records Mesmerist under the label Archetype on her character sheet.

Step 3. Assign attributes and derived scores

Base Attributes

The game system is very simple and essentially based on two statistics; strength and willpower.

Strength sums up a character’s physical attributes such as health and vitality, physical strength and stamina, coordination and dexterity, as well as speed etc.

Willpower sums up a character’s personality attributes such as intelligence, personal charisma, ability to argue with and influence others, determination, and academic ability etc.

Strength and willpower are referred to as base attributes or skills. From these attributes we derive all other statistics in the game.

Your initial strength and willpower are determined by your speciality selections.

Colour in the number of dots corresponding to the result on the character’s record sheet for both strength and willpower.

Examples (Strength and Willpower)

Gavin has chosen an Adventurer Speciality.  As such he receives four dots of strength and three dots of willpower.

In Michael’s case, having chosen an academic he receives three dots of each attribute (note he also receives an extra four hero points – see Hero points below).

Beth is a Mystic so she receives 3 dots of strength and four dots of willpower.

Derived Attributes

The two remaining statistics (resistance and essence) are equal to strength and willpower respectively. These attributes will be explained in detail later (see special conditions below).  Essence is a measure of a character’s humanity and sanity, while resistance is a measure of a character’s resistance to disease and magical control.

Wounds

Wounds indicate the amount of damage a character can take before becoming unconscious during combat. The number of wounds a character can take is equal to four times their strength.  Leave dots empty but place a vertical line after the dot equivalent to the number of wounds your character can take.

Example (Wounds)

In the case of Gavin, he has a strength of 4, giving him 16 (4 strength multiplied by 4) wound points.

Michael has a strength of 3, giving him 12 (3 strength multiplied by 4) wound points.

Beth also has a strength of 3, giving her 12 (3 strength multiplied by 4) wound points as well.

Piercing wounds are allocated during combat and should be ignored at this point.

Hero Points

Initially players have Hero Points equal to their strength + willpower which can be spent raising (or lowering) their dice results (more on this later).  Again, leave the dots empty and place a vertical line after the dot equivalent to the number of hero points the character can spend.

Example (Hero Points)

In the case of Gavin, he would have 4 (strength) + 3 (willpower) = 7 hero points.

Michael has 3 (strength) + 3 (willpower)  + 4 (bonus hero points) = 10 hero points (academics get 4 bonus hero points).

Beth has 3 (strength) + 4 (willpower) = 7 hero points.

Hero Points can be spent to reroll the dice or can be added to a roll at one per point.

Hero points are spent and never replaced.

New hero points are earned through roleplaying (especially through roleplaying negative consequences) at 1 per cover earned (again more on this later when we discuss character advancement).

Skills which have 9 dots in them cannot use hero-points.

NEXT TIME: Part 3 – Building your character background.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Creating a Character – Chapter 3 (Part 2) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

This chapter takes you step by step through the process of creating a character that you can then use to represent you in the game.  It helps you devise a character concept, derive some basic numbers to describe your character, invent your character’s skills and abilities, define your background or history, and equip your character.

The quick-start method allows you to invent a quick character in under ten minutes.

The longer campaign method allows you to develop a much more fully rounded character if you choose.

Neither method is preferred.  In the former you “discover” your character during play.  In the latter, you provide your GM with lots of background to help tie you into the game.

The League of Adventure Seekers

The radio serials of the 30s and 40s often had as their focus the lone hero (though exceptions did exist).  Role playing, by contrast, usually involves a team and doesn’t lend itself well to solo play.  In order to bridge this potential issue we have invented the League of Adventure Seekers.  The League is a voluntary association of heroes that has arisen to fight global threats.  It’s president, the enigmatic Miriam Ribbensberg (an adventurer and aviatrix in her own right), aided by her psychic sister, enlists the aid of members of the league in thwarting new threats to the peace and safety of the world.  Through the agency of Miriam it is possible to bring together a team of heroes to play through adventures without the sometimes cumbersome need to roleplay the group’s first introduction to one another and come up with reasons why such obvious lone-wolves would cooperate together.

The Code of the Radio Hero

As noted in chapter 2, radio heroes have faith in progress.  Things are getting better, progress is being made.  The future is brighter than the present.

In the world of radio adventure the government can be trusted and officials (in our own country – especially law enforcement officials) are worthy of respect (unless we have been invaded).
Morality is black and white. There is always a right thing to do and a wrong thing to do. The choice will be obvious, even if the price is not fully known. Having committed to their ideals, radio heroes live with the consequences.

Moral lapses have grave social consequences.  Wanton destruction; personal infidelities; the breaking of one’s word – all these result in social ostracism.

Radio heroes always fight fair. If the other side uses non-lethal force, we can’t use lethal force. If the other side uses knives or swords, we can’t use guns. If the other side uses pistols and small-calibre weapons, we can’t use submachine guns, and so on. Or, if we do use them, we can’t aim them at the enemy.  Lack of fairness in fighting results in the erosion of public trust until the “cheater” is seen as a pariah or, worse, a villain.

No problem is so great it can’t be fixed by heroically kicking in a door or pressing random buttons.

Hero smarts ALWAYS trump brawn.  Brawn ALWAYS trumps everything else (including villain smarts).

No villain is so far gone that they cannot be redeemed (unless they are clearly non-human and weird looking).

Enemies are to be respected even in defeat.

Optimism ALWAYS triumphs over cynicism.

The Code of the League of Adventure Seekers

On entering the League of Adventure Seekers, all heroes are asked to swear the following oath (unashamedly lifted from the pages of Doc Savage).

Let me strive, every moment of my life, to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it.

Let me think of the right, and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice.

Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage.

Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say and do.

Let me do right to all, and wrong no man.

The story so far (Introducing our Characters)

Dramatis Personae

Dr Herbivore (Professor of Archaeology)

Jake Stead (Adventurer)

Malefice, Mistress of the Mystic Arts (Magician)

Episode 1

They stood before the door to the office of the President of the League of Adventure Seekers.  As junior members of the League none of them had so far been given cause to visit this particular section of the club, up the stairs and at the back.  They felt a little like school children brought to stand before the door of the head-master. “A great honor”, Farrington had said.  “It’s not many as young as you who get to go on up”.

“Go on up” was a colloquial expression within the League that signified an interview with the reclusive and little known Miss Miriam Ribbensberg, current President.  Such meetings were known to be an invitation to high adventure, but often at great risk to the participants.

As she stood at the door Malefice eyed her two companions.  Jake Stead was tall broad and ruggedly handsome.  She rolled her eyes slightly; these heroic types often seemed cut from the same dull cloth.  Still, she knew him quite well, and he had saved her life during that business involving the ivory claw hammer.  As for her other companion, he was as unprepossessing as Stead was ostentatious.  Dr Herbivore, professor of archaeology, had an almost uncanny ability to fade into the background.  One almost had to force oneself to notice him.  He was small, thin, slightly stooped, and sporting an enormous walrus moustache.  She had grown to respect the formidable intellect behind the self-deprecating manner.  He had recently saved the world from a doomsday device she had been completely unable to fathom.  She had assisted him briefly during the episode, saving his life twice.

Malefice allowed a brief smile to play across her lips. Here she was, engaging in a bit of sardonic internal mockery of her companions appearance and affectations while giving little thought to her own.  The irony wasn’t lost on her.  Malefice, Mistress of the Mystic Arts, complete with silken robes and veil!  Of all of them she was the most outlandish… and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

While adventuring didn’t necessarily require theatricality (Lord knows Herbivore was evidence enough of that) she had found that the theatrical props and mystique often aided her in accomplishing her goals.

The door opened and Miriam Ribbensberg, dressed in the flight uniform she never seemed to be without, invited the three of them in.

“Welcome”, she said.  “I’m so pleased you agreed to attend this meeting” .

“It’s an honour Miss Ribbensberg”, broke in Stead. “We’d hardly decline such an opportunity would we?”  His mid-western drawl seemed overly loud in the confines of the president’s office.

“That’s very kind of you, Mr Stead.  But it is often the case that those who respond to my invitations  face great danger soon afterward.”

“You mean that Nairobi business, don’t you?” said Malefice.

“That’s right.  The threat was averted but we lost the whole team.”  The pain in Miriam’s voice was unmistakeable.

“It was not your fault Miss Ribbensberg”, piped up Herbivore, suddenly reminding everyone of his presence once again.  “All of us who join the League are aware of the risks.  It is willingness to put our lives on the line in the service of peace and justice that forms the common bond between all of us”.

“Thank you Lucius.  I’m pleased you think so.”

Miriam Ribbensberg took a moment to look each of them over.  She appeared to be weighing them up with a practiced eye.

“Yes”, she mused.  “I think you will do for this job.  Please come in and sit down.”

The group took their places in some chairs placed around a low table.  The men waited while the women were seated first.

“Old world charm?” laughed Miriam.

Stead looked slightly embarrassed but Dr Herbivore took it in his stride.  “Of course, mademoiselle.  There is no excuse for bad manners”.

“Indeed” she replied, favouring him with a dazzling smile.  “But we have business to discuss.  It has come to the League’s attention that Franco Gionelli of the Gionelli Crime Family in Star City is smuggling in a dangerous biological agent.  It is our belief that if he is not stopped, this agent will be released into the general populace and from there may come to threaten the globe.”

“But how do you know this?” asked Malefice.

“My dear, you are aware, as a mistress of the mystic arts, that there are many things in this world that are beyond explanation?  Things and abilities that defy analysis?”

“Of course.”

“Then let me entrust you with one of the great secrets of our organisation.  Since I was a child my sister has had visions.  She is mute and does not speak, but I have always heard her voice in my mind.  Her visions, though fragmentary and often confusing, always come true.  She is the reason the League has been so effective at heading off threats to the world.  Without her warnings, the world might have been destroyed many times over.”

“I see”  said Malefice.  “And her visions somehow involve us?”

“In a way. ” Miriam paused for a moment. “You have been brought together because we have need of your skills.  My sister has seen that the solving of this mystery will require the expertise of someone who can brawl and deal with security, someone with an understanding of basic chemistry and biology, and someone who understands the varied pathways of the esoteric and magical.    It is my job to try and create the best match between the skills we have on hand and the threats that arise.  You are currently our best hope”.

The little group sat in silence for a few moments.

“We won’t let you down, Miss Ribbensberg” said Stead in a strangely subdued voice.

“I know you won’t” she replied.

(To be continued…)

Character Sheet

Name:
 Place of Birth:
 Current Residence
 Experience Points
 Archetype
 Specialisation
 Strength (d10/2)raised            OOOOO
 Willpower (d10/2)raised           OOOOO
 Resistance (Strength)             OOOOO
 Essence (Willpower)               OOOOO
 Invention Points (Willpower)      OOOOO
 Initial Skill points (7 + highest base attribute)
 Hero Points ((Strength + Willpower)/2)raised
 Wounds (Strength x 4)            OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO
 Piercing Wounds                  OOOOO OOOOO
 Penalty Points (lost Essence)

Skills
 xxxOO    OOOOO
 xxOOO    OOOOO
 xxOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO

General Skills
 xOOOO    OOOOO Bluff
 x              Brawl (untrained)
 xOOOO    OOOOO Catch
 xOOOO    OOOOO Climb
 xOOOO    OOOOO Drive vehicle
 xOOOO    OOOOO First Aid
 xOOOO    OOOOO Hide
 x              Jump (untrained)
 xOOOO    OOOOO Lift/carry/crush/bend
 x              Melee (untrained)
 xOOOO    OOOOO Perception
 xOOOO    OOOOO Persuade
 x              Ranged (untrained)
 x              Ride (untrained)
 xOOOO    OOOOO Run
 xOOOO    OOOOO Search
 xOOOO    OOOOO Sneak
 xOOOO    OOOOO Throw
 xOOOO    OOOOO Swim

Spells, Subskills, & Gadgets
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO
 xOOOO    OOOOO

Gear (items in your possession)

Don’t miss part 2 of this chapter where we begin taking you through the steps of completing the character sheet.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Creating a Character – Chapter 3 (Part 1) – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

In order to play this game you’ll require some special gear; a pencil, a 6 sided dice (referred to throughout the rules as 1d6 for short), and two 10 sided dice (referred to as 2d10) .  Head down to the bottom of this page if you woudl like to prepare some spinners to use in place of dice.  You’ll also require a character sheet (see p. 84).  The GM will require some further equipment (discussed in part two of this volume).  Dice are easily obtained from the internet or your local gaming hobby store (or you could cut out and assemble the spinners on the next page).

As a player you will need to create a character.  All the instructions for accomplishing this are contained in this Player’s Guide.  In this volume you will learn how to generate your character, the skills your character will use, and the way to engage in actions within the game world (fighting, driving, building gadgets, casting spells, etc).

This book and its companions

If you are the game master (GM) you will, like the players, need to understand these rules, but you will also need to be familiar with the GM’s guide in volume 2 of this book.  Players can be forgiven for wanting to learn all they can about the game, but will enjoy things more if they leave volumes 2 and 3 of this series unread.

Volume 2 is a GM’s guide providing advice and special rules for the design and running of your own custom made games, as well as numerous example games you can play straight away.

Volume 3 is a world book providing setting information and plot-hooks to help the GM understand the world (including villains, locations of interest, monsters, information about equipment and vehicles, even world history.

What is radio adventure?

Radio adventure (as the name implies) aims to recreate the fun of the over-the-top radio serials that reached the height of their popularity during the 1930s and 1940s.  In those shows daring and suspenseful stories of mystery and magic were recounted.  They were an outgrowth of (and sometimes interchangeable with) the dime novels published in the United States from the 1880s onward.  The story-telling range of these programs was extremely diverse (including romance, western, science fiction, supernatural detective, true crime, etc.).  They are best remembered, however, for their wild flights of fancy and heroic adventurers.

Below are some of the more readily acknowledged features (or tropes) of radio adventure.

Heroes are larger than life

In radio adventures the heroes are larger than life.  They run faster, hit harder, think quicker, and are all-round more effective than ordinary human beings.  They tend to be polymaths, adept at everything to which they turn their attention.  Alternatively, if they are specialists, they number among the greatest in their fields.  Above all they are admirable and worthy of emulation – heroes to the world.

The pace can never be too fast

Radio dramas are action oriented and race from start to finish with minimal interruption.  Action is around every corner and where there is a lull you can bet it’s only a brief chance to catch your breath before the heroes are interrupted by another group of ninjas kicking down their door ( or thugs, monsters, etc. ).

Optimism and action are rewarded

Heroes are upbeat.  They believe in progress and the basic goodness of people and institutions.  This optimism is rarely misplaced.  Likewise action is always the best policy.  Long periods of planning and reflection are never more effective than kicking down the door and charging in guns blazing.

Hero deaths are exceptional

Heroes never die in the radio serials from which they came.  In a roleplaying game however, death is an ever-present reality.  It should, however, be a rare occurrence, and when it occurs your character will always be able to engage in one last heroic action aimed at thwarting the bad guy or advancing the cause of goodness.

Villains are colourful (and bad)

Villains are always undeniably bad.  Shades of grey should actively be avoided (which is not to say that the villain can’t be a sympathetic character). They always have quirks and twists that make them stand out from the crowd and, as such, villains should always be memorable, potentially redeemable, and committed to an unequivocally evil purpose.

Capture is common

Capture is common, if not downright desirable in some instances.  Captured characters always have a chance to escape from sinister, yet somehow flawed, death traps.  Getting captured may be the best way to uncover the villain’s final target etc. Being captured is an occupational hazard and rarely a bad thing.

Weird Science works and gadgets abound

Weird science works.  It does so in a manner that is neither consistent nor repeatable, but it does work.  This means that the incredible shrinking ray is a feasible invention and can exist in the campaign alongside interstellar spacecraft, rocket packs, cloning, revivification devices, etc.  The sky is the limit.

That said, weird science is not real science.  The results can never be replicated and usually have a twisted objective or methodology.

Gadgets, however, have a basis in real science (even if that basis is a currently discredited theory such as that of the luminiferous ether).  If a campaign calls for replicable gadgets they must be used consistently.

Historical reality is subverted, modified, or heightened according to need.

If the drama requires it, then it is permissible to have the Nazis attempt an invasion of the United States five years before the real war occurred.  The great depression may never have happened.  Human beings can establish a moon base in 1935.  Historical reality always gives way to story.  Just be careful to make sure that modifications to history, once made, remain an ongoing part of your universe.

Things that go bump in the night exist and never leave any evidence behind

Ghosts, monsters, aliens, vampires, ghouls etc. all exist.  Unfortunately, they never leave any evidence of their presence behind (or the government comes along and confiscates it, or it is mysteriously destroyed).  As a result only a handful of people are aware of, or willing to admit to, the presence of the unexplained.

Sorcery is dangerous

Magic can have a major destabilising effect on a radio inspired game or story.  As a result, magic, while existing, is either very weak or is very dangerous to use, or requires the expenditure of absurd amounts of wealth or extremely precious resources, or requires activity that the heroes couldn’t countenance (such as the sacrifice of three virgins).

Genres are mashed

Radio drama is among the few places where it is perfectly acceptable to mash together multiple diverse genres.  If you want to have a supernatural detective cowboy riding dinosaurs in space you can.

Monsters and Aliens are usually unique

While plenty of traditional monsters (such as vampires and werewolves etc.) appear in radio drama, more often than not, unique, unheard of creatures are invented.  Radio Serials were one place in which creativity really came to the fore.

Bizarre Crimes and Mystery are required

No radio drama would be complete without a bizarre crime;.  the more bizarre the better.  The object of the crime may be strange, or its method, or its timing, or the apparent perpetrator, or perhaps even the reason behind it.  Whatever the oddity, the crime and ensuing mystery will stand out from the crowd.  It certainly won’t be any pedestrian bank heist.

Planets have Breathable Atmospheres

Oft times an adventure will take its characters off-world.  When this happens, the atmosphere will usually be breathable and the inhabitants, unless monsters, will share a means of communication with humanity.

Action is cinematic

The action is always cinematic.  Guns don’t run out of bullets (except for dramatic effect).  Chandeliers are always capable of holding the character’s weight. Leaping through a window will not result in lacerations.  The action is always heightened for greater entertainment.

Settings and Locations are exotic

Radio adventure was deliberately escapist.  It took the listener to sections of the world (or even the universe) that they would otherwise never experience; the Gobi desert, the Potala Lassa in Tibet, the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, the bowels of the earth, the surface of an alien planet, or the depths of the sea.

Maps still have blank areas

As much as the world of radio drama is one of progress towards utopia, there is still plenty of mystery in the world.  There are lots of places as yet unexplored and what lies within these places is still unknown.

Lost Worlds are discovered and lost again

Lost worlds, dinosaurs, cavemen, ancient civilisations left undisturbed into the present – all of these can and are discovered in radio adventures… usually in those blank portions of the map discussed above.

Chases add excitement

Exciting chases through exotic cities, or out of cities being swallowed by the sands, or up through a sinking ship etc. are a staple of radio adventure stories.  Racing against time (and other obstacles) has always added an extra dimension of fun to these tales.

Cliff-hangers are employed shamelessly

The serial cliff-hanger was pretty much invented for radio drama.  Ending on a cliff-hanger was both exciting and a very effective marketing tool to keep people coming back.  In fact, so prevalent was the cliff-hanger that many listeners would complain at those times when a story came to a definite conclusion.

Death-traps are rarely deadly

Villains are always coming up with new and overly elaborate means of doing away with the heroes.  Fortunately for the heroes, death-traps always seem to have a fatal flaw that allows them to be subverted and often turned against the villains themselves.

Flexibility

Above all else, radio drama was flexible and diverse.  If none of the above tropes appeal to you then don’t use them.

The “Feel” of the 1930s-1940s Radio Era is emphasised

This is all a matter of flavour.  The feel is enhanced when you include the cars, the planes, the fashions, the weapons, and the slang of the era (see Vol. 3 – Worldbook).

Examples (Radio Era Heroes)

True greats of the radio adventure era included hardboiled detectives such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe; mystery men such as the Avenger and the Shadow; heroes like the the Green Hornet and the Lone Ranger; sci-fi greats like Dimension X and X Minus 1; and of course chillers like Lights Out and the Inner Sanctum.

The stories which were heard on radio often mirrored and in turn inspired stories that appeared in the pulp magazines (extremely popular and cheaply produced fiction magazines) of the time.

Pulp magazines include such titles as Doc Savage (by Kenneth Robeson), The Shadow (by Walter Gibson), The Spider (by Norville Page), G8 and his battle aces (by Robert Hogan), Weird Tales (particularly those by Seabury Quinn), Planet Stories, and many, many others.

Playing it “Old Time”

Human heroes (yet larger than life)

Even though modern super-heroes have their roots in pulp novels and radio heroics, they are not the same thing.  The majority of radio heroes were first and foremost human beings.  They were larger than life in that they were smarter, faster, stronger, etc. than their compatriots, but this did not result in super-powers.  They were simply at the peak of human capacity.

Radio heroes are also, first and foremost, Heroes.  Those used to playing roleplaying games in more modern settings, where angst-ridden anti-heroes are the norm, will need to adjust their thinking to encompass a world in which heroes are genuinely heroic and good guys are good with a capital “G”.  The experience of play will be a lot less fun if this feature of radio adventure is not enthusiastically embraced.

Optimism is key

Optimism, even in the face of cyclopian monstrosities invading from another world, is an essential part of the world of radio drama.  While keeping games challenging, it is always possible to save the day.

The dark underbelly of the times

The days of radio drama (particularly between the wars) had a different sensibility to that of modern society.  People were more optimistic, the First World War had been survived and the second (while on it’s way) was still largely believed an impossibility.  Authority was mostly trusted and, if you happened to be rich, white, and male, life was good.  BUT, society was also overtly racist, poverty was rampant, nationalist violence was on the rise, women were second class citizens, rich industrialists felt no compunction about bringing in the police to break the heads of depression era workers, etc.  Some of these things could be seen in the radio broadcasts of the day (particularly the racism and sexism), but others were carefully hidden.  The ravages of the depression, for instance, were kept off the airwaves for the most part in order to maintain public optimism.

The world of radio adventure that we envisage, however, is an idealised one full of fictional adventure, mystery, and magic, not one in which we seek to emulate and faithfully recreate the times.  As such, we recommend you don’t attempt to simulate the racism, sexism, etc., of the era.  The dark side of the times might be explored in game, but heroic characters should never reflect the negative and offensive aspects of their culture.  Being good with a capital “G” means overcoming the typical prejudices of surrounding society.  If the game is to be enjoyed by everyone participating in it, then it is important that no-one is marginalised, mistreated, or offended in the interests of a misguided attempt at “historical accuracy”.

A final word on magic

As noted earlier, magic can easily throw off the balance of a radio adventure game.  Sorcery in particular can quickly render a game unplayable.  For this reason the following suggestions should be followed.

Mystical powers should be relatively weak but highly useful – e.g. Telekinesis should allow a player to manipulate and move small objects along line of sight (and not crush buildings or break metal chains at a range of 20 miles).

Improvements in skills should emphasise range and finesse rather than raw power – e.g. improvements in Telekinesis might include the ability to manipulate objects from further away, without line of site (in the next room), or with special nimbleness (picking a lock).

The ability to crush the villain’s weapon of doom from a continent away is likely to unbalance things somewhat.

A good rule of thumb is that the initial skill should have the limitations typical of a human equivalent. Telekinesis as a power should not be able to carry more than a normal human could carry in their arms and should not be able to do so further or faster than a normal person could carry such a load.  This would preclude the skill from being used to crush a metal box, hurl a ball bearing through the air at the speed of a bullet, or carry a giant trailer full of loot around behind the party.

Winning and losing

Roleplaying games are not about winning and losing.  Instead they are about participating in a fun and engaging story.  But, as has been noted, characters can die.  To ameliorate this somewhat, we have devised our ruleset in such a way that even death is heroic.  Should your character die you will always have the chance to go out achieving one last heroic action.  Who knows, your character’s death may be the event that ultimately saves the day.

Bibliography

This chapter is written, in large part, using the excellent insights of

Brian Misiaszek’s 1994 The Pulp Avengers article (http://www.fantasylibrary.com/lounge/pulpavengers.htm)

and

Mike Bourke and Blair Ramage’s 2011 Reinventing Pulp For Roleplaying articles (http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/blat-zot-pow-rules-of-genre/)

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where acknowledged) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post Preparation for Play – Chapter 2 – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Chapter 1 – What is role playing?

A role playing game is rather like participating in a live radio play, only one in which the actors are all improvising their lines and the story’s outcome is unknown, even to the participants. Some people refer to role playing as collaborative story-telling – also an apt metaphor.

A group of players assemble and develop some characters for the story. These characters are represented by some abstracted statistics that determine how well they can perform certain actions (such as fight, fly a plane, search a room etc.). Each player (save one) takes on one of the character roles. Their job is to interact with the world and participate in the adventure that is about to unfold.

One player adopts the role of the Game Master (commonly referred to as the GM). This individual describes the world with which the characters interact, the events that occur, and takes on the roles of the other (incidental) characters that the players encounter.
Players interact with the world, often rolling dice to determine the effectiveness of their actions and the story evolves according to the interactions between the Game Master (GM) and the group. The remarkable and exciting part of the role playing experience is that through this interaction a story emerges that is completely unique to that group and one that could not have been predicted by any of its members.

Even though, as the term “role playing” suggests, players basically take on particular roles, role playing remains fundamentally a conversation. You and the other players will go back and forth, talking about the fictional characters you are portraying and the fictional circumstances surrounding what they do and say.

Like any conversation, you take turns, but not in a strictly linear fashion. The emphasis here is on conversation. Sometimes you talk over each other, interrupt, build on each-other’s ideas, and try to monopolize what is being said. This is all fine. So long as, like in real life, there is a basic respect for and consideration of one another, the conversation will remain fun.

The fundamental interchange that occurs in a Role Playing Game (RPG) basically boils down to

GM: What do you want to do?
Player: I want to do X.
GM: When you attempt that (often requiring dice rolls), this happens. What do you want to do?

The conversation is rarely tidy in practice. Much of the questioning and answering is implied. A group of players are involved, the rules reshape the conversation’s structure, etc. But at its core, a role playing game boils down to a very imaginative conversation. The GM presents a situation; the players respond to that situation by describing the actions they wish to attempt; the GM adjudicates the outcome (and in so doing presents a new situation to which the players respond).

This process is effectively a loop that will continue until the story’s end or a predetermined amount of time has passed.

Because the conversation loop at the heart of a role playing game is potentially endless, it is best to have an agreed set of conditions for ending the game session. It is possible for the story unfolding in a game to last many sessions (some games have gone on for years) so it is better to set aside a specific amount of time for play rather than set some plot driven conditions to end play. Two to three hours is generally an appropriate length of time. A typical game might take two or three sessions to conclude.

Before embarking on a role playing game it is important to explore everyone’s expectations. Not everyone wants to commit themselves to a multi-year-spanning story campaign. Younger people have been known to play every night, while older people with jobs and families may only manage to participate in a game on a fortnightly or monthly basis. New players are more comfortable playing with a specific end point in sight so you may wish to limit the number of sessions required to complete the game (six to eight tends to work well and single session stories are a great way to introduce new players to the game). You can always ask for a longer term commitment later on.

An Example of Play at the table

The following is a transcript of play as it takes place at the table. The players are Sharon (the GM), Gavin (playing the adventurer, Jake Stead), Beth (playing Malefice the Mystic), and Michael (playing Dr Herbivore, the academic).

GAME MASTER (GM) – Played by Sharon : (READING FROM HER NOTES) You’ve progressed deep inside the caves of the mountain and finally reached your destination; a cavern dominated by a huge silvery lake. The rocky beach just beyond the mouth of the tunnel you came through extends around the lake’s edge for as far as your flickering light can reach, and the cavern’s roof glitters high above you with precious gems and metals. At the edge of your torchlight stands a copse of tall mushrooms (rising 20 feet high and beyond). Towards the center of the lake, about a mile off shore, you can just discern the outline of a large shadowy shape; the Isle of the Tsoreb. At your feet are some footprints that lead to the water’s edge and indicate that the men who kidnapped Princess Matuchka came this way and entered the lake. What do you do?
JAKE STEAD (JAKE) – played by Gavin : Do I think I can swim the distance?
GM: What’s your swimming skill like?
JAKE: Not so good.
GM: It seems unlikely but you could have a go. Do you want to make the attempt?
JAKE: I’ll think about it a bit first?
GM: What about you Malefice? What do you want to do?
MALEFICE (MALEFICE) – played by Beth : I move up and down the beach a little to see if the tracks come back up on shore. I’d hate to think they were just hiding their tracks and made their way out another tunnel.
GM: Make a perception role.
MALEFICE: (Rolls dice). I succeed!
GM: Excellent. You make your way up and down the beach for a distance, by the time you return to the group you are convinced that your quarry entered the water, most likely in order to reach the island. How about you Dr. Herbivore? What are you up to?
DOCTOR HERBIVORE (DR HERBIVORE) – played by Michael : I’m interested in the mushrooms. Do they look like they could float?
GM: Walking over to the mushrooms you see evidence that a number have already been cut down… and recently. The flesh is spongy without being porous. You conclude it probably would float and that the kidnappers have already attempted building a raft from the materials.
DR HERBIVORE: Hey, guys. With a bit of rope, I think we could fashion a raft out of these mushroom stalks. What do you reckon?
JAKE: It’s worth a go.
MALEFICE: Do we have enough rope?
GM: (Deciding on the spur of the moment) Yeah, you’ve got enough. What skills do you have that might be relevent to the construction of a raft.
JAKE: I’ve got some Engineering.
DR HERBIVORE: I’ve got Invention.
MALEFICE: I could use my ropes skill?
GM: Alright, everybody roll to build the raft.
JAKE: (Rolls dice) Success!
DR HERBIVORE: (Rolls dice) Oh no! I failed. Does that mean I screwed it up for everyone?
MALEFICE: (Rolls dice) I got it. Success.
GM: (Having decided ahead of time that two successes would be the minimum needed) Despite Dr Herbivore getting in the way, you manage to assemble a serviceable raft from the mushroom stalks.
DR HERBIVORE: Wait. We need some oars. I quickly fashion some makeshift ones from the scraps.
GM: Roll your invention but take a bonus since they should be easy to construct.
DR HERBIVORE: (Rolls dice) Easy-peasy!
GM: Alright, you’ve got yourselves a raft. What now?
MALEFICE: Let’s float it out to the island. All aboard!
GM: You float the raft out into the shallows and climb on board. Slowly you ply your oars through the cold still water, making your way towards the island. The raft shudders with turbulence as something large passes beneath it. Moments later an enormous fin breaks the surface and begins moving rapidly towards you. What do you do?

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 1997 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Players’ Guide

• Chapter 1 – What is Roleplaying?
• Chapter 2 – Preparation for Play (What you’ll need and an introduction to the World of Radio Adventure)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 1 – Introduction and Character sheet
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 2 – Specialities, Archetypes, Base Attributes and Derived Attributes
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 3 – Character background and history
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 4 – Character skills and equipment (including weapons, vehicles, and specialist gear)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 5 – Special items and abilities (including gadgeteering, weird science, and magic)
• Chapter 3 – Creating a Character – Part 6 – Special conditions effecting characters (including illness and injury, insanity, mutation, mechanization, undeath, disembodiment, reanimation, , vampirism, lycanthropy, and necrophagy)
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 1 – Skill types and skill ranks
• Chapter 4 – Getting Things Done – Part 2 – Consequence tests, perception, contests, special skills and abilities, hero points and skill advancement
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 1 – Melee and ranged combat, combat actions, the combat board, and a combat cheat sheet
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 2 – Print and play components
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 3 – Physical combat (melee and ranged combat) example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 4 – Magical combat example
• Chapter 5 – Combat – Part 5 – Vehicular combat example, injury, and recovery
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 1 – Chases and chase actions
• Chapter 6 – Chases – Part 2 – Chase example
• Chapter 7 – Death-traps, hazards, and puzzles
• Chapter 8 – Victory and death – Heroic deaths, cheating the odds, plot devices, experience and advancement

The post What is Role Playing? – Chapter 1 – HYOOTRD RPG Players’ Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.