Character Sheets

This week I decided to put up a collection of the custom character sheets and generators I have made for various systems.  These were originally made in excel, but should function fine in most spreadsheet programs.  Some of these were made with specific fonts/typefaces and so make need to be cleaned up if you don't posses them.

Star Wars (Original d20 edition with house rules)

Ten Dead Rats (Character Generator rules version 1.4)

AD&D 2nd Edition (with Target20 and House Rules)

Call of Cthulhu (d20 Simplified)

Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperbora (Character Generator + Demihumans)

Mutants and Masterminds 2e (Simplified House Rules "2.5")

Mutants and Masterminds Addendum

 Notions I stole from Mutants and Masterminds to use in D&D.

While I have only participated in the barest of play with the Mutants and Masterminds system (2e/3e), I have spent a lot of time with the game.  I was fascinated with the way it broke down the d20 system into its part and figured out how to re-arrange them.  

1. The "value" of certain abilities.  While not a universal constant, it gives a good idea of what Darkvision is likely worth vs Low Light Vision.  An Attack Bonus increase vs a Saving Throw increase,etc.

2. Flattening of Modifiers.  The bonuses/penalties/modifiers for various combat maneuvers, situational conditions, etc. were reduced to gives a +2 bonus or +5 bonus.  It reinforces the idea that +1 or adding up random bonuses is not worth the trouble of tracking.  Something either gives a little bonus or a big bonus.  It also had the advantage over "Advantage" in that it is more granular, and you can firmly account for the impact on success probabilities.

3. Reduction of the skill list/ general "Expertise":  3e has a lot of skills, some of them more fiddly than needed (as seen when they got reduced for 3.5).  Now, 3e had the  unenviable task of trying to unify % based Thief skills, Demi-Human skills, random class knacks, and a bajillion proficiencies into something managable, and it did a good job.  M&M is the first game I saw that refined the list down further, figuring out how to fold most of those other corner skill into a main set.  It allows for more customization of characters that a straight Ability Check would, but not as fiddly as what came before.

4. Effects Based design: A special ability or power does not mean much if it does not happen "on screen".  Example, Immorality: a huge deal, but not in game, when how would it come up?  Worth something, but not much compared to a Fireball (in game).

In the ensuing years many of these innovations have found there way back into main line D&D and related games, so clearly there is some value to it.

More Mutants More Masterminds

How I went about putting together a game for Mutants & Masterminds (which I have still yet to run)

We previously etablished that after years of playing around with the system, I had settled on a 2.5 Edition as a mix of 2e  d20 core and 3e versatility in powers and effects.  Part of the reason I settle on this was that I assumed most players would be coming from a D&D background.

Many of the following points will be familiar to my discussion of Star Wars.  Since it is an unfamiliar system, and not one designed around advancement, I opt for a "quick shot" of sessions. I assume players will want to play brand name heroes (or something very close). 

While DC is personally my jam, the Avengers/MCU and Netflix shows were the owners of the zeitgeist. The Avengers, being top tier heroes and the movies being interlocked feels too restrictive for how I want to run a licensed game.  So I settle for the nice street level Netflix "Defenders".  The bonus at the time was the shows were in purgatory with impending cancellation, freeing my up continuity-wise.

So first things was stating out the characters using my two-tier characters sheet (one tab to build/one tab to reference during play).  I wanted to make sure the characters were balanced against one another.  Jessica Jones and "Iron Fist" can damage Luke Cage.  Iron Fist is better 1v1 and Daredevil can sweep a room.  I also throw in Punisher, which was an interesting challenge, since his powers are Guns and Rage.  Its not too long before I have them dialed in at PL 8 and a good idea of what they can take on.  I also throw in Blade, because I want too.

So, what will be the threat?  I went back and forth on ideas, what is something that will be more interesting than a bunch of ninja's or special forces, but not TOO big for this group.  Thankfully the movies ended up delivering.  "The SNAP" gives the perfect opportunity, major heroes are gone, the worlds is in disarray, and our heroes need to step up.  And because of studio politics, there will never be any worries of continuity (so I should not have to worry about rewriting this if we don't play for awhile - which is proving to be the case)

 Generating content is easy, maps of NYC, quick stats for police, ninja, special forces, generic goons.  But I need a villain for them to face off in a climactic battle and the mastermind behind it all.  I think Tombstone is unaccounted for and would make a good fit.  Also he is obscure enough I can tweak his power level to be threatening to the whole party. Taking cues from other media, it looks like he is distributing drugs laced with terrigen to create inhumans in order to force a conflict between the populace and enforcement agencies.  Part of the details are purposely vague at this point to leave me room to adapt and "yes and..." the player's ideas.

The inhuman angle also allows me to throw more "supers" at the party, so I make some low level knock off X-men as baddies as well.  This will allow me to get some practice with battles before the game progresses too far.

One day we will see how it went....

 

More Mutants & Masterminds

 Last time I went on a ramble about my history with the Mutants & Masterminds system and how I still have never really played it.

So, I can't speak to how good of a game it is, but it is a fun toybox.

I spent many an hour just creating characters and playing with the features of the system.  I would read up on house rule and debates over the efficacy of certain parts of the system.  I was eager to pick the whole thing apart.

M&M was the system that started my habit of creating a custom character sheet in excel as a way to understand the system.  

Lets face it, the complexity of the M&M character creation rules almost necessitates the used of a spreadsheet program.  

One thing I learned in doing all this work, is that no one I knew would go to this much trouble to play a game.  It also seemed to be that the default character sheet presented too much info to let a casual player function at the table.  This was also the birth of my trend to make a second simplified "at table" character sheet to go along with the one used for character builds.

The end result was a sheet that just listed the "Things you can do" and what you needed to roll to make them happen.  Most player's will not be able to make heads nor tales of how a power is constructed.

These days I have the system beaten into shape as a 2.5 edition.   I use the familiar d20 based ability scores, and combat values, but have reduced the skills down the the typical dozen you seen in current RPGs.  I also used the simplified power construction of 3e.  I think it looks pretty good:

The upshot of the system is that most of the house ruling is on the character creation side, so it does not bog down players and GMs once the action gets started.

Which is good since, designing and running a non-dungeon based game is tricky (see my discussion on Star Wars RPGs), further complicated when heroes can fly across the country in the blink of an eye.

Next time should be less rambling, and more about the actual process of creating a M&M games scenario.

Mutants and Masterminds

Mutants and Masterminds: I have made tons of characters, and played around with the rules, and planned a campaign.  But never ran or played a game.

Many years ago some friends and I were attempting to get an RPG group together in our grown up lives, and M&M was the system the GM wanted to run.  I had heard of the game, but not much else.  I was still firmly in the fantasy RPG realm.

We got together around the table and brainstormed characters for the GM's version of Suicide Squad.  Honestly, it took me awhile to "get" the game.  The system made sense for the most part, being based on d20 D&D that I was familiar with, but I think it was the "build whatever you want" aspect that threw me.  Especially when you are playing along side others who can also build whatever they want.

 I recall I ended up making a time displaced Hyperborean Barbarian (still in fantasy RPG territory), another had made the Ghost of a cursed Egyptologist (think Evie from The Mummy, but a ghost), I think we had some sort of flying brick, and a few others.  I don't know how well our group would have worked. As I eluded to above, things fell apart before we could play.  

Now I had myself a set of books, but no use for them.  I eventually came across The Atomic Think Tank (now defunct) and could see all the builds and ways people used the system.  This helped me to really get the game.  It is also when it clicked for me personally, that Comic RPGs might work best if you just accept that you are going to play iconic characters (or reasonable facsimiles).

I spent the next few months just making my ideal version of the Justice League, Avengers, and other beloved characters. Mixing and matching, creating build templates for Atlanteans, the Super Soldier Serum, and eventually Autobots and Decepticons.

A lot of what I leaned about the system (and later M&M 3rd edition) would help inform many house rules for D&D as well.  But house rules and tweaks are another discussion...