A Space Opera RPG by Jared A. Sorensen
A Space Opera RPG by Jared A. Sorensen
Lead or Gold is a sweeping fantasy game of giant starships, bold pirates and evil empires. Or, at least it will be when it's finished. :)
Design Notes
Ever since I was a little
kid I've liked crazy space stuff. I was a major Starblazers fanatic
and would spent many hours glued to the television watching the very
odd Spaceketeers anime (this
was before everyone and thier brother was an anime freak and you could only get those Jim Terry-produced
compilations).
And despite a slight nervousness around the water, I would often fantasize about being a pirate captain with his own ship and crew of seadogs. Weird kid, I was. :)
When I started writing my own games, I got the idea of crossing the 16th/17th century pirate idea with some kind of whacked-out space opera. I guess I was obsessed with the whole "retro-fitting" idea from Starblazers -- that a WWII battleship could get transformed into a space-going vessel...that was kinda cool. That was VERY cool. I was like, well...if you could do that to a WWII ship, why not a pirate ship?
Plus I was listening to a lot of Running Wild at the time.
So here's Lead or Gold, my venture into the science-fantasy genre. Not a whole lot of background yet...but that will come with time (I think?). My idea is that the game will center around a gang of Renegades, scurvy seadogs who sail the seas of space in pursuit of fame and fortune. When an alien menace threatens the planet Earth, the renegades must sail forth into the unknown and save the day. Very over the top, very cool.
Some ideas that I want to integrate into the setting:
Blaster pistols exist, but are limited to three shots before reloading (which is a time-consuming process). Why? One...because it will make swords, axes and daggers more useful, and therefore more prevalent. Two...because I want to mimic an "Olde World" feel with the blaster equivalent of wheelock pistols and that kinda stuff.
The ships are all handcrafted from shipwright families and therefore are kinda rare, very precious and they all have their own personality. Okay, maybe not skiffs and such (those would be like rowboats and dinghies)...but the main ships would just be gorgeous, baroque wood and steel vessels equally at home in sea or space. How? I don't know *mumble mumble* alien technology. I'll figure it out.
I want this game to oooooze style. Brass buttons and buckled boots and knee-length overcoats with crazy epaulets and all that. Ya'harr!
The game sessions should have an "episodic" feel -- very structured as far as what happens in general, but very free-form when it comes to the hows, whys and whats. For example, everyone running Lead or Gold should have a game session where they hafta land on an alien world to repair their ship or get more fuel or something. Weird beasts, galactic storms, alien invaders...all this stuff is part and parcel of the game.
So anyway, I'm tired and I need to get up early for work tomorrow. Here are the rules to Lead or Gold!.
Virtues & Flaws
Virtues are the cultural
and personal values that are important to your character. In this
game, it's not that important how well you can pilot a ship or swing
a sabre. What's important is that your character has strong feelings
and values that define him or her as a person.
Virtues can be almost anything - but usually they're some kind of intangible "thing" that forms the bedrock of the character's being. What is really important to this person? What values have shaped his or her life? That's what this game is most concerned with.
Here is a list of forty various virtues (and some flaws). Feel free to add your own.
Ambition Fame Knowledge Romance
Beauty
Courage
Craft
Cunning
Destiny
Discipline
Duty
Face
Faith
Family
Fortune
Freedom
Glory
Grace
Greed
Honor
Humor
Justice
Law
Lust
Mercy
Mysticsm
Panache
Peace
Piety
Pride
Rage
Ruthlessness
Strength
Survival
Tradition
Treachery
Truth
Unity
Vengeance
Wisdom
Of course, not all values are as virtuous as others. Greed, treachery, the lust for power, ruthless ambition…these too can shape a character (and not even the most virtuous person is without some sort of character flaw). Some cultures espouse different views on some virtues. In a peaceful country, the pursuit of glory may seem foolish. In a warlike tribe, the notion of mercy may be all but unheard of.
Virtues combine to determine your Rank, a somewhat nebulous trait that is used whenever you attempt any kind of difficult or hazardous feat. The more virtues your character possesses, the higher his Rank will be. If you take any flaws (negative virtues), they will only count toward your Rank in certain circumstances.
To create a character, define his or her virtues. You may take up to five Virtues - three of these must be virtues common to your culture (Cultural Values). The other two virtues are your Personal Values and may be chosen from the above list.
Example:
Lord Dragon is a Calderian
Nobleman. He choses Honor, Duty and Tradition from his list of
Cultural Values and picks Glory and Face as his Personal
Values.
Key Virtues
You can gain an extra die
if one of your Virtues is directly related to the roll to be made.
Such a Virtues if called a Key Virtue for the purposes of this
roll.
Example:
Lord Dragon is challenged
to a duel by a rival. Fighting the duel is very important for him to
maintain Face. Dueling is considered Honorable to his culture and
Dragon's uncle was a famous duelist in his time (making dueling a
kind of Tradition). Dragon may choose any of these three virtues as
his Key, giving him a bonus die to his Rank. If he only had Duty and
Glory as his virtues, he would not get this bonus - there is little
Glory in the rather staid practice of dueling…and this is purely a
personal matter and has nothing to do with Duty.
Flaws
Flaws are special kind of
"negative Virtue" and do not add to your Rank. You may count a Flaw
toward your total Rank when facing a situation where that Flaw is a
Key Virtue or when facing an opponent who also shares the Flaw. If
you and your opponent share multiple Flaws, then you add all the
Flaws that you share.
Example:
Lord Dragon gains the Flaw
of Ruthlessness. Even though he now has 6 virtues, this flaw isn't
counted so his Rank remains at 5. Should Dragon square off against
another Ruthless individual, he would gain that extra point of Rank.
Also, if Dragon's Ruthless nature was important to the task at hand,
he would then also be able to count that flaw toward his Rank. If
both situations applied and Dragon's Ruthlessness was a Key against
another similarly Ruthless fellow, Dragon would have a Rank of 7 (5 +
1 for facing another same-flawed person + 1 for the Key).
Dice Mechanics
Whenever you are facing a
difficult situation or squaring off against an opponent, you must
make a Rank roll. Roll dice, draw playing cards or flip coins (or a
combination of these methods - it doesn't matter). Each positive
result counts as a "success." The goal is to beat your opponent's
number of successes (or, if rolling against a set difficulty, you
must beast the number of successes rolled against your Rank).
"Positive Results" mean a different thing depending on what resolution method is used:
If you are trying to perform a simple action, you need to get at least one success higher than the opposing score. Examples of simple actions are: striking or shooting an opponent, swinging across a chasm on a rope or docking a space fighter.
If you are trying to perform a complex action, you need to get at least two successes higher than the opposing score. Examples of complex actions are: striking or shooting an opponent with intent other than just hitting that opponent, swinging across a wide chasm while under fire, docking a severely damaged space fighter.
If you are trying to perform a highly complex action, you need to get at least three successes higher than the opposing score. Examples of highly complex actions are: felling an opponent with one shot, jumping across a wide chasm while under fire, docking a severely damaged fighter in the midst of a storm.
Example:
Lord Dragon is flying his
fighter through an obstacle course. The obstacle course is Difficult,
Twisting and Narrow, giving it a difficulty Rank of 3. Dragon is just
trying to complete the course without a lot of fanfare or style so
this is a simple action. Dragon rolls his Rank (5) against the Rank
of the course (3) and needs one more successes than the opposing
roll.
Expending Virtues and Flaws
You may cross off one of
your virtues (or flaws!) to automatically gain a success in any
situation (regardless of whether or not that virtue or flaw comes
into play). These are not regained until the next game. You may
cross-off as many virtues or flaws at one time as you wish. Your Rank
remains the same except that you can longer use Key virtues that have
been crossed off.
Combos
If you perform one action
and you are successful, you may add "combo" dice equal to the number
of extra successes to your next action roll. All combo dice must be
used on the next roll and that action must be at least one difficulty
level higher. You will lose all accumulated combo dice if you a) fail
a roll or b) perform an action that's not related to your
action.
If the first action is successful, you may choose to use ALL your successes as combo dice for a follow-up roll. If this is unsuccessful, the entire combo action fails.
Example:
Lord Dragon fires a shot
from his pistol at an enemy soldier. He rolls his Rank of 5 against
the enemy's Rank of 4 and scores two successes more than his
opponent. Dragon attempts a combo move - he decides to shoot the
soldier's gun out of his hands. This is a complex action so Dragon
needs at least 2 more successes than the soldier. Dragon decides to
sacrifice his first action's result in order to gain 2 combo dice,
giving him Rank 7 for this next roll. He rolls 7 dice versus the
enemy's 4 and scores 3 more successes than his opponent! Now, Dragon
decides to let the victory stand. The soldier's rifle is hit with a
bolt and shatters!
Dragon still has one success leftover so he decides to take the bad guy out on his next turn. He adds the extra combo die (giving him a Rank of 6) and needs 3 more successes than the soldier in order to drop him. Even if Dragon fails, the previous combo still stands because he didn't use up all of his successes to perform this action.
Initiative
Initiative is determined by
Rank (Flaws are not counted toward Rank, even if an opponent has the
same Flaw). On your turn, you may either perform an action or wait to
interrupt someone else's action. In this case, you must roll your
Rank against your opponent's - the higher score gets to go first, the
lower score gets to act immediately after.
Attacking
Attacks are made just like
any other die roll. Roll your Rank, add or subtract situational
modifers and compare this roll to your opponent's resistance roll. If
you score more successes, you inflict damage.
Weapons
When you make an attack
with a weapon, add the weapon bonus to your roll.
Weapon Unarmed Rank
Bonus +0
Small blade or small club
Small pistol
Large blade or large club
Large pistol
Rifle or crossbow
+1
+1
+2
+2
+3
Dodging Attacks
By sacrificing your next
action, you can try to completely avoid being hit. If your Rank
(minus penalties from wearing armor) is equal to or greater than your
opponents roll, you dodge the attack. Obviously, you may
automatically dodge an opponent's attack if his Rank is less than
your own (minus armor penalties). If you have already taken your turn
this round, you may still dodge - a benefit of being fast!
Armor
Armor does two things well:
it protects vital areas from injury and it reduces the chance of
being injured. Unfortunately, armor can be bulky and awkward to move
around in. When resisting an attack or any other kind of physical
harm, add your armor rating to your Rank. When performing an actions
requiring speed or agility (including Dodging), reduce your Rank by
the armor's rating.
Armor has two defining characteristics: weight and flexibility. Weight is obviously the physical weight of the armor. Flexibility describes how well you can move while wearing the armor.
Armor Leather Rank Bonus
+1 Rank Penalty
-1
Beast Hide
Chainmail
Breastplate
Platemail
+2
+3
+4
+5
-2
-3
-4
-5
Resisting Attacks
When you resist an attack,
roll your Rank (adding your armor bonus) and reduce your opponent's
successes by your own. If your roll is better than your opponent's,
you take no damage. If your opponent's is better, you've been
hurt.
Damage
Some attacks are easier to
recover from than others. For instance, it's possible to shake off a
punch in the jaw than it is to recover from a stab wound. In the
examples below, "X" is the number of total number of successes scored
by your opponent (after your Resistance roll).
Weapon Fists, clubs Temp.
Penalty X Lasting
Penalty 2 (or 1 if only one
success)
Pistols, swords
Rifles, crossbows
Special, non-lethal damage
Special, lethal damage
X
3X
X + Rank of damage
2X
X + 1
2X + 1
X
X + Rank of damage
Recovering from Damage
Temporary penalties only
affect your next action. Lasting penalties will last until properly
tended to by a physician or healer (the person treating your injuries
should roll his or her Rank - you lose one penalty die for each
success).
If your Rank ever drops to 0 and you wish to perform an action, you must first try to temporarily recover from the damage. Roll your full Rank (no penalties, no modifiers) against the number of dice you wish to gain for the next action (up to your full Rank) - if your roll is greater, you may use the number of dice you rolled against but only for your next action.
Spaceships
A spaceship's Rank (called
its Structure) is split into three areas: Armor, Speed and Firepower.
When in ship-to-ship combat, you add your Rank to the ship's Speed
for Initiative and evasive maneuvers, its Firepower when inflicting
damage and its Armor when resisting damage.
Ships are categorized by classes, using their total Structure to determine their class:
Ship Classes
Ultra-Light Capitol Ship
Classes Super-Heavy Structure
3 30 Examples
Personal skiffs Frigate
Light
Medium
Heavy
Ultra-Heavy
Mega-Heavy
6
10
15
50
100
Fighters, scout ships
Medium fighters, light freighters
Heavy fighters, freighters, passenger ships
Battleship
Dreadnaught
As capitol class ships require a full complement of crew, they use their Structure PLUS their Speed, Firepower or Armor value instead of a modified pilot Rank. In most cases, these immense ships will rarely be at risk from smaller vessels. However, during capitol ship-to- capitol ship combat, you can reduce their Structures down to 3/5/10 (respectively) in order to speed things up.
Firepower can be concentrated into a single attack form or may be split up into several attacks (such as twin blasters or a rear-mounted cannon). If the ship has split Firepower, the bonus assigned to Firepower is split as well).
When ships take damage, they'll lose their bonuses to Armor, Speed and Firepower (depending in the circumstances of the attack). Ships reduced to a 0 Structure are disabled or destroyed.
Example:
The Fleet Striker is a medium-class starfighter (Structure of 10). It
has Speed of 3, Firepower of 6 (dual forward-facing blasters of 3
Firepower each) and 2 points of Armor. It can take 10 points of
damage before being disabled. After taking 3 points of damage, the
Fleet
Striker will lose its
bonuses from one blaster or its Speed -- or its Armor and one die
from Speed or Firepower.
System inspired by:
Setting inspired by: