Proof Positive that The Supreme Being is NOT a Woman

I don't want to say that its a man, or a thing, or a force, or whatever; but I can say without the shadow of a doubt that its not a "Goddess".

The proof?
It takes the average man 2 minutes from the onset of sexual activity to achieve orgasm.
It takes the average woman 20 minutes.

Do the math. Either the supreme being isn't a woman, or she's some kind of Margaret Thatcher-esque monstrosity that hates the idea of women having satisfying sex.

Sorry, wiccans.

RPGPundit

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Possible Solution for Palladium Skill Problems

I like the Palladium system. Overall, I have little beef with it. Its mostly very good at what it does; its fast, its not particularly complex, it runs smoothly, and it gives you that fast-and-loose kind of feeling.

Except the skills. The skills fail at all of the above.  Skills are not fast, and the are complex; they are the single biggest drag in the character creation process, the one thing that stops one from being able to say that the Palladium system would really be a great introductory or "pick-up" sort of game.  Imagine Palladium, but where it only took you five or ten minutes to make a character, instead of having to spend a half hour poring back and forth from your OCC to the Skills section trying to look up the percentages (and progressions) of every single fucking skill, because they're all different. 

It doesn't run smoothly; the percentile mechanic is easy enough, but what happens when you level? This skill goes up 5%, that one 4%, that other one 2%! Once more, you are forced to look up everything (or at least, if you were smart enough to jot all the progressions down in the first place, you still have to take more time than you should have to double checking that you brought each skill up its required amount).

Finally, its not "fast-and-loose" at all. It doesn't much fit with the rest of the system.  In Combat you don't have twenty thousand different maneuvres; you just have "strike", "dodge", "parry", etc. But with the skills you, have "Radio operator: basic"; "radio operator: expert", "radio operator: superexpert"; "radio operator: jamming", "radio operator: techno-wizard radios", "radio operator: DJ", "radio operator: Ham"; "radio operator: shock jock", "radio operator: semi-intermediate that-kind-of-stage-where-you're-halfway-to-expert", "radio operator: ninja", and of course "radio operator: Fred".

Its idiotic.

So in any case, we were talking quite a bit about Palladium's skills a little while back on theRPGsite, and I hadn't forgotten about it. I had asked a few people what their solutions were, but none of them seemed quite radical enough. So here's what I came up with:

You know how all the skills are divided up into very broad categories? Make THOSE categories the skills!
So the new Palladium game system skill list would be:

Communications
Domestic
Electrical
Espionage
Mechanical
Medical
Military
Physical
Pilot
Pilot Related
Rogue
Science
Technical
Wilderness

Plus the weapon proficiencies, that we'd keep as it is.  There you go, twenty million skills pruned down to 14.

Now, every skill would begin with a base 30% + 4%/ level progression.

But beyond that, if you wanted to make it slightly more sophisticated, you could say that the old skills were just skill "specialities", that a given class would get a bonus for when rolling their skill as relates to that speciality.  You would now have the skill specialities be automatically determined based on his OCC skills and related skills (and wherever his OCC related skills indicated a bonus to an entire skill-set, that would apply as an overall bonus to that skill including to any specializations; if an OCC related skill set indicated "none", that would mean that excepting any specializations already given under the OCC skills, the character has a value of 0 in the skill). 

Physical skills that gave you actual bonuses to attributes could only be taken if they were one of your OCC skills, otherwise they don't exist. For hand-to-hand skills, you could assume that if the option is given in the OCC to take a "higher" grade of hand-to-hand combat, you will have that higher grade. In other words, every PC will start out with the highest hand-to-hand type permitted by their OCC skills, unless the player himself wants to have inferior combat skills for some reason of character.

So for example, let's take the RIFTS "City Rat". It has for its OCC skills the following: streetwise (+20), pilot motorcycle (+15), pilot automobile (+10), math: basic (+10), running, wp of choice (1), hand to hand:basic. It also notes that the city rat could optionally have hand to hand: martial arts (or assassin if evil-aligned) if they use up one "other" skill.

So first of all, we assume that the City Rat will indeed have Martial Arts (or Assassin). Then we factor in the various specializations to end up with a skill set like this:

Communications
Domestic
Electrical
Espionage
Mechanical
Medical
Military
Physical
Pilot
    -motorcycle +15
    -automobile +10
Pilot Related
Rogue
    -streetwise +20
Science
    math: basic +10
Technical
Wilderness

He also gets to pick one weapon proficiency, and takes running, which gives him +1 to P.E., +4d4 to speed, and +1d6 to sdc.

Now we look at "other" skills. Here is where we will determine the actual values of the skill. In the case of the City Rat, the "Other" skills are listed by category as: Communications: any (+10 to radio:basic and surveillance), domestic: any (+5), Electrical: basic only (+5), Espionage: none,  Mechanical: automotive only (+10), Medical: first aid or paramedic (+10) only, military: any, Physical: any (+5), pilot: any ground vehicles, jet pack, robot basic combat (+10) only,  pilot related: any, rogue: any (+15), science: math:advanced and chemistry only,  Technical: any (+10), wilderness: none.

So now the skill list ends up looking like this:

Communications 30
    -radio basic 40
    -surveillance 40
Domestic 35
Electrical 0
    -basic electronics: 35
Espionage 0
Mechanical 0
    -automotive mechanics 40
Medical 0
    -paramedic 40
Military 30
Physical 35
Pilot 0
    -motorcycle 45
    -automobile 40
    -ground vehicle 40
    -jet pack 40
    -robot basic 40 (robot basic combat)
Pilot Related 30
Rogue 45
    -streetwise 65
Science 0
    chemistry 30
    math:advanced 30
    math: basic 40
Technical 40
Wilderness 0

As you can see there are effectively only 21 skills for the PC to worry about, and all of them will be going up at the same rate. When the time comes to level up, the player will just have to add +4 to each skill.

Next up, to finish rounding the character out, we see how many secondary skills he would have received.  In the case of the City Rat, he had 10 secondary skills. In our system, you multiply that amount by five to receive the total amount of extra points you have to put into your skills listed above. You can put those points into any skill that isn't listed as having a rank of "0" (those are skills not available to the class and will never go up), either into the main skill or the specialization, but any points you put into the main skill do NOT end up raising the specialization at this point (this is to avoid the obvious wholesale points-pumping that would otherwise occur).  So in the case of the city rat, you'd have 50 points to spread around into your various skills.

Finally, as the PC goes up in level, every three levels (lv. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15) the PC can choose two "adds" to the skill-set. An "add" can be either a bonus of +10 to a skill (general or specialized, there's no difference at that point), or a new weapon proficiency, physical skill, or robot combat technique, if any of these are allowed to the class.

So do let me know what you think about this solution to the problem of Skills in Palladium! I'll certainly be giving it a whirl if I ever get that RIFTS campaign I've been thinking of running going...

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Davidoff 400-series Apple + Hearth & Home's Beverwyck

(originally posted June 16, 2007; I have since started that RIFTS campaign, and I do use this system, and its worked out really great)

In The Grim Darkness of the Grimdark Future There is Only WOTC Sucking!

An interesting vision of future times, provided to us by our very own Zach.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Davidoff 400 series Apple + Esoterica's Penzance

RPGPundit Reviews: The Maelstrom Companion

This is one of the oddest stories of the gaming world. Way back in the 80s, the UK publisher Puffin produced a series of extremely successful books for kids that were a step in between "Choose your own adventure" books and full-on D&D.  These were the "Fighting Fantasy" books.  They were spectacularly popular, and clearly there was something of a craze for this format; which eventually led to the Dungeoneer RPG (which was Fighting Fantasy made into a complete RPG).

Hot on its tail came a single book, also from Puffin, called Maelstrom. It was the same size, published by the same people, but was a stand-alone full blown RPG.  I really have to wonder how and why THIS game in particular ended up being published. It was not a fantasy game as such, being set in Tudor England (though it did have magic, but magic which was extremely low-key as a rule). It was also not written by the star authors (Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston) or even by an already-known RPG author. It wasn't even written by an adult. Alexander Scott, author of the Maelstrom RPG, was in the first half of his teens when he wrote Maelstrom.
I always wondered what the story was there; was the kid a family friend of someone high up on the Puffin hierarchy? Or was it just a crazy lucky break?

Lucky might be a relative term, anyways, the book didn't stay in print very long, and pretty soon after that the whole Fighting Fantasy line came to a crashing halt. Scott never published another RPG. The poor bastard peaked at 15 (at least, as an RPG designer).

But that's just the start of the weirdness. This game ended up being a major influence on the Warhammer Fantasy RPG. When you look at Maelstrom, you see the seed of WFRP there; the attributes, the careers, the starting equipment, even the gritty feel and look. Its amazing to ponder on it, how this little game ended up making such an impact.

Maelstrom was one of the first RPGs I bought when I was a youngster just starting out as a gamer; and I loved it. It had some aspects that were truly brilliant. It still has, to this day, the best ("realistic") guide to Herbs and herbalism of any RPG.
It also had some massive flaws, both system-wise and setting-wise.  Its combat system, especially with the advanced options, was sluggish and byzantine. It was ostensibly set in Tudor Britain, but it had no rules on firearms, and it did not mention or consider the reformation and religious conflicts at all. I never seriously thought that I'd think of trying to actually play it again today.

Flash forward to the present day, and ramp up the weirdness to 11.  How often is it that a game that's been out of print for 25 years should not only be revived, but have its first sourcebook ever?

That brings us to the subject of this review: the Maelstrom Companion. Arion games, under license from Puffin Books, has re-released the Maelstrom RPG, and Graham Bottley has released the first ever sourcebook for Maelstrom, the Maelstrom Companion.

The Companion is, according to the author, an attempt to bring the game into the 21st century (design-wise, not setting-wise, obviously). It tries to cover the irregularities in the system and the gaps in the setting, provide new material and help turn Maelstrom into a fuller, more workable game. And generally speaking, it succeeds.  Enough that I am now seriously considering running a future campaign set in Tudor England using Maelstrom and the MC.

That said, the new sourcebook is not without its flaws. And I think it is best used as a pick-and-choose notebook style of sourcebook, where the GM chooses the rules and elements he wants to make use of in his game.

The sourcebook begins with expanded rules for character creation.  After a note on changing "arrowskill" to "missile skill" to incorporate the new firearm rules, and a quick note on Noble titles (rather simplistic and not actually correct according to peerage rules), several new careers (livings) are presented. These are the agent (ie. the thug in the hire of powerful people), the alchemist, the barber-surgeon, the beadle/constable/watchman, the farmer, the friar, the hunter, the sailor, the servant, the tavern keeper, and the witch.  Most of these are fine additions to the list of livings provided in Maelstrom, with good setting detail and special abilities for each of them. The Witch and the Alchemist are the ones that I think could be problematic, as both add some more overt magical influence to the setting.  The Alchemist is particularly worrisome, as I can see it being ripe for abuse as a class, and likely to overshadow the Herbalist, which was one of the true gems of the original game.

You have a nice random names table after, and then the random fate table. I love random tables, and this one is a great way to generate either a random advantage or disadvantage for a character.

Chapter 2 is dedicated to game mechanics. Here you get rules for firearms, Tudor-style, which have good range and decent damage, but are slow to reload and have a 10% chance of a fumble, which can have pretty freaky consequences.
Rules are also provided for two-weapon fighting, and then the author's own idea of how to re-organize the advanced combat rules from the original book to make the damn thing actually playable. On the whole, I agree with his suggestions.
Rules are provided for alchemy, surgery and wounds, weapon-smithing, additional ability for the Labourer living (previously the most pointless class of the old game), and rules on alcohol and drunkenness close out the chapter.

Chapter 3 is all about campaigns and campaign ideas. Several general concepts are provided for the type of game you might want to run (ie. military, trade, exploration, etc). I think these would only really be useful to someone who has no idea what they want to do with the Tudor setting, and knows little or nothing about that setting. In other words, I personally don't find it useful in the least.

Chapter 4 expands the magic system from the original book, something I'm pretty wary about, since I liked the very free-form nature and subtle influence of magic in the original game.
Even so I have to admit that the majority of the ideas Bottley presents are good ones, mainly consisting of different "specialties" of magic. He mostly focuses on the sort of magical specialties that would make sense in the setting, ie. astrologers, scryers, plus witchcraft. The only one I find dissatisfactory is the "elementalist", since it makes use of the old stupid D&D trope that an elementalist much specialize in one of the four elements, and will not use the opposite element in magic, ever. This goes directly opposite to the ideas that real 16th century occultists had of the four elements, where the goal was to use and incorporate all four of them.
Finally, some supernatural creatures are provided, all inspired by English folklore. So, points for that.

Chapter 5 talks about the church. The Tudor church, that is, including material about the reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries. Even the Pilgrimage of Grace is mentioned. The material in this short chapter isn't exactly a history thesis, but it does enough to inform the reader about the single greatest conflict of that century that it can be incorporated into a reader's game. 

Chapter 6 details price lists, pretty thorough; and chapters 7-9 provide a sample setting location, Bury St. Edmunds. The chapter, which comes with some nice maps and ample detail, does a good job of creating a default "home base" for the characters in any Tudor campaign. It includes thorough material on the town, people of the town, the conflicts in the town, and a brief chronology of events going in 1540, specifically how they affect things around Bury St. Edmunds. Top notch work here, and plenty to hang an entire campaign on.

Appendix 1 lists the various alchemical recipes. These are the ones that have caused me such consternation. To their credit, they are based on real Tudor recipes and alchemical ideas, which is great.  And there's no doubt that the non-magical recipes are fine; the magical ones are potentially a bit more unbalancing. And again, the main concern I have is that the more showy and explosive (sometimes literally) nature of the alchemist will end up overshadowing the excellent herbalist.

Appendix 2 contains reference sheets for the game, an extremely useful list of tables and charts for speedy referral. Particularly useful are the flowcharts for basic and advanced combat! It sure simplifies the sometimes complex combat system of the original game.

The book itself is a softcover, of similar size and form to the original Puffin book. The cover is good, but not nearly as awesome as the cover to the original game (which I must admit was one of the first things that  moved me to buy that game all those years ago). The binding seems fine, and there is occasional artwork (aside from the maps) inside, mainly seeming to be computer-generated 3d art, that mostly failed to impress me.

So is this a perfect book? No. But it certainly does accomplish one important mission: it makes Maelstrom a full, payable game. The new material provided also makes it a fuller game than it ever was before, and that's saying a lot.  It is enough of a positive review to say that this gamebook stands a great chance of being used in actual play, something I can't say for a lot of books these days.

If you want a piece of gaming history, I'd recommend you pick up the re-issuing of Maelstrom.  And if you've been looking for something to run in the Tudor setting with, I'd strongly recommend that you get both Maelstrom and the Companion.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Ashton Old Church Rhodesian + Stockebbye's Bulls Eye Flake

These Are NOT Your Liberals

For fucks' sake, people; and by "people" I mean you lefties in North America; quit mistaking third-world sleazeballs for fellow travelers purely on the fact that they auto-identify themselves as "leftist".

Take, for example, that wonderful human being Hugo Chavez. He has, for a long time, defended the Cuban state with all of their repression of human freedom and democracy; but at least there one could claim that he is making the same mistake all of you are making in supporting him (namely, thinking that because Castro is self-denominated "leftist" it means he believes what you believe and must be supported).  But what excuse is there for his most recent public endorsement, of Mahmoud Ahmedinajad? He has resounding supported the Iranian president, Supereme Leader, Guardian Council, and the entire Orwellian Theocracy of Iran. 
Now hang on, aren't leftists supposed to be against theocracies? Don't Marxists think that priests are scum? Isn't religion the opiate of the masses? So what the fuck is going on? It couldn't be that Chavez doesn't give a fuck about socialism, and him and Ahmedinajad are buddies and business partners, both in commerce and in their rabid anti-americanism, can it?
THIS MAN DOES NOT BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN.

Take also Ignacio "Lula" Da Silva. A much less extremist figure than Chavez, but also a darling of the middle-class first-world fashionable Left. He has just signed a bill in Brazil that allows for any number of atrocities. For starters, it allocates a chunk of the Amazon the size of France to farmers.  That's right, a piece of the Amazon the size of France is now being cut down thanks to this great leftist paragon.  The bill goes beyond that, its implications being that anyone can now illegally occupy any piece of property in Brazil and through that occupation make a claim over it, essentially legalizing squatting and denying the inalienable human right to legal property.
I know that normally that sort of thing doesn't really bother leftists, but consider what that means in Brazil.  Aside from massive unrest and class-based civil war; it could also mean that now ANYONE could go to the Amazon, lay claim to a chunk of it, burn it to the ground and turn it into a mercury mining operation or a cattle ranch, and they'd have a legal precedent to do so. This bill is an open invitation to devastate the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil.
So, again, THIS MAN DOES NOT BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN.

Get over the idea that someone wearing a "leftist" banner means that he's one of the good guys and the others are the "bad guys".  That's just not true, especially in the third world.

RPGPundit

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