Jumping on the USR Bandwagon...

This is just a short post explaining that I am going to dig in to some serious work with the USR rules system.  I have the original version offered on the Trollish Delver site.  The document has been sitting on my hard drive for months and I just now got around to reading through the rules.  I am really impressed with the rules and I have several projects that I would like to use USR as the base rules system.

 

My Toldara campaign was originally developed for 3.x and Pathfinder.  After some time, I became interested in using a simpler rules set for the campaign.  I have dabbled with Castles & Crusades and several other systems.  I finally decided to look into doing a B/X version after recovering some old gaming items from my old room at my parents.  Then I discovered the Moldvay Era Classes in USR download available from Tabletop Diversions.  After I read that information I decided that USR looks like it would work remarkably well.

 

I also have several unfinished game ideas from my Old Gaming Notebook series of posts that I would like to complete.  The most likely are A World in Ruins and To The Stars... after I complete the Toldara conversion. 

 

That is a minimum of three downloads that I am developing.  USR is pretty much exactly the type of game I was attempting to develop with Quick Six and S.T.A.G.E. but I kept hitting stumbling blocks because I just could not seem to "get it right" on either one of these designs.  I am currently putting them both on the back burner and attempting to show some USR support.

 

More later...  

[A World in Ruins...] Developing the Idea

A World in Ruins... is an old idea I had for a post-apocalyptic RPG that I wanted to design.  I never did any serious design work on the project but I did mention a few details on this blog here and also here.  I would like to throw out a few ideas out about how to develop this premise into a full blown game.  If everything goes smoothly, this will be just the first of several posts that serve to put a little padding onto the very basic idea I put in one of my old gaming notebooks years ago.

Rules System
There's probably two different routes I would most likely take when it comes to the rules:

• Use an existing open system (D20, Microlite20, etc.) and customize it to run the game.
• Design a new system from scratch.

Regardless of the decision, I am more interested in playing these days than tracking a ton of stats, conditions, modifiers, etc. so it will most likely be a game of medium or low complexity.  I do want to use a system that will allow for variety in certain key areas - characters, weapons, etc. - but not be overly complex.

Background
Every game needs a story and a big part of the story in this game is concerned with what exactly was to blame for the state of the game world today?  There are actually quite a few options:

• All out nuclear war between the nations of Earth.
• A catastrophic nuclear accident that spread from one central location.
• A terrorist attack on several nuclear facilities that doomed the Earth.
• An asteroid, meteor, comet, etc. crashed into the Earth, rotated the axis, and caused death and destruction world wide.
• Something else?

As with the rules system, I am not worried about portraying "100% true to the science and facts of the matter" details.  I am simply concerned with telling a good story and providing a good background for the game world.

The World of the Present
It is now 100 years after the event that devastated the Earth.   Technology and progress has been set back dramatically.  There are pockets of civilization here and there but the human population has been drastically cut down.  The birth rate and survival rate is tragically lower than decades before.

Types of Characters
There should be several different types of characters to play in this game.

• (Pure Strain Humans) Some of these humans will be descendants of human civilians that made it through the catastrophe and managed to stay alive.  Other humans will be descendants of military personnel that were locked away in safe bunkers; or, in homage to The Morrow Project, these military personnel could have been placed in some sort of suspended animation and awakened after the catastrophe to reestablish the nations of Earth.
• (Human Mutants) People that were mutated as a result of the catastrophe.
• (Mutant Animals) Several animal species could have been mutated and gained an intelligence level closer to that of humans.
• (Others) There could be extraterrestrial or extra dimensional species available for play also.

Whatever the options available for player characters wind up being they need to fit with the background.  Obviously, the mutations would be better explained with a nuclear reason for the catastrophe.

Dangers
There should be plenty of danger and obstacles for the characters in their fight for survival.

• (Other humans) If the PCs are alive in this harsh reality, then why not other groups of humans that have banded together?  Some of these could be cannibals, religious zealots, or even worse.
• (active robots) There could be places that still house old war machine robots that have come back online recently.  Maybe the programming of these robots got corrupted?  Maybe the robots do not recognize the players as humans if they are mutants?
• (mutant animals and plants) If the radiation affected the human PCs then it surely affected the animal life also.
• (other) Maybe the PCs could encounter life visiting Earth from other planets or dimensions?
• (environment) radiation poison zones, old military complexes, etc.

That's a start with some ideas about how to design this game.  Of course, exploration and survival would be some of the major goals of the player characters.  I am sure I missed something in this brief exploration of game ideas but maybe I will think up some more details later...

[Old Gaming Notebook] The Rest of the Games

The information about the remaining game ideas contained in my old gaming notebook was pretty sparse.  That is the point of my notebooks - keep them handy and jot down ideas that come my way so I don't forget them.  The details about these four games is very limited but is included here for the sake of completeness.

A World in Ruins
This game will be Gamma World + RIFTS + Thundarr the Barbarian.  Player races will include Pure Humans, Mutants, & Mutant Animals.  Civilization is destroyed by all out nuclear war and the players explore the ravaged Earth and fight for survival.


I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic games and fiction so that's really all the description I needed.  I played a lot of Gamma World and RIFTS in my youth and Thundarr is my absolute favorite cartoon from my childhood.  I am sure that "Gamma World + RIFTS + Thundarr the Barbarian" means that I should design the game around all of the good stuff to be found in those settings.

Army Men
A simple war game using those packages of low cost plastic army men found in the toy sections of various stores.


That little blurb is the entirety of the work I did on that game.  My war gaming experience is pretty limited.  I really enjoy Axis & Allies, One Page Bulge, and RISK.  I have been tempted to pick up Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Twilight Imperium, or some other such board or war game.  I have not been able to justify spending that much money on a gaming purchase but I would be interested in low cost alternatives.  That's where the idea for this game came from.  I've seen those little green - other colors also available - army men in all sorts of stores from Dollar General to Wal-Mart.  Amassing a large force would be pretty inexpensive.  I've also seen sets you can buy to use with them have armored vehicles, sandbag formations, and other assorted stuff.

Old School Role-Playing
A game designed like the early competitors to D&D that tried to "out-D&D" D&D.


I think most gamers reading this knows the type of game I'm talking about with this idea.  For those that don't know the type of game this references the explanation is simple.  There were a run of games following D&D's release that could basically be summed up as "D&D turned up to 11!".  Where D&D had six Abilities, these games would have more.  Why have only Dexterity when you can have Agility and Dexterity or why have only Charisma when you have Appearance, Social, and Charm?  You get the idea - these games would be considered a fantasy heart breaker today.

To The Stars...
A game set in the 1950's during alien encounters with flying saucers, ray guns, little green men, etc.


In a nutshell, every cliche used in the old science fiction movies during the 1950's and 60's - bug eye monsters, martians come to steal our women, pseudoscience, and America winning in the end.  Plus, it would give me an excuse to watch a bunch of those old sci-fi movies.

Closing Thoughts
I think each of these ideas have some merit if done properly.  I will admit that I probably would not do anything with Army Men today.  I don't feel that I have enough practical war or board game experience to do it properly.  Old School Role-Playing could be a fun project but it is in opposition to the lighter approach I like to take with rules now.  To The Stars... and A World in Ruins would probably have the best chance of being developed by me.  In fact, either one of these would probably work great with the Microlite20 rules and I may just pursue that sometime, who knows?

[Old Gaming Notebook] Overview

I imagine that many role-players have a notebook, or notebooks, that they keep all sorts of information stored. I always liked to use a 5 subject spiral notebook.  The information I included in these notebooks were D&D characters, game ideas, setting notes, house rules, and other assorted ideas; sometimes, I would include other non-gaming stuff in them also.  Of course, with the advent of computers I have pretty much migrated any gaming stuff I do to folders on my laptop.  I ran across one of my old gaming notebooks recently.  It was probably the most recent of the notebooks.  Anyway, let's take a look at the contents of this notebook.

Board Games
I have had several ideas that I would like to turn into board games but I have never actually completed the design of one of them.  I had ideas for 3 board games written in this notebook.

Army Men: This would probably more accurately be described as a war game instead of a board game.  I spent 8 years in the Army and I remember playing with those old plastic Army men out in the sandbox growing up.  I wanted to do a simple set of rules for fighting out battles with these figures because the mass of armies would be easy to purchased and assemble due to low costs.

Auto Arena: I was a big fan of Car Wars by Steve Jackson Games.  When it went out of print I was not happy.  My rules were misplaced years ago.  I started on an attempt to do a new version of vehicle combat rules.  It would share some similarities with Car Wars such as being set in the future and have fighting cars but it would also be different.  Auto Arena would be set up like NASCAR in a league format.  The drivers would go to different cities throughout the season and compete in an ultimate demolition derby type event.  Instead of just ramming, the drivers would also have guns and other equipment to use in the event.  The arenas at each location would be different in layout and makeup.

Dungeon Crawl: This would be a board game for when you were just in the mood to pick up and play.  It would be more detailed than the old DUNGEON board game from TSR but less complicated than D&D.

Role-Playing Games
I began playing D&D in 1980 with the Holmes Basic set.  Shortly after I began playing I started having ideas for games of my own.  I have designed several role-playing games but these three are subjects that I never finished.

A World In Ruins: Gamma World was probably the 3rd RPG I purchased.  I always enjoyed the game but I also wanted a grittier version of the setting.

Old School Role-Playing: This was actually planned as a series of games.  The first planned game was to be Old School Role-Playing: Fantasy Rules.  The inspiration for these rules were the games that followed after D&D early in the hobby.  Basically, the fantasy rules would be similar to D&D but include more options, more rules, and more crunch just as the early competitors did.

To The Stars...: This was to be inspired by the science fiction of the '50's and '60's films.  Of course, that means flying saucers, little green men, ray guns, and everything else.  I still think this could be a fun game to do.

House Rules
I also had various notes written down about house rule ideas for several games.

AD&D: Ideas about a new Ability Score generation method, a Hit Points variant idea, and a note that a racial bonus of +1 allows a score of 19.


D&D 3E: A breakdown of the racial traits listing in the race entries so custom races could be matched to the official entries.


RIFTS: Ideas on a low attribute table for the Palladium Megaversal system.

Risk: Submarine rules for the RISK board game.

I will post this information her soon...