28 March 2018

d20 Future Converions to BECMI Aerial Combat Stats

I've been using deck plans from  0-hr for my home games, mostly as sub/side dungeons with a high-tech flavor. Since I'll be focusing on a Spelljammer campaign using the Champions of Mystara aerial combat rules and there will be some high-tech wreckage and maybe pirates in the Earth-Luna system, I figured I can just do some conversions from stuff I already have. I also figure that these stats will be a step closer to Stars Without Number should I end up running that in the future.

Hunter class Strike Carrier
Type: Carrier
Cost:
Crew & Passengers: 250 crew, 8 passengers plus 2 teams of 8 special forces
Cargo: 2600 tons
Weaponry (typical): 4x reaction missiles, 4x heavy plasma cannons, 1x heavy laser cannon
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 7 (13)
Forward Airspeed:
1620' (540')
1620 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 1/5
Hull Points: 5000

Solar class Assault Carrier
Type: Carrier
Cost:
Crew & Passengers: 750 crew, 250 passengers & 600 marines
Cargo: 20,000 tons cargo deck; 18,000 tons deep storage
Weaponry (typical): 8x reaction missiles, 1x minelayer
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 7 (13)
Forward Airspeed:
1620' (540')
1620 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 1/5
Hull Points: 20,000

Buffalo
Type: Boarding Shuttle
Cost:
Crew & Passengers: 1 pilot, 13 marines
Cargo: 1200 lbs
Weaponry (typical): 1x turret laser, 1x set of breaching lasers
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 4 (16)
Forward Airspeed:
1440' (480')
1440 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 1 (a)
Hull Points: 120

Buffalo - Musk Ox Variant
Type: Personnel Carrier
Cost:
Crew & Passengers: 1 pilot, 13 marines
Cargo: 1200 lbs
Weaponry (typical): 1x plasma rifle, 1x gravitic grenade launcher
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 4 (16)
Forward Airspeed:
1200' (400')
1200 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 1 (a)
Hull Points: 120

Condor
Type: Heavy Fighter
Cost:
Crew: 2
Cargo: 100 lbs
Weaponry (typical): 2x mass cannons, 1x missile launcher, 1x plasma rifle, 1x gravitic grenade launcher
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 2 (18)
Forward Airspeed:
1440' (480')
1440 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 3 (b)
Hull Points: 200

Peregrine
Type: Fighter
Cost:
Crew & Passengers: 1 pilot
Cargo: 50 lbs
Weaponry (typical): 2x lasers
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 1 (19)
Forward Airspeed:
1620' (540')
1620 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 5 (b)
Hull Points:140

Kestrel
Type: Fighter
Cost:
Crew & Passengers: 1 pilot
Cargo: 30 lbs
Weaponry (typical): 1x laser, 1x plasma missile launcher
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 1 (19)
Forward Airspeed:
1620' (540')
1620 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 5 (b)
Hull Points: 120

Morcant - Police Variant
Type: Patrol Skiff
Cost:
Crew & Passengers: 1 pilot, 4
Cargo: 500 lbs
Weaponry (typical): 2x fusion beams
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 3 (17)
Forward Airspeed:
1440' (480')
1440 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 2 (a)
Hull Points: 120

Morcant XL
Type: Luxury Shuttle
Cost:
Crew & Passengers: 1 pilot, 4
Cargo: 3 tons
Weaponry (typical): None
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 5 (15)
Forward Airspeed:
1440' (480')
1440 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 1/2 (a)
Hull Points: 160

26 March 2018

Moon-rats V1.5 I guess

In 2014 I wrote up two Moon-rat classes, inspired by Josie X's moogle write-up, the arquebusier and the machinist.
You can buy this and other OSR classes as pdf here.

Moon-rat
Ability Score Requirement: Dexterity 9, Intelligence 9
Hit Die: d6 per level 9th level. Starting with10th level +2 hit points per level and Constitution adjustments no longer apply.
Saving Throws: As a Thief.
Armor: As a Thief
Weapons: As a Halfling.
Experience: As a Halfling.
Special Abilities: 2 in 6 chance of detecting traps, false walls, or hidden constructions within mechanical locations; -1/+1 bonus on rolls related to machinery.
I've been revisiting the way I want to do kind-as-class in my B/X game, as one does when one is not actively gaming. Part of that revisiting is parting out the bits that make the non-humans cool and different from a mechanical perspective. It's also to streamline and refit them to be more inline with the default seven classes in B/X, i.e. front-loaded goodies and no extras at higher levels. This is why I did Sky Gnome v2 the way I did.

I've also been debating the merits of including not one, or even two, but three different small and "cute" kinds of player options: halflings, gnomes, and moon-rats. This is what we call "mission creep" in my last career.

I'm both unsure whether this occupies the niche that sky gnomes do, the small techy people, and not how they fit in. Of course I could follow Jeff Rient's advice to let my players be weird, and therefore not bother with too much introspection making them fit.


22 March 2018

Maho Shoujo PBTA Campaign Brainstorming



This is using the background and concepts of Exalted as inspiration for a magical girl game. This is primarily intended for a Magical Fury and/or Magical Burst game. 

Celestial Exalts are the influence on the styles of the maho shoujo, magical girl, and associated NPCs. Celestial Exalts and their sponsors/patrons are models for maho shoujo and source of power.
The PCs are maho shoujo that are gifted their magic from life-giving and affirming Sun. It is recommended their moves be influenced by Solar Charms. The broad strokes of the Solar Exaltations being imprisoned and then released will be mirrored with the PC maho shoujo. Along with the magical powers gifted them by the Sun, they gain partial and vague memories of the prior maho shoujo who possessed their spark*.

Tsukaima, their familiars, are based on the Lunar Exalts. They are the long-lived or reincarnation companions the maho shoujo, created to support their maho shoujo primarily with advice. This does not mean they do not have their own motives, some of which may be sinister. Tsukaima have a strong bond to a particular maho spark* and posses most if not all of their memories together. They have two forms, the cute if oddly off animal form and a massive monstrous hell-beast. Not all tsukaima have a maho shoujo, and those without a companion are mysteriously drawn to witches, whether to aid or destroy them is unknown. They also view themselves as stewards of the Earth and of their maho shoujo.

While it will not be obvious to new maho shoujo, there are more than just witches and youma, or rather, witches have two general types: witches of the Green Sun and witches of Abyss, and there are also more antagonistic maho shoujo who serve other Celestial Forces: Infernal and Abyssal maho shoujo, maho shoujo whose spark* has been corrupted by the Green Sun and the Abyss respectively, and Agents of Heaven, Angels, who are servants to the forces of Fate and Destiny, Maintainers of the Natural Order, most of whom are antagonistic to maho shoujo but are also restricted in how they interact with the mortal realm. That is all in addition to youma, which are best classified by what they do rather than 'where' they are from.

The Dragon-blooded are the inspiration for old money style dynastic sorcerous families maintain order on Earth. They turned on the maho shoujo at the urging of the Angels in a long ago age, and in this current age, view youma, maho shoujo, and witches as one and same, just a bunch of demonically influenced monsters that were once humans or as outright demons.

A witch is sorcerer or maho shoujo of the Sun who has signed a pact with either the Green Sun or the Neverborn of the Abyss. They retain their original powers, but gain powers similar to both youma and the maho shoujo of the Green Sun or the Abyss respectively. Similar to the witches are the maho shoujo of the Green Sun and the Abyss, who are mortals gifted with a spark* of the Sun that been twisted to their own purposes. Those of the Green Sun are the most similar to the demonic youma; while, those of the Abyss are best described as dark inversions of those of the Sun.

The Green Sun is a group of demonic primordial forces that were sealed away within themselves, seek to return to the mortal realm, and reshape it in their own image. The Neverborn of the Abyss is a group of primordials related to the Green Sun who impossibly died as beings that predated the concept of death. They exist in eternal death that is not death. They seek to unmake the universe so they can be released from their never-ending suffering.

21 March 2018

Sky Gnome Dirigibles


Unlike the sky gnomes in Top Ballista, the sky gnomes in my campaign primarily use dirigibles as their passenger and cargo vessels instead of the Cloud Clipper bi-plane. They are manufactured by Clan Eastdock, a small clan concerned almost entirely with airship manufacture, including their proprietary fire elemental engine line. Similar to the more common engines of the aeroplanes, an Eastdock engine converts the energy of fire magics into mechanical energy. Unlike the common engines that store the potential energy of spells cast into the tanks, an Eastdock engine has a receptacle for a conjured fire elemental rather than a storage tank. This container summons and holds an elemental for 24 hours minus 1d4 hours making the range of an airship limited by stores of water, of which a negligible amount is slowly lost as steam. What an Eastdock airship lacks in speed it makes up with a quieter and smoother ride compared to a Cloud Clipper, ideal for non-gnomish passengers and sightseers. And aside from the engine, an airship is a much simpler craft, allowing them to be made to looser standards and much larger. The largest in common use can transport five tons at a time, more than double a Cloud Clipper, which is the largest plane the gnomes can build currently.

An Eastdock airship


Small Eastdock Gnome Airship
Type: Small Airship
Cost: 20,000 gp
Crew & Passengers: 1 engineer/pilot & 5 passengers (no cargo)
Cargo: 500 lbs (no passengers)
Weaponry (typical): None
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 9 (11)
Forward Airspeed:
540' (180')
120 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 1
Hull Points: 20-40

Great Eastdock Gnome Airship
Type: Large Airship
Cost: 200,000 gp
Crew & Passengers: 5 engineers & 50 passengers (no cargo)
Cargo: 5 tons (no passengers)
Weaponry (typical): None
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 9 (11)
Forward Airspeed:
360' (120')
80 miles per day
Maneuverability Factor: MF 1/2
Hull Points: 70-90

Included for comparison, the Cloud Clipper.

Smurfri-Lodestar F3F Cloud Clipper
Type: Eleven-seat Biplane enclosed cabin
Cost: 250,000 gp
Crew & Passengers: Passenger model, 1 pilot & 10 passengers; cargo model 1 pilot & 3 passengers.
Load: Passenger model, 600 lbs; cargo model, 1800 lbs.
Weaponry (typical): Synchronized twin-propeller spike guns (1d8), Crossbow box (16 crossbows & bolts for passenger usage—locked in cabinet near pilot’s seat. ; no bomb bay.
Performance Specifications
Armor Class: 4 (16)
Forward Airspeed: 400’/round unloaded (-5’/round /passenger or 1000cn load)
Maneuverability Factor: MF 1
Tank capacity: 500,000 yards (285 miles), (500 HD magic)
Hit Points: 135