Category Archives: Roleplaying Games

Skill Synchronization

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We’ve taken a break from our next Character Pack to work on a project that has been percolating for a while: synchronizing the skills between the various Kalos Mechanism games.

The modern skill list (as seen in Bulletproof Blues and Rough Magic) and the futuristic skill list (as seen in ZeroSpace) were easy enough to sync. That required only a few adjustments in the skill examples. The archaic skill list (as seen in Warlords Of Kruhl) required a little more work. Some skills (such as Computing) have no counterpart in an archaic game, while other skills (such as Piloting and Science) are different enough that a name change was unavoidable.

Another issue with archaic games is the heavy emphasis on religion: unlike modern and futuristic games, gods are often real in archaic games, so a new skill, Religion, was needed. (In modern games, religion falls under the umbrella of the Culture skill.)

ArchaicModernFuturistic
AthleticsAthleticsAthletics
ComputingComputing
CultureCultureCulture
DeceptionDeceptionDeception
DiplomacyDiplomacyDiplomacy
CraftingEngineeringEngineering
FinesseFinesseFinesse
GamblingGamblingGambling
Hand-to-hand CombatHand-to-hand CombatHand-to-hand Combat
InvestigationInvestigationInvestigation
ManipulationManipulationManipulation
MedicineMedicineMedicine
Mental CombatMental CombatMental Combat
OccultOccultOccult
PerceptionPerceptionPerception
PerformancePerformancePerformance
SeafaringPilotingPiloting
Ranged CombatRanged CombatRanged Combat
Religion
NatureScienceScience
StealthStealthStealth
SurvivalSurvivalSurvival
WarfareWarfareWarfare

Evangelists Of Mars

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At long last! Our first and only supplement written by the honorable Steven S. Long, “Evangelists Of Mars”, has been updated to be compatible with Bulletproof Blues, Third Edition. It is now available, pay-what-you-want, on DriveThruRPG.

Evangelists Of Mars by Steven S. Long
Evangelists Of Mars by Steven S. Long

Evangelists Of Mars

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The character updates for Evangelists of Mars are complete. Next, I update the layout with those changes, create the PDF, and then upload it to DriveThruRPG. I think two weeks is a realistic amount of time to get that done.

And then… Character Pack 4! Now that will really be something. 🙂

Back from break

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Almost a year ago, I took a break from updating Steven S. Long’s “Evangelists Of Mars” to be compatible with Bulletproof Blues 3rd edition. I didn’t mean for that break to last a year, but it did. Tonight I started work on it again. It is the last of the old sourcebooks that needed updating. If all goes well, I’ll have it wrapped up in a few weeks.

Evangelists Of Mars by Steven S. Long
Evangelists Of Mars by Steven S. Long

Ruins Of Atlanta — almost ready!

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Knock on wood, I think the layout and revisions for the updated “Ruins Of Atlanta” are done. I want to give my brain a break from it for a day or two, and give it another once-over, but barring unforeseen events, it ought to be available for download some time this weekend!

Ruins Of Atlanta by Jason Tondro
Ruins Of Atlanta by Jason Tondro

Errata for second printing of BB3

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Here is a list of the (mostly minor) changes in the second printing of the third edition of Bulletproof Blues. The second printing will be made available on DriveThruRPG in a week or so. All of these changes other than the updated characters is already available at the RPG Library site: Bulletproof Blues 3e.

Introduction

  • “Close Combat” skill changed to “Hand-to-hand Combat” skill.

Creation

  • “Close Combat” skill changed to “Hand-to-hand Combat” skill.

Attributes

  • “Close Combat” skill changed to “Hand-to-hand Combat” skill.
  • Descriptions of “area” and “ranged” powers added to Power Level section.
  • “Area” and “Range” columns added Power Level table.

Skills

  • “Close Combat” skill changed to “Hand-to-hand Combat” skill.

Gifts

  • “Close Combat” skill changed to “Hand-to-hand Combat” skill.
  • “Sharpshooter” gift grants a bonus die against cover and prone characters.

Powers

  • “Close Combat” skill changed to “Hand-to-hand Combat” skill.
  • Descriptions of “area” and “ranged” powers added to chapter introduction.
  • “Reaction” action type absorbed into “free action”.
  • The range and target of all powers is made explicit.
  • “Blast, Explosive” changed to “Blast, Area”.
  • “Blast, Selective Area” added.
  • “Damaging Aura, Explosive” changed to “Damaging Aura, Area”.
  • “Great Darkness” and “Vast Darkness” are removed (see “Increased Area”, below”.)
  • “Dazzle, Selective Mass” added.
  • “Emotion Control, Selective Mass” added.
  • “Mass Hysteria” is changed to “Mass Emotion Control”.
  • “Great Environmental Control” and “Vast Environmental Control” are removed (see “Increased Area”, below”.
  • “Mind Blast, Mass” and “Mind Blast, Selective Mass” added.
  • “Mind Control, Selective Mass” added.
  • “Personal Immunity” is moved to the “Power Modifiers” section.
  • “Strike” and “Explosive Strike” are clarified to indicate that Damage Resistance and Force Field are effective against them.
  • “Strike, Explosive” changed to “Strike, Area”.
  • “Strike, Selective Area” added.
  • Phrasing of “Ultra-power” is clarified.
  • New section, “Power Modifiers”, is added.
  • “Increased Area” is added to “Power Modifiers” section.
  • Added a new optional rule, “Spreading An Attack”.
  • “Increased Range” is added to “Power Modifiers” section.
  • “New Follow Through Powers” section is made much shorter, owing to “Increased Area” and “Increased Range” are now power modifiers.
  • “Area (or Mass)”, “Selective Area (or Selective Mass)”, and “Ranged” are added to “New Follow Through Powers” section.
  • Phrasing of various “New Powers” is clarified.
  • “Blast, Explosive Continuous” changed to “Blast, Continuous Area”

Equipment

  • “Close Combat” weapons changed to “Hand-to-hand” weapons.

Actions

  • “Reaction” action type absorbed into “free action”.
  • “Close Combat” skill changed to “Hand-to-hand Combat” skill.
  • “Close range (1 m)” changed to “hand-to-hand (1 m)”.
  • “Exploding” attacks changed from “within short range (10 m)” to “within the affected area”.

GM Resources

  • “Area” and “Range” columns added Power Level table.

Characters

  • All characters updated.

Thinking about area powers

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I had a thought late last night. One of the lingering annoyances I have about BB3 is how to have a power that affects a vast area, you have buy the power again, and again, and again. And while this is simple and easy to explain, it’s not very elegant. And it’s ugly on the character sheet.

So I am thinking, instead of making area powers (like darkness) have the area and set by the character’s Power Level. Similarly, powers like Explosive Blast would still have the Blast power as a prerequisite, but the size of the area would be based on the character’s Power Level. The base area would be:

Power Level Area
1-3 1 m radius
4-6 10 m radius
7-9 100 m radius
10 1 km radius

What about characters who can affect larger areas, but whose Power Level really shouldn’t be this high? Perhaps a new power, Increased Area, which increases the effective area of a character’s area-affecting powers by a factor of 10.

How would this impact character write-ups? Instead of a character with Power Level 4 buying

  • Darkness (10 m radius)
  • Great Darkness(100 m radius)
  • Vast Darkness(1 km radius)
  • Ultimate Darkness (10 km radius)

in order affect a 10 km radius, they would instead buy

  • Darkness (10 m radius, based on their Power Level of 4)
  • Increased Area x1000 (cost: 3 points)

Since Increased Area can be purchased multiple times, unlike other powers, perhaps it should be listed in a separate section, after the main list of powers. “Power Enhancements”, perhaps? Increased Range could also be in this new section (the base range of ranged powers would also be based on the character’s Power Level).

Making a close range power, like Brawn Drain, into a ranged power, like Brawn Drain Ray, would still be a case of a power having a prerequisite (Brawn Drain is the prerequisite for Brawn Drain Ray). Similarly, making a single-target power, Dazzle, into an area-affecting power, like Mass Dazzle, would a case of a power having a prerequisite (Dazzle is the prerequisite for Mass Dazzle). But once a power is ranged, or is area-affecting, then any relevant power enhancements would apply to it.

What do you think? Am I over-thinking this? Would this make the game system simpler, or more complicated?

P.S. This led me to another thought: trading off 3 ranks in Power Level for a level of increased area (or increased range). A character with Power level; 5 and the Blast power, for example, could make their attack affect a 10 m radius area, but at an effective Power Level of 2 — trading 3 Power Level in exchange for making their Blast an area-affecting attack. Similarly, a character with Power Level 9 and Mazz Dazzle (1 km radius, based on their Power Level) could trade 6 ranks of Power Level in order to attack a 100 km radius with their Mass Dazzle (making it effectively a Power Level 3 attack, for that one attack). I think this would be an optional rule, since it adds some complexity that most people probably do not need.

Bulletproof Blues Third Edition

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Bulletproof Blues Third Edition is here! This third edition of Bulletproof Blues makes character creation simpler and combat even faster.

Get ready to play in the world-famous universe of Kalos Comics — creators of Paragon, Rook, Antiope, Doctor Arcane, and the rest of the Justifiers. Your character will face sinister organizations like Aegis and GORGON, and interact with mysterious entities like Chthyra and Master Sin. From the ancient ruins of Lemuria to the far reaches of the Hausdorff Dimension, the Kalos Universe is yours to explore.

Bulletproof Blues Third Edition is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.