Category Archives: Rules

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

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.

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.

New power: Bulletproof!

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A while back, we removed “bullets” from the Environmental Immunity power, because that was just too powerful.

But it’s been bugging me ever since. Ordinary bullets and knives simply bounce off some supers, and I really want a way to represent that. It’s in the name of the game, for pete’s sake.

So here is a new power: Bulletproof!

Bulletproof

Constant
Prerequisite: Damage Resistance or Force Field

A character with the Bulletproof power ignores most attacks from ordinary bullets and knives. The character might have thick armor or impenetrable skin, or they might simply move out of the way of such mundane attacks. An attack roll against the character fails if the weapon being used causes normal damage, if it is an ordinary piece of equipment (a piece of equipment purchased with money rather than as a power, p. XXX), and if it has a PL rating lower than the bulletproof character’s current Power Level.

Bulletproof Force Field: A character’s Bulletproof power might be dependent on their Force Field power. If this is the case, the character’s Bulletproof power is only active while the character’s Force Field is active, and it may be extended to another person (or person-sized object) by touching them.

Kalos Mechanism is on the horizon

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We haven’t posted in a while, but we aren’t gone. We have been revising, clarifying, and simplifying the third edition rules for Bulletproof Blues, along with our spinoff games, Rough Magic, ZeroSpace, and Bog-Standard Fantasy — aka Kalos Mechanism. We will start playtesting the nearly-final draft soon. If you are interested in playtesting it yourself, let us know! We would love to have your feedback, even if we ignore it. Just post a message or send a DM on our Facebook page.

Kalos Mechanism logo

ZeroSpace: Ectypes And Echoes

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Another snippet from ZeroSpace: Ectypes And Echoes…

Ectypes And Echoes

Ectypes and echoes are copies of an organic being’s consciousness. An ectype is a copy which has been reproduced in organic matter, typically (though not always) placed into a clone of the original person. An echo is a digital copy, typically (though not always) preserved in a virtual reality environment. Although the end result is different, the basic process involved in creating ectypes and echoes is similar: the original being’s brain is scanned, and the neurochemical snapshot is stored as data. The creation of this neurochemical snapshot is a painless process, but it is time consuming and prohibitively expensive. Despite the great cost, some particularly narcissistic individuals have used ectypes to achieve a type of serial immortality, creating copies of themselves to survive their own passing, and leaving their estates to an ectype of themselves in their wills.

In most of civilized space, the legal status of ectypes is the same as that of any other organic being: they may be treated as property on a given world, or not, in much the same way that any other organic being might. The status of echoes is somewhat more variable. On most worlds, echoes are treated similar to androids. The laws pertaining to the creation of ectypes and echoes typically follows the model of laws pertaining to the creation of sentient androids. On worlds where ectypes or echoes are granted the same rights as other sentient creatures, their creation is legally restricted or even prohibited altogether. On worlds where artificial life forms are treated as property, their creation is lightly regulated, if at all.