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Back Off Man... I'm A Scientist! (CALLING KAHUNA BURGER)
- Thread starter DEFCON 1
- Start date
Here's how combat and the Brownie Point system works in Ghostbusters.
Everyone starts with 20 Brownie Points. These are a pool of points that are a combination hit points / fate points / experience points group. During play you can spend Brownie Points to accomplish a number of things...
1) One Brownie Point gives you another die to roll on any task
2) One Brownie Point will remove the "Ghost Die" should it come up during your roll of a task
3) One or more Brownie Points can allow you to say "that didn't happen" should something occur that you don't want to occur (the number of point spent will be determined by me when I hear what it is you don't want happening).
4) One or more Brownie Points can allow you to request to do something spectacular that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to do. Even after spending these points to attempt this special actrion, it will usually require a die roll to accomplish it. "Crossing The Streams" in the first Ghostbusters movie to allow them to close the gate to Gozer's world would be a use of Brownie Points in this way. The number of Brownie Points required to attempt the action will be determined by me.
You will also lose Brownie Points when you get "damaged" in any sort of manner (physical, mental, or spiritual). This could be anything from tripping and falling, to getting "dissed" by a government agent, to getting attacked and slimed by a ghost. Rather than active rolls being made against you... I'll give some descriptive fluff about what is happening and you'll decide how to avoid it and make a roll to do so. If you fail the roll, you'll take Brownie Point damage.
For instance, if you are climbing a set of stairs I might say that a ghost flies by and coats the steps with a layer of slippery slime (an "attack" against you)... you can tell me how you are getting past this problem and with what Ability (in this case Moves) or any applicable skill you might have (things like Jump or Climb in this case). You'll roll the applicable number of dice (plus any dice you add in with the expenditure of Brownie Points) and if you fail the roll I'll say something like you slip on the slime and go tumbling down the stairs (taking 3 points of Brownie Point damage). This kind of event cannot be "erased" by the expenditure of Brownie Points, because the cost to do so is the same number as you lost for "damage".
As for combat with ghosts... every ghost has an Ectopresence. This is a number that is a combination AC and hit point count for them. It's Ectopresence is the Target Number needed to hit the ghost with a proton pack, and doing so drops it's Ectopresence by one point. You then need to hit it again at the now-lowered-by-one Ectopresence number to drop it another point (and so on with each subsequent hit down to an Ectopresence of zero). Once the ghost reaches an Ectopresence of zero, two Ghostbusters can declare they are holding the ghost in their streams while a third Ghostbuster slides a ghost trap into place and then traps it.
Any number of Ghostbusters can attack a ghost with their proton packs (with each hit dropping it's Ectopresence by one point), but you have to have three Ghostbusters available to trap it (two to hold the ghost in place and a third to work the trap). With the expenditure of Brownie Points you can attempt to hold and trap a ghost with only two people or even one person (see #4 above)... but you'll need to make some special rolls to do so. A solo or two person team trying to hold and trap a ghost is a dicey proposition.
***
If you succeed in some tasks well I will usually return to you any Brownie Points you had spent as a reward for your action. If you succeeded spectacularly well I may give you even a couple extra Brownie Points. At the end of certain adventure points I will also give you Brownie Points as XP. I will also give gifts of Brownie Points if your character does anything that makes me laugh or entertains me in some way. Finally, I will occasionally let you spend Brownie Points to raise an Ability score or a skill score. Usually this will be 5 points to raise a skill up by one or 10 points to raise an ability. I will usually let you make these purchases after you've done something really, really cool or funny with the applicable ability or skill.
***
Any questions or comments about how this all works, please drop a line here. Thanx folks!
Everyone starts with 20 Brownie Points. These are a pool of points that are a combination hit points / fate points / experience points group. During play you can spend Brownie Points to accomplish a number of things...
1) One Brownie Point gives you another die to roll on any task
2) One Brownie Point will remove the "Ghost Die" should it come up during your roll of a task
3) One or more Brownie Points can allow you to say "that didn't happen" should something occur that you don't want to occur (the number of point spent will be determined by me when I hear what it is you don't want happening).
4) One or more Brownie Points can allow you to request to do something spectacular that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to do. Even after spending these points to attempt this special actrion, it will usually require a die roll to accomplish it. "Crossing The Streams" in the first Ghostbusters movie to allow them to close the gate to Gozer's world would be a use of Brownie Points in this way. The number of Brownie Points required to attempt the action will be determined by me.
You will also lose Brownie Points when you get "damaged" in any sort of manner (physical, mental, or spiritual). This could be anything from tripping and falling, to getting "dissed" by a government agent, to getting attacked and slimed by a ghost. Rather than active rolls being made against you... I'll give some descriptive fluff about what is happening and you'll decide how to avoid it and make a roll to do so. If you fail the roll, you'll take Brownie Point damage.
For instance, if you are climbing a set of stairs I might say that a ghost flies by and coats the steps with a layer of slippery slime (an "attack" against you)... you can tell me how you are getting past this problem and with what Ability (in this case Moves) or any applicable skill you might have (things like Jump or Climb in this case). You'll roll the applicable number of dice (plus any dice you add in with the expenditure of Brownie Points) and if you fail the roll I'll say something like you slip on the slime and go tumbling down the stairs (taking 3 points of Brownie Point damage). This kind of event cannot be "erased" by the expenditure of Brownie Points, because the cost to do so is the same number as you lost for "damage".
As for combat with ghosts... every ghost has an Ectopresence. This is a number that is a combination AC and hit point count for them. It's Ectopresence is the Target Number needed to hit the ghost with a proton pack, and doing so drops it's Ectopresence by one point. You then need to hit it again at the now-lowered-by-one Ectopresence number to drop it another point (and so on with each subsequent hit down to an Ectopresence of zero). Once the ghost reaches an Ectopresence of zero, two Ghostbusters can declare they are holding the ghost in their streams while a third Ghostbuster slides a ghost trap into place and then traps it.
Any number of Ghostbusters can attack a ghost with their proton packs (with each hit dropping it's Ectopresence by one point), but you have to have three Ghostbusters available to trap it (two to hold the ghost in place and a third to work the trap). With the expenditure of Brownie Points you can attempt to hold and trap a ghost with only two people or even one person (see #4 above)... but you'll need to make some special rolls to do so. A solo or two person team trying to hold and trap a ghost is a dicey proposition.
***
If you succeed in some tasks well I will usually return to you any Brownie Points you had spent as a reward for your action. If you succeeded spectacularly well I may give you even a couple extra Brownie Points. At the end of certain adventure points I will also give you Brownie Points as XP. I will also give gifts of Brownie Points if your character does anything that makes me laugh or entertains me in some way. Finally, I will occasionally let you spend Brownie Points to raise an Ability score or a skill score. Usually this will be 5 points to raise a skill up by one or 10 points to raise an ability. I will usually let you make these purchases after you've done something really, really cool or funny with the applicable ability or skill.
***
Any questions or comments about how this all works, please drop a line here. Thanx folks!
Kahuna Burger:
You haven't posted since 10/23/05 and yet you've been on the boards. Please let me know if you are still interested in playing or if you need to drop out. I'd ask that folks post at least every three days or so, but if that isn't a possibility for whatever reason... I'd rather have you just bow out and I'll find a replacement. Either way is cool and no big deal, but just let me know of your status. Thanx!
You haven't posted since 10/23/05 and yet you've been on the boards. Please let me know if you are still interested in playing or if you need to drop out. I'd ask that folks post at least every three days or so, but if that isn't a possibility for whatever reason... I'd rather have you just bow out and I'll find a replacement. Either way is cool and no big deal, but just let me know of your status. Thanx!
Sorrow The Man Bear
First Post
So what's the story? It's been a week since a post. I know I'm hardly the person to talk about moving a game along, but are we stalled?
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