Modos Rulebook 1.2: the real-time editing thread

[GMMichael]

General conflict and physical conflict sections are looking better.

I removed the "reserve action" language, removed a free attack action for carrying two weapons (now it requires a perk), clarified postures a bit. Flying posture is significantly different: you deal 100% damage to all opponents, but take only 50% damage.

That's for physical damage. I guess the same could apply to mental and meta damage as well.

But what about other flying opponents? Hmm...

 

[GMMichael]

Spellcasting example

Conflict chapter is almost revamped. Here's the much-needed spellcasting example. Does it make sense?

For example, Neon and Morpho are training in the dojo. Morpho pulls a Beretta, and instructs Neon to dodge the bullet. The GM starts the round with Morpho, an NPC, drawing the weapon on Neon. Morpho ends his turn, waiting for Neon to be ready. Neon knows cast spell (ruse), so he rolls two contests for it, costing two actions, one for the mental action, one for the metaphysical action. His higher roll is 16, which becomes 18 after ability bonus and skill. Neon also adds the difficulty of ruse, +4, for a cast spell total of 22. He takes half on casting damage, resulting in 6 MP damage for a 2^nd level spell. Neon has the mystic ward perk, so he takes half on that as well, reducing the 6 MP damage to 4 MP damage. For his last action, Neon raises a hand toward Morpho, dramatically says, “no,” and takes half on defend-parry. With the +8 bonus from ruse’s effect, his contest is 20. Morpho responds to the defend action by firing (fight-missile), and rolls 16. Neon takes no damage, and his player describes his successful defense. Since Morpho is a tricky one, Neon will use a mental action at the start of his next turn to keep the ruse in place. If the ruse were somehow contested, Neon would use the original 22 result for the spell in the contest.

 

[GMMichael]

Version 1.2: playable build

The conflict chapter has been rewritten, which means that all chapters with rules necessary for play are revamped and running. Each chapter includes a demo character (progressing throughout the book), a demo play-session, and a few more examples.

Still under construction:
- most obvious, the layout. Everything's in one column for rewriting purposes.
- Chapter 9: bestiary. I'm dropping in at least another handful of baddies, and definitely revisiting the old set.
- Chapter 10: modules. I want to add some clarification (on everything) on changing existing rules, adding new rules that jibe with everything else, and adding house rules that stand alone, like One Unique Thing.
- Table of contents, rules catalog, and index are going to take some time.

With that said, if you want to start playing, start playing!

 

[GMMichael]

Traps = Monsters

Villain rules touched up, one-second monsters are now closer to their advertised time. Here's the weird thing:

Traps are monsters.

Really, no need to create play balance rules, sub-systems, what-have-you; a trap is just a monster that doesn't go anywhere. And there's an example: the stairs-to-chute.

I've started re-writing the common monsters, to make sure all the bonuses add up, and to put the "combat-ready" numbers first, and source numbers (like skill points) in parenthesis.

 

[GMMichael]

Beasts!

The Bestiary chapter is wrapping up. I put a couple more monsters in there, will add a few more still, but the juicy part, chapter demo:

Greg (GM): there’s no sign of the brood-mother. Nor any of her offspring.

Chris (Number 2259): why am I here by myself again? Oh yeah. No common sense. “Hello?”

Greg: (rolls a die – red herring.) In the weakly-pulsing red emergency light, you see many dried bits of alien across the floor.

Chris: motion goggles? (Rolls detect, just in case.)

Greg: nope. Nothing. You definitely do not detect an alien brood-mother. But you hear some shifting or sliding coming from the airlock in the floor ahead.

Chris: I. Freeze. In. My. Tracks. But I still move my eyes. Any vacuum-bags lying around?

Greg: (rolls difficulty for spotting the bag in the back of the room. Difficult for an average person, +8). Nope. Wait. That lump in the back could be your bag. It’s sitting on the airlock door, which hasn’t opened completely. A slimy tentacle flops out near there, and worms around.

Chris: But! My bag! This pulse-grenade launcher had better be worth the credits. I aim at the tentacle.

Greg: as you do, another tentacle appears on the right side of the airlock, 80 feet away. The door isn’t fully closed on that side, either.

Chris: woah! There’s TWO aliens in there? Okay, I can only shoot the one on the right, because I don’t want to blow up my bag. Aim and fire!

Greg: roll initiative. (Rolls for NPC initiative.)

Chris: 6?

Greg: Too slow. The two tentacles push, fully opening the airlock door.

Chris: I shoot the tentacle on the right! (Rolls fight-missile and damage.) 16 and 9 damage!

Greg: The tentacles push the door open. Whatever was sitting on the floor in the corner falls into the airlock, the door having slid away. You fire a grenade at the right and the room shakes. The tentacle splatters. Your opponent’s next action is to bodily enter the room (grins).

Chris: Um. What does that mean?

Greg: the Brood-Father raises itself out of the airlock. Its head goes up to the ceiling, its shoulders reach across the entire airlock, and three large tubes sprout from a massive chest growth. The openings of these tubes are about three feet in diameter, and undulating.

Chris: PLEASE let me check knowledge as a non-action! (Rolls knowledge-scholarship, and drops a hero point on it.) 13 total.

Greg: why not? That’s a pretty weak roll, but you vaguely remember something about the Arcovian spawn-shooter from your studies. It wasn’t actually called “spawn-shooter,” but that was your nickname for it.

Chris: well, for my second action, unload the clip!

Number 2259, level 3 (Chris's character)
Physical: 15, mental: 8, metaphysical: 10
Skills:
Fight-missile +4 (+2)
Knowledge-scholarship +0 (+1)
Defend-parry +5 (0)
Perks: specialize (parry +3), diehard, dodge
Gear: pulse grenade launcher (d12), recursive trans-molecular blaster (d8), homefront shell armor (spacewalk) (d10), motion-tracking goggles, 100K transmitter/receiver, nano-tool
Concept: a human bred for war, he has instincts and reflexes, but lacks common sense. The majority of his programming involves exterminating alien species, but Five-Nine harbors a secret love of consumerism, due to the glimpse of an advertisement that he caught between programming sessions, featuring a child holding a beverage-package and a pinwheel and walking happily with his parents. He spends hero points making knowledge contests to dig up info on aliens, and on parry contests to avoid getting fried.
Designer notes: Five-Nine is now well equipped to handle physical threats, but the nastier aliens in the galaxy can make mental attacks as well as physical attacks. As he encounters the weaker ones, he can start training his body and mind to confront new, mental threats, with perks like stubborn and enlightened. He could also branch out to a spell like awaken, to recover mental health quickly.

 

[GMMichael]

Modos RPG playtest/convention seats

First things first: Modos RPG has a room at the upcoming Pen and Paper Games Online Mini-con! You can reserve a seat here, but if they're all full, there's still a chance that you can walk-in and play on August 16th.

I'll be running a game in one of the settings that inspired the system: Skyrim. Don't worry, it won't be a boring, old dungeon-crawl. It'll be an ancient Nord crypt-crawl! There will be plenty of adventurey things to do, despite the Dragonborn having cleared the site out years ago: fighting, negotiation, trap-dodging and disabling, treasure hunting, puzzle solving, and secret-area exploration.

On a less exciting note, the guts of the Modules chapter have been revised. I'm polishing the adventure module, the Beginners' Temple, and once the rules catalog appendix gets finished, I'll be including a short rules module that provides a way to run popular elements from other RPGs with some modern- and future-setting themes.

The 1.2 system WILL be available as a .pdf soon, with an accurate table of contents, although the appendices will still be under construction.

 

[GMMichael]

Early v.1.20

I've uploaded v.1.20 docx which is just a Table-of-Contents revision away from becoming the 1.20 pdf. for those who will be needing it by August 16th.

This version is 65 pages. It's light on monsters, but it includes a monster generator (despite monsters being created the same way PCs are). Each chapter has a demo character and demo game session.

Best part: it's formatted for your reading pleasure! And it's still open to the public - so let me know what needs to be added or removed.

 

[GMMichael]

Well, the fun parts of real-time editing are over. Here's a link to the 1.20 pdf, which still needs work on the appendices, but is otherwise ready for play.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1068

Well, I guess one fun part remains. I want to include simple adoptions of outside rules in the sample rules module - one that supports modern and/or future genres. If you have requests or recommendations for these rules, let me know!

 

[GMMichael]

Help with Word!

Rulebook 1.2 is chugging along. I had to take a break to write my first, well, second adventure module. And I have a pretty slick GM Screen, but I can't upload it since it's .xls. Or somesuch.

The Fast Play Rules have been retouched. I'm slowly adding things to the glossary and the FAQ. The monumental task of rewriting the rules catalog is making some progress. And once THAT's done, I can write up the sample rules module, and after that, the new index.

So, question for you Microsoft Word pros: why does my 8.5 by 11 inch image not fit properly as a page background? What's cooler is that the amount of page-filling that it does depends on the level of page-zoom I'm using. I've been using Page Color, Fill Effects, Picture (tab) to do this.

Oh yeah, I'm adding some cool non-medieval fantasy monsters too:

Modern: terrorist, mercenary, city rat, punk.
Future: voron, prostetnic voron, light starfighter, heavy starfighter.

Friendly reminder: this game is free to all - the core rules are not for sale - and community input is appreciated. The rules modules and adventure modules are the property of their respective authors. But shareware modules are highly encouraged!

 

[GMMichael]

More progress...

The rules catalog is complete, which means I've begun the official, sample, rules module. Some optional rules to try out at your leisure, from some games you're probably familiar with:

-Hit and wound points
-Exploding dice
-Aim actions
-Armor class

and one that wasn't exactly a rule before,

-New ability: Don't Panic.

And yes, there is a "laser sabre" that deals only wound damage. This will all be available when I post v1.21.