FANBOI RELEASE! Pacific Rim for FATE

 

CLICK Pacrim

Putting Skyrim into a Tabletop RPG

I’ve been playing and enjoying Skyrim a great deal, as a great many people have. One thing that I particularly like is the near total irrelevance of the levels (they’re really unnecessary, you could work stamina and health upgrades into the perks system) and the ability to customise your character simply by DOING.

I found myself wondering how you could recreate this feel on the tabletop and a couple of obvious inspirations leapt to mind. Dragon Warriors uses fixed damage in a way that would work quite well but the most obvious system to recreate a Skyrim experience on the tabletop is BRP/RuneQuest/Legend/OpenQuest and all its ilk.

You would need to change a few bits and pieces and you would need to expand the basic rules to an heroic scope by introducing a perk equivalent (Legend/RuneQuest already did this to an extent) but what I would suggest is using a skill threshold of 50% with every five points above that skill level granting a Perk point and with perks spent to provide specific bonuses and heroic qualities.

It would take a lot of work to produce Perk trees for every relevant BRP skill, but as a vague sort of thought along those lines, here’s my Skyrim character rendered into BRPesque system, though with some alterations along my own lines towards a system change I’ve also been considering. Two birds, one stone and all that…

Corwin

Race: Breton
Gender: Male
Handedness: Right
Height: 5’8″
Weight: 155 lbs.
Age: 35

STR: 10, CON: 12, SIZ: 11, DEX: 12, APP: 14, INT: 13, POW: 10, EDU: 14

Hits: 3 (NB: This is the other change I was on about, all combat becomes single roll, Crit = Dead, Special = Out, Hit = Hit, Miss = Miss. Tougher characters can take multiple hits before upgrading to ‘Out’).
Toughness: 10% (35%) (NB: The single roll is a combination of hit/wound chance based on the resistance table. A character’s toughness helps protect them from harm).
Wound: 5% (NB: Weapons have a ‘wound’ value, that is their chance of scoring a ‘Hit’ as a wound. Stronger characters get a bonus).

INNATE SKILLS
Effort 50%
Stamina 60%
Idea 65%
Luck: 50%
Agility: 60%
Charisma: 70%
Know: 70%
(NB: Derived stats experimentally become skills, like any other) 

GENERAL SKILLS
Bargain: 20 (45)
Etiquette: 10
Fast Talk: 20
Persuade: 30
Status: 10
Craft (Armourer): 30
Craft (Weaponsmith): 30
Craft (Enchantment): 10
Craft (Alchemy): 30 (50)
Fine Manipulation: 30 (50)
Sleight of Hand: 10
Appraise: 10
First Aid: 10
Gaming: 5
Literacy: 20
Insight: 5
Listen: 20
Research: 5
Sense: 20
Spot: 20
Track: 20
Climb: 20
Dodge: 20
Hide: 30
Jump: 20
Stealth: 30
Swim: 10

WEAPON SKILLS
Brawl: 10
1H Weapons: 30
2H Weapons: 5
Thrown: 10
Bows: 40 (60)
Shields: 5
Light Armour: 25 (NB: Armour skills are used for putting them on under duress, and to govern armour perks).
Heavy Armour: 0

PERKS
OOOOO Fortune’s Favour – Luck Reroll x5
OOOOO Charmer’s Bargain – +25% Bargain bonus
O Bow Kill +1% crit chance.
OOOO Bonus Bow Damage +20%

FIST – Wound 20%
HEADBUTT – Wound 20%
KICK – Wound 20%
SHORTSWORD – Wound 40% Iceblade: +5 wound chance, target loses an action next turn if hit, Shockblade +5 wound chance, target loses 1 magic point if hit.
Dwarven Longbow – Wound 45% (65%, Crit +1), Soul Draining – On a kill drains magic points into Soul Gems.

Mask of Krosis – Armour 10% Halve perception skills, +20% Fine Manipulation, Craft (Alchemy), Bows.
Fine Hard Leather Armour – Armour 15% -5% Physical Skill penalty.

Other Tips for Skyrimming Your BRP

1. Average damage on hits, only circumstances (surprise/backstab) or criticals/special hits increase damage. Standard hit – average damage, Special hit damage +1, Critical hit double damage. EG: Longbow – 6/7/12 – Perks can increase this)
2. Magic Points regenerate at one per turn, specific spells in specific fields draw hit and damage from skill, specific effects to specific skills.
3. If you wanted you could introduce Stamina Points (from Con) that could be used to power more powerful physical/attack Perks. Also regenerating one per turn.
4. Let people increase their HP/MP using Perks as well as by increasing stats.
5. Don’t forget blessing bonuses, magic item bonuses etc, though these tend to be basic and workmanlike unless attached to epic and legendary items.

Cosmic Encounter Alien: Hate

A short, physically unimposing race the Hate evolved in a crowded part of the cosmos and were pushed aside by other, more powerful races. Forced to subsist on food scraps and the leavings of the other species the Hate swore that one day they would be the ultimate power on the cosmic scene.

Traveller

Feral: 1d6 Edu

Strong Characteristic: +2 Edu

Small: 1d6 Str, 1d6 End, 3d6 Dex

Hatred: The Hate do +1 damage with any weapon that they wield.

No Fine Manipulators

Homeworld: Gatt C442BA4-9 Hi In Pr Red

Starport C, 6.4k km, thin tainted atmosphere, 20% water, hundreds of billions population, charismatic dictator (messiah), law level 4, tech level 9.

Starblazer

Hate have the following traits:

• Berserk [Stunt]: Hate can enter a rage for a scene which increases their physical rolls by +1 but reduces mental and social ones by -1.
• Jump [Stunt]
• Hard Hide [Stunt]

1. No fine manipulation
2. Weak to taunting/social manipulation

General

The Hate (Gatta) are a third rate species looked down on and bullied by much of the rest of the species in the universe. This has given them a cultural feeling of inadequacy and a simmering rage that has been building for centuries, now expressing itself in a great crusade of revenge. Berserk and hateful they might look comical, but they pack a hell of a punch once they attack.

Cosmic Encounter Alien: Hacker

Masters of technology, the Hackers have embedded various devices into their bodies in an attempt to improve their skills at computer fraud. Although geniuses when it comes to code breaking and decrypting data, Hackers aren’t much good in more conventional battle. However more than one would-be conqueror has learned to their sorrow that the Hackers have nasty ways of getting revenge.

 

Traveller

Notable Intelligence & Education: +2

Small: Strength 1d6, Endurance 1d6, Dexterity 3d6

Cyber-Compatible: Cybernetic implants and computing devices of Hacker origin cost a Hacker half normal cost.

Compu-Brain: Hackers increase their Comms, Computer, Engineering (Electronics) & Sensors skills all by +1 at the end of character generation.

Homeworld: Stack A676A00-D Ga Hi Ht In Amber

Starport A, 9.6k km, standard tainted atmosphere, 60% water, tens of billions population, no government, no law, tech level 13.

Starblazer

Hackers have the following traits:

• Small [Stunt]
• Supermind [Science]
• Supermind [Engineering]

1. Weak to Electromagnetic attacks

General

Hackers are entranced by technology and have interwoven it into themselves at a very basic level. Given to extremely powerful and logical linear thinking they are born mathematicians and technicians and seemingly phobic of the natural world, perhaps given their difficult evolutionary history, the same history that gave them their powerful mentality and tool-using capabilities. Anarchic and libertarian the Hackers control much of the interstellar communication grid and collect a fast amount of data from other, more careless species.

Cosmic Encounter Aliens: Grudge

Suffering from a history of almost uninterrupted betrayal and disappointment, the originally kind Grudges gradually grew cynical. Expecting no good will from others, they began to brood and resolved to wreak vengeance on all who would turn aside their outstretched suction disc of friendship.

 

 

Traveller

Large: 3d6 Str, 3d6 End, Dex 1d6

Notable Strength & Endurance: +2

Slow Metabolism: -2 Initiative, half life support.

Homeworld: Golt B463924-A

Starport B, 6.4k km, standard atmosphere, 30% water, billions of population, participating democracy, law level 4, Tech level 10

Starblazer

Grudge have the following traits:

• Hard Hide [Stunt]
• Oversized [Stunt]
• Cynical [Stunt]: +1 to resist being convinced/fast talked/lied to.

1. Weak to psychological trauma
2. Suspicious: -1 penalty to active social rolls.

General

A long suffering and noble breed the Grudge, or Hunash, have been exploited and manipulated through their normally placid nature by too many other species since they made first contact. Now deeply cynical their will and their slow strength is set upon expansionism and payback. Deeply cynical the Grudge are a world-weary species who find it hard to believe anything.

Cosmic Encounter Aliens: Gambler

Arising in an era of geological turmoil, the Gamblers trusted only their own audacity. The faint of heart soon perished but the most daring rose to even greater effronteries and now launch a contest for Cosmic stakes.

 

 

Traveller

Fast Metabolism: +2 Initiative, double life support requirements.

Natural Weapon: Claws 1 damage, Natural Melee 0.

Weak Education: -2

Genetically Lucky: Gamblers may re-roll a roll once per game.

Social standing is replaced by Fortune.

Homeworld:Ti/Kar A755915-B Ga Hi Ht

Starport A, 11.2k km, thin atmosphere, 50% water, billions of population, corporate plutocracy, law level 5, tech level 11.

Starblazer

Gamblers have the following traits:

• Heightened Alertness: Multiple eyes give Gamblers excellent situational awareness and a +1 bonus to Alertness.
• Claws [Stunt]
• Jaws [Stunt]
• Tail [Stunt]
• Lucky bastards – Gamblers start with one extra FATE point.

1. Risk taker: -2 to resist adventure/high stakes/pushing their luck.
2. No fine manipulation

General

Gamblers have a complex language due to their two-storey mouths, each of which can pronounce a different sound at the same time. Because of this most of their words are harmonies or clashes between two tones and very few words have more than one syllable. In their own language they are called the Shash/Shesh (the slash divides which is said by the upper and lower mouth). Theirs is a culture of risk-taking, gambling and luck and their world one of many upheavals. Over time, controversially it is claimed, they have evolved what is considered to be a mild fate-bending power of luck, and they certainly seem to have a higher degree of fortune than most.

Cosmic Encounter Aliens: Fodder

Always regarded as an inferior, scavenging race, the fodder have amassed a multitude of generally less-effective arms. With the astonishingly large cache of second-rate weapons the Fodder can afford to overwhelm their adversaries.

 

 

 

Traveller

Feral: 1d6 Edu.

Small: Str 1d6, Endurance 1d6, Dexterity 3d6

Notable Characteristics: +2 Str, +2 Endurance, +2 Edu

Weak Dexterity: -2

Homeworld: Fok C 874CA0-9 Ga Hi In Amber

Starport C, 12.8k km, standard tainted atmosphere, 40% water, trillions of population, charismatic dictatorship, law level 0, tech level 9.

Starblazer

Fodder have the following traits:

• Fur [Stunt] – Fodder gain +1 to resist cold and wet based damage/environmental issues.
• Cheap & Nasty – Fodder can elect to get equipment that’s sub par, they gain +2 to do so, but it always has a negative aspect.

1. Distaste – Fodder take a -1 penalty in any non-confrontational social checks such as trying to make a good impression.

General

The Fodder, whose real name is the Fodorr in an act of cosmic humour, are a particularly numerous race. They love to live in great concentrations, on top of one another in circumstances other races would find lacking in privacy and cleanliness – though they more than make up for it in terms of parasites. Fodder breed like rats and have a cultural tendency to be willing to die, in large numbers, to preserve gains for the next generation. Not suicidal, but tending to martyrdom. Their world is a teeming hive, filled with cheap, tower blocks, squalid arcologies and with the planet’s crust teeming with tunnels in which they live.

Cosmic Encounter Aliens: Filch

With their genteel, sophisticated tribes the Filches have refined the art of acquisition to a high aesthetic. The most judicious and subtle thefts are memorialised in legend and song. Lately they have taken to eyeing the depths of space and thoughtfully rippling their tentacles.

 

 

Traveller

Notable Dexterity: +2

Weak Endurance: -2

Multiple Actions: Filch have access to a second, non-combat, ‘hand’ only action each turn.

Fame replaces social standing.

Homeworld: Siirt A385933-E Hi, Ht,

Starport A, Size 4.8k km, Dense atmosphere, 50% water, Population in the billions, self-perpetuating oligarchy, law level 3, Tech level 14.

Starblazer

Filch have the following traits:

• Tentacles [Stunt]

1. Minor weakness to physical (melee) attacks.

General

The Siirtan, or Filch, are a strange species, somewhat like the Terran octopus or squid but much more beautiful and even bird-like in their appearance and their grace. Another bird-like quality is a fondness for shiny things and the establishment of social prestige upon wealth, particularly wealth gained through guile and theft. Something that makes them enormously unwelcome on other worlds that have had contact with them before.

Cosmic Encounter Aliens: Amoeba

Spawned on a totally liquid world, Amoebas are highly concious of vibrations. Quick to withdraw from danger they are equally able to ooze menacingly into combat when confronted with the proper turbulances. Amoebas pity those who are less able to respond to circumstance and are sensitive rulers.

 

Traveller

Armour: The Amoeba’s body is resilient and has a lot of ‘give’ to it, making it resistant to damage and rapidly able to adapt to damage. The Amoeba has a natural armour of 1.

Aquatic: Amoeba are adapted to life in a liquid medium. They are amphibious and can last for a while on land though their dexterity is halved in such circumstances.

Natural Weapon: The Amoeba can attack using its pseudopods and exude its own digestive juices in attack. It is personal range and deals one damage. Amoeba’s start with Melee (natural weapons) at 0.

Empathy: Amoeba have ‘Empathy’ instead of Social Standing.

Statistics: +2 Empathy, -2 Dexterity.

Homeworld: Moab (Human name): AA8AA07-C N Ag Hi, Wa

Excellent quality starport, 16k km world, dense atmosphere, water world (100%), 50 billion population, no government (consensus), law level 7, Tech level 12.

Starblazer

Amoeba have the following traits:

• Toxic [Skill]
• Toxic Weapon [Stunt]
• Absorb Energy [Skill]
• Absorb Kinetic Weapons [Stunt]
• Ooze [Skill]
• Gills [Stunt]

1. Elemental Weakness – Fire
2. Force Weakness – Energy Weapon
3. No Fine Manipulation
4. Weak

General

Amoebae (their real name is a release of chemicals into the surrounding water) are a relatively enlightened and empathetic race but their nature – an oozing giant cell – worries other species as does their anarchistic, collectivist ethos and their willingness to sacrifice themselves readily for the common good of their species.

Amoebae build their ships and devices organically, out of their own bodies. Amoebae can sacrifice themselves and become specialist cells, giving up their sentience to become structures, ships, weapons or rather the component parts thereof. Larger structures and ships contain many ‘organs’ made up of many sacrificed Amoebae and even the larger structures can reproduce – if sufficiently fed – by splitting. Effective designs and vessels can be rapidly reproduced if there’s sufficient organic material allowing surprising amounts of Amoebae troops and ships to seemingly spring out of nowhere.

Cobbled Together Dust RPG Rules

Art from fuchsiart on Deviantart

Very basic, very rough, forgot the Grenadier’s armour in the example, but it’s basically there and it seems to work OK. I’ll update and prettify it if there’s interest and if FFG, Paolo Parente etc don’t object.

Download HERE