Nuclear Beasts

Setting Summary

Nuclear Beasts is set in the ruins of earth after the Last War destroyed mankind. The great cities lie in ruins, often poisoned with lethal levels of radiation and guarded by robotic sentries that attack anyone who lacks proper identification. Freakishly mutated monsters stalk the wastes, seeking prey. Mankind is apparently extinct and has been so for generations, but the damage from their war still scars the land.

The Beasts of the setting are animals who have been granted human-level intelligence and the ability to speak. The first generation of Beasts created (wolves, bears, cougars and oxen) were large, fierce and powerful, but they didn't have hands and couldn't use most tools. The second generation (mice, squirrels, otters and bats) consisted of smaller Beasts with clever paws that could make and use tools. The third generation (hyenas, lions, elephants and cheetahs) had been recast into a humanoid form and stood upright like man.

In addition to their natural capabilities, many early Beasts manifested psychic powers, which were used to pacify the wastes and establish their civilization. Most also possessed the ability to sense the presence of dangerous radiation, an ability so widespread that it is now regarded as normal. Certainly they wouldn't have been able to survive as well in the wastes without it.

They destroyed what robots they could and drove away most of the monsters. They tended the poisoned soil and set about restoring the land to health. Now they occupy a tiny sliver of green and healthy land known as the Verde.

---

The Beasts were created by the All-Mother, their goddess. She is said to live in an underground cavern beneath the Sacred Hills, served by three special groups of Beasts: Oracles, Rangers, and Caretakers.

The Oracles are the priests and priestesses who organize Her worshippers and answer questions on Her behalf. They live in the Sacred Hills and never leave.

The Rangers are a relatively new group of Beasts who have been "silvered" (had body parts replaced with gleaming metal) by the All-Mother. They serve the Oracles and the Caretakers but don't possess any special authority of their own.

The Caretakers themselves are the agents of the All-Mother and perform Her will in areas outside the Sacred Hills. They are easily recognized by the metal plate in their forehead, which allows them to sense the will of the All-Mother. They often have even more metal parts than Rangers do. It's said that there were originally one hundred Caretakers and that new ones are never chosen until an old one perishes.

The Caretakers used to possess absolute and unquestioned authority over all the scattered Beast settlements, but a few generations ago one Caretaker went mad. Aldrich the Hyena raised an army to attack the Sacred Hills, claiming that the All-Mother had gone mad and had to be destroyed. The other Caretakers fought, but Aldrich had developed the power to interfere with their minds at great range, leaving them helpless. The All-Mother finally struck Aldrich down, but only after a terrible war that decimated the Caretakers and left the lands in disarray.

After that the surviving Caretakers all retreated back to the Sacred Hills and lived underground with the All-Mother for several generations, leaving their empire to fall apart. When they finally returned, they created the first of the Rangers and set about reuniting the scattered settlements.

They haven't been particularly successful; in most places they are still regarded with superstitious awe, but they can't expect the automatic obedience that they once could and must threaten, bargain and cajole. There are still holdouts in the outlying areas where the descendants of the rebels live, where the Caretakers dare not go without an army at their backs.

---

The technology available to most Beasts is limited. Before Aldrich's rebellion, the Caretakers basically prohibited all investigation into the lost science of Man. Since then, some settlements have put a lot of effort into rediscovering technology, especially the distant ones that supported the rebellion. To combat that, the Caretakers have supervised a limited restoration of ancient tech, generally under their close supervision. Some guns and other relatively simple devices are now being manufactured and put to widespread use and some of the larger settlements actually have electrical power.

The settlement of Manforge is built up around an ancient automated factory that the Caretakers have reactivated. Given the appropriate raw materials (mostly scavenged metal in good condition), they can produce finished products using ancient schematics. The only guns currently being mass-produced are simple six-shooter revolvers and single-shot, bolt-action rifles. The Caretakers say that they lack the necessary raw materials to produce better weapons en masse, but some Beasts believe that the Caretakers don't want more powerful weapons to be made available.

The Guild of Engineers is a society dedicated to rediscovering the lost secrets of Man. They have been banned by the Caretakers and must operate in secret in most places. They gather and share ancient books, teaching Beasts to read and write and trying to make sense of Man's writings and sort out myth from history. They oppose the Caretakers and refer to them as "cyborgs". Since they don't have access to the mechanical implants that grant the Caretakers their supernatural prowess, they concentrate on developing their psychic powers and searching the ancient ruins for useful artifacts.

Among the most valuable of ancient relics are identification cards. These weathered plastic rectangles don't look like much, but most robots won't attack a Beast who has one. Beasts typically punch a hole in one corner and wear the card like an amulet. They are far from a certain protection (not all robots obey them, and even those will still attack if provoked in some fashion) but they are better than nothing and make exploring the cities feasible.

Drives again

An alternate way of handling Drives might be to represent them with a die, like a stat. The maximum size of your Drives would depend upon how "epic" the GM wants the game to be...

Style	Maximum Drive Rating
Gritty	d6
Realistic	d8
Heroic	d12
Cinematic	2d12

This differs from my current system in a few ways:

• Additional dice will rarely increase your maximum result above 12, whereas a bonus can.
• Adding dice makes it harder for folks to botch when their drive kicks in, whereas bonuses don't.
• Doesn't require any math, just extra dice.
• There's room for a lot more range of ratings... just a max of d8 allows for 3 possible ratings, whereas my bonus system only uses +1 and +2 (doubled when the drive is strongly triggered).
• Extra dice is going to be most useful when you have little or no skill; bonuses are most effective when you've already got good dice to roll for it.

It seems like either would work, they've just got a slightly different flavor.

Combat Ideas from Pendragon

When they attack and beat your defense roll, they'll get one or more attack successes. A Partial Success grants 1, a full Success 2, Critical 3, Extra 4, etc.. These can be used to do stuff like:

• Do your regular damage. If you apply this one multiple times, each additional one adds another d12 to your regular damage.
• Force the target to roll Speed & Acrobatics to remain standing. Each additional success spent on this increases the difficulty by 4.
• Force the target to roll Speed & Melee or be disarmed. Each additional success spent increases the difficulty by 4, but a "failure" just means that they fumble with their weapon and have to roll again next round. It takes a Critical Failure (fail by 4+ or botch) to actually disarm them outright.
• Ignore their largest armor die.
• "Feint", so that you get a +2 bonus to a follow-up attack next round. You can apply this multiple times to get a bigger bonus. Basically, if the success you got this round isn't good enough to do what you want to, you can trade it in for a bonus on your next roll.
• Anything else that the GM considers appropriate and reasonable.

You can also use special, "called" maneuvers. You have to specify them beforehand. The basic one changes Partial Successes to Failures and Successes to Critical Successes. The more difficult one changes Partial Successes and Successes to Failures, but increases Critical Successes to Extraordinary Successes and Extraordinary Successes to Extra².

An alternate way to handle special moves would be to apply a -2 penalty now, but grant an extra attack success if you hit. You could also take a -4 in return for 2 extra attack successes.

When you get hit for damage, you'll roll a contest between their damage dice and your Durability (normally Muscles & Guts). If they beat you, you take 1 wound. You have to roll a partial success or better on a Willpower check or be stunned. If they get a critical success, you take 1 wound and get knocked down and have to roll a Success on a Willpower test to avoid being stunned. If they get an extraordinary success, you get 2 wounds, get knocked down, and start bleeding to death. It takes a Critical Success to remain conscious.

On tied parry rolls, you have to check the quality of each character's weapon. Crappy weapons will tend to break if hit with good ones. The scale will probably be something like:

• Artifact (ancient super-metals)
• Good quality modern metals
• Poor quality metals
• Wooden or stone weapons
• Flesh (ouch!)

Dodging is the best defense, but if you only get a Partial Success then it'll cost you your next half-action. Crits and better might set you up for a follow-up attack. On a tied Dodge, you must retreat or be hit. [Should a failed Dodge eat up a half-action too? Or only a successful one? Is that "realistic" or "adding insult to injury"? For a really lenient one, it just prevents more movement actions next round, instead of using up actions. You can't lose more than 2 half-actions, but you can keep using Dodge if you need to. Maybe you shouldn't be able to lose more than 1 half-action, no matter how many times you dodge.]

The Kill Withouts & Setting History

Suppose that the Caretakers actually withdrew from Beast society for a generation or so? Perhaps they retreated after a Caretaker went mad and tried to organize a rebellion against the All-Mother. The town that he took over would probably have been scorched by the Caretakers, with the few survivors hiding in the wastes, but afterwards they retreat back into the Sacred Hills for decades.

There would have been uncontrolled expansion and discovery for a bit. Excess population might have spread out and formed new towns and settlements, and there would be a new generation of Beasts who had never even seen a Caretaker before the first ones showed up, trying to reestablish their authority.

The first Rangers would have been created after that, to try and help bring the rebellious outer settlements into line. There can only be a hundred Caretakers (actually less, but originally it was a hundred and they don't advertise the fact that it's fewer now) but since Rangers are independent of the All-Mother, there can be as many as you have parts for.

Here's an example of a rogue clan of Hyenas on the outskirts: the Kill Withouts. They're a small tribe, really more of a large pack. They're not quite true raveners, in that they don't kill other Beasts without a reason, just that they're so territorial that it doesn't take much of a reason.

Their current leader is called Kills-without-Warning. All of their hunters get similar names, such as Kills-without-Mercy, Kills-without-Remorse, Kills-without-Hesitation, Kills-without-Fear and Kills-without-Pleasure. Somehow, outsiders always prefer to deal with Kills-without-Pleasure. The names are based upon their Rite of Passage, which involves killing a captured foe in a pit battle of sorts.

The non-hunters get less aggressive but still descriptive names, like Tends-to-Wounds and Gathers-Roots. They were one of the furthest settlements when the Caretakers withdrew, and they were among the first cut off from contact with them.

The Caretaker withdrawal was slow... they didn't abandon everything all at once. It took years. They dropped away from the outermost settlements almost immediately, but their range slowly shrunk over the years until they all disappeared into the Sacred Hills. Now, a couple of generations later, they're back.

Basically, they had artificially constrained the expansion of Beast territory to make sure that there were always enough Caretakers to keep it under control. But something happened that drastically reduced their range (a short in the radio system?), causing them to spend more and more time out of direct contact.

Finally, one of them went mad and raised a rebellious army, claiming that the All-Mother was insane and that everyone was just a chess piece to Her. He had developed powerful psychic powers and a fair bit of brain damage; a dangerous combination. He could even interfere with the minds of other Caretakers, which made his rebellion a lot more effective.

Finally, the All-Mother managed to strike him down... it's said that he glowed like he'd been struck with lightning and fell over dead, despite the fact that no enemies were nearby. His followers gathered his body and fled.

The Caretakers ruthlessly suppressed the rest of the rebellion, but they did so with unseemly haste. They delegated a lot more authority to local leaders than they usually did, and most of them headed back closer to the All-Mother. They seemed unable to go as far from her as before. For the next generation, their range slowly got shorter and shorter, while they hurridly set up local governments and trading routes so that towns and settlements could survive without them.

Eventually, they all returned to the Sacred Hills and for the next generation none of them were seen, except perhaps by the Oracles. Even the First Folk said that the Caretakers had returned to the realm of the All-Mother and no longer walked the earth.

The Oracles ruled for awhile, based upon their traditional authority, but things slowly fell apart. The more distant towns, forced to depend upon themselves, were less and less likely to follow the orders of strange Wolves who claimed to speak for the All-Mother.

Potential Caretakers were still taken from the various towns and villages, but only rarely. Most of them ended up serving the First Folk as messengers and guards instead.

It was nearly two generations before the Caretakers returned again. Even some of the local towns questioned whether or not these were really the Caretakers returned and their leaders were replaced. The outlying settlements were the real problem, and more than one Caretaker was murdered while trying to enforce their god-given authority.

Those Beasts in the service of the First Folk were allowed to join a new cadre: the Rangers. Common members were called Servants. The best were promoted to Ranger and blessed by the goddess. Of them, a few would be turned into Caretakers periodically, to replace those lost in the field.

With their numbers swelled by the Rangers, the Caretakers were eventually able to retake control of the Verde (although that itself took most of a generation).

Which leads us to modern times. The Caretakers rule the green and fertile region called the Verde (it may well be green and fertile because of their advice on how to tend it). The towns closest to the Sacred Hills still follow the old ways and regard the Caretakers and Oracles (and, to a lesser extent, the Rangers) as sacred.

But the further out you get, the less control they have. There are distant settlements that have never seen a Caretaker and never will... they're too far away, further than the Caretakers dare to go from the All-Mother. They see Rangers instead, and the soldiers of the Verde. The All-Mother is still striving to bring the outlying settlements back into line, but it's difficult. A major problem is that the descendants of the Renegade are still out there, and while all of the original rebels are long dead, their children remember their stories and the supposed "truth" about the Caretakers.

[So what really happened? The answer I see is along the lines of that the All-Mother shorted him out with a mammoth radio surge, but this permanently damaged Her control system. The range at which it could be used steadily declined, until it was decided that it would have to be shut down and completely rebuilt. This meant bringing every Caretaker back and putting them into hibernation so that they wouldn't also go mad while the system was down. Now, decades later, the system is up and running again (as best She can manage with Her limited resources) so the Caretakers are on the move again.]

Rerolls & Aspects

Ironclaw has the "Favored Use" feature, where you can reroll a single 1 on a die roll if it matches up with your Favored Use... which can be anything that your GM will approve.

I might use something similar... maybe you can reroll one die if your Drive matches up with what you're doing, instead of adding a flat +1. There could also be the equivalent of Willpower points, which let you reroll one die per point. Hm. How about a Minor Edge that lets you reroll one die for certain actions?

The advantage of rerolls, of course, is that they don't change your max. So if you only have 2d4, you're toast even with a reroll.

Aspects refers to skills that are narrow... I could do stuff like Repair (Vehicles) where "Vehicles" is the aspect that you started with. For 1 XP, you could add another Aspect (maybe for the cost of bumping up the skill a notch? Dunno). Outside of your Aspect, you either can't roll, or roll at a crippling penalty.

I'm not actually sure how detailed I want to get. I don't want dozens of skills, but then I don't want PCs to be able to become good at everything really quickly. Wish I had time to run a mini-campaign of it.

Logo

Here are some attempts at making a logo for Nuclear Beasts. What do folks think?

The two are different in several ways (size being the least of them; the first one is shrunk a bit so the rust texture isn't quite as crisp) so if there's some elements you like/dislike in the same pic, please let me know.

Illustrations

I haven't done much drawing for Nuclear Beasts lately. My last few pics have been fantasy-related and wouldn't be suitable.

I did have luck with my "one hour work" this weekend, though. Setting a time limit helped keep me focused and resulted in a pretty good pic for minimal time.

• Decide what you intend to draw first.
• Gather your references ahead of time. Try to get a reference for every part of the picture (e.g.- if you want a wooded background, find a pic of woods that's the sort of thing you want).
• Set a timer and try to stick to it. For the first one, I allowed 40 minutes for pencils and 20 for inking... but I fell short on both by about 50%.
• Don't be afraid to extend the time if you need more to do stuff right. But also, don't waste time agonizing about what to draw. If you draw fast enough, you can try both pics instead.

So I figure that what I'll do is...

1. Finish up the basic rules.
2. Put together a PDF version.
3. Insert the illustrations that I have into the appropriate spots.
4. Come up with a list of a few additional pics that I need.
5. Try some one-hour-works to fill those in.
6. Profit!

My top priority should be finishing off the rules so that I can solicit commentary about them. Primarily, that means writing up combat in detail. Unfortunately, that's also the spot that I'm avoiding at the moment. I'm dreading it... I think I'm afraid that when I put all of my ideas down on paper, it just won't work. I've seen it happen before.

Ancient Equipment

While professional scavengers slowly pour through the ancient ruins, seeking the one great prize that will make them rich, the harsh truth is that practically nothing from the Age of Man still works.

The electronic devices have rusted or corroded into useless junk and of the handful that do work, only the simplest can still perform a useful function. Flashlights, can openers, things like that can still be made to work, sometimes.

Computerized devices are almost always worthless. The vast majority won't even turn on. Even if you manage to find a bunch of them and swap parts until you have a single working unit, the odds are that all it will do is report that it cannot connect to the requested service.

Setting Promo

I need some sort of teaser that I can post places to solicit comments on the setting itself. I know where to go for rules feedback, but before I start statting things up, I need a better handle on what elements should be statted up, and which should be discarded.

Let me think... what things do I want to mention?

• The Ancient Laws.
• The fact that Caretakers and Rangers are cyborgs.
• What a Beast is.
• The three generations of Beasts.
• Psychic powers (at least their existence).
• Exterminators.
• The Blight.
• The whole "mysticism layered over high tech" theme.

Should I replace "generation" with a different term? Perhaps a clinical one like "batch" or "vat"? Or "wave"?

Man once ruled this world, but Man is no more. The Last War undid his works, his life and (some say) his very soul. The ruins of his great cities lie scattered across the landscape, guarded by metal golems and strange, twisted monsters.

The All-Mother looked across the wreckage of the world and sorrowed that her child Man was dead. Her tears washed over the animals gathered at her feet and made them anew. To them, she gave the Gifts of Man, the ability to think and speak, so that they might be like Man once was.

The first generation of Beasts were fierce and powerful animals that could drive away the monsters that stalked the ruins of Man's world.

The second generation of Beasts were small creatures, with clever paws that could use Man's tools but still ran on all fours.

The third generation walked upright like Man.

And the All-Mother gave unto them the Ancient Laws, the sacred rules which they were to live by:

1. Harm not the Beasts who speak, nor eat their flesh.
2. The Caretakers are the arms of the All-Mother; the Oracles are Her voice.
3. Seek the fertile lands and tend them.
4. Honor the memory of Man.

But that was generations ago, and now the many breeds of Beast have spread far and wide. They have developed strange powers and abilities. The art of Rending, whereby a Beast's claws could tear through metal as though it were flesh, was the first such power to be discovered, but it was far from the last.

While the Caretakers and the Oracles still dispense the word of the All-Mother from the sacred caverns wherein she resides, their numbers have remained constant while the other Beasts have flourished and grown. Their power and authority is waning. The most distant of settlements have begun to question their wisdom, their authority and even the divine nature of the All-Mother.

The silvered flesh and metal skullcap of the Caretakers, once regarded by all as holy, are now viewed with suspicion. The Engineers, those Beasts most learned in the lost science of Man, have come to fear the Caretakers and the All-Mother. They use a new word for those Beasts whom the All-Mother has blessed by turning part of their bodies to metal.

That word is cyborg.

Poltergeist Power

I had resisted adding any any "traditional" psychic powers like telekinesis or pyrokinesis, but what about one that actually worked like the traditional poltergeist? Shadowforce Archer called their TK power "Poltergeist", but there wasn't really anything poltergeisty about it.

Result	Effect
Botch	Nothing happens and you can't try again until after you've rested for at least an hour.
Failure	Nothing happens.
Partial Success	Random objects in the area fall over and/or roll short distances. You have no control over what is affected, but it's generally limited to objects weighing one pound or less and the objects move very slowly.
Success	As Partial Success, but the motion is more sudden and violent. Objects are thrown about by your power and fragile ones may just shatter where they are. This makes for a great distraction, but you still have no control over what happens.
Critical Success	As Success, but you can control the basic gist of what happens, such as throwing random objects at particular people or causing every small object nearby to roll towards you.
Extraordinary Success	You can either manipulate a small object with exacting care and precision (unlock a door, pull the trigger on someone's gun, juggle small objects with your mind, or bash someone in the back of the head with a brick) or you can generate a localized earthquake, shaking everything in the vicinity and causing fragile objects like pottery and glass to explode in a shower of shards.

Randomly thrown objects can strike anyone in the vicinity except for the psychic themself. Their friends are not so lucky.

Poltergeist can be triggered randomly when the character is under extreme stress. In fact, that's how most Beasts first manifest the power. Because it's so difficult to control, hardly anyone tries to learn to do it deliberately.

Hm. Actually, this doesn't cover the effects of Pushing and Double-Pushing. Let me think...

I could say that the Pushed versions get stronger, whereas the original skill roll still determines how precise you can control it. Of course, that would mean that no one pushes unless they rolled well to begin with. I should probably allow you to roll better or worse and have the later roll affect the control, too.

Regular: affects inanimate objects of one pound or less. It would take a lot of impacts to do more than bruise someone.
Pushed: affects inanimate objects of up to 10 pounds, meaning that it can throw decent sized weapons around and cause serious damage. Fragile objects tend to shatter or crack, even if they weigh too much to be moved.
Double-pushed: can affect inanimate objects of up to 100 pounds (does serious damage to folks hit with them), will also shake the ground and any nearby buildings. Fragile objects explode violently. Ramshackle buildings may fall down.

Partial Success: objects move randomly and very slowly. They may tip over and roll around, but not fast enough to do any real damage unless they actually fall off of a height and land on someone.

Success: objects move violently. They are often flung randomly through the air.

Critical Success: you can contol the basic gist of what happens, such as pummeling specific people with debris or causing all nearby objects to gently tip over and roll over to you.

Extraordinary Success: you can control what happens with exacting precision, affecting only those objects that you want and moving them however you would like. You could juggle objects with your mind, unlock a door, pull the trigger on someone's gun, or bash someone in the back of the head with a brick.

Using All Initiative Dice

One thing I could do is say that each die in your Initiative roll gives you a half-action. So if you roll a 12 and a 3, you'd get one half-action on 12 and the other on 3. If you want to perform a full action, you can start it on your first action, but it uses up both right then.

I could also support "rush" actions, where you have the option of adding both dice together and treating it as a single half-action. So you'd only get to do half as much, but you could do it much faster than other folks.

I'm not sure how I'd handle additional dice, though. Having even an extra d4 in your Initiative pool would give you an extra half-action each turn. Stuff like "Lightning Reflexes" would have to give you a bonus (i.e.- +4 to Initiative) rather than extra dice.

Alternatively, I could limit everyone to two half-actions and say that you only use the two highest dice in your Initiative pool, even if there are more than two dice in it.

Zebra Tables

I added support for "zebra tables" today. Not too much too it... Css3 supports it better, but I want most folks to be able to see it, so I had to do it manually. Not too difficult, though, and they're a lot easier on the eyes than those ugly bordered tables.

Look at "Rephrasing Ranges" below for a good example.

Still Undone

Okay, what do I still need to work on? Is there anything stopping me from putting together a PDF version except time and effort? Let me think...

• Combat needs serious fleshing out and some playtesting (particularly the damage system). I have ideas but they're untested.
• The breeds could use more balancing; it'll probably take some playtesting to tell for sure.
• I need an example adventure, not just to playtest but to include in the game.
• I should work up an example of character creation.
• The setting needs a bit more work and fleshing out, but I'm not sure that's necessary if I want to get the rules out there.
• Gotta decide whether or not I want to do a complete game write-up, or just rules and add the setting elements later.
• How many pages would it take to write up just the generic rules? Nothing about the races involved or anything. I want it to be small...

Rephrasing Ranges

Okay, let's rephrase the way that the ranges are defined.

Difficulty	Description
2d4	(minimum difficulty)
2d6	Point Blank
3d8	Short Range
3d10	Medium Range
4d12	Long Range
16	Extreme Range

Every half-action spent aiming reduces the effective difficulty by one step, to a mimimum of 2d4. The maximum number of times that you can aim depends upon your weapon...

• Handgun: once
• Rifle: twice
• Scope: +1 time
• Super-scope (rifles only): +2 times

Note that it is nearly impossible to hit at Extreme Range without aiming first.

The Lost Breeds

As an additional element of tragedy, there could be legends about the "lost breeds"... these were other species of 1st generation Beasts... ones that couldn't hack the new world and all died.

Perhaps one breed died of a strange plague that caused their young to be born dead, withered and small.

Another simply spread too wide and were wiped out by monsters.

These would be breeds that I'm not interested in putting into the setting... there could still exist some isolated colonies of them somewhere, but the First Folk maintain that they all died out a long time ago. There's even a holy graveyard where the last few were buried.

Likely candidates: Boars. Apes (those darn human-targetting nano-plagues got them). Coyotes (these would be the most likely to pop up again somewhere else, but if I say that they were 1st gen then I'd eliminate the possibility of doing them as 2nd or 3rd). Horses (eh, Sarah wouldn't like that).

Scaling

So what do the size ratings effectively mean? Here's a rough scale, a little different from the last version:

• -6: insect
• -5: mouse
• -4: squirrel
• -3: housecat
• -2: small child
• -1: pre-teen human
• 0: adult human
• +1: really, really big human
• +2: horse, bear
• +3: rhino
• +4: elephant
• +5 mammoth
• +6: dinosaur

Size Part II

I've been thinking about the stat limits that being big or small places. I'm not sure that they're necessary.

My original qualm was about a d12 Muscles Mouse being able to out-power a d4 Muscles Elephant... average 6.5-2=4.5 vs 2.5+2=4.5, but with the Mouse having a max of 10 and the Elephant a max of 6.

But that only happens if 1) it's a straight Muscles roll, not Muscles & Muscles or 2) bonuses don't apply multiple times when their trait does.

If you apply your size adjustment twice in a Muscles & Muscles roll, then things look more even. The Mouse rolls 2d12-4 (max 8, average about 4) vs 2d4+4 (max 8, average 7). That's more like what I want... the smallest character (if really, really strong) should be about equal to the absolutely weakest big character.

So I'm not sure that I really need to limit the maximum Muscles rating on a small character. If I do, it'll just be a starting limit, and you'll be able to increase it normally.

But I don't like reducing the strength range of Mice from 5 steps down to 3. If someone wants to start with a really muscular Mouse (and, honestly, that's what a d12 Muscles implies), then who am I to veto it? The size penalty will hurt him plenty.

The Speed penalty for big critters, though... that I'll have to think about. Do I really want an Elephant to always be kind of clumsy when swinging an unfamiliar weapon? I might do away with the limits entirely.

Also, the skill penalties hit enough skills to make up for a 1-level increase, I think. Or do they? Skills are 1 per level, a Major Edge is 4. Yeah, a -1 to six major skills should probably be good enough. I'll make each level of Big or Small into a Minor Edge, since it rewards specialization. They could even become free, but I hate to allow for abusive specialization that way.

Handling Size

A creature's Size rating is a measure of its scale. Human-sized creatures are Size 0, indicating that they really aren't any bigger or smaller than normal people. In many ways, this is the idea Size, since the relics and tech left behind by Man was intended for folks like that.

Hm. I'd love to make Size a single rating, but thinking about it, I suspect that there will be some things penalized by the absolute value of your Size (being either Big or Small is bad) and some things that use the normal value. It's probably better to use Big and Small and describe them separately. If they end up being identical (with reversed values) then I can merge them back together.

Big penalizes a lot of skills, because of your mass. Subtract your Big rating from: Acrobatics, Contortionist, Craft, Stealth, Swimming and Thievery. It can also penalize attempts to use technological devices, depending upon the situation. For example, Big penalizes shooting unmodified firearms, but by ripping out the trigger guard and adding a larger sight this can be partially or completely mitigated.

Big adds to all Muscles rolls as a bonus. This is its primary benefit.

It also limits the size of your Speed rating. Normal characters can have a Speed die of up to d12. Each level of Big reduces your maximum Speed by one step, down to a minimum of d4. So if you have a rating of Big +1, your maximum Speed rating is d10.

Finally, being Big makes you easier to hit in certain circumstances. When performing a Dodge (rolling Speed, Melee and Acrobatics as your defense), you'll be easier to hit because of the penalty to your Acrobatics roll. Also, when someone is shooting at you in ranged combat, there should be some sort of penalty. But what sort?

• Apply it as a penalty to your defense roll.
• Reduce the effective range by X steps.
• Say that if they miss by X or less, it's still a Partial Success (this is like having a penalty, but it doesn't make it easier for them to shoot you in a really vital spot, just makes it harder to miss you completely).

Small indicates that your character is smaller than a normal human. This makes performing some tasks easier and some harder.

Small is added as a bonus to a lot of skills. Add it to: Acrobatics, Contortionist, Craft, Stealth, Swimming and Thievery. This is its primary benefit.

Small is applied as a penalty to all Muscles rolls. Each level also reduces the maximum Muscles rating that you can take. So if you have Small +1, your maximum Muscles rating is d10 and you'll take a -1 penalty to all Muscles rolls.

Finally, Small makes you harder to hit sometimes. It's easier to Dodge because of the bonus to Acrobatics. It should also benefit you in ranged combat, basically the same way that Big penalizes you.

Guns

Most guns are manufactured in Manforge. The ancient firearms left behind by Man are rarely usable anymore... gunpowder just doesn't stay good long enough (in real life, 50 years is generally enough to ruin it). So, assault rifles and other overpowering weapons are generally unavailable (and dangerous to use, when they do show up).

Manforge is able to make only two kinds of guns... both simple mechanisms that require few special parts and for which the automatic lathes that they've found have patterns already.

Basically, they can make bolt-action, single-shot rifles and old-style, oversized six-shooter pistols. The rifle has better range and accuracy and more stopping power (it uses a larger bullet, too) but the much smaller magazine is a major limitation.

It takes a half-action to load a bullet into either. Speed-loaders exist, but they're crudely made and very rare... and bullets are expensive enough that most Beasts don't have that many extras anyway.

When using a firearm, the effective range starts out one class further away than they really are. Each half-action spent aiming brings it one step closer. The maximum number of times that you can aim with a pistol is one, and the rifle two. With a scope, you can aim the rifle three times. Since the distance determines the difficulty to hit, that's important.

Point Blank or closer: 2d4
Close: 2d6
Medium: 3d8
Long: 3d10
Extreme: 4d12
Impossible: 16+ (GM ruling required on whether it's possible at all)

So if you're at point-blank range, the difficulty of an unaimed shot is 2d6 but if you spend a half-action aiming it drops to 2d4. A scoped rifle can reduce the difficulty from 4d12 down to 3d8 (not 2d6! the range starts at "impossible" unless you spend a half-action aiming). You can't reduce the distance below "point blank", of course.

At actual point blank range, your target can attempt to parry your gun and substitute their Speed & Melee or Speed & Wrestling for the difficulty of 2d4 if they want to. So it's better to use a rifle and shoot them from a bit further away.

Manforge produces two standard types of bullet- rifle and pistol. The rifle round is about the same width, but twice as long as the pistol rounds.

I like the trade-off... a powerful, single-shot rifle vs a six-shooter with crappy range. And who doesn't like the idea of a grizzled Hyena or Jackal warrior carrying twin six-shooters?

Hounds?

I've currently got a lot of cat-based races (Panthers, Lions and Cheetahs), but only one canine race. It might be worthwhile to do another canine or two, probably as third generation Beasts.

Some possibilities:

• Wolves again, just that this time they walk upright. Since I'm trying to remove the same-breed-different-types bit, I'll probably skip this.
• Hounds. Basically a nicer way of saying Dogs. These would probably be like the "Barks" I've seen depicted on VCL.
• Coyotes.
• Foxes.

Let's see... what types do I currently have?

Herbivores: one 1st and one 2nd (Musk-ox and Elephant).
Canines: one 1st (Wolves).
Mustelids: one 2nd, sort of (Otters are close). Weasels could be added without much difficulty.
Rodents: two 2nd (Mice and Squirrels).
Fliers: one 2nd (Bats).
Felines: one 1st and two 2nd (Panthers, Lions and Cheetahs).
Ursine: one 1st (Bears).
Whatevers: one 3rd (Hyenas).

Heh. Checking online, the Ethiopian Wolves are sometimes called Jackals. Better than that, there are Jackals all over Africa, so that would work well with the whole "All 3rd generation Beasts are from Africa" theme I have going. And no one will have trouble distinguishing between Wolf and Jackal.

Jackals could even get Small 1. They're actually about Fox-sized. I'm not sure I want a 3rd gen Beast with Small 1, but it wouldn't be inconceivable. Hm. Also, "Panther" usually refers to Leopards, not Pumas/Mountain Lions. I might want to change the 1st gen cats to Pumas, just to be clear. They don't have spots. Well, actually, looking online, they're known as Panthers, Pumas, Cougars and Mountain Lions, variously. So Panther does work if I prefer that word. Jenn prefers Cougar. I might go with that, too.

So, let's see... that would give us Jackals as a new 3rd Gen Beast. I could do Tigers as new 1st Gen if I wanted to. I could justify stuff like Foxes or Coyotes as 2nd Gen, but Raccoons fit the theme better. Give them an opposable thumb, and they're set to take over your house.

Tigers would be like Cougars, but bigger... and with Swimming instead of Acrobatics.

Raccoons are like a combo of Squirrels and Mice with Night Vision and size -1.

Jackals would be a bit like Hyenas... and might get size -1. They'd probably need a speed-boost of some sort, though, otherwise that would make them the slowest of all Beasts (if I assume that Size affects your movement rate). Let's see... they'd be omnivores... might even qualify for the Scavenger gift, dunno. I found one site that claims that they can climb well, but I haven't found any collaboration of that.

The Silvered

So, I want at least basic support for cyberware. Regular PCs probably couldn't become Caretakers without becoming NPCs but Rangers should be a possible character type.

Having cyberware means forgoing the use of psychic powers... even the most minor of cyberware generally ends up with wires running through your body up to a control chip in your brain and using psychic powers tends to short these out. So while it's technically possible to use psi and cyberware simultaneously, it causes brain damage over the longterm. Caretakers and Rangers who develop psychic powers after becoming silvered generally turn into psychotic freaks.

Possible upgrades:

• Cybereyes with telescopic scopes (works just like a gun's scope, but it's built into you), night vision (better than a cat's; if there's no light at all, your eyes glow on their own), infrared, and/or targetting icons (bonus to hit).
• Cyberears that automatically provide Keen Ears and noise editing (a further bonus to hear something in a specific direction, at the cost of blotting out all other sounds). Possibly even directional sonar.
• Metal replacements for your natural weapons.
• Touch-taser built into a hand or paw, or one that shoots a dart w/wire.
• Subdermal armor.
• Subdermal wires that can generate a taser-like shock over your whole body, zapping anyone who is trying to grapple you. The effect is greatly reduced if you are being grappled by multiple people.
• A built-in radio for sending voice messages to other folks with receptors. The Caretakers get the skullcap implant, which includes a much more powerful radio capable of transmitting large files rapidly.
• Pain editor. You can turn it on to make yourself effectively immune to pain.
• Enhanced Muscles, Guts or Speed.
• Subdermal radiation shielding (includes special filters in your nasal passages).
• Brain implants that let you download skills (especially lore-type skills) from the All-Mother. Generally only given to Caretakers.
• Brain upgrades that effectively boost your Brains stat.
• A GPS system that keeps track of your current location and shows it on a mental map (a simple one, just a grid with some points labelled).
• Wound sealers, which can cut the flow of blood to an injured area to prevent you from bleeding to death (you can self-stabilize if dying).
• Reflex booster, improves initiative without upping your actual Speed.
• Internal air supply (for holding your breath for long periods).
• Voice synthesizer (for mimicking specific sounds or even other peoples' voices).
• Internal storage area (a retractable, extra-tough metal box in your belly, for storing important items).

Caretakers get to "choose" their own upgrades, but Rangers are generally assigned theirs. Of course, if you write up a Ranger, you get to decide what cyberware they have, but you won't be able to add new parts willy-nilly.

The powers will probably be written up as special Edges. Since they interfere with Psi (I'm thinking that the minimum Risk of using any Psychic power is equal to the number of Cybernetic Edges you have, with the usual result of a Botch being temporary insanity) they're a little cheaper than their non-cyber equivalents... and, of course, many of them provide abilities that just aren't available otherwise. A Ranger with a few cybernetic enhancements and a psychic power or two should be a playable, if tragic character (especially if the power is one of the ones that can be triggered involuntarily).

The Caretaker package includes a load of upgrades but includes some loss of free will and serious penalties to your Spirit stat. Caretakers tend to suck at social interaction... they act more like grim robots than normal Beasts. Thus, they tend to use Rangers and non-silvered assistants for diplomatic tasks.

Wiki

I'm still toying with the idea of converting the rules and setting info into a single Wiki page. That way, every subsection would be automatically linked to the appropriate area. Of course, converting it back to a PDF might be hard... the text would be spread all over, in a completly non-linear format. So I'm not sure it would be worthwhile. I'll have to think about it for awhile.