Nuclear Beasts

Nuclear Shadows

Hm. Well, having finally gotten to read Dogs in the Vineyard, I could use some elements of this system for a revision of Nuclear Beasts.

• Capse (Caaps?) would be constructed about like human characters, but their abilities can't involve using tools and they don't get any belongings. In return, they get a set of bonus dice in the Superhuman Senses trait... probably something like 3d10 or 4d10. Actually, it might just be called "Doggishness" or something, because it should apply to getting info from dogs and wolves, too.
• Powers would have to be more explicitly defined. Basically, in addition to normal character creation (which would have to be limited to mundane abilities), you would get a set of dice that could be spent on Cyberware or Psychic Powers (possibly called Silver or Gold).
• Cyberware mostly boosts your stats and regular traits to superhuman levels (e.g.- you might have one or more d8s or d10s in one of your stats). It can also grant new "boolean" abilities, like the ability to send radio messages or detect radioactivity (every Ranger gets that one).
• Psychic Powers give you dice in one or more special traits... these enable you to perform actions that normal people can't. You can also push them, taking automatic fallout in return for some special benefit, like setting some of the dice to maximum or using them twice. Or maybe rerolling them immediately at a higher die level. Dunno. There would have to be some benefit, though.
• There's a new category of fallout- the d12s. Call it Destructive Devices? Basically, you may have d12 fallout if attacked with ancient weapons of great power, like missiles or lasers.
• Better guns (like assault rifles) generally just grant more or better dice than normal. So if a typical gun was d8,d4 then an assault rifle might be 3d8,d4 or something.
• You can't take an action that obviously impossible. For example, if there's someone shooting at you with a rifle from rifle-range and you only have a pistol, you can't return fire and can't use your pistol dice.
• The ranges are basically Ancient Weapons, Rifles, Handguns, and Melee Range. Keep it simple.
• There are rumors that certain electronic signals can cause a Geiger to go off as though there were radioactivity in the area, even if there isn't. Enemies of the Caretakers sometimes use such gizmos to guard their bases; the Caretakers guard certain areas of the Sacred Hills that way.
• Books are considered dangerous, because the ancients often wrote down False Beliefs, Fictions and Outright Lies. Potentially useful or dangerous books can be turned in to a Caretaker or one of the servants of the Oracles... But it's better to destroy an ancient text than let it fall into the wrong hands.
• Just like the Dogs in the Vineyard, whatever decision the Rangers reach is almost certainly "correct". This isn't because of some form of predistination; it's just that the Caretakers care a lot more about order than truth. There are Rangers who abuse their authority and hand down decisions arbitrarily... which causes a lot of resentment and eventually produces disorder.
• Spirits are called Echoes if they are neutral or benign and Shadows when they are malign. Since this is a matter of opinion, folks often disagree. In general, a Malignant will be a Shadow, and a Whimsy will be an Echo, but for Furies and Obsessions it'll depend on the specifics of the case.
• Some robots are so heavily armored that they have the special trait, "Invulnerable to normal weapons." Attempts to harm them with regular attacks automatically fail and can be Blocked without expending dice.

Tidbits

The Goddess can be called Eve. That's a nice, appropriate name that's not blasphemous enough to offend people.

The Geiger can be the Ranger's mark of membership. Every Ranger gets one, even if they don't get other Cyberware. It's too minor to actually interfere with psychic powers, especially since it's not actually wired into your brain... it just causes pain when it detects radioactivity.

Capse wolves are really rare but theoretically possible. The genes that makes a dog into a capse are recessive, but it's possible for two unintelligent dogs to give birth to a dog who has the capability for speech, intellect or both. Dogs who have the capability for speech but not intellect generally don't get noticed except by actual capse... humans can't tell the difference in their vocalizations, but capse can.

Pushing Powers

A few thoughts on psi... they're totally up in the air because I don't have the actual rules for DitV, but if I were to invent them on my own...

If a psi die rolls minimum or maximum, you lose access to it until you rest. There should be a spot on your character sheet to mark how many points of power you're down.

You can add a set of bonus "Push" dice equal to your maximum power dice rating by pushing your power. This is an unopposed action and costs you 1 die (normally your lowest) plus a turn. This works even if you've run out of dice from using your power too much (or rolling too badly). But pushing entails a roll for Fallout automatically, on a special table for power fallout.

Pushing could also add a flat +2 to each power die used or something similar... but that might be too awkward and it would be useless if you'd already used up your power dice. I think I'd prefer something that gives you extra power dice, too.

Some powers come back at different rates (Channeling dice, for example, come back when the Echoes are convinced that you need them, not when you want them to come back). A common Fallout would be an increased time before you get your power dice back.

I'll have to see if DitV offers any good rules for supernatural powers. If they work well, I might use them for psychic powers, too.

Nuclear Echoes (human version)

Let me think. If I do drop the "furry" aspect of the game (and honestly, while I'd originally hoped that I'd encounter enough furry-fan support to push me through it, it hasn't materialized), what would be different?

Hm...

• Every Ranger gets a Geiger... a plain metal disc implanted in their skin somewhere, usually on an arm. This tingles in the presence of radioactivity, getting hotter and hotter and finally becoming outright painful when in the presence of dangerous levels of radioactivity. This would replace the whole Radiation-Sense thing.
• The only non-human PCs in the basic game are Dogs... descendants of the C.A.A.P. dogs from the Companion Animal Augmentation Program. Some of them wear garments and ornaments to openly proclaim their intelligence (important, because there are tons of unintelligent, normal dogs around, too), but they can shed them to pretend to be normal dogs if necessary. They get extraordinary bonuses to smell & listen sense tests (they can actually track foes by scent) and can run faster than humans. They tend to be crippled by a lack of hands, of course, but they often have psychic powers to make up for it. They are also really good at communicating with normal dogs and wolves, pretty much getting a "speak with animals" ability at it. Breeding with normal dogs is forbidden, but does occur sometimes.
• The intelligent dogs are commonly called "Capse." This is a corruption of C.A.A.P., but very few folks know that except for Channelers.
• The basic game could even make a Dog some special ally you buy, with optional rules for playing one as a PC.
• Other uplifted animal races (such as humanoid Hyenas and Harpies) might exist, but would be dangerous enemies living outside of the Verde.
• People still worship the Goddess, but she might need a better name than "All-Mother", dunno.
• The Oracles and Caretakers are still around... but racial distinctions are much less common.
• Rules for Mutant Freaks allows for the occasional weirdo, and I might write up some sort of ogre-like mutants (big & dumb) that are common and might breed true.
• Horses would be expensive, but present and would serve their usual purpose as animal steeds.
• The Goddess didn't "create" the humans (although She does claim responsibility for their original creation, millions of years ago); rather She came to save them from the Shadows after the Last War wiped almost everyone out.

They'd still have many enemies.

• Various Echoes that possess folks, particularly Malignants.
• The alien monsters from the south that follow the Blight (a good source for slime monsters as well as howler-like predators).
• The occasional Malignant-possessed robot Exterminator.
• The assymetrical psychotic robots known as [Mechanical] Horrors.
• Primitive Beast-folk, like Harpies, Kukukuk and Hyenas. Should they be optional?
• Rebels, heretics and general outlaws, bandits and nogoodniks.

In retrospect, the rule for Malignants shouldn't be "kill"... while poignant, it loses the whole moral quandries part... it would be better if the Rangers are expected to judge whether it's better to try and rescue the victim or just kill them. And in areas where there are recurrent possessions, something must be wrong that's causing rampant negative emotions for the Shadow to hook onto... can they fix it?

Let's see... some possible moral quandries...

• Trying to save folks possessed by dangerous spirits or just killing them. Killing them doesn't always help, because if whatever negative emotion they latch onto is present in multiple folks in the area, they generally just jump to a new host.
• Judging various bandits, rebels and heretics. Here there is a huge amount of leeway, because the Caretakers only really care about decisive leadership, not justice. Screwing it up can leave lots of negative emotions for Shadows to latch onto, though.
• Dealing with Beast-folk and other intelligent but non-human creatures. Settling problems between humans and capse could count too... many capse are pretty much developmentally retarded, because the genes that make them smart have been diluted too much... does that make them inferior to humans?
• Whether or not to obey the Caretakers when they issue a particularly harsh and/or hurtful directive. Rangers generally have a lot of leeway in enforcing these edicts, at least so long as there aren't any Caretakers present. The Caretakers don't have time to look up whether or not something was enforced properly, so unless new trouble springs up, they consider it handled correctly, whether or not the Rangers actually followed their orders.

Most other foes... blight creatures, Exterminators, Horrors, Malignant raveners, etc., are just dangers to be faced and slain. Morally un-ambiguous opponents.

Humans

I need to sit down and write up a rationale for using intelligent animals as PCs instead of humans. Honestly, a good portion of the setting could be used by just making all of the characters primitive humans and using mutants / genetically-alterations to replace the various breeds.

What do I gain by using animals instead of human characters?

Gains:

• Easy identification of races... everyone knows that an Elephant is big and strong and that a Cheetah is fast.
• The potential for amusing in-character misconceptions about what humans are like (but honestly, this could be done with primitive humans, too).
• Ancient humans as a mysterious god-race of unknown capabilities (again, this may be stronger when using animal-PCs, but it could be done with humans, too).
• Ready excuses for a large variety of reasonable "mutations" and sub-races without being hokey about it. It's easy to design a new breed, whereas creating a new subrace of humans would require more thought.
• I get to keep using the artwork that I've already done.
• Easy support for characters without hands (although adding in a race of uplifted Dogs or something who work alongside the humans would be easy, too).
• I don't have to invent a new title. Most characters wouldn't be "Beasts" anymore. I'd probably want to call the game something else. Maybe something with the word Echoes in it. Nuclear Echoes?

Losses:

• A potential lack of connection with the characters, just because they're not human.
• A potential loss of audience, because some players hate animal-based games. It could easily end up being stereotyped as "another weird furry game".
• I can't use a ton of already existing post-apoc art because it involves humans.

The game might well be improved if I drop the "furry" end of it. There's something to be said for a setting with primitive humans who worship a supercomputer and its cyborg underlings, accompanied by a race of genetially uplifted talking dogs.

Channeling

Channeling becomes a very simple power in this system. The character is simply "possessed" by a beneficient Echo. The spirit or spirits talk to them when they feel that they are needed and never try to control the character unless they are asked (or in cases of absolute need, where the PC is doomed if they don't).

Unlike most powers, Channeling dice come back when the Echoes think that they are needed. It's not based on time or rest because the character doesn't actually exert any effort... it's all the spirits' work.

Beasts with the Channeling power tend to keep it secret. Other Beasts are always very suspicious of Channelers, because, honestly, they're possessed by Echoes. The fact that the Echoes seem to be friendly now isn't proof that they won't turn out to be clever Malignant Shadows later, so Beasts who admit to this power will generally find themselves the subject of an exorcism attempt.

The Echoes go away if requested, can generally be automatically banished (but will always come back unless the player decides that they want to drop this power entirely) and basically try to help the Beast who can hear them.

The player and the GM should choose some sensitive subjects for the character's Echoes. These are topics that the spirits won't discuss, and just bringing them up causes the spirits to go away. Some very common sensitive subjects are themselves and what it's like being dead, but it could be almost anything. Most echoes just refuse to discuss such things; others can't, because they don't remember, but regardless of why they avoid the subject, they'll go away if it comes up.

If your Channeling trait is gone or temporarily reduced and you want to use it, ask your GM if the spirits consider this worth coming back for. As a general rule, they come back when the PC really needs their help or couldn't possibly succeed at the task without them, but sometimes the Shadows just seem to feel lonely and come back just to talk.

Here are some ways the Channeling trait can be used:

• Access to scientific knowledge or specialized skills that a real-world human might possess.
• Figuring out what ancient artifacts or locations were for.
• Resisting possession by normal Shadows, as friendly Echoes try to protect you from them.
• Warnings about dire dangers that the spirits might be aware of but the character is not.
• In a life-or-death emergency (especially one which endangers a lot of good people, not just the PC), the spirits might try to help the PC with almost any task.

Ranger Customs and Authority

• Each Ranger gets one Seal, a small metal piece in the shape of a stylized eagle. You give it to a likely recruit and they use it as their sign of free passage to get to the Sacred Hills and apply to the Oracles for membership in the Rangers. So long as they actually show, you get the Seal back when you next visit the Sacred Hills, regardless of whether they were accepted or not (there's probably a machine-carved unique ID number of the back of each one). If they don't show, well... you may want to go looking for them.
• Rangers who have produced successful recruits in the past may be given an extra Seal or have their current one replaced if they lose it. Others tend to be stuck until they recover it.
• A formal inquiry requires all of the Rangers in a team to vote on what to do... generally a "guilty/not-guilty" vote to determine whether or not an accused Beast should be killed or otherwise punished. The common verdicts are Innocent (no punishment), Investigation (insufficient data, we'll look into it further), Reprimand (public exposure and an oath to not re-offend, reserved for minor offenses), Slashing (like a Reprimand, but much more painful), Mark (the cutting off of appropriate bits, such as castration for rape or inflicting injuries on them similar to what they did to their victim... marked individuals often become outcasts) and Execution... Markings sometimes require a second vote, as to what sort of maiming should occur. Since Beasts are not supposed to harm other Beasts, Execution is supposed to be reserved for the worst of offenses, but sometimes it's used punitively.
• A Caretaker can always override the votes of any number of Rangers. If a Caretaker is present, the Rangers usually don't even vote unless the Caretaker tells them to... Caretakers hardly ever ask anyone else's opinion, but sometimes will say that they lack sufficient information or are too busy and delegate the decision to the Rangers.
• In order for there to be a proper vote, Rangers usually travel in groups of at least 3.
• If there is an even number of Rangers, the most junior Ranger doesn't get a vote.
• Technically, you're required to pick a verdict... Rangers are never supposed to say "I don't know", but they sometimes do. If you aren't sure, your verdict is supposed to be "Investigation" and the investigation continues until you are sure. But sometimes events or time pressure won't permit that and then they have to make the hard choices.
• Caretakers and upper rank Rangers tend to seriously frown on indecisive Rangers... displaying clear leadership and settling an issue in a way that the locals will accept is more important than getting it right.
• Knowingly attacking a Ranger, attempting to hinder their work, or just plain deliberately ignoring their orders is considered to place a Beast outside of the Law and makes them into a renegade/ravener immediately. The exception is Beasts possessed by Shadows, who thus are no longer in control of their actions.
• If the vote isn't unanimous, you redo it up to 3 times. If it's still not unanimous, go with the majority. I'm thinking like the Cirinists in Cerebus here. "Execution." "Execution." "Questioning." [pause] "Execution." "Execution." "Questioning." [pause] "Execution". "Questioning!" "...Questioning."
• Rangers hate giving Reprimands. The general consensus is that if the offense was minor enough to merit just a Reprimand, then the locals should handle it themselves. Verdicts of Innocent are more common, especially since they don't require a public gathering and further effort on the Rangers' part.
• Actually, Reprimand might not even be one... it's just a warning that you choose to issue (or not) when you give an Innocent verdict.

Dodges

It's more for a traditional RPG, but I could see the Dodge maneuver as granting a lot of protection vs one chosen foe at close range, and lesser protection against anyone else. Thus, if you're dodging Fred's swings, it'll actually be harder for someone else to shoot you in the back, even if you aren't aware of their present.

More System Thoughts

Continuing on a DitV theme... I still don't have the game, but there's nothing stopping me from musing on my own system ideas. If I ever publish it, it would be good if my system was significantly different from the normal one.

Stats would be rated in d6s. Emotional ties and special skills are generally rated in a single die, but often a larger one.

Extended contests are resolved by having both sides roll all relevant traits and taking turns putting two dice together and making an action. The opposing side has to discard dice that at least equal that total in order to prevent it from happening... if you have to blow more than 2 dice, you suffer a lingering malign effect, such as an injury, public ridicule, or an item breaking. If you can't stop the action, it's a full success and you are defeated.

Simple contests are resolved by having the PC defend against an action with a set total. If they can stop it with one die, they ace the contest; if it takes two dice, they succeed. If they take 3 dice, they either get a success with lingering effects or fail with no effects, depending on the situation. 4+ means outright failure and may entail serious consequences.

Modifiers generally add to the effective total of the dice you use. For example, if you were trying to resist a strength 7 attack and you were at a -2 due to difficulty modifiers, you'd need to sacrifice dice totalling 9+ to stop it.

In general a d4 is a weak, minor trait. A d6 is a typical and useful one. A d8 is a very strong one. A d10 is an overwhelmingly strong one, and d12 is a supernaturally strong trait. Psychic powers can go up to d12, but most normal PC traits can't.

Cost-wise, is adding 5d4 equivalent to 1d12? Adding more dice lets you deal with more trouble at once... whereas a single big die can blow through most opposition, but only once. They might well be equivalent- I think it would require serious playtesting to be sure.

"Expendable" traits go away when they roll 1s, but can be replenished later. Psychic Powers and Guns (not just ammo, but also gun overheating) are the big expendable traits...

Ammo

It would be nice if the rules actually covered stuff like running out of ammo. I dunno; it might be too abstract for that.

But I could see something like a pool of Ammo Dice (d6s) that you only roll one at a time, and after you use one up you get to roll a replacement die (which represents reloading your gun and continuing). There could even be an Edge that lets you use two guns at once, and thus use up your Ammo Dice at the rate of 2d6 at a time instead of 1d6.