Nuclear Beasts

HMice Halloween Playtest

Okay, some thoughts...

• Pregen characters that I make. Shouldn't be too hard and it'll concentrate playtesting where I want it... on the basic system.
• Freelance adventurer types hired to escort a bunch of workers to a patch of wild pumpkins so that they can harvest one, carve it out, and drag it back to Oakendale. They want some guards this time, because an advance scout saw some scorpions there and they want the PCs to roust them out first.
• During one of the nights, a guard/worker from another pumpkin rushes up to the PC's encampment, bleeding from a shoulder wound and babbling about shrews! He's been poisoned and will gradually pass out unless treated. The area gets encircled by shrews.
• There should be at least one pitched, defensive battle as the shrews try to get in.
• If the PCs get captured, they should be taken and offered up for sacrifice to their dark snake god.

HMice Philosophy

This version of HMice was largely inspired by the Broadsword PDF game. As a "1-pager", it had a superminimalist rules presentation and was very compact.

I've decided to try and squeeze HMice down to a similar level. I'm stealing the very simple Stat+Skill+2d6 vs 9 system from "Barbarians of Lemuria" and attempting to compress the system down to a relatively compact PDF. So far, for example, I have one page that discusses the magic system and then 3 that cover each art in detail.

It looks good so far. I'm a little iffy on the damage/combat system, but that just requires me to get around to playtesting. By compacting the system down to the essentials and trying to confine it to one page per topic, I'm accomplishing several goals:

• Reducing the amount of writing required to the point where I can easily get it done.
• Setting an upper limit so that I know when I'm "done" and can stop adding to a section.
• Making the system more approachable by cutting down on the amount of reading required.
• Leaving tons of room for additional material later, if I want to add it.
• Making a nice, lightweight but still decently detailed system that I'd be willing to play.

With adding an additional page to a section now being a big deal, I can readily stop myself from just adding and adding and adding and never being done. "Fluff" gets excised now. I think this may be the version that's most likely to be completed yet.

Some bits I really like so far:

• The Sorcery system allows me to restrict powerful effects, introduce new spells without altering history, and give mages lots of room to be different... all while leaving the core system very flexible.
• The Small/Large Magick divide seems to fit well with my ideas for the spells... no ultra-powerful call-down-doom spells exist... although there's still the potential for McGuffin uber-rites due to the Dark Bargains and Forbidden Rites.
• There's lots of room for special powers for non-mages, although I'd probably like about another page's worth.
• I think the Familiarity system sounds like it has potential, although it might turn into a small set of very common Powers instead of a variant sort of skill. I can also handle background skills by giving a couple of free Familiarities such as for your homeland.

HMice Ideas

So, with my new "Barbarians of Lemuria" ruleset... let's record any additional ideas.

• If an injury takes you below 6 HP, roll 1d6. If you roll higher than your current HP, you pass out. You'll revive a few minutes later and can spend a Hero Point to revive immediately if you need to.
• If an injury takes you below -1 HP, roll 1d6. If you roll less than the number of points that you're negative, you are dying and will expire in a few minutes without magical aid. If you roll 5 less than that number, you are dead.
• Hero Points are going to be kind of rare... if I want a "critical success" mechanic, it should probably be separate from the "Heroic Success" results I was considering.
• New Reshape Sorcery: Revival (1 Point): by spending 2 Fatigue and rolling against 7 + the number of hit points that a target has gone negative, you can revive the recently deceased.
• I might remove Hero Points from all of the powers that say you can spend Fatigue on them and just make it clear that they can be spent instead of Fatigue at will.
• Focus is just a +1 bonus that hangs around until you apply it to something or use it to trigger a power. Perhaps Focus can also be spent to activate crits? That would cause characters to periodically pause to focus even in a big fight.
• New Power: Unstoppable (1 Point): Whenever you roll a death or consciousness check, roll 2d6 and take the better roll.

HMice Magellian

Magellian, god of knowledge, is believed to wear a cloak woven out of magic threads. Each thread can be sent forth to act as a messenger or scout on the god's behalf.

Perhaps it should be a certain kind of bird? Or just have magic eyes painted on it?

Anyway, Magellian's Cloak are the roaming members of the priesthood who are expected to make regular reports and write up their chronicles after they return. It's common for young and restless priests to volunteer for it.

Each priesthood is going to be available for membership... this grants you some access to the priesthood's resources, but adds a duty to it.

Each spell is a separate minor power... it costs 1 point to be able to cast that type of spell. Throwing a stronger version either requires total concentration or you have to spend 1 Fatigue. An overwhelming success or better can also drop a result level to eliminate the fatigue loss after you roll, so a really high Magic rating makes it more practical to throw around powerful spells on a whim.

Each "High Sorcery" is a trick that costs at least 1 point and must be purchased separately. Each requires you to roll one of the base 6 spell-skills. Some examples:

• Levitation (Tug)
• Lightning (Spark)
• Sculpt Metal (Shaping)
• Hallucination (Guise)
• Contact Dark God (Whisper)
• Paralyze (Compel)

HMice Quickie Ruleset

Divide 7 points between these 4 stats

• Agility: speed, stealth and skill with edged weapons.
• Brawn: physical strength and endurance, skill with simpler, blunt weapons and wrestling.
• Cleverness: wits, charm and general knowledge of the world.
• Perception: the keenness of your senses and your aim for ranged attacks.
• Magic: your ability to cast spells and resist malign magic. Typically zero or even -1 for non-mages.

Each stat can be rated anywhere from -1 (terrible) to 0 (typical) to 4 (great) but their total should only be 7. Note that a rating of zero in Magic indicates no ability to cast spells at all (just as the typical NPC has no ability to cast spells).

[Would Wits be a better name than Cleverness? It's shorter, but on the other hand, I already have Perception.]

Skills are similarly rated from 0 to 4 (you could probably technically have a -1 in one, but that would be quite rare and represent a true inability to pull that off).

Armor stops 1 point of damage per level, but also inflicts an equal penalty on all Agility-based skills.

To perform a check, roll 2d6+stat+skill. A result of 9 is a Partial Success, 10-13 is a success... a result of 14+ is an overwhelming success and a 19+ is a "double overwhelming success". Technically, a 24 is a triple but rarely occurs. Opposed rolls are often contested, with equaling a roll being a Tie, beating it by 1-4 a success, and beating it by 5+ an overwhelming success. If you roll a Natural 12, you can spent a Hero Point to bump up the result by a category (failure to tie to success to overwhelming success to double-overwhelming to triple, et cetera).

Characters get 4 extra skill points solely to buy Familiarities with regions they've lived in. This could be 4 areas at +1 each, a single area at +4, etc. These are all Cleverness skills.

So, it's stat + skill + familiarity + other bonuses. Familiarities are generic overlapping skills like specific weapons, creatures or regions. They add to any checks that involve that locale. It's also possible to say that tests like knowing the name of a local ruler are impossible unless you have the right Familiarity.

Combat isn't skill based, but rather stat based (although weapon familiarities can help). Melee is Agility + Brawn, Missile is Agility + Perception, Thrown is Brawn + Perception and Dodging (attempting to completely avoid the attack) is Agility + Cleverness.

Of course, doing THAT does mean that you never get PCs who start out sucky in combat but grow to be great. Instead, PCs start out competent. A possible alternative would be to say that those skills use the higher of X or Y, although that penalizes people who spread out their stats. Still, is it a big deal if you get better at skills without getting better at fighting?

HMice Magic levels

Effortless: no energy, no roll, spell just succeeds.

Very Draining: costs Fatigue, requires roll and complete concentration.

Draining: costs Fatigue, requires roll.

Normal: requires roll.

Hm. 4 types of spells? Two binary traits?

Simple / Complex

Weak / Powerful

So "Small Magicks" are Simple & Weak.
Large Magicks are Simple & Powerful.
Low Sorceries are Complex & Weak.
High Sorceries are Complex & Powerful.

Complex spells require high skill... Powerful spells require a high Magic rating. Hm... well, if Magic were changed to just affect the Power of spells and not make them easier, then that would work cleanly... but I'm iffy on it.

If "Sorceries" are special spells that have to be purchased separately (meaning that you don't automatically know them all) then we basically just have Small and Large magicks.

So... Magic + Skill vs difficulty, which is whatever's standard. Assume 9 for now (a la Barbarians of Lemuria). Large Magicks are inherently cruder (double the penalty for being subtle or complex) and always cost a Fatigue unless you get a crit.

A Low Sorcery costs 1 point and is difficulty 11. A High Sorcery costs 2 points and is also difficulty 11 but also costs 2 Fatigue.

Heart-weaving: spells of mental coercion and influence. Making people hesitate or not hesitate, spreading feelings of X over an area. Generally grants a +1 bonus to appropriate rolls.

Whispers: spells of mental communication. Translating foreign tongues, sending mental messages. A Shout attempts to overwhelm the target.

Glamour: disguising things with magic. Making something look like something else. Covers hiding from view mostly. The strong version can startle foes with giant monsters... a High Sorcery allows you to inflict a long-lasting hallucinatory fit on a foe.

Reshape:

Tug:

Spark:

Scry:

The 7 basic Arts:
Compel, Reshape, Tug, Spark, Scry, Whisper, Disguise.