David Johansen
Legendary Pubber
- Joined
- May 4, 2017
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Sometimes I get an idea in my head and then I hit a bump in the road and get stuck. A couple years ago I was working on a stripped down version of WHFRP for an alternative to 40k setting that I posted here. Then I went back to Galaxies In Shadow for a while and forgot it for a bit. This week I had a funny thought on how to do robot characters so I went back to it. And here's where I'm at:
Blood Red Future
The Crimson Empire is coming. New ships are leaving their ship yards. New weapons are leaving their factories. After the long dark age that followed the collapse of the Universal Federal Compact fleets once more darken the skies.
Designer’s Notes
As I pause for a moment in working on exhaustive integrated simulations, I found myself thinking about a simple and limited system, only useful for fairly narrative roleplay. Still the concept was intriguing and I took a little while to consider it resulting in this game.
Basic Mechanics
Blood Red Future uses d100 rolls to determine success and failure. Two ten-sided dice are rolled and the first is read as tens and the second as ones. If the roll is less than the characteristic plus skill being tested the action succeeds. For every ten points the roll is below the skill, a margin of success is achieved which can be used to improve the results of the action. If an action is resisted by an opponent both participants roll with the better margin of success winning. If both fail, the result is a stalemate.
Rather than attempting to be all things to all people, Blood Red Future is designed with a specific technological paradigm and theme. A dirty and rusty future, full of remnants of past glories where hard scrabble colonists face the advance of a terrifying new empire. The intention is to evoke a sense of place while leaving the details open to exploration and development rather than get bogged down in specific lore.
Characters
A character is created by selecting a character type (Organism, Robot) and a career (Pilot, Ranger, Scavenger, Scholar, Scoundrel, Soldier, Spy, Tanker, Technician). This will provide a number of random rolls and fixed Characteristics, Skills, and Traits.
Characteristics
Awareness
Coordination
Endurance
Knowledge
Personality
Reflexes
Strength
Willpower
Awareness is a measure of the five senses and the individual’s over all alertness. It is checked to detect hidden foes and clues. Coordination indicates how deftly and quickly an individual can move and get around. Endurance represents overall health and cardiovascular fitness it is tested to resist poisons and contributes to the amount of damage the character can survive. Knowledge measures education and general knowledge and is tested to remember details and information. Personality is a measure of social awareness and charisma, it is useful when deceiving and commanding others. Reflexes is a measure of reaction speed and decision making ability, it is used to drive vehicles and act first in combat. Strength is a measure of muscular fitness and bulk, it is used to inflict and survive damage, carry loads but is relative to size: a tiny critter with a 100 Strength only about as strong as a huge one with a Strength of 3. Willpower indicates how patient and stubborn a character is. It is used to overcome fear and psychic attacks.
Melee Damage Modifier = (Strength / 10) - 5
Base Hit Points = 5 + (Strength + Endurance) / 100
Destiny
Player characters aren’t just ordinary folks, they’re the heros of this benighted universe. As such they have a certain amount of special consideration and protection. Each player character enters play with ten destiny points. These primarily function as extra hit points that represent close misses and lucky breaks that keep them alive. However, Destiny points can be spent to achieve other effects, including +10 to any success roll, one level of margin of success applied to results, or one serendipitous opportunity.
Blood Red Future
The Crimson Empire is coming. New ships are leaving their ship yards. New weapons are leaving their factories. After the long dark age that followed the collapse of the Universal Federal Compact fleets once more darken the skies.
Designer’s Notes
As I pause for a moment in working on exhaustive integrated simulations, I found myself thinking about a simple and limited system, only useful for fairly narrative roleplay. Still the concept was intriguing and I took a little while to consider it resulting in this game.
Basic Mechanics
Blood Red Future uses d100 rolls to determine success and failure. Two ten-sided dice are rolled and the first is read as tens and the second as ones. If the roll is less than the characteristic plus skill being tested the action succeeds. For every ten points the roll is below the skill, a margin of success is achieved which can be used to improve the results of the action. If an action is resisted by an opponent both participants roll with the better margin of success winning. If both fail, the result is a stalemate.
Rather than attempting to be all things to all people, Blood Red Future is designed with a specific technological paradigm and theme. A dirty and rusty future, full of remnants of past glories where hard scrabble colonists face the advance of a terrifying new empire. The intention is to evoke a sense of place while leaving the details open to exploration and development rather than get bogged down in specific lore.
Characters
A character is created by selecting a character type (Organism, Robot) and a career (Pilot, Ranger, Scavenger, Scholar, Scoundrel, Soldier, Spy, Tanker, Technician). This will provide a number of random rolls and fixed Characteristics, Skills, and Traits.
Characteristics
Awareness
Coordination
Endurance
Knowledge
Personality
Reflexes
Strength
Willpower
Awareness is a measure of the five senses and the individual’s over all alertness. It is checked to detect hidden foes and clues. Coordination indicates how deftly and quickly an individual can move and get around. Endurance represents overall health and cardiovascular fitness it is tested to resist poisons and contributes to the amount of damage the character can survive. Knowledge measures education and general knowledge and is tested to remember details and information. Personality is a measure of social awareness and charisma, it is useful when deceiving and commanding others. Reflexes is a measure of reaction speed and decision making ability, it is used to drive vehicles and act first in combat. Strength is a measure of muscular fitness and bulk, it is used to inflict and survive damage, carry loads but is relative to size: a tiny critter with a 100 Strength only about as strong as a huge one with a Strength of 3. Willpower indicates how patient and stubborn a character is. It is used to overcome fear and psychic attacks.
Melee Damage Modifier = (Strength / 10) - 5
Base Hit Points = 5 + (Strength + Endurance) / 100
Destiny
Player characters aren’t just ordinary folks, they’re the heros of this benighted universe. As such they have a certain amount of special consideration and protection. Each player character enters play with ten destiny points. These primarily function as extra hit points that represent close misses and lucky breaks that keep them alive. However, Destiny points can be spent to achieve other effects, including +10 to any success roll, one level of margin of success applied to results, or one serendipitous opportunity.
