Ghost in the Shell [d20]

[Neithan]

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/5223/shelly.jpg

Ghost in the Shell d20



Has anyone done that?

Should we do it? :smallbiggrin:

Seeing such great threads as Final Fantasy X, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill for d20, it came to my mind, that Ghost in the Shell also has a lot of potential.

For those not overly firm with the subject, GitS is cyberpunk manga written in 1989, which was made into a movie in 1995. Following the movie was a 3 season anime series and two more movies.
GitS takes place at some point in the 21st century and mostly in a Japan, where the government is struggling to keep its power against a rise of crime, terrorism, and corruption, and the rest of the world is probably not faring much better. The storyline folows the members of Section 9, a counter-terrorist police unit, that has to deal with criminals and terrorist as much as with rival government agencies. In their fight to protect the people of Japan, Section 9 isn't too strict about government regulations and the law, but vompared to many of their colleagues, they are still the good guys.
The writer of the manga, Shiro, was an engineer in his first profession, and GitS has tonnes of electronic gadgets! Cyborgs, powered armor, optical camouflage (invisibility!), neural interfaces, VR-hacking, artificial body parts, exotic aerial vehicles, you name it.

There's also another smaller series from the same creator, Appleseed, which is not part of the GitS world, but has many similarities with a stronger focus on robotics and mecha. The technology presented there might also be very useful for a GitS campaign.

I'm actually doing my own sci-fi setting, that includes huge aspects from Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed (as well as Half-Life and System Shock) but everything used for a GitS campaign would also be very helpful with that.



First real qestion is, what system to use. D20 would be the obvious choice, and though it looks pretty sollid, I have to say I'm not terribly thrilled by it. Looks okay, I guess, but I haven't seen it much in action, and there are many other game systems for futuristic RPGs, which I don't know anything specific about.
D20 modern has d20 future and d20 cyberspace, which is helpful, but I think it might be a good idea to see if other people know about other systems, that might work better. (I've heared about GURPS and some people even say that BESM is a pretty sollid system, too.) So, any thought regarding this?

[Zeta Kai]

Has anyone done that?

You can look here (http://www.serenadawn.com/GITS-StartingTemplates.htm) & here (http://www.serenadawn.com/GITS-BasicGame.htm) for one interpretation. There also used to be some stuff on Gleemax. Just google "Ghost in the Shell d20" to get the score on most attempts. The links above seem to be the best effort done so far.

[Neithan]

Okay. I took a look at the Tri-Stat dX Systems BESM and Ex Machina, and though they have some neat ideas, I think I'll stick with d20. A d20 modern basis will be used, but with great inspiration by Star Wars Saga.

My basic concept is to make the game moderately to highly story driven. Action is supposed to be fast and looking cool, with less emphasis on intricate special maneuvers, that require complex mechanics involving lots of small modifiers. I really like D&D 3.5e, but for a GitS game I'd rather throw a grenade and it kills everyone nearby, than to handle five opponents with levels in diferent classes in a field of Evards Black Tentacles. The story is supposed to be at the center of the game, and combat to be action, and not so much a tabletop game of carefully planing ones next move. I think that's a concept that has been used for creating Saga and also influenced 4th Edition (though it seems to me, they made stuff even more complicated in the end).

Basics
I design all the stuff here with standard 25 point buy in mind. This results in pretty normal scores for most characters, but most players will add quite some cybernetic enhancements to that, so most characters will likely end up pretty impressive anyway.
But as always, any other way to generat stats probably works as well.
Characters usually won't reach levels above 12th, so all my classes will end at that level. But you could extend them, if you like.
Skills work as in 3.5e. You get one feat every three levels and can increase one ability score every 4 levels.
BAB, hit points and saves are d20 standard.
In addition, characters get a defense bonus that is always added to AC, even when wearing armor. The defense bonus is limited by the armor maximum Dexterity bonus, but reduced seperately from dexterity. (So a character with Dexterity 16, a defense bonus of +1 and an armor with a maximum Dexterity bonus of +2 would add +3 to his AC: +2 from Dexterity and +1 from the defense bonus.) This reflects a characters ability to better evade attacks with more experience, and is countered by the fact, that weapons deal a lot more damage than in D&D.
As all characters are human, the +1 skill point at every level and the extra feat at 1st level are allready included in the standard progressions and classes. If a character who is not human (for example a robot) does not get this benefit, it's indicated by a penalty of -1 skill point per level.
Equipment will be given a Wealth check DC instead of a fixed numerical price. As looting defeated enemies and hostile hideouts doesn't fit the game, and most games probably have the PCs outfited with government equipment, the Wealth system seems more appropiate and practical than counting money.

Classes (concept)
Though the basic classes of d20 modern are an interesting idea to play "normals", I think it doesn't really work for a GitS campaign. It's unlikely anyone would want to play a librarian, factory worker, or dentist, who by accident gets drawn into a conspiracy or supernatural events, so I think using standard classes seems a much better idea.
But what classes to create? Here are some ideas. Please give your thoughts and add your ideas, if you think anything is missing. The names used here are just generic terms and have no actual implication about the characters occupation.

Soldier: A basic combat character, trained in hand to hand combat, guns, and armor, with emphasis on Strength and Constitution. (Motoko, Bato)
Scout: A light combat character who depends more on Dexterity and Intelligence than physical strength. (Saito)
Technician: A character skilled in the use and maintanance of computers and machines. (Ichikawa)
Rogue: A character with less emphasis on combat and a greater focus on stealth, espionage, and ambushes. (Togusa?)
Diplomat: A character skilled in talking, investigation, and leadership. (Aramaki)
Cyborg: With classes in the cyborg class, a character learns to take full advantage of his cybernetic ehancements without being distracted by unfamiliar body parts.
Cyberbrain: With classes in the cyberbrain class, a character can make more use of all his neural implants at the same time.

Of course, multiclassing is highly encouraged.

Regular people are simply normals who have skills, but poor saves and attack bonus, and no special class features.

I think an additional class centered around Constitution and Endurance would be good, but I'm totally lacking a real concept for special class features.

[BisectedBrioche]

How do you plan to deal with cyborgs? Are they just going to be an option for upgrading (like shadowrun or d20M) are some classes just going to be cyborgs by default, or what?

Personally I think cyborgs could be treated like a race or a template?

[Neithan]

I think cybernetic enhancements should probably items like other pieces of equipment. But of course, a lot of these technologies can provide a huge increase in power for a character, so the rules have to be more complex.

A cyborg race doesn't seem like a good idea to me. It's the point of cybernetics to be added to regular humans, so a character should be able to become a cyborg at any point.

Aquired templates would work, but the great joy of cybernetics is customization, so I don't want to let go completely of the equipment concept.

I gues for practical reasons, cyborg probably should be a class, or maybe a bit like a prestige class. Maybe everyone can have prothetic limbs or organs and use them as their normal body parts, but a person has to become more accustomed to using cybernetic enhancements to take the full advantage cybernetic upgrades. Levels in the cyborg class would allow a character to use more ehancements.
d20 modern has the rule, that you gain negative levels when you have more ehancements installed, than your body can handle. The same mechanic could be used to represent that a cyborgs neural system hasn't yet adopted to the new enhancements, and they are as much a burden as as a boon.
Minor Spoiler about SAC 2nd season: When Motoko got her first cybrenetic body, she had trouble with fine movements, but archieved more precision over time. This may partly be because the body was a prototype, but negative levels could be used in case of full body replacement as well.

Some people might know the D&D mini-setting Ghostwalk, that has a class for ghost, that at each new level allows the character to gain more ghost powers. Similarily, d20 future has two or three advanced classes for characters who want more enhancements than their body could normaly handle.

Right now, I think a good way to include cyborgs would be with a "cyborg" class for normal cyborgs, and a "cyberbrain" class for characters with mainly brain modifications. Both classes are similar, but the cyborg class is more body focused, while the cyberbrain class is stronger focused on mental activities.
To use some well known examples, Motoko could be a Soldier 4/Scout 2/Cyborg 6, while Saito is a Scout 7/Cyborg 1, and Ichikawa a Technician 6/Cyberbrain 3.

Not at all what you proposed, but your comment still got me thinking about it, so thanks. :smallbiggrin:

[BisectedBrioche]

Treating implants as equipment makes sense. Maybe they could be divided into individual types, similar to simple, martial and exotic weapons, based on how the user has to be modified before they can use them.

Sort of like;

Accessory: A device which can be worn without modifying the user (e.g. a pair of glasses, night vision goggles).
Interface: A device which the user has to be modified to interact with, typically by installing another device (e.g. a computer which requires a brain implant to interact with).
Installed: A device which is permanently grafted onto the user (e.g. an artificial limb, an implant required for an interface device or a full cyborg body).

[But Not Tonight]

Idea:
Cyborg classes be low requirement say, level 2 or 3, prestige classes.
I remember Polyhedron had an issue with the mini-campaign setting for d20M: Mecha Crusade. While the rules for making mecha were quiet cumbersome (simple, but there was just so much) they had a bunch of prestige classes for the setting. I think they might offer some interesting ideas if you can get your mits on a copy... Forget what issue it was, but I remember the "Mecha Crusade" campaign name and the fact it was still attached to the back of Dungeon...

One of the prestige classes simply had a new customisation at each level, and there were a bunch (though nowhere near enough to represent GitS) of options.