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paladin_carvin
2009-03-21, 10:39 PM
So, I thought I'd get some advice and ideas from you guys. I'm making a Tabletop RPG based on the video game series 'Fallout'. I'm going to use the system from Legend of the Five Rings as a base, since I think it's very fitting and well suited of a world of this scope. If you know Fallout, please let me know what you think is the important stuff to include. If you know Fallout and L5R, I could use your help on transition. I'll post some more stuff.

-PS: Yes, I know all about Fallout PnP and the relation of Fallout to GURPS.

Greeniron
2009-03-23, 05:28 AM
So, I thought I'd get some advice and ideas from you guys. I'm making a Tabletop RPG based on the video game series 'Fallout'. I'm going to use the system from Legend of the Five Rings as a base, since I think it's very fitting and well suited of a world of this scope. If you know Fallout, please let me know what you think is the important stuff to include. If you know Fallout and L5R, I could use your help on transition. I'll post some more stuff.

-PS: Yes, I know all about Fallout PnP and the relation of Fallout to GURPS.

i know much about both systems, and well to tell the truth fallout was based on the gurps system

Satyr
2009-03-23, 05:38 AM
. I'm going to use the system from Legend of the Five Rings as a base, since I think it's very fitting and well suited of a world of this scope.

L5R is based on heroic Samurai action, and it works very well in this context. Fallout is a more or less humoerous pulp setting in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. While I think that Legend of the 5 Rings is an excellent system for its mood and setting I have problems to see the paralells for both worlds; and actually I belive that the stuff that makes L5R so excellent fot its intended scope, also makes it much lesss fitting for Fallout.

But I am eager to see your ideas, especially if your assumption is right and the system works well with the post-apocalyptic setting.

Besides Gurps, All Flesh Must Be Eaten would be an excellent choice for a Fallout game, especially with the All Tomorow Zombies and One of the Living splatbooks.

paladin_carvin
2009-03-23, 12:07 PM
Well, I suppose I will start with why L5R.

1) More than anything, SPECIAL fits into the Rings/Traits system well. Further so, L5R skill system works nicely with FO Skills.

2) Void translates easily into Luck, which means that all of SPECIAL can still be used.

3) L5R's Status, Glory and- most importantly, Honor work well for FO. This makes it easy to work in Karma as an important, functional statistic. While 'Status' is near meaningless in FO, Glory is a concept I might integrate.

4) While far from unique to L5R, there is a strong advantage/disadvantage system.

5) The dice are all d10 which works well with FO stats. Roll and keep is excellent for FO: having need to do partial damage (not keep the highest of all dice) is evident. In addition, an easy system to decide limb damage (I haven't come up with it, but I have it bouncing in my head).

5) Fallout is heavy with organizations. There seems to be a clear parallel to me between them and the clan schools. Add this to both of these places being a human-centric world that are beset by non-humans it starts feeling right.

6) I think the battle rules are very fitting. Also, raises and free raises etc. will be great for FO fights and interactions. Toss in luck and well...

Yea, those are the basics. I'll post up some more info here in a bit.

paladin_carvin
2009-03-24, 04:38 PM
Alright, so the work right now is to make it possible to make a Vault human. It's the standard, plus Vault has many options available both advantage and disadvantage. If you were making a character, what would you need? What dis/advantages are important to you? More soon.

paladin_carvin
2009-03-28, 01:22 AM
Alright, so here is the first nearly complete bit of the game. This is the entry for the skill 'Unarmed'

----

Unarmed (Endurance)
Weapon Skill
Emphasis: Powered attack, Martial Arts, Foot Blades, Knuckles

The unarmed skill covers all fighting where the body is treated as a weapon. Sometimes this means using a supplemental weapon that allows for greater damage.


Emphasis Abilities
Martial Arts: This can only be used if a Master trains you. This can be taken multiple times to increase the power of your unarmed attack when you have nothing equipped what so ever. Having no Martial Art emphasis means that your unarmed attacks are ZZZZ which increases by ZZZZ for each emphasis.

Mastery Abilities
Rank 3: Unarmed Defense: When attacked by another attacking with melee or unarmed you can add your rank in Unarmed to your TN
Rank 5: Paralyzing Fist: When attacking, if you spend ZZZZ AP you can paralyze an opponent for ZZZZ turns.
Rank 10: Four Finger Fist Fatality: If you use three raises your unarmed attack will automatically kill your target if your Endurance is higher than theirs.
Karma: A balanced karma is the nature of unarmed combat. If your unarmed attack would cause a change in karma the difference is half the normal change. This only happens if you have at least one rank in Unarmed.


----
ZZZZ is just a code for me stating that something needs to be put in. Some of it won't be filled to I'm balancing things.

Xealot7
2009-03-28, 01:45 PM
I am actually 5 games into a Fallout Setting, using a mix of Pathfinder and d20 Modern. I scrapped the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system in favor of the current Pathfinder, but that was just to make things easier. I'm interested to see what you come up with.

paladin_carvin
2009-03-29, 02:08 AM
Hey, so as a test of my concept, I decided to build 'The Puppet Man'. For those who don't know, he is the survivor of vault 77: One man and a create of puppets.

http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_1_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_2_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_3_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_4_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_5_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_6_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_7_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_8_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_9_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_10_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_11_sm.jpg
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/vault/comic/fallout_12_sm.jpg

Here are his stats
Vault 77 Rank 1 Vault Survivor
S P E C I A L
3 2 3 2 3 2 2
AP:5
Rank Skill Roll
5 Unarmed (Martial Arts Style: Puppet Madness) 8k3(+5)
4 Animal Handling (Insects) 6k2(+4)
3 Defense 5k3
3 Small Guns 5k2
2 Medicine (First Aid) 5k3
1 Science 4k3
1 Repair 4k3

Mastery Abilities
When attacking unarmed you keep and roll an extra die for damage.
When attacking unarmed the penalties due to wounds are reduced by 5 (the rank in unarmed).
When reloading a small gun it costs half the AP as standard.
Add 3 (rank in defense) to AC other than when in full attack, unaware of your enemy or incapable of making a defensive movement.

Movement:
Can move 3 meters per 2 AP

Hit Points Total:42
Head:6 Body:15 Weapon Arm(r):6 Off Arm(l):6 legs:9

Karma [XXXXX][XXXXX][I----][-----][-----] (Neutral, 2.1)
Advantages
Vault Purity: Treated as having an endurance 5 higher when facing checks to resist being turned into a ghoul, mutant super mutant or otherwise be changed by the FEV.
Rage: At the GM discretion your character will fly into a rage. While in the rage you gain 2 additional AP, you are considered to be at +1 Str and crippled limbs function despite injury. At the end of the rage (2x your endurance turns, unless the GM says otherwise) you are winded and treated as having -1 Agi till you can sit and rest for 5 minutes. Your Rage is most often triggered by your schizophrenia.
Animal Friend: Animal Friend is an entry advantage. It gives you one free raise on all charisma checks involving animals. Animals will not automatically attack you.
Insect Friend: Insects will come to your aid if you succeed on an animal handle check.
Disadvantages
Psychosis- Schizophrenia: You hear a voice in your head which tells you to do things... heck, you often don’t realize that they are actually being done. This is not to be confused with MPD (see Psychosis- MPD). All charisma based social skills are at a +5 penalty with the exception of intimidation: you gain one free raise for these checks.
Poor- You may start off with some decent stuff but you lack the caps. You start off with no cash.

Training: Vault Survivor
Rank 1: Survivor’s Best Friend
A Vault Survivor is always accompanied by an animal companion. This animal is loyal to a fault. He automatically performs any trick learned, carried 1.5 times as much as the average of its species, will fight (literally) tooth and nail for you (unless told otherwise), does 1k1 more damage and grants a free raise if ridden. If not performing a strenuous task a ride check automatically succeeds. An animal companion is not easily replaced, and if even possible is up to your GM.

Animal Companion: Mr. Pinch
S P E C I A L
3 4 3 1 1 2 -
AP: 6 Move: 1 meter per 1 AP HP: 32
Attack: Pinch (4k3 melee, 3k1 damage, AP 3, AP 4 aimed)


Attacks
Unarmed Damage: 4k2 +3 (+5)
1 AP, can be part of a movement for free once a round

10mm: 2k0 +3 (+3); 0k1 standard bullets (6 clips [48]) 0k2 hollow tips (1 clip [8])
Condition: [XXXXX][XXXI-][-----]
2 AP to shoot, 1 to reload clip, 4 for aimed shot

Armor
Vault 77 Jumpsuit: One free raise each turn for either melee or small guns.
+5 [XXXXX][XXXXX][XXXI-][-----]
Total AC: 15 (18 with Defense)

Other Possessions
Vault Boy Puppet
Rope
5 bottles clean water
5 days rations

paladin_carvin
2009-04-01, 04:30 PM
I'm curious: is it rude to keep bumping your own thread if you really want some input? Am I going about this wrong?

Greeniron
2009-04-02, 06:57 PM
I'm curious: is it rude to keep bumping your own thread if you really want some input? Am I going about this wrong?

well i would say try do more of the rules to fit the fallout setting before you post smaller things like that char you made

Sequinox
2009-04-02, 07:29 PM
I don't know Fallout or L5R at all, (Though I might get Fallout 3 eventually) but I can give you some advice on getting the project more well-known:

1) Add a link to here in your sig.
2) Get your own avatar, so people remember you.
3) Post a lot.

No guarantees, obviously, but I spend a good amount of time sig-following, so I'd give it a try if I were you.

Good luck with this.

paladin_carvin
2009-04-03, 05:01 PM
I don't know Fallout or L5R at all, (Though I might get Fallout 3 eventually) but I can give you some advice on getting the project more well-known:

1) Add a link to here in your sig.
2) Get your own avatar, so people remember you.
3) Post a lot.

No guarantees, obviously, but I spend a good amount of time sig-following, so I'd give it a try if I were you.

Good luck with this.

Wow... that's all good advice, thank you.:smallbiggrin:

paladin_carvin
2009-04-07, 01:33 PM
Alright, so stuff is updating simultaneously here and at my game thread. You can see it in my sig, go check it out if you like.

The big problem I've had recently is 'how to avoid copyright violation'. Being that things are in development, I think most copyright holders would be lenient and at worst ask me to stop. I feel ok in regards to Bethesda/Interplay, as they have encouraged these types of things in the past (at least non-profit-wise, which it currently is). But AEG, the owners of Legend of the Five Rings are a different matter. Roll and Keep, it seems, is copyrighted.

So, if someone can tell me what can and can not be copyrighted... and what direction I should go in these concerns. I've been told mechanics can't be copyrighted, only the presentation: what does that mean though? HALP?

paladin_carvin
2009-04-08, 05:48 PM
Alright, so I think I have a solid idea on how this thing is going to work. The first thing is the core mechanic.

Skill roll
-Basics
All skill rolls you roll ten 10 sided die. You can pick up (count, add together, what have you) the amount of whole ranks in that skill. Ranks are composed ten points. The associated SPECIAL trait adds a bonus in a certain number of points as does Luck for all skills. Having a certain rank may give 'mastery abilities' which give certain bonuses. You can also gain an emphasis which gives the ability to turn any one die into the rank of the skill. Emphasis may let you do certain things that are impossible otherwise (such as repair:creating weapon is needed to make a weapon). There are also specialties, which is an emphasis for an emphasis (such as repair:create weapon:create melee weapon). Specialization can go up to 5 levels with GO approval- each recursive level of specialization is exponentially more difficult to obtain. For each level of specialization another dice can be replaced.

-Tricks
At the cost of raising the BE (Bulls eye, the 'check') you can perform tricks. Some tricks pick out where damage occurs (called shots), some tricks lets you act faster and others let you know what the BE is. Free tricks can be obtained by impressing the GO with a clever idea, having an appropriate advantage or simply being in the right place at the right time. 'Post tricks' can also be obtained by rolling extremely lucky (see below). [how many 'tricks' uses are needed to perform in some way will need to be decided through testing]

-Lucky Stuff
The simple way to use luck is to make a 'lucky roll'. Before you roll you can use one luck point to get a) a free raise b) make a roll you would need the emphasis to perform c) add or subtract (or neither, your choice after rolling) your luck trait from your total. You start each day (or, more precise, after resting for at least 6 hours) with refilled luck points equal to your luck trait. You can use [skill:lucky charm] to make a roll to possibly restore a certain number of luck points or [skill:prayer/meditate] to restore some points after an hour of calm.
Boom!- Boom (or, 'go boom!') is when a die rolls 10 without any kind of bonus. When this happens this die is immediately rolled again and it is added to 10. If this new roll is a 10 it can be rolled again and so forth. A die can be rerolled up your rank in Luck. Until you reach your luck rank you can not voluntarily stop boom rolls.
Break!- Break is when you roll a 1. For every 1 in your roll a point in some problem occurs (for example, rolling a 1 while rolling a weapon skill makes that weapon damaged). Some skills don't have a penalty for breaks. You can avoid breaks by including the 1 in your roll.
Bullseye!- Depending on your luck trait, if your roll totals very close to the BE you make a critical strike. A critical strike automatically gives you post tricks dependent on the skill [such as called shots, increased damage or 'find the gap' (ignore DR) for weapon skills]. Creative addition and use of things like lucky rolls and emphasis dice will let you get close to the bullseye. How close and how many tricks is as follows
The first number is +/- 0 followed by +/-1 and so on
Luck trait__||0____|1____|2____|3____|4____|5____|
[+/-],tricks||10000|11000|21000|21100|22100|32100|
Luck trait__||6____|7____|8____|9____|10___|
[+/-],tricks||32110|32210|33210|43210|43211|

-Example
For example, Will Armando has a 4.2 in repair (4 ranks and two points on top of that) and an emphasis in weapon repair. When he tries to repair his sawed-off shotgun he rolls his dice and gets (10->16, 8, 4, 1, 2, 10->12, 5, 1, 6, 6) and knows the BE is 35. He can pick any 4 and picks 16, 12, 6, 1 and turns the other 1 into a 4 because of his emphasis. He has no breaks that aren't taken care of so he doesn't damage his tools. He has a 2 in luck so his 0 off bullseye is worth 2 post tricks which he uses for a 2 trick 'better leftovers' (the shotgun he was using for spare parts is not used up but rather becomes 'shotgun parts', which can be used repairs later).

This is the tentative cost for things... if it mentions [rank] it means the number it will be after the increase, not the current.

Characters start with Rank 1 in a job, SPECIAL of 2 2 2 2 2 2 2, +1 in two traits from background and job, some skills which should have at least one emphasis

'Leveling' costs
Prime Job Rank:20+([prime Job Rank]x10)
This increases the Rank in your job, which is in many ways a 'level'. Many advantages, job rank abilities and even some skills depend on this number. In addition, you gain a unique job rank ability each time you increase this number. This job will always use this formula, even if you gain secondary jobs.

Secondary Job Rank:(20x[number of jobs])+([specific Job Rank]x10)
Other than this much higher cost to upgrade there are no 'multi-class' penalties. Changing what is your primary job is as simple as a new highest ranked job. You do not gain the skills or SPECIAL bonuses of the new job.

Health boost:8x[health rank]
This gives 1 hp to legs, each arm, head and 3 to chest.

Speed boost:5x[base m per AP]
Speed starts at 3 m per AP but is lowered by many temp factors such as quality of footwear, health of legs and weight carried.

SPECIAL trait boost:15x[SPECIAL trait rank]
Remember to boost skills and other benefits when you do this.

Skills boost: 5+(3x[SKILLS ranks])
When you gain this you add (10+[INT]) skills wherever you like.

Emphasis boost: 3x[total emphasis on skill]
Specialization boost: 3x[recursive level]x[total specializations in skill]
For a specialization boost, the recursive level starts at 1 for emphasis, but 'total specializations' do not count emphasizes.

And then there are the Advantage and Disadvantages. Check your GURPS handbook for ideas, or any other game with (dis)ads.

Vorpalbob
2009-10-28, 03:56 AM
I made a fallout rpg mostly out of the D20 Modern rules, but a lot of the rules i ended up writing myself. Surprisingly enough, it actually works well!

-Baldur-
2009-10-28, 08:24 PM
Alright, so I think I have a solid idea on how this thing is going to work. The first thing is the core mechanic.

Skill roll
-Basics
All skill rolls you roll ten 10 sided die. You can pick up (count, add together, what have you) the amount of whole ranks in that skill. Ranks are composed ten points. The associated SPECIAL trait adds a bonus in a certain number of points as does Luck for all skills. Having a certain rank may give 'mastery abilities' which give certain bonuses. You can also gain an emphasis which gives the ability to turn any one die into the rank of the skill. Emphasis may let you do certain things that are impossible otherwise (such as repair:creating weapon is needed to make a weapon). There are also specialties, which is an emphasis for an emphasis (such as repair:create weapon:create melee weapon). Specialization can go up to 5 levels with GO approval- each recursive level of specialization is exponentially more difficult to obtain. For each level of specialization another dice can be replaced.

-Tricks
At the cost of raising the BE (Bulls eye, the 'check') you can perform tricks. Some tricks pick out where damage occurs (called shots), some tricks lets you act faster and others let you know what the BE is. Free tricks can be obtained by impressing the GO with a clever idea, having an appropriate advantage or simply being in the right place at the right time. 'Post tricks' can also be obtained by rolling extremely lucky (see below). [how many 'tricks' uses are needed to perform in some way will need to be decided through testing]

-Lucky Stuff
The simple way to use luck is to make a 'lucky roll'. Before you roll you can use one luck point to get a) a free raise b) make a roll you would need the emphasis to perform c) add or subtract (or neither, your choice after rolling) your luck trait from your total. You start each day (or, more precise, after resting for at least 6 hours) with refilled luck points equal to your luck trait. You can use [skill:lucky charm] to make a roll to possibly restore a certain number of luck points or [skill:prayer/meditate] to restore some points after an hour of calm.
Boom!- Boom (or, 'go boom!') is when a die rolls 10 without any kind of bonus. When this happens this die is immediately rolled again and it is added to 10. If this new roll is a 10 it can be rolled again and so forth. A die can be rerolled up your rank in Luck. Until you reach your luck rank you can not voluntarily stop boom rolls.
Break!- Break is when you roll a 1. For every 1 in your roll a point in some problem occurs (for example, rolling a 1 while rolling a weapon skill makes that weapon damaged). Some skills don't have a penalty for breaks. You can avoid breaks by including the 1 in your roll.
Bullseye!- Depending on your luck trait, if your roll totals very close to the BE you make a critical strike. A critical strike automatically gives you post tricks dependent on the skill [such as called shots, increased damage or 'find the gap' (ignore DR) for weapon skills]. Creative addition and use of things like lucky rolls and emphasis dice will let you get close to the bullseye. How close and how many tricks is as follows
The first number is +/- 0 followed by +/-1 and so on
Luck trait__||0____|1____|2____|3____|4____|5____|
[+/-],tricks||10000|11000|21000|21100|22100|32100|
Luck trait__||6____|7____|8____|9____|10___|
[+/-],tricks||32110|32210|33210|43210|43211|

-Example
For example, Will Armando has a 4.2 in repair (4 ranks and two points on top of that) and an emphasis in weapon repair. When he tries to repair his sawed-off shotgun he rolls his dice and gets (10->16, 8, 4, 1, 2, 10->12, 5, 1, 6, 6) and knows the BE is 35. He can pick any 4 and picks 16, 12, 6, 1 and turns the other 1 into a 4 because of his emphasis. He has no breaks that aren't taken care of so he doesn't damage his tools. He has a 2 in luck so his 0 off bullseye is worth 2 post tricks which he uses for a 2 trick 'better leftovers' (the shotgun he was using for spare parts is not used up but rather becomes 'shotgun parts', which can be used repairs later).

This is the tentative cost for things... if it mentions [rank] it means the number it will be after the increase, not the current.

Characters start with Rank 1 in a job, SPECIAL of 2 2 2 2 2 2 2, +1 in two traits from background and job, some skills which should have at least one emphasis

'Leveling' costs
Prime Job Rank:20+([prime Job Rank]x10)
This increases the Rank in your job, which is in many ways a 'level'. Many advantages, job rank abilities and even some skills depend on this number. In addition, you gain a unique job rank ability each time you increase this number. This job will always use this formula, even if you gain secondary jobs.

Secondary Job Rank:(20x[number of jobs])+([specific Job Rank]x10)
Other than this much higher cost to upgrade there are no 'multi-class' penalties. Changing what is your primary job is as simple as a new highest ranked job. You do not gain the skills or SPECIAL bonuses of the new job.

Health boost:8x[health rank]
This gives 1 hp to legs, each arm, head and 3 to chest.

Speed boost:5x[base m per AP]
Speed starts at 3 m per AP but is lowered by many temp factors such as quality of footwear, health of legs and weight carried.

SPECIAL trait boost:15x[SPECIAL trait rank]
Remember to boost skills and other benefits when you do this.

Skills boost: 5+(3x[SKILLS ranks])
When you gain this you add (10+[INT]) skills wherever you like.

Emphasis boost: 3x[total emphasis on skill]
Specialization boost: 3x[recursive level]x[total specializations in skill]
For a specialization boost, the recursive level starts at 1 for emphasis, but 'total specializations' do not count emphasizes.

And then there are the Advantage and Disadvantages. Check your GURPS handbook for ideas, or any other game with (dis)ads.

Just seems a LOT of work to simply repair a shot gun. I'd be worried that the crossover from console to table top might bore the crap out of the user. Repair shotgun on console= .5 seconds. Your version, about 3-4 minutes. If there's anyway to simplify your actions I would encourage you to do it. Goodluck!

Andraste
2009-10-29, 01:13 AM
I haven't read your stuff yet, but I thought it would be worth mentioning this (http://www.scribd.com/doc/2563348/Fallout-PenPaper-A-post-Nuclear-RPG). It's a fallout Tabletop RPG that I considered using once.

Diagoras
2009-10-29, 12:58 PM
I've seen a few Fallout PnPs across the net, including one which was a literal transcription of the Fallout rules in the first/second game into a dice-based system.

Good luck with this.

CelticDragonlor
2010-04-25, 11:48 AM
To throw it in there... there's an unofficial Fallout tabletop RPG system already out there, it was just retracted after some time. You might be able to get ahold of a PDF version. Might be the same one Balford mentioned.

Also, I run a Fallout-based IRC game on DarkMyst... text-based roleplaying, heavy on the character development, realism, grittiness, and descriptiveness. New Reno RPG, found at http://polarhome.com:793/~newreno . We use a unique system for things but stick with the gritty, raw world of Fallout 1 and 2. Just giving some more options for you. =)