My Pulp Mod for Rez, Play as Gangsters, Nazis, Heroes & More Options

[beowulfthehunter]

First let me say, I love the Rez rules. I have been and always been luke warm on the figures/setting. My current love has been Pulp. Thus I have tried to blend the two into a fun quick paced playable game.

For those who are unfamiliar with Pulp, it is the genre of literature that takes place between the end of WWI and the start of WWII. If you have seen movies like the Rocketeer, or Indiana Jones, or Sky Captain you have seen Pulp.

The following modifications allow you to use the Rez rules to play a Strapping Hero and his Dangerous Dame against a sinister villian and his horde of mooks. There realy are no point value for characters and the creation rules are pretty free form so you could have a Villian who uses his mental powers to twart the heroes while sacrificing minions to prevent damage or a martail arts using hero with a heavy gun toting sidekick.

These rules allow for 3-10 models per player and you can have free for alls. All rules are as presented in the rulebook.

There are three levels of characters: Hero (Villian), Sidekick (Henchmen), and troops (mooks).

Hero (Villian)
Example: Inidiana Jones, Brendan Fraser in the Mummy, Green Hornet,
Stats:
MVE 5
RCA 3
CCA 3
SGA 3
BDY 3
NRV 5
REP 3
ARM (this stat represents armor, luck or anything that could lessen damage) 1
Abilites : Leadership, Shrug it Off, any additional 2 from the master list)
Stat Increases (+1 to any 3 stats above except Arm
Eqiupment: Any 3 from the master list
Damage Line: OOOO-1-2D

Side Kick(Henchman)
Examples: Kato, The Arab in the Mumy Movies, Igor, The Dame in Distress, Female Reporter
Stats:
MVE 5
RCA 2
CCA 2
SGA 2
BDY 2
NRV 3
REP 1
ARM (this stat represents armor, luck or anything that could lessen damage) 0
Abilites : 2 from the master list
Stat Increases: has 4 +1s increases that can be given to 4 stats or 2 +2s to any 2 stats or +1 to one stat and +3 to another (No ARM increase)
Eqiupment: Any 2 from the master list
Damage Line: OOO-1-2D

Mook
Examples: Gangsters, Unnamed Nazis, nameless ninjas
Stats:
MVE 5
RCA 1
CCA 1
SGA 1
BDY 2
NRV 3
REP 0
ARM (this stat represents armor, luck or anything that could lessen damage) 0
Abilites : 1 from the master list
Stat Increases +1 to any 2 stats above except Arm
Eqipment: Any 2 from the master list
Damage Line: OO-1-2D


Ability List
Martial Artist
Berserk (Anyone but Hero or Villian)
Catlike
Handy (sidekicks & henchman only)
Flip (sidekicks & henchman only)
Legendary (no mooks)
Misgiving (Sidekicks only if they have a BDY of 2 or less)
Run n' Gun
Regenerate (bad Guys only)
Sacrifice (Villian Only)
Snap Shot
Self Destruct
Luck


Weapon List/Eqipment list:
*.45 pistol/Luger (Treat as Heavy Pistol) May twin this weapon for two choices
*Shotgun (as Shotgun)
*SMG/Thompson, MP40, (treat as SMG) New Ability Spray.....attack roll is made for each die of damage weapon has. Hits are totaled after all dice have been rolled, armor subtracted and damage is rolled vs. Bdy.
Hand Cannon 6/12 -2LR 7d6/3d6 May Twin this Weapon
Flamethrower(as Flame Thrower)
Knife (as Knife)
Sword (as Katana but 4d6)
Club 3d6 +1CC to parry
Whip 3d6, may attack 3 inches away uning RCA sucessful attack opponent loses weapon of your choice, may be used to add d3 inches to horizontal movement accross gaps
Bazooka(Sidekick/Henchman only may not be taken if RCA is 3 or higher)
Rifle (as Assualt Rifle)
Hand Crossbow (as Flechette Pistol)
Jump Pack (as TAD Thrusters)
Armored Vest, Helmet, Codpiece, etc.... +1 ARM
Metal Power Craft 4....pick any one mental power used by an Esper or Arashi(No Mooks)

Thoughts, pardon the typos I will clean up later.
If you have any constructice comments let me know.

[Gimp]

Looks like fun, though I prefer trying to use system stats with points, there's no reason not to run free form.

The Side Kick has a dangerous option as written. The adds could be used to go for some combos that could be unbalancing. SAG 5 with Catlike or RCA 5 are two choices I'd prefer not seeing. I'd like it more with a limit of +2 for any stat.

I'm surprised you didn't allow Keen Eye, though that would make the RCA 5 option even worse. The steady aim from a hero is a standard for pulp.

Spray is a bit odd. Automatic fire already lets you split damage dice into groups under the standard rules. Running where each dice has to be rolled individually would make it useless against any armor, and really slow things down if used against a single target.

If you wanted a different option for hitting a tough target, perhaps you could allow a trade of damage dice for a bonus to hit. Perhaps a +1 RCA bonus for every 2 damage dice. That would allow +1 RCA at short range with 4d6 damage, or +2 for 2d6.

[beowulfthehunter]

I understand that for sidekicks you can get some pretty sick combos. Please keep in mind these rules provide a template to create different types of characters that a GM will have final say over. In this raw form they are open to severe "munchkining."
Quite franky I have no use for those type of people and I do not play with them.

[Gimp]

I can't argue your attitude toward munchkins, as I've seen the type ruin too many gaming groups. I was worried more about the misinformed, rather than the munchkins.

My suggestion for toning down the henchmen options was based in two areas; first, to facilitate groups that would want to use your ideas, but have organizational problems a GM would normally stop. Second, it would help groups keep from making mistakes through lack of experience.

Some play groups might not have the background to realize what allowing RCA 5 or SAG 5 & Catlike could do to play balance. They're only one point more than available Rezolution units, but people tend to forget the impact a small modifier gains as you move away from the center of the bell curve.

SAG 5 & Catlike has an average defense roll of 14, compared to a 13 for the Bishoujo Senshi. An RCA 2 model has less than a 3% overall chance of getting a hit, which is one third of their chance against a Bishoujo Senshi. Even RCA 4 has less than a 17% chance, which is only 60% of their chance against a Bishoujo Senshi.

Many players would miss that, and simply think of it as a +1 bonus over a Bishoujo Senshi, without attempting to be munchkins.

An RCA 5 model with Run and Gun and Snap Shot, armed with hand canons, would shoot four shots at short range starting at RCA 2 doing 7D6 damage against a field with no armor for all models but heroes. Heavy pistols would do less damage, but extend the range and have AP 1.

Again, many players would see only a +1 bonus, and not see the ramifications on the probabilities involved.

A GM might catch the problem, but might also miss the issue, and have a group lose interest in the game because of simple mistakes.

Your concept is cool enough that I would hate to see that happen.

[Nedorus]

I agree with Gimp (as usual ). And I have a question about the same rule section. I noticed that you mention three option for the increases.

a) 4 +1s increases that can be given to 4 stats
2 +2s to any 2 stats
c) +1 to one stat and +3 to another

You do not mention the other two options
d) +1 to four individual stats
e) +1 to two stats and +2 to a third

Is that intentional or simply an oversight? Was the intent to say "do it like this or this or this etc." sort of as examples?

If it was intentional, could you explain as to why you allow one option and not the others?

Personally I'm not a great fan of the pulp genre, I must admit. And I don't see how it would work for a table top game. I usualy see the "hero fighting against all odds"-theme as a major part of the pulp idea. That would leave us with literaly dozens of thugs fighting without skill or strategy (typically the German army types) against a singele hero and his sidekick(s) (usually very British, sometimes American). I don't see how that would work as a table top game.

Can you explain as to how you envision your game? Crew size, point values, factions etc.

I like the idea of having a sort of template system to generate crew members. That would allow to create very unique crews and still be rather balanced. Point values would be an issue. I think that can be solved though with a little play testing Inspired by the discussion on the new Captain Doyle mini and how "firefly-ish" it is (something I hadn't noticed at first) I am thinking of using your template idea for a firefly universe setting (most things Rezolution fitt this rather well).

Nedorus

[beowulfthehunter]

Thanks for the imput again Gimp and from Nedorus.

First here is how I envisoned the game to play. I will give some senario ideas


Senario 1
Kankakee Smith(armed with a 45 and a whip) and his faithful sidekick Quickiemart(+3 to Sag, misgiving, and catlike armed with a slingshot) w/some pygmies(bows)
vs.
Dr. Chan (armed with mental powers and a smg) his sidekick Rock Jamson (+3 BDY and a Sword) with Hand Thugs (martial artists)
One side must get to the Icon and get it off the board before the other side.

Senario 2
Bugs Cappone (armed with 45 and SMGs), Sideckick Officer O-Mally (run and gun, +3 to Rca, +1 MVE) and some Gangsters "concerned citizens" with SMGs
must deffend a Chicago warehouse from
Dr. Nogoodnik, Ava the Nazi torture mistress and some SS(mooks)

As far as the stat allocation goes fro sidekicks. I guess you could add +1 to 4 stats, but sidekicks usualy are not so well rounded and while they excel at one thing they suck at another.

There are no factions perse, It is up to the GM who will pick a story and let everyone else go from there.

[Nedorus]

OK, I think I can see where this goes. It's intended more of a "very small scale" tactics leaning towards RPG/story telling. You will usually have a GM there as well, right?

I think this can work and make for some fun games. Specially when the story progesses and old adversaries meet over and over again until the final showdown. Sounds very cinamtic

I loved the names you gave your example characters

Nedorus

[loki]

We play a lot of Pulp here in the northern part of Germany,

we use thes rules:

http://www.rattrap-productions.com/PulpHeroes/

and here are a few links to our last games:

http://forum.backofbeyond.de/viewtopic.php?t=921

http://forum.backofbeyond.de/viewtopic.php?t=939

http://forum.backofbeyond.de/viewtopic.php?t=442

http://www.witchhunter.net/report_Berlin_45A.html

http://www.napnuts.com/gallery_losttemple.htm



things to come:

http://forum.backofbeyond.de/viewtopic.php?t=714