Grymnverse RPG

[solkan_uk]

I've already upped the Attribute points and reduced the skill list, so you'll be a bit above a standard SW character.
I was going to leave off additional points for now and just get some characters ready, since I'm assuming most of the players don't have access to a savage worlds book.
If it seems like you're all having a hard time of it and you're characters aren't capable of what they should be, I'll up them later.

[Bewildered Badger]

I've said it before, but you can download the 'test drive' version of the rules for free from:
http://www.peginc.com/downloads.html

[Rod the Worm]

Ok, using the link BB posted and Solkan's wiki, is this about right?  Please forgive if I've got something wrong, I've not made an SW sheet before:

Sgt Anton

Agility:D8
Smarts:D4
Strength:D6
Spirit:D6
Vigor:D8

(5 points)

Athletics (Strength) - D6
Fighting (Agility) - D10
Healing (Smarts) - D4
Investigation (Smarts) -
Knowledge - Battle (Smarts) - D4
Persuasion (Spirit) - D8
Pilot (Agility) -
Shooting (Agility) - D6
Stealth (Agility) - D4
Survival (Smarts) - D4
Tech (Smarts) -

(15 points, +2 from minor hindrances)

Edges: First Strike, Luck

(1, +1 from major hindrance)

Hinderances: Arrogant (Major), Mean (Minor), Quirk - Ambitious (Minor)

Grymn:
Resistances: Grymn add +2 to any roll to resist poisons, heat, cold and other environmental effects at the Storytellers discretion.
High Gravity: Grymn suffer no penalty for High Gravity, and the penalty for Very High Gravity is reduced to -2

Equipment:  No prices given in the sheet, but I assume we'd be starting with basic kit eg. Grymn standard armour, pulse pistol and sword in Anton's case?

[Bewildered Badger]

Well obviously it's up to Solkan but that looks fine to me.

Cpl. Badjarri aka The Badger

Strength D6
Agility D6
Vigour D6
Smarts D10
Spirit D6

(5 points + 1 from Hindrances)


Athletics (Strength) - D4
Fighting (Agility) - D4
Healing (Smarts) -
Investigation (Smarts) - D6
Knowledge - (Smarts) - Science D6 (Specialization: Physics)
Persuasion (Spirit) -
Pilot (Agility) - D6
Shooting (Agility) - D6
Stealth (Agility) - D4
Survival (Smarts) -
Tech (Smarts) - D10

(15 points)

Edges:
Macgyver, Jack Of All Trades.
(1, +1 from Hindrances)

Hindrances:
Bad Eyes (minor), Loyal (minor), Curious (major)


Grymn:
Resistances: Grymn add +2 to any roll to resist poisons, heat, cold and other environmental effects at the Storytellers discretion.
High Gravity: Grymn suffer no penalty for High Gravity, and the penalty for Very High Gravity is reduced to -2

Equipment: not yet established.

[keeper40k]

OK, my attempt:

Private Alfred more usually known as just Alf

Strength D4
Agility D12
Vigour D6
Smarts D10
Spirit D8

(8 points + 1 from Hindrances)

Athletics (Strength) - D4
Fighting (Agility) - D4
Healing (Smarts) - D4
Investigation (Smarts) - D4
Knowledge - (Smarts) - Science D8 (Specialization: Engineering)
Persuasion (Spirit) -
Pilot (Agility) - D8
Shooting (Agility) - D12
Stealth (Agility) - D6
Survival (Smarts) - D4
Tech (Smarts) - D10

(20 points + 1 from Hinderances)

Edges:
Steady Hands
(1)

Hindrances:
Loyal (minor), Curious (major)

Grymn:
Resistances: Grymn add +2 to any roll to resist poisons, heat, cold and other environmental effects at the Storytellers discretion.
High Gravity: Grymn suffer no penalty for High Gravity, and the penalty for Very High Gravity is reduced to -2

Equipment: not yet established.

[Bewildered Badger]

I'm a bit concerned, Keeper40k, that with his low Spirit score Alf will find it very difficult to recover from being shaken.
 For those not familiar with SW, 'shaken' is a catch all term for a variety of physical and psychological conditions that can seriously impair someone's ability to fight. In game terms a Shaken character can do nothing except move at no more than half normal walking pace, and attempt to recover from the condition. Recovery is achieved by rolling four or higher on a Spirit die, plus or minus modifiers.
 With only D4 in Spirit, Alf would be hard pressed to recover. Granted, as a wild card character he will get some advantages (such as the Wild Die and 'bennies'), but as a combat character he is very vulnerable.
 Might I suggest dropping Smarts to D8, and increasing Spirit to D6? This will significantly improve his chances of recovery. As none of Alf's Smarts based skills are over D8 this change won't affect his starting skills at all (though it will make long term improvements slightly more difficult).

Also, I'm a little confused over the use of Engineering as a Knowledge skill. Under Solkans rules actually repairing stuff comes under the Tech skill. You could probably use the skill points better elsewhere.

[keeper40k]

I think I agree with you on the Smarts/Spirit thing, BB - I'll go and edit my last post after I've posted this one.

However I disagree about Tech and Knowledge: Engineering.  There is a difference between being able to repair something, and knowing (or figuring out) how something works, which is what this skill selection is intended to reflect.  Engineer is a term that is too widely over-used in the UK these days for people who are in fact skilled technicians - to the detriment of both IMO.

[Brandlin]

Well i've grabbed a copy of the savage worlds rules and am reading them.

One thing that strikes me is the rule on "Aces". This is where if you roll the max on your skill die (D4, D6, D8 or D12) then you get to roll again and add on infinitum.  Thats odd as it means that if you are lowely skilled (D4) then you are going to get an ace around 25% of the time. If you are very skilled (D12) then you'll only Ace 8.33% of the time...

I'm also not normally a fan of the idea of player characters being like major characters in movies and therefore better/harder to kill/more skilled/luckier than all the people that surround them in a world . Savage worlds calls this WIld cards and provdes wild dice 'backup rolls' in case you fail with your normal die.  As a regular DM back in the day - I (and my players) liked their worlds populated with real gritty people not cardboard cut outs they could walk through...

Likewise the rule on bennies doesn't appeal. I notice its unusual to be able to make a re-roll and then take whichever roll you want. Most systems that allow re-rolls force you to take the re-roll even if its lower.

When the idea of an online rpg came up i was very keen, I was lookingforwards to the writing. However this seems to be more of a dice rolling rule set than genuine role playing.. so i'm a little dubious.

Having said all that, I dont want to back out. I'm interested in what soltan has thought out.

I'll work up a character and PM it to soltan. I'm assuming that to start our characters don't know each other, so dont see why they'd know everything about each other...



Now, where is that "ride grav bike" skill?

[keeper40k]

I know what you're saying about the dice Brandlin, and I was concerned when I first acquired Savage Worlds, but when you reflect on what the rules are trying to simulate, which is the storybook or hollywood version of reality, where the hero is better than the average Joe and gets away with things that normal people can't, it begins to make a bit more sense.

[Bewildered Badger]

However I disagree about Tech and Knowledge: Engineering.  There is a difference between being able to repair something, and knowing (or figuring out) how something works, which is what this skill selection is intended to reflect.  Engineer is a term that is too widely over-used in the UK these days for people who are in fact skilled technicians - to the detriment of both IMO.

Oh, that's certainly true. No arguments here. It's just that in SW they try to keep things (in their words) 'fast, furious and fun'. Skill classifications are kept deliberately broad. The Fighting skill covers everything from bare knuckle  brawling to lightsabre combat. Driving applies from scooters to main battle tanks. Not realistic, to be sure, but it prevents the game getting bogged down in minutia.
 In this instance, if you want to consider Engineering in 'how it works' terms, as opposed to 'how can I fix it' terms, I'd see that as more of a branch of Science than as a skill in it's own right. So you could just convert
Knowledge - (Smarts) - Engineering D6 (Specialization: Electronics)
into
Knowledge - (Smarts) - Science D6 (Specialization: Engineering)

Hence, Alf would use his Tech D8 for repairs. He'd have a good grasp (D6) of science, and would get a bonus to that (usually +2, but GM has final say) when trying to figure out how something works.

I'm also not normally a fan of the idea of player characters being like major characters in movies and therefore better/harder to kill/more skilled/luckier than all the people that surround them in a world . Savage worlds calls this WIld cards and provdes wild dice 'backup rolls' in case you fail with your normal die.  As a regular DM back in the day - I (and my players) liked their worlds populated with real gritty people not cardboard cut outs they could walk through...

Well, SW was never meant to be realistic. It's a stylistic choice, and not one that'll appeal to everyone. It also has the advantage of cutting down on the book keeping in combat.

[keeper40k]

Your argument is a good one, BB

[Rod the Worm]

One thing that strikes me is the rule on "Aces". This is where if you roll the max on your skill die (D4, D6, D8 or D12) then you get to roll again and add on infinitum.  Thats odd as it means that if you are lowely skilled (D4) then you are going to get an ace around 25% of the time. If you are very skilled (D12) then you'll only Ace 8.33% of the time...

Bear in mind that if you Ace on a D4 you're average total will still only come to 6.5, which is the average done by the D12 basic.  Better dice will generally mean better scores.

[Brandlin]

I know what you're saying about the dice Brandlin, and I was concerned when I first acquired Savage Worlds, but when you reflect on what the rules are trying to simulate, which is the storybook or hollywood version of reality, where the hero is better than the average Joe and gets away with things that normal people can't, it begins to make a bit more sense.

Oh, i can see what they are trying to do - just that thats not normally what i like in an rpg. some of the best rpg's i've played in have been about self development and small successes rather than huge world saving epics.

Bear in mind that if you Ace on a D4 you're average total will still only come to 6.5, which is the average done by the D12 basic.  Better dice will generally mean better scores.

Yup, I know the stats, i just thought it was an oddity thats all.

[snailracer]

i've had a read of the free rules and I think I'll be able to come up with a character. Will I need to buy the full rules to be able to play?
I'm not really sure how this is going to work online, having never played like this before. I'll sit down over the weekend to work my character out. Hopefully I wont annoy anyone with my rookie-ness 

[solkan_uk]

In reply to many of these queries, don't worry about the rules too much.
I'm using Savage Worlds as it's a nice simple system to fall back on. I intend to use the rules only where there's no obvious resolution and I'll probably keep them about 75% hidden from the message board (unless I'm trying to explain something).  While the nature of the game means combat will come up (and probably a fair bit) I don't think a mass of dice rolling really works in message board games.  I'm intending it to be somewhat new BSG like in influence, where the combat is there but it's secondary to the other stuff going on.

I've also realised that on the wiki there's no reference to the amount of points used. I initially intended 8 pts on attributes and 15 on skills, but since we're already have the majority of characters created with 5pts I'll leave it at that and up it later if necessary.

To reply to Snailracer specifically. I've tried not to require rules and I'm hoping not to rely on them too much anyway, specifically as I wasn't expecting many people to have the rules.
Pick your attributes and skills and let me know if there's anything specific you want your character to do and I'll do the rest.

[Rod the Worm]

I don't mind adding an extra 3 attribute points - it'd give me some more skills too since I over-clocked Fighting and Persuasion 

BTW snailracer - it's my first time too, so don't worry about seeming like a rookie!

[FlashbackJon]

Holy crap, how could I have missed this thread?  Grymn?  Play-by-post?  Savage Worlds?!  Yesplz.

I've set up a Grymnverse Wiki since I applied for the existing one and no-one came back to me.

Fix'd, if you'd like to consolidate: http://hasslefree.wikispaces.com/  If not, that's cool too. 

[solkan_uk]

Okay, consider it upped to 8 attribute points and 20 skill points.
For those using the rulebooks, consider yourself seasoned for picking edges etc, if you'd prefer you can have 25 exeperience to spend instead (yes I know this isn't as many as the above would give you).

I'm not even going to attempt to kick this off before Christmas now.

Feel free to contribute whatever you like to the wiki, if I don't like it I'll edit it away, if I do like it or I'm unconcerned about it then congratulations - you've added to the shared universe.

[keeper40k]

Thanks for letting us know, Solkan - I've updated my character

[FlashbackJon]

Hmm.  I like the refined skill list, but... is Notice intentionally gone?

[keeper40k]

Hmm.  I like the refined skill list, but... is Notice intentionally gone?

I failed to see that.  Is this a bad pun, or a conspiracy?

[FlashbackJon]

On second perusal, was it rolled into Investigation?

[snailracer]

Private Lamm

Strength D6
Agility D10
Vigour D6
Smarts D8
Spirit D8

(8 points + 1 from Hindrances)

Athletics (Strength) - D8
Fighting (Agility) - D6
Healing (Smarts) - D4
Investigation (Smarts) - D6
Knowledge - (Smarts) - Science D8 (Specialization: Physics)
Persuasion (Spirit) -
Pilot (Agility) - D6
Shooting (Agility) - D6
Stealth (Agility) - D6
Survival (Smarts) - D4
Tech (Smarts) - D8

(20 points + 1 from Hinderances)

Edges:
Fleet Footed
(1)

Hindrances:
Loyal (minor), Curious (major)

Grymn:
Resistances: Grymn add +2 to any roll to resist poisons, heat, cold and other environmental effects at the Storytellers discretion.
High Gravity: Grymn suffer no penalty for High Gravity, and the penalty for Very High Gravity is reduced to -2

Equipment: not yet established.

Hopefully I've got this somewhere near right. I copied and pasted Alf (sorry Keeper40k) and then adjusted the values to suit me. Looking forward to playing

[keeper40k]

No need to apologise to me, snailracer, I copy-and-pasted Cpl. Badjarri to create Alf

[solkan_uk]

Re-added Notice, I can't decide whether it's worth keeping or not or just rolling it into Investigation/Survival depending on the situation.

Gear will generally be per mission, though feel free to have a 'preferred gear' list and any personal possessions you may have.

For any "out of mission" activities (i.e. being caught with your pants down) I'm assuming Grymn will generally carry a Pulse Pistol with them and some sort of reinforced uniform