Month: September 2019

Old School Cutthroats

Cosmic Cutthroats RPG, Game Design

Cosmic Cutthroats contains rules for randomly generating Attribute Levels, converting OSR critters to CC stats, and some stats on some old-school-sounding spells. So, how to bring it all together?

I definitely want CC to be a fusion of all that’s best in old-style and new-style games. Here are some idea how.

Setting It Up

  1. Characters start at AWE 2, Fledgling Adventurers.
  2. Randomly roll for stats, as noted in Appendix 2.1.
  3. PCs get 375 UP for AWE 2, minus 250 UP for their random stats, leaving 125 UP to purchase LS/RM, Power, and Profession Packages.
  4. The GM may wish to limit the Packages that are available based on the Campaign they want to run. A traditional fantasy, dungeon crawling Campaign might allow the following Packages:
    1. LS/RM: Humans (-12 Upgrade Points), Elves (-51 UP), Dwarves (-30), Goblins (-22), Half-Elves (-24), Half-Orcs (-9), Halflings (-22).
    2. Professions and Powers: Assassin (-77 Upgrade Points), Bounty Hunter (-67 UP), Grifter (-67), Heretic(-38) + Blessed One (Hand of Mercy) (-40), Mystic (-46) + Mage (Sorcerer) (-57), Noble (-59), Outlaw (-63), Ronin (AKA “Fighter”, -69).
  5. Spend the remainder of your Upgrade Points on Talents and Skills, and supplement with Drawbacks, as normal.
  6. Many Qualities work well for an old school dungeon crawly game. A few examples include Cautious, Creative, Curious, Devious, Faithful, Gloryhound, Greedy, Grizzled, Hedonistic, Honorable, Packrat, Rebellious, Shadow, Spiritual, Stubborn, Vengeful.

Running the Game

  1. Thressa is a typical fantasy world, and it’s given some detail in Appendix 3.6.
  2. When the PCs discover a spell book, or want to learn additional spells, choose from the Sample Spells in Appendix 2.3.
  3. Thressa is a typical fantasy world, and it’s given some detail in Appendix 3.6.
  4. Some of the traps found in a dungeon are detailed in Section 6.6.
  5. Some typical monsters are found in Cosmic Cutthroats Section 7.3, and in Deep Cuts Section 3.0.
    1. Cosmic Cutthroats Section 7.3: Imp Demons, Orc Raiders, Ravenous Ghuls, Adolescent Titanium Dragon, Kaiju, Conduit Vermin (reskinned as Rodents of Unusual Size), Night Raptors, Riding Lizards, and the Ally Lodo Celestide.
    2. Deep Cuts Section 3.0: Ninjas, Throng Mind-Slaver, Voyeur Demons, Demon Prince/ss, Vampire Lords.

Optional Rules

  • Trade EDG from Qualities for Extra UP: If PCs are at full EDG, and they would gain EDG from following their Qualities, they instead gain 1/3 an Upgrade Point for every EDG they would have gained.
    • This is the same point cost as one Level of the EDG Attribute, with the Power Throttle Depletion [1 Use].
    • Since we have this calculation in hand, as an Optional Rule, PCs can spend 1 UP to regain 3 lost EDG.
  • In Old School games, PCs often gain XP for each gold coin they find. With this Optional Rule, Greedy PCs become more powerful when they accumulate great wealth, stolen from haunted crypts deep beneath the sunlit surface of the world.