Category: GM Techniques

The Watcher Beyond the Veil

Cosmic Cutthroats RPG, Game Design, GM Techniques, Setting Material

Back after a long hiatus! But Cosmic Cutthroats has never been far from my thoughts, and I’ve run quite a bit of it since my last post.
Today, I have an interesting in-universe mystery that adds to the setting’s weirdness, while adding a plot device that may prove useful from time to time.

The Watcher Beyond the Veil

Scientific materialists that live in Uru Ulan have an interesting time of it.

Uru Ulan is a city of almost infinite strangeness and seemingly endless possibilities. And yet, most of what goes on there seems to fit, if uncomfortably at times, into existing universal theories and plausible hypotheses. And yet, not every widely-reported phenomenon of the city does.

Like the Watcher.

Death is believed to be the end of the journey for all. Oh sure, in Uru Ulan, there are ways to “cheat” death — pay the cult of Osiris to create a clone backup, have a friend locate a duplicate from a near-identical dimension, restore a pattern from a teleportation device — but it can be argued that each of these isn’t the original.

Uru Ulan is a city rife with adventure, intrigue, dangerous exploits and narrow escapes, and the city’s many mercenaries and rogues often have very close brushes with death. And sometimes, they report that the brush was a lot closer than it looked.

Some adventurers report that they did, in fact, die, when it only seems like they did! At the very last moment, they encountered … something.

They appear in a misty non-space, in front of a misty, vaguely human-shaped figure. Sometimes they seem to imagine the classical features of a skeleton or one of their death-gods, but just as often, there’s nothing there but a nebulous form, an upright suggestion of head, arms, limbs, and torso and lower extremities.

In their minds, at that moment, they sense they have a choice. They can pass on to whatever awaits them … nothingness, transcendance, heaven, hell, or the waiting room at the local DMV … or, they can make a sacrifice and return.

The sacrifice is never something physical. It may be changing one Quality for another. It may be shifting a Level from any one Attribute to a mental Attribute, something they were lacking — they become more social, gaining Charm, for example, or they gain a newfound interest and curiosity in the world around them, gaining some Brains. A weak-willed and wishy-washy adventurer may find themselves with more Guts than previously, having faced death and come back for more.

An additional sacrifice is always required; the adventurer also loses something of their inner power and potency, losing 1 Level of EDG when presented with this choice. And in general, the adventurer only ever encounters the Dweller Beyond the Veil once. There is no compensation for this loss of EDG, beyond, well, not dying.

These sacrifices often seem to represent, in some way, a further step in personal development. Sometimes it represents redemption for a fallen hero, or a rededication to the cause of virtue in a champion of what is good and true. Sometimes though, it may represent a further fall into evil for a villain. Which makes one ask, what does the Dweller actually want? It doesn’t necessarily want goodness, as we think of it, as some come back worse than before. Maybe the Dweller records the history of the interdimensional city, and hates for a story arc to end before it’s completed. Maybe it’s a cosmic entity that likes to maintain the complex alchemical mixing-pot of the great metropolis. Or maybe it’s just a deific trickster that wants to see the punch line delivered. If anyone has a serious theory, they’re not saying.

Regardless of what’s changed and the reasons for the change, the adventurer is saved from certain death, just in the nick of time. There’s no indication that they ever went anywhere; their vision of the Dweller, even if it lasts for hours in the adventurer’s mind, takes only a nanosecond of real time. And afterward … something implausible happens. The gun jams, that would’ve splattered their brains across the bulkhead, or misfires and hits a shoulder or a piece of equipment instead. The arm swinging the sword to behead the adventurer, spasms and drops the lethal blade. The adventurer inexplicably rallies and somehow survives a deadly disease. The Dweller seems to manipulate time and probability to undo, or mitigate, whatever would have ended the adventurer’s life prematurely. If death is certain and there’s no escape, the Dweller doesn’t seem to interfere; it always intercedes in the simplest, most likely, and most easily explainable way.

So who does know about the Dweller? The Damocletian Order admits that it’s one of the subjects, beyond the Genesis Seeds, that the Order actively investigates. The Cult of Osiris gather info also, believing the figure to be Osiris himself, taking on what forms he will. The Holy Church of Vorsh will loudly imply that the figure is their cosmic figurehead, while admitting with unusual honesty behind closed doors that they have no idea, and the existence of the Dweller concerns them, somewhat.

One last point bears mentioning. Among the few that know of the Dweller and its appearances, it hasn’t escaped attention that the Dweller’s actions, saving those otherwise doomed to die, is much the same as how the city’s Servitors save unfortunate subjects of disaster from across space and time. Victims of floods, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other elemental calamities find themselves rescued at the last minute by the city’s automata. Is there some link between the Dweller’s activities, and how the city has populated itself over time? Probably only the city’s founder, immortal sorcerer Ensi Abgal knows, and good luck getting an audience with, let alone a straight answer from, that one.

The concept of the Watcher came to me as I thought about the impermanence of death in comic books. Uru Ulan is in many ways a comic book setting (hence the main body font!). And I thought about how in some cases — like the recent X-Men run — the writers have actually tried to make a systematic explanation for that common trope, the hero that returns from the dead. Of course, it’s not only heroes that can come back in this way, but villains, too. This plot device also provides a convenient way for a character, betrayed by the dice, or played by a new and still reckless player, to cheat fate in the strangest ways … but only once, and not without consequence.

‘How To Be A Good GM’ — A Bigger Question Than It Looks

GM Techniques, Metagene RPG

Oh, no! Gaming philosophy time!

You know, a ton of stuff has been written about ‘How to be a Good Gamemaster.” Such advice usually takes the form of, ‘Do X, Y, and Z.’

That only helps as long as your players and your campaign presents you with situations to do X, Y, and Z. Trying to be a creative GM, and/or having creative players, almost guarantees that you will run into situations A, B, and C pretty soon, in which case, you’re lost.

That’s how to do good GMing. It doesn’t help you be that good GM.

It’s not too helpful, either, to provide a checklist: ‘A good GM decision is one that fulfills criteria X, Y, and Z’. This basically guarantees the fledgling GM will be paralyzed with indecision as they run every possible answer through this internal checklist, to see if it matches up to the ‘agenda’ or the ‘principles’ or whatever.

Again, that’s the difference between doing and being. I warned you there was going to be philosophy here!

I’d argue that good GMing starts when you’re far away from the game table, not even thinking about it. Public speaking. Learning how things work. Learning how people work. Learning how stories are written. Learn to do improv. Learning what makes a good game, and a bad one. You need to internalize all this stuff, form a coherent whole out of it, and contextualize what you know for each new situation you encounter, with confidence and, dare I say it, panache.

Of course, no one got rich writing books saying, ‘What you want to do is very difficult if you want to really excel, and I can’t tell you everything you need to know here.’ ?

I don’t post this to discourage! What you need to realize is that ‘How to be a Good GM’ is like ‘How to be a Good Cook’ or ‘How to be a Good Teacher’ — it’s actually an entire suite of skills, and there’s always room for improvement in each area. Heck, after 30+ years of gaming, I know I still have my weak areas. But that study away from the gaming table, is really cemented with the practice you get when you come back to the table and run the game. So go to it! Start practicing! And ask yourself, what can I do away from the gaming table to do this better?

I might come back to this later, break down some of those requisite skills, and talk about how I’ve managed over the years to improve each one.

Last Side Note: Simple games are all the rage these days. Heck, i’d say that for me, Metagene has been my best-seller for awhile now, which is gratifying enough. But there seems to be this impression that simpler games are easier to GM well. I’d argue (from my admittedly limited experience) that they are easier to GM poorly, but no easier to GM well. No matter what, you’re gonna get out of it what you put in, and what you put in is who you are.

That’s it for now. Go Forth and Game Well!

A Game of 100 Questions

Cosmic Cutthroats RPG, GM Techniques, Metagene RPG

I wrote this questionnaire a long time ago, and have used it with in at least a dozen campaigns. If you’re running a point-based RPG like Cosmic Cutthroats, you might find it helpful to answer the questions before creating your character. This helps you flesh out the character concept that you’re building.

If you’re running a system with more randomized generation, it makes more sense to answer after your character is finished. That way, you’re giving context to all those random roles, weaving them together into a coherent whole. And if your game features high lethality, maybe answer one randomly-chosen question per game session. By the time you answer enough questions to get attached, your character might be strong enough to survive, at least a little while longer!

Name

1. What is your Character’s name (first, middle, and last)?
2. Does your Character have a nickname? What is the Character’s code name?
3. Does the Character have any commonly used aliases?
4. How does the Character feel about their name; do they particularly like or dislike their name or nickname?

Appearance

5. Is the Character human? If not, what is your Character’s species, subspecies, and/or race?
6. What is your Character’s height, weight, eye color, natural hair color, current hair color, and skin color?
7. Does your Character have any body modifications, such as tattoos, burns, scars, body piercings, bionics or genetic alterations? If so, describe them.
8. Is there a story behind any of the Character’s modifications (from above)?
9. Is your Character very attractive? Describe their build — are they muscular, lithe, willowy, husky, flabby, voluptuous, ripped, or what?
10. Is this despite or because of the care they take of themselves?
11. How does the Character dress, and what is their hairstyle and posture Examples: Dapper or preppie, or slacker, or slobbish.
12. What does the Character’s voice sound like?
13. What is the look in the Character’s eyes? Dangerous, daring, cunning, dull, or bewildered?

Family

14. What is your Character’s family background? Is the Character an orphan? If so, skip questions 15-20, or explain the nearest equivalents.
15. What are the Character’s parents’ names and occupations?
16. How many siblings does the Character have, and what are their names, genders, ages, and occupations?
17. Does the family maintain contacts, or are they distant?
18. Any there any other important family members, such ans grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins?
19. What is the Character’s feelings towards each of their family members? Examples: Attachment, competition for attention, love, loathing, or even fear.
20. Are all of the Character’s relatives living? If not, describe how they died, and what effect did their death had on the Character. Was it an accident, negligence, illness, or even murder?

Childhood

21. Where did the Character grow up? Examples: The suburbs, the ghettos, downtown, on military bases, on reservations.
22. Does the Character have any favorite memories of childhood, such as a playmate, a tree fort, a favorite game or toy? Instead, was it so bad that the Character usually blocks out all of their childhood memories?

Occupation

23. What is your Character’s job?
24. Why did the Character choose that job? What qualifications does the Character have for the job?
25. Where did the Character go to train in that occupation? A college, armed service, or trade school?
26. Has the Character ever changed jobs? If so, describe any important former positions, and why they left, or were fired.
27. What is the worst thing about their job, in the Character’s opinion?
28. What is the best thing about the job, in the Character’s opinion?
29. Are they loyal, or would they jump ship for better wages — or even for worse ones?
30. What is the Character’s dream job? Describe the employer, the job position, salary, colleagues and underlings, and duties.

Finances

31. How tight a handle does the Character keep on their money (free spender, or miserly)?
32. Is there one kind of product that they have a special weakness for spending lots of money on?
33. Does the Character pay their bills on time?
34. What does the Character use for transportation — an old junker, or a classy new jobber?
35. What sort of dwelling does the Character live in? Examples: A house, an apartment, a trailer-house, a mud hut, a cave, or a refrigerator box? Provide a simple (at least 1 sentence) description of the interior.

Friendships

36. Does the Character have any friends? If so, names and a short (at least 1 sentence) description of each, noting any ‘best friends’ or former romantic interests.
37. What do the Character and each of their friend(s) have in common, and what is different between them?
38. How did the Character and each of their friend(s) meet?
39. Does the Character have any pets — now or in the past? If so, what kind, and what were their names, and why were those names chosen.
40. What sort of pets does the Character prefer? If any, state what reasons do they give for liking them.

Significant Others

41. Is your Character currently in a significant relationship with a member of the opposite sex? Note if it is a possibly long-term relationship.
42. Is the relationship sexual, platonic, true love, or any combination?
43. How did the Character and their S.O. meet?
44. What is your Character’s sexual preference?
45. Is the Character’s philosophy ‘love the one you’re with’, ‘faithful ’til the end’, or ‘as long as we have an understanding’?
46. What is the Character’s dream mate, in appearance, personality, etc. The description will show how shallow or deep the Character themselves are.
47. Has the Character ever been, or are they, married, and to whom? If they are no longer so, note when that was, if it was a legal, religious, or common-law marriage, when it was broken off, and why.
48. Does the Character maintain contacts with any ex-girl/boyfriends or ex-spouses?

Beliefs

49. What are the Character’s moral/ethical beliefs?
50. Their spiritual/religious beliefs?
51. Do they adhere to a specific philosophy, or are they freewheeling?
52. How committed is the Character to these beliefs — would the Character die for them, or kill for them?
53. Are they generally good, selfish, indifferent, or evil?
54. Was the Character raised with a specific philosophy, and do they accept or reject it?
55. Does the Character believe in an afterlife, and how do they plan to get there?
56. Does the Character struggle with their faith, or are they strong and committed?
57. Does the Character attend any kind of religious services regularly?
58. How does the Character feel about: violence/killing, extramarital sex, sexual orientation, sexual deviancy, religion, stealing, lying, gender roles, use of torture, loyalty and trust?

Legal Status

59. What is the Character’s relationship to the authorities?
60. Have they ever been convicted of a minor crime? A major one?
61. Is this despite or because of the care (or lack of) they take in dealing with the police?
62. Are the crimes cleared or outstanding?
63. Is the Character currently wanted, on probation, or have bounties on them?

Hobbies

64. If the Character travels (or could travel), where to? How often? With whom?
65. If the Character participates in or even watches sports, which ones? What style — hardball or softball, touch or tackle?
66. What TV genres, books, magazines, musical styles, movie genres, or computer games do they enjoy? Favorite card, board, or war games? Do they cheat?
67. Does the Character use any recreational drugs? Examples: tobacco and/or alcohol (give specific brands if they are that particular), marijuana, or any others.

Politics

68. Does the Character support the current national administration? Why or why not?
69. Does the Character count themselves part of any particular political movement or party? Or is the Character anarchist, radical, absurdist, or monarchist, democratic, Machiavellian, socialist, hegemonist, imperialist, or apolitical?
70. Is there some political alignment that they absolutely cannot stand, or find laughable?

Sanity and Madness

71. Is the Character plagued with any specific doubts about themselves?
72. What does the Character fear most about the future?
73. Does the Character believe fanatically in only the tangible (materialist), or in a bit of the supernatural, or do they believe anything they’re told?
74. Does the Character get along well in society, or are they handicapped by any eccentricities they have?

Combat Style

75. How does the Character perform in combat? Fast and furious, slow and measured, deceptive and misdirecting? Describe a typical combat scene.
76. Does the Character talk, scream, giggle, sing, or growl in combat, or are they deadly silent?
77. Does the Character train in any specific fighting style or martial art? If so, mention why they chose that art, and their degree of proficiency in it.
78. Is there some weapon the Character prefers, either a specific weapon (grandfather’s Musashi sword) or a class of weapons in general (Colt .45s)? Mention why the Character has such a preference, and their degree of proficiency with it.
79. Is there some flashy, tricky move or weapon kata that they love to use? Examples might include wide flourishing disarms, trips, swiftly slashing their initials on the enemy or their belongings, or clipping off buttons or armor buckles.
80. Does the Character prefer sneakiness and subterfuge, brazen attack, or a combination, with grand, intimidating entries? State if the Character has any degree of skill with stealth.

Mortality

81. What is the Character’s attitude towards death? Examples: Scared, transfixed with horror, morbidly fascinated, uninterested, or totally unafraid.
82. How would the Character want to be disposed of once they pass on?
83. Does the Character believe in an honorable death for all, or are murder and assassination justified to them?

Personality

84. Is the Character an introvert or an extrovert — shy or outgoing?
85. How does the Character solve most interpersonal problems? Examples: Looking up possible solutions in a psychology textbook, brazenly ignoring – or confronting — the problem, seeking neutral arbitration, lying and sneaking their way out of it, or conscientiously speaking the truth.
86. What is the Character’s attitude towards life itself? Examples: It is a battle that goes to the strong, a training grounds for some final battle at the end of time, an enormous test set up by the gods, a joke, a joke in very poor taste, just a bit better than death, worse than death?
87. What is the Character’s prize possession? Mention how they acquired it, from whom, when and what significance it holds for them.
88. The Character has discovered someone breaking into their house; what do they do? Examples: Kill the intruder instantly, talk to them, scare them away, capture them and torture them, or cower under the bed with a broomstick.
89. How does the Character accept the following: compliments, flattery, gifts, charity?
90. How does the Character accept the following: being ignored, insults, requests for charity?
91. Is the Character prejudiced about any one species, race, gender, culture, or sexual orientation, and if so, why?
92. What sort of foods does the Character enjoy? If any, mention if they are capable of cooking, and how well.
93. The Character is asked to go to a formal function, a fancy wedding, for example; how do they spend the majority of the reception? Examples: Eating cake and/or finger foods, talking, dancing with friends, or with strangers, people-watching from corners, or slipping out early.
94. What is the Character’s favorite saying, or a good, illustrative quote by the Character?
95. What song (or band/performer, or music genre) best evokes the mood that would fit the Character’s personality — and would they like the song?
96. Who are the Character’s heroes, and if there are none in the game-world, who would they be in our world?
97. What is your Character’s attitude towards luck/chance/fate/destiny? Do they even believe in luck? Are they pessimistic or optimistic? Do they see themselves as pessimistic or optimistic?
98. What are the Character’s dreams for the future? A wife, a dog, three kids, and a house with rose bushes and picket fences; a series of wild adventures crossing the globe, punctuated by carousing and spending sprees; touring the world in a ship, rubbing elbows with the elite, ridding the world of crime and evil once and for all, becoming a god, or what?

Campaign

99. How does the Character’s abilities fit into the hero group? Does the Character have the super-strength to keep enemies from the party’s weaker members, or the telepathic talent to tie their teammate’s minds together?
100. How will the Character fit into the Campaign? What adventures does the Character’s background make possible?

Mad Libs Adventure Design

Cosmic Cutthroats RPG, GM Techniques, Metagene RPG

This system allows a group to semi-randomly generate an adventure! Sure, this blog is geared to Cosmic Cutthroats, but this system will work for any game.

Each person things of some story, maybe a book, movie, TV show episode (has to be a specific episode), or whatnot. Then, everyone rolls 1d20. They answer these questions, going in order from lowest roll to highest.

If two people roll the same number, both of their answers are counted. If you have less than 5 people, then each person should pick another 2-3 stories, and their subsequent stories can count for later questions.

  1. What’s the problem the PCs need to solve?
  2. Who is a helpful NPC that might assist?
  3. Who is the villain that the group must face (if any)?
  4. Where does this all take place?
  5. What’s the final twist, or some unexpected element? The PC that rolled this one may keep it a secret!
  6. What’s the reward if the PCs succeed?

In many cases, there will be multiple answers. The group can choose the one they like best, or they can choose randomly. You can add more questions, too, to flesh out the adventure, but they need to be very open-ended, suitable for any kind of story.

So, for example, Abigail, Beatrice, Carla, Dave, Eddie, and Frank want to play Cosmic Cutthroats, but Abbie can’t decide on an adventure to run. It’s a universal system, and NPCs and creatures are easy to make in minutes, she just needs an idea for the plot. So, everyone thinks of a story.

  1. Abigail thinks of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
  2. Beatrice thinks of Crazy Rich Asians.
  3. Carla thinks of Nightmare on Elm Street.
  4. Dave thinks of Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas.
  5. Eddie thinks of Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 5 episode 2, “Darmok.”
  6. Frank thinks of the novel The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.

Everyone rolls 1d20.
Abigail rolls a 1, Beatrice rolls a 19, Carla rolls 10, Dave 15, Eddie 5, and Frank 9.

So the order goes:

1. What’s the problem the PCs need to solve?
Abigail thought of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Abigail really liked the parts of The Two Towers in Rohan, so the group decides this is a diplomatic mission, to go enlist the aid of a civilization in a neighboring dimension for their patrons in the transdimensional city of Uru Ulan.

2. Who is a helpful NPC?
Eddie thought of Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 5 episode 2, “Darmok.”
There’s an alien who might be able to help the group, but his language is so strange that neither technology nor spells can assist. They have to learn the alien’s culture (Brains rolls) to be able to interpret.

3. Who is the villain that the group must face (if any)?
Frank thought of The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.
The most frightening enemies in The Quantum Thief are the keepers of the Prison, AIs who perform endless experiments on prisoners in a theoretical attempt to rehabilitate them. The group shudders and agrees that some vast, godlike AI, performing mass psychology experiments, would be a great bad guy.

4. Where does this all take place?
Carla thinks of Nightmare on Elm Street.
So the two main locations in Nightmare on Elm Street are the real world in the 80s, and the dream world. They agree they don’t want the whole plot to be “all a dream”, so the world they’re visiting resembles suburban Earth in North America in the late 20th century.

5. What’s the twist? The PC that rolled this one keeps it a secret.
Dave thinks of Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas.
There was so much weirdness and so many twists in that movie! But maybe the problem with the “Darmok” figure is he’s so full of drugs that not a lot of what he says makes sense. If you can cut through the thick smoke that surrounds him and get him to talk plainly, his advice will be invaluable.

(Okay, so maybe this isn’t the twistiest of twists, but it does bring in an additional plot element and fleshes out an NPC a little more, but more importantly, Dave likes it and the group agrees, so it goes in. There’s plenty of room for flexibility when using this mechanic).

6. What’s the reward if the PCs succeed?
Beatrice thinks of Crazy Rich Asians.
The plot of Crazy Rich Asians is about an Asian American lady going to Macau with her fiancee, to attend a wedding, and the clash of cultures that results. The reward, really, is growing to understand her fiancee and get closer to him. We can add a subplot where one PC describes an attractive person they meet in this 1980s dimension, and if they succeed in formulating an alliance, the two have a chance to get to know one another.
Since Beatrice is playing a straight female character, she describes a good-looking guy the group can contact.

So here’s a plot summary:
The Ordo Custodes Noctis contacts the PCs with an important mission. There’s been a rash of mass murders recently. Artificial beings, synthetically designed beings made of flesh and cybernetic parts, have infiltrated Uru Ulan. They pass for “normal” visitors and inhabitants, have jobs, have friends, and lead a normal life, until they suddenly snap and go on a nocturnal killing spree. This has to stop.

They’ve traced the synthetics to a nearby Realm that resembles 1980s Earth, complete with Cold War tensions. It’s believed that a massive supercomputer there might have run amok, an AI designed by the local American military to defend the country against a Russian missile attack. This machine consciousness has the facilities to create synthetic spies, and as it grows more twisted and paranoid, it’s creating the mass murdering synthetics through some kind of social experiment.

You will travel to this world and speak with the President of the United Confederation of Vespuccia. He’s a senile old man who’s been in office for decades due to his “wartime powers” declarations. His top advisers are mostly or all agents of the aberrant AI, so you may need to deal with them to get the old man to give you permission to take out the AI itself. And of course, you need to convince him to do without the AI’s protection in case of an attack, probably no mean feat.

The OCN has a local contact, a retired mystic, but the PCs will discover that the contact is eccentric and unreliable, often addled by noxious chemicals, but his grasp of the local situation may be essential. Keeping on his good side will be most helpful.

Finally, a handsome Russian double agent with a background in programming is available to assist you if you’re able to get permission to deal with the deadly defense AI. You’ll have to determine if he’s trustworthy, and if so, gain his trust so he can assist you in disabling the AI without leaving the Vespuccian missile defense totally vulnerable.

Good luck!

Fighting One-Trick Ponies

Cosmic Cutthroats RPG, Game Design, GM Techniques

This is a followup to my previous post, where I talked about how in point-based games, it’s easy to make a powerful, boring Character. But what if you’re fighting a walking tank like this?

First, Don’t Do This

So in case it isn’t obvious, GMs, One-Trick Ponies aren’t good enemies in general, so this article isn’t making the case you should use them. In the interests of testing the game, though, we have to look at all possibilities, and one is an excitable GM sending a walking battleship against the PCs.

Luck

Buy 12 Levels of EDG. Use that EDG to Push Your Luck 4 times in combat.

Let’s say that the extra die and your native skill gives you a 75% chance for success. That means you’ll have about a 45% chance of scoring a Triumph with one of those 4 attacks, and when you narrate that Triumph, you can potentially end the battle, right there.

Skill

With the Marksmanship or Martial Arts Talents, you can spend 1 EDG to make a Joint Strike that ignores half the target’s PRO. If the target doesn’t have a ton of VP, Martial Artists can Body Slam to inflict Environmental damage; then, take Counterattack, and if they miss you with their attack, Body Slam them again.

Interesting Powers

Claws with the Cuts Through Anything Boost do Environmental Damage, which ignores armor. A lot of Impairment effects are pretty effective against targets with lower Athletics, PD, or MD, and so are Leech, Mind Control, Telepathy, and Time Control. That’s to say nothing of creative things like Size Control [Shrinking], Shapeshifting, or Teleportation with the Affects Others Boost. And you know, there’s nothing like Sympathetic Magic, doing that voodoo that you do so well. Speaking of Time Control, use Precognition to anticipate the enemy’s moves and retroactively plan a perfect way to foil them in one shot.

Intrigue and Allies

Troll the ever-loving shit out of them. Use Insight to figure out their mindset, then Intimidate them into losing EDG (even if you’re no threat to them, you can still threaten to key their car and burn their record collection!), or Deceive them into leaving. Or better yet, retreat and gather info about the enemy. Ingratiate yourself with his henchmen and turn them against him. Call on your Organization Membership to give you a special weapon to defeat this guy, or even just some extra hands to wear them down.

See if you can Turn your Bad Luck into Good

If the GM allows the Consolation Prize Optional Rule, pull out all the stops in battle. Try the craziest attacks you can think of, and if you score a Mishap, spend 3 EDG to turn that into a victory, but at a terrible cost.

To Sum Up

So in short, yes, at high levels, a straight-up punching shooting blasting fight can be super boring. So don’t do that! Take risks, try crazy stunts, and fight creatively!

Game Balance and One-Trick Ponies

Cosmic Cutthroats RPG, Game Design, GM Techniques

Fix to Vigor Point Values

Running some combat tests on Cosmic Cutthroats, I find I may have been a bit generous with Vigor Points.

  • Old Formula: Awesomeness Level + (highest 2 of Body, Guts, and Edge).
  • New Formula: Awesomeness Level + half of (Body + Guts).

Reducing VP by about 6 across the board will make fights go faster, especially against Goons. And that’s 6 per Injury State, so it’s more like reducing by 24 VP overall.

Characters in this game have plenty of defensive options, and the Armor and Barrier Powers are reasonably cheap (although there are ways around them, like Joint Strikes and Triumphs). The goal is to make it so it’s best not to get hit, if you can help it!

One-Trick Ponies

Speaking of game balance, the most boring superhero in any point-based game rules would have to be a total one-trick pony. Let’s write up a Cyclops clone. Let’s call him Eyesore. Now, Cyclops isn’t boring, I like him! But at their simplest, his Powers are easy to represent, mechanically.

So, at Awesomeness Level 5, he gets 750 Upgrade Points. We want a minimum Level 6 in all Attributes, so that costs 180 UP, with 570 left.

Let’s just max out Blast. Blast is Step 5, so at AWE 5, the highest Level we can go is 40. He can do 6d12+1d6 damage, which is a little more than a starship strangelet torpedo. That’ll cost 440 UP, leaving 130.

We want to max out Ranged Combat Attack, Athletics, Toughness, and Willpower, so he’ll be tough to harm in any way. Advanced Skills like Ranged Combat Attack are Step 3, and Athletics is Basic, so Step 2. Let’s spend 3/4 of the remainder on these two, so around 98 points for these two. For 100 points, he can buy 16 more Levels of each.

Finally, for 28 points, he can buy each of the remaining 2 Skills at Level 7, making him fairly resistant to physical and mental attacks. He has 2 more UP to spend, maybe on a Skill Focus with some Ranged Combat Attack maneuver.

If we decide he needs some protection, we can make him less of a Cyclops clone, and more of a walking tank. Trade off half his Blast for Armor. He can buy Armor and Blast both at Level 17 for a total of 440 UP. He has armor equivalent to a space corvette, and he dishes out 2d12+1d8 damage, which is still a little more than a shot from a handheld rocket launcher.

But … he’s boring. We’ve given him no non-combat skills whatsoever. Even his armored version isn’t impervious to damage, another hero with an Environmental attack (like Claws with Cuts Through Anything) could take him out. He’s reliant on seeing well to attack, so being trapped in the dark will still make it tough for him to eye-blast the bejeezus out of things. And nothing protects you from having your EDG whittled away by social attacks.

A real conversion of Cyclops from the comics would probably be Lesser Demigod AWE, but only a few of those extra points would go toward improving his eye beams. Maybe only just adding a few Boosts onto them. All the rest would be Skills, Traits, and a few Attribute bumps.

So the moral is, yes, you can max out one or two Abilities. It’s not even that hard to make a walking battleship, but you’ll be a one-trick pony, and it will be ruinously expensive. The system will encourage you to make a Character with interesting abilities and things to do outside of combat.