BMF Roleplaying system

After watching the Bourne Supremacy (a fairly decent movie) I came up with the following basic framework for a RPG system.

The basic idea behind it is to simulate poeple that are over the top, extremely good at what they do, and also do it with style. Ethan Hawk, James Bond, Leon and Marriachi from Desperado all fall into this category.

The Character

Characters are made from archetypes that correspond to different character types seen in movies or read about in books/ comics. These types can then be tweaked to fit the exact character you want.

The base of the character is a number of abilities. A couple of these are fixed from the archetype chosen and some of them are picked from a generic list of abilities. Some sample abilities could be:

• Sneaky Guy
• Marksman
• Strong Guy
• Demolitionist
• Stunt Driver

And so on.

For each ability there is a value (1..5) and Side Effects. A side effect is something that can be used to increase the value of the ability temporary, but with a cost. This cost is that something bad happens to or around the character. In addition to specific drawbacks for the different abilities there is also a generic list of drawbacks that can be used by anyone.

Example:
Steve Saduko, the renowned hitman, has the ability Marksman with the following Side Effects

• Collateral damage (+1) - When in a fight, Steve usually ends up destroying much of the surrounding area to the annoyance of the people around him.
• Endangering friends (+2) - Through brave, but careless stunts, Steve has put his friends at risk more than once.
  
• Final Rush (+3) - As a last resort, Steve can put himself at risk to get his enemy. This usually means that he ends up being shot or hurt in some other way.

Task resolution

When a character wants to do something, either an everyday thing or using one of his abilities, he normally succeeds. Some occasions though, are a bit tougher and requires even a hero to put some effort into it. Hence the Opposing Value (OV). This includes fighting a large number of opponents or very skilled enemies.

Compare the value of the ability to the OV. If the ability is >= to the OV the action is a success. If the ability is lower than the OV then it's a failure. This is where the side effects come in. In order to increase the effective value of the ability the player can call one or more of the side effects into play. This will add the bonus written with the Side Effect to the value of the ability, but at the same time something bad will happen. If the new value (old value + side effects) is equal to or better than the OV it is a success, but if it's still under it is still a failure. The bad side effects still happen though.

The actual effects are decided by the game master, and shouldn't be known in detail to the player. This is where dice could enter the game. By rolling for the details around what happens some suspense and gamble about what is going to happen is kept.

Finishing comments

This is a short draft of a possible RPG system. It still needs a lot of details filled in, and might be subject to a lot of changes before being ready for actually play. Any comments and critique is welcome.

Dice

How come we always use dice? Now, I know that they are handy to generate random numbers and to give as good, predictable spread. They offer a tool that's dynamic, exciting andeasy to use.

But, what other ways are there to judge the outcome of a situation. There have been games throughout the ages that don't use dice but still are seen as exciting and dynamic. How come we as RPGers are so reluctant to use these? I won't go into pros and cons of different methods today, but I'd just want to do a short brainstorm on different types of techniques apart from numbered, plastic primitives.

• Cards
• Ordinary playing cards or special cards
  
• Numbered or Thematic
• Draw from a stack or use cards from your hand
• Compare card combinations
  
• Resource management
• Pure non-random (like chess)
• Rock - Paper - Scissors
• Different actions counter other actions etc
  
• Pure narrative
• Bidding/ auctions
• Thumb sentence/ word from a book

This list is definately eligable for expanding later on, but for now it seems like there are a few alternatives to dice. Later on we will look into if and when these methods can be used

McWolfe