Rule Variant- Engulf

A D20 Modern or Dungeons and Dragons 3.0/3.5 rule variant.

Anytime a ranged flame attack is used against a target there is a possibility that they will become engulfed in flames.  If a target gets a saving throw and they make it nothing happens, if they fail a d20 is rolled.  If a natural 20 is rolled the target is engulfed in flames.  Being engulfed means that: the target immediately takes full damage for the attack (no damage roll needed), the target must take two full rounds to be able to put himself out with each round taking damage from the flames (this damage being 2d6 instead of 1d6 being on fire).  If the character tries to do anything else besides put himself out he takes a -4 penalty to all actions, attacks, skill checks, and saves.  A large body of water will put he character out immediately and it will take 12 gallons doused over a creature to quench the flames.

     Creatures who cannot catch fire, made of metal, means of magic, certain elementals, or etc, are immune to this effect.  The DM should use his best judgement when determining if engulfment is appropriate.        

Jake's Book- A Call of Cthulhu Tomb

Jake was small time criminal who had an interest in the occult.  He fell in with a cult called the Order of the Black Gate, a mythos cult devoted to the keeper of the Gate.  The keeper is really Yog-Sothoth, but only the inner circle of the cult are aware of this information.  Jake works as a small time enforcer for the cult; beatings, theft, and general petty crimes are his bread and butter.  On a normal theft operation, breaking into the home of a local city official and stealing an occult tomb from his library, things went south.  There was a fight, Jake was seriously wounded, but the son of the official was killed.  Like a good devoted cultist he took the wrap and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.  After years in the clink he was known as an odd but model prisoner.  With nothing but time on his hands Jake decides to further his occult knowledge with some independent research.  With the help of the Order of the Black Gate and a new prison reading program to help inmates request books from libraries around the country, Miskatonic being a regular loaner, Jake put together a journal of sorts.  He hid it from the prison authorities, and inside was a self taught delving into the Mythos.  Jake disappeared from the prison one night, vanished from his locked cell with no apparent means of escape.  Four other men from adjoining cells were to be found missing, their domiciles found in the same manner as Jake's, except for the massive amount of blood on the floors.  All the other men except Jake are presumed dead.  Jake was never found.  The prison authorities found his journal/book/mad-ramblings but could not make heads or tales of it.  (Up to keepers discretion as to how the players find his book.  It is implied that the warden simply put it into storage, threw it out, or it became lost over the years.

Jake's Book- in English. Jake's independent notes and research into the mythos.  The tomb itself is covered with Jake's ramblings on lined paper, old letters, newspapers, and book pages.  It is poorly glued together and bound with cardboard for a cover.  The book contains details about various Mythos beings, often miss named and incorrectly described.  The English in the book is hard to decipher, Jake having a poor grasp of the language, and requires a roll in English Language every week while studying to make any progress.  Sanity loss 1d2/1d4; Cthulhu Mythos +3 percentiles; 8 weeks to study and comprehend/ 30 hours to skim.  Spells: Through the Black Gate (A version of the Create Gate spell).

Through the Black Gate: Cost 40 MP and 3 Con, 6 Sanity, and two hours of concentration during the ritual.  An "interpretation" of the Create Gate spell which allows the caster to move to another position anywhere instantaneously.  The caster begins the ritual by spreading blood on the ground, 3 Con worth, and chanting.  After the ritual is completed 40 magic points are extracted from anyone within 60 feet of the caster, if there is enough MP the caster is whisked away to somewhere else, his blood spilled is also transported with him.  Anyone drained of MP is killed having there blood vessels burst, their bodies but not blood is transported along with the caster.  The destination though cannot be chosen by the caster but instead by The Keeper of the Black Gate (Avatar of Yog-Sothoth).  Anyone making a Cthulhu Mythos check realizes that the destination of the spell is unknowable.  

Zarrath's Bottle- Cursed Item

System- Dungeons and Dragons 3/3.5 (Can easily be adapted to any fantasy system or setting)

Somewhere along our hero's adventure they come across a curious copper bottle.  The bottle is small, no bigger than a normal potion flask and the top is stopped with a common cork stopper.  A Spot Check DC 15 will show faded indentations on the side and a Decipher Script DC 20 shows that they spell ZARRATH.  The bottle feels full of liquid and anyone opening it can see some type of liquid inside that smells faintly sweet with a hint of lilac.  Casting Detect Magic shows an strong aura of Transmutation. Casting an Identify spell yields it to be a bottle of Ever Refilling Flask of Bulls Strength, usable 3/day.  Casting Analyze Dweomer will reveal the item to be cursed, but the specific nature is unknown.  If Detect Thoughts, or a similar spell/psionics is used upon the bottle a unspecified sentience is detected but nothing more.  The bottle is actually a powerful soul trap and the previous drinkers soul is trapped inside.  Anyone drinking from the bottle instantly will have their soul switched, no save allowed, with the soul inside.  In game terms this works exactly like the spell Magic Jar.  The DM can choose whomever's soul to be in the jar but if one is so inclined roll a d10 and consult the following table:

1. Harvil Anterwule- Chaotic Good Level 3 Human Commoner.  Been imprisoned inside the bottle for 256 years.  Found the bottle in his field while farming and though it to be wine.  Has no idea what happened.
2. Rak Terr- Chaotic Neutral Level 9 Half-Orc Barbarian.  Imprisoned for 34 years.  Last thing he remembers is drinking from a strange bottle handed to him at a tavern by an wizened old man.  When he finds out what happened he will swear revenge on the man who did this to him.
3. Yurvee Brownstone- Neutral Evil Level 1 Human Necromancer.  Drank for the bottle 1 year ago after stealing it from a fellow wizard.  Will try and fool anyone in the party to who he is.  Sneaks away at the first opportunity.
4. Bra.....something- Neutral Good Level 9 Rogue.  Imprisoned for 1,233 years.  Bra... can't really remember his name or anything else.  Such a long time in the bottle has caused his memories to fade.  
5. Grunf- Neutral Evil Troll.  Angry and Hungry.  Been inside for 3 years.  Really really angry when he does not regenerate.
6. Errisive Rosewood- Chaotic Neutral Level 4 Bard.  Drank from the bottle 129 years ago on a bet to his one of his companions.  Wants to travel with the party.
7. Losive Othire- Chaotic Evil Level 12 Fighter.  Was tricked by an enemy to drink for the bottle 58 years ago.  Will try and intimidate the party in doing his bidding, kills all those who oppose him.
8. Amas Salvento- Lawful Good Gnome Level 7 Cleric- Been imprisoned for half a year.  Will do everything he can to help the party make things right.
9. Ulveesteen- Neutral Evil Mind Flayer- Inside the bottle for 22 years and wants his Mind Flayer body back and will do anything to do it.  Will play along with the party as long as they agree to help.
10. Zarrath- Chaotic Good Level 47 Human Wizard- After drinking from the bottle, some 8,573 years ago, he has been trapped.  His mind is fragile and he is quite insane.  While not openly hostile he will cast powerful spells on a whim, often with disastrous results.     

     Casting a Wish or Miracle spell will reverse the effects of the bottle and force the possessing soul back in the bottle.  If the bottle is destroyed or disenchanted while a soul is inside it is lost forever, no resurrection or reincarnation is possible.  The only way to totally reverse the effects of the curse is to find Zarrath's notes on its creation, which could be anywhere depending on what direction the DM wishes to lead the party.

Space Marines!

Cris came up with a supplement to be used with the D20 Modern rules. In order to use them you create a character through the tradition methods, excluding equipment, then add the Space Marine class on top. Don't bother with using the standard wealth system or equipment package since Cris wrote better stuff for you. Let us know what you think.
 Here are the Classes:
Classes.docx
And Equipment:
General Equipment.docx

No One Gets Out of Here Alive- A Survival Horror RPG by Cris

Character Creation

The Three Main statistics of every character are Brains, Brawn, and Will.  Brains  is a measure of smarts and know how, Brawn is physical power and general all around body athletics, and Will is inner strength and willpower.  The Character begins with 10 points divided between the three.  Points can go from 1, very poor, to 6, exceptional.  Example: John has Brains 4, Brawn 2, and Will 4.  Now choose an upbringing and three associated skills to go with it.  Players upbringing will help determine the skills.  Skills can be anything within reason.  The Player gets 10 points to allot to these skills.  Skills again can range from 1 to 6.  Example: John grew up on a farm so the skills he chooses are Operate Farm Equipment 2, Horse Riding 5, Animal First Aid 3. 

Next, the Player chooses an Occupation and Five corresponding skills.  The occupation is what the player has devoted his time to; it need not necessarily be a career.  The Player gets to allot 20 points to these skills.  Example: John moved to the big city and became a Reporter for a local underground Anarchist newspaper.  His skills are: Research 6, Breaking and Entering 3, Writing (English) 3, Computer Operation 4, and Interview 4. 

The Player then Chooses two skills for hobbies, these can be anything within the characters ability.  Allot 6 Points to these skills, again ranging from 1-6.  John chooses Antiques 2 and Swimming 4

After that the characters Toughness, the amount of punishment he can take, which is derived from adding Brawn and Will together.  John has a Toughness of 6.  The last step is to derive Health, which is equal to Brawn, so John has a Health of 2.

Fear, Hopelessness, and Mental Stability

Every character has these three negative aspects, which start at zero and increase over time.  Each aspect it tied to Main Statistic; Fear-Brawn, Hopelessness-Will, and Mental Stability-Brains.  Any time a Negative aspect is more than a Main statistic the character is consumed by it.  So if John has a Will of 4 and a Hopelessness of 5 he becomes hopeless about the future.  The player can role play this any way he wishes within reason.  All Negative aspects when dominant cause self-destructive behavior and actions.

Dominant Negative Statistics and Traits

Fear- Character flees or cowers away from what he is afraid of and will not take risks to help anyone but themselves.  Survival is the top priority

Hopelessness- Character does not care about his own safety and becomes fatalistic and uncaring.  He will not care if people die and may refuse to help in crisis situations.

Mental Stability- Character becomes unstable and dangerous.  A player might attack others, eat glue, attempt to hug the evil out of a monster, or just plain babble nonsense. 

So Let us look at John:

Main Stats               Skills

Brain 4                       Operate Farm Equipment 2

Brawn 2                     Horse Ridding 5

Will 4                         Animal First Aid 3

Toughness 6               Research 6

Health 2                      Writing 3

                                  Breaking and Entering 3
                                  Computer Operation 4

Fear 0                         Interview 4

Hopelessness 0           Antiques 2

Mental Stability 0        Swimming 4

Making Checks

The only dice you will need are a bunch of d6’s.  The object of a check is to roll doubles with the amount of d6’s you have.  When the GM calls for a check roll a corresponding skill or if no skill is relevant roll to the closest Main Statistic.  The Skill number or Main Statistic Number is equivalent to how many D6’s a character rolls.  Example: John is going to Jump a ravine, he has no relevant skill so he will roll on Brawn.  John has a Brawn of 2 so he rolls 2d6.  He rolls a 4 and a 2, no doubles, he fall down the ravine. 

The two types of checks are opposed and unopposed.  Opposed checks are where two people are engaged in some sort of contest with a winner and loser.  Both players roll for corresponding skills or Main Statistics, if the skill is not available, and the person with the highest double wins.  If no doubles are present the highest number wins.  Three of a kind always beat any double and four of a kind always beat any three of a kind; so three 4’s will beat a pair of 6’s.  If there is a tie then reroll.  John is in a contest to wrestle a knife out a cultists hands, he rolls 2d6 for Brawn, having no applicable skill, while the cultist rolls 4d6 for his skill of Knife Fighting.  John ends up with a 1 and a 6 while the Cultist gets a pair of 3’s.  The knife is now in the Cultists hands and he moves in for the attack.

Unopposed rolls are where there is no opposed action.  Shooting someone who is not aware of you or Sneaking are Unopposed rolls.  The GM then decides how difficult the action is and assigns it a Challenge number 1-6.  The player has to roll doubles at or above that number to succeed.  The Challenge Rate is as Follows:

1                   Moderately Difficult    Jumping a ravine with 50 ft running start

2                   Difficult                           Jumping a ravine with 20ft running start

3                   Hard                                 Jumping a ravine with 10ft running start

4                   Very Hard                       Jumping a ravine with 5ft running start

5                   Exceptionally Hard       Jumping a ravine at the edge at rest

6                   Unlikely to succeed      Jumping a ravine at the edge…, backwards

Three, four, and five 6’s may be used but those things are near impossible to accomplish and only by the highest trained and the luckiest.

            Fear, Hopelessness, and Mental Stability checks are all unopposed rolls and correspond to the previous chart.  Having a pet die would be a 1 on the hopelessness scale, the player would have to roll a double of 1 or higher to succeed.  Entering a Nazi concentration camp and seeing all the inhumane suffering would be a 6, the player would have to roll a pair of 6’s or higher to succeed.  Any time a character fails a check on any of the Negative Statistics then the score goes up by 1. 

Death, Healing, and Removing Negative Statistics

            Characters when hurt subtract from Toughness first and then Health.  When a characters Toughness and Health are both at 0 they are dead.  A Characters Toughness naturally heals at 1 Point per hour, and Health heals naturally at 1 point per day.  The GM may allow for a higher healing rate if the characters have access to supplies, perform a relevant skill check such as first aid, or both.  A player can lose points in Negative Statistics by doing specific actions.  For Fear a player must be removed from what frightened him or her and spend at least an hour relaxing without any further fright, then the Fear can be reduced by 1.  Trapped in a closet while a beast is waiting outside to eat you is not relaxing.  For Hopelessness a character needs to be inspired by others significant successful actions or the characters actions themselves, then Hopelessness can be reduced by one.  Escaping from a monster of some sort would warrant a loss of 1 Hopelessness.  Mental Stability can be recovered usually by three ways; therapy of some sort, Mental Reconditioning (Hypnosis, Meditation, Extensive Self Study), and Drugs.  A character who participates in such things for an appropriate amount of time can reduce their Mental Stability by 1.

Weapons and Equipment

Weapon                                            Damage

Small Knife                                       1 Point

Large Knife                                       2 Points

Club, Axe, Sword                             3 Points

Small Gun                                         2 Points

Large Gun                                         4 Points

Shotgun                                            5 Points

Explosives                                        6 Points or Death

            Any Equipment the players have with them that help them in a skill, a first aid kit to bandage some ones wounds or a grappling hook for climbing, should give them an extra 1-3 d6’s depending on how relevant to the situation and skill.  

Tanks! Tanks! Tanks! - By Nemo

Tanks is a pen and paper RPG that requires the use of a single D10.
This game requires a standard square battle mat, and tokens taken up a 2x1 section on that map. The token must have a way of identifying the front and rear. (A small toy car or tank will work well.)

Each character player is in charge of one tank unit. Each player will utilize four different skills: Repair, Shoot, Defense, and Move.
Each player can make 1 action per turn. Turn order is decided by the best movement roll.
The more points you put into a skill the more that effects the range for a successful roll. A successful roll is determined based on the number of points in that skill, however it is different based on each action.
Repair success is determined directly on how many points the person has in that skill. If the roll result is equal to or lower than the number of skill points it is considered a successful roll.
Shoot success has two stages, complete success and partial success. A complete is determined on the character's shooting skill - the targeted players defense skill. (Player 1's Shoot skill is 7 Player 2's defense is 5, 5 - 7 = 2 so the player successfully does complete damage on a 1 or 2. A partial success is anything equal to or lower than the the shooter's skill regardless of the targets defense, however this does only half damage.
Defense rolls are only used for determined a successful ambush, (see ambush section for details) this roll is determined the same as Shoot.
Move success is determined based on the number of points allotted to that skill. As long as the result is equal to or less than the roll result, the tank can make as many moves as the die result. In an unsuccessful roll, the tank moves at half the result rounded down, or 1. No matter the result, no tank can make more moves per turn than it has points in the move skill. (even though a 10 divided by 2 is 5, a tank with 3 points in Move still only moves 3.)
Each player begins with a Base: 1 in each skill, and has 12 additional points to put into each category.
Movement: Each movement earned from your roll gives you 1 space to move forward. Turning in place takes 2 moves, or you may incorporate a turn while moving for only 1 additional move. So moving 3 spaces and turning 90 degrees only costs you 4 movement. You cannot move over obstacles or other player's vehicles
Shoot: A vehicle can only shoot an enemy in a front facing direction, This area includes all spaces 3 squares wide center on the front of the vehicle. There is no maximum to the distance that a tank can Shoot. A vehicle shooting over cover from more than 1 space away incurs a -2 penalty. You cannot shoot through a wall. A wall can be destroyed by Shooting it for 5 damage. A destroyed wall turns into cover. Cover that is shot is automatically destroyed.
Combat:

• Damage: Each successful shot deals 1D10 damage. Each tank starts with 20 Hit points, and receives +2 for each point in Defense above 5.
• A vehicle below 5 HP is considered disabled and cannot move.

Repair a successful roll allows the player to repair 1D10 HP.

Defense can be used to attack another player if the defending player does not use any actions during a turn. If before the next turn another player's tank moves in front the defending player, that player can immediately attack using his Defense skill instead of the Shoot skill. 

This module is designed for an arena type play, or possibly players can team up against NPC vehicles. 

Create Your Own RPG System- A We Hate Bards Challenge

Let It Begin!

The Challenge- To create your own RPG, pen and paper, system from the ground up.  We want to see original content, not just some window dressing on an old system.

Requirements

• Original Content Only
• No More than Five Pages Single Spaced
• Can Be Anything, Go Wild!

Try not to write the next Rifts or Dungeons and Dragons.  Keep the mechanics of the game simple, easy to learn, and quick to play.  The winner of the challenge will have their system played at a We Hate Bards session.  

To submit your own contribution and earn your chance at fame email us at wehatebards@gmail.com