Omega Team Campaign Logs

[Manic Typist]

Loved the logs.

Few questions:

First- What were some of your House rules and how did you come about selecting them?

Second- How did this equipment allowance work? 1 point got you 5?

Third- What is this "character background bonus" under the disads?

Did the donations to the equipment pool etc mean that if you "gave" these points up, you had permission to access these goods?

[Edsel]

Few questions:

First- What were some of your House rules and how did you come about selecting them?

Attached to this reply is a zip file that contains most of the house rules we used. It is in Word format. Keep in mind that this game was run using 4th Edition rules. Not included in the document were our firearm rules. These generally make firearms more lethal, especially to the unarmored. All of the rules that we chose to use were geared toward making the game a little more realistic and dangerous. We have found that people think through what they are doing much more often when they really have a lot to fear.

Second- How did this equipment allowance work? 1 point got you 5?

The basics are included in the attached document. We later introduced a system in which the characters were able to pool their assorted equipment in a Total Equipment Allowance (we called it the TEA Pot). Our equipment rules were very similar to the Resource Point introduced in the 5th Ed. version of Dark Champions. We will be using the new DC version in my next campaign.

Third- What is this "character background bonus" under the disads?

When a player provided a detailed background/character history for their new character they got a few bonus points as an incentive.

Did the donations to the equipment pool etc mean that if you "gave" these points up, you had permission to access these goods?

Pretty much that's how it worked. But we also allowed a character's wealth perk to give a bonus to the equipment allowance of the group. There are several things that we won't do the same in my next campaign. We will be playing with fewer house rules. We will be keeping most of our house rules for body armor and firearms though.

[Manic Typist]

Attached to this reply is a zip file that contains most of the house rules we used. It is in Word format. Keep in mind that this game was run using 4th Edition rules. Not included in the document were our firearm rules. These generally make firearms more lethal, especially to the unarmored. All of the rules that we chose to use were geared toward making the game a little more realistic and dangerous. We have found that people think through what they are doing much more often when they really have a lot to fear.



The basics are included in the attached document. We later introduced a system in which the characters were able to pool their assorted equipment in a Total Equipment Allowance (we called it the TEA Pot). Our equipment rules were very similar to the Resource Point introduced in the 5th Ed. version of Dark Champions. We will be using the new DC version in my next campaign.



When a player provided a detailed background/character history for their new character they got a few bonus points as an incentive.



Pretty much that's how it worked. But we also allowed a character's wealth perk to give a bonus to the equipment allowance of the group. There are several things that we won't do the same in my next campaign. We will be playing with fewer house rules. We will be keeping most of our house rules for body armor and firearms though.

-What factors did you take into consideration to actually design these house rules?

-So, a person could only use a max of 30 character points to buy equipment, period? Both during creation and the rest of the game? Variable I understand...... but it was 1 for 5 (I think I understand, just making sure) correct? Allowing a max of 150 Active Points of equipment per person?

-Why was the bonus listed under the disads? Where they give 2 raw points to spill, or 2 points "given" to them on disads (Which frees up 2 points indirectly, but can be slightly less convinient considering that disads typically work in increments of 5.)

Also, how do you think some/any of these rules, or other House rules entirely, should be used for a Fantasy campign? I'm still new to GMing and trying to stay alert for what I should watch for.

I soooooooo wish I could get in on some of this Dark Champions action you are running.

[Edsel]

-What factors did you take into consideration to actually design these house rules?

At that time (years ago) more of us were power-gamers than role-players, as a result everybody pretty much knew where the breakpoints were to maximize your points. The variable characteristic maximas were an effort to prevent everyone from building clones as far as their attributes were concerned.

The gun rules were just because we thought that firearms, as written, were not lethal enough, that is also why we limited the BODY stat so much. Using normal rules I can buy a 20 BODY for a normal (non-superhuman) character. I can then shoot myself in the head with a 9mm pistol, which according to Hero Rules does a 1d6+1 RKA. The maximum I can roll is 7 BODY which will double to 14 BODY. Even unarmored I have very little chance of dying. If you use the Blood loss rules there is a chance but that is slight.

In our rules a 9mm Pistol does 2d6+1 RKA but any resistant defence (like Body armor) counts as 1 1/2 times the normal defense. My 6 PD / 6 ED bullet proof vest will count as 9 points of resistant defense so it will take a lucky shot to get some BODY damage throught it. However if I am unarmored and take a vitals hit I could take up to 26 points of BODY damage. Since we limit the BODY stat the gun can be very lethal to an unarmored foe.

Since the cost of guns went up with their higher base attacks, and since armor was just as effective as ever. We had to raise the price of resistant defenses to keep armor from being too cheap.

-So, a person could only use a max of 30 character points to buy equipment, period? Both during creation and the rest of the game? Variable I understand...... but it was 1 for 5 (I think I understand, just making sure) correct? Allowing a max of 150 Active Points of equipment per person?

It was a 5 to 1 ratio for equipment so a character with 30 points devoted to equipment could carry up to 150 Real Points of equipment (guns, armor, communications devices, assorted gadgets, etc.). You could have lots more equipment but you could only lug around 150 points of it at a time.

-Why was the bonus listed under the disads? Where they give 2 raw points to spill, or 2 points "given" to them on disads (Which frees up 2 points indirectly, but can be slightly less convinient considering that disads typically work in increments of 5.)

We carried it as a custom disadvantage to prevent it from causing confusion about just how many XP each character had. The two points did not count against their Disadvantage limit so a character with the maximum allowable disads and a good background would actually have 77 points of disads instead of 75. Two points may seem to be an odd total but heroic characters can easily use two points. A Knowledge Skill can cost 2 points, a language can be learned for 2 points, an inch of running costs 2 points, etc.

Also, how do you think some/any of these rules, or other House rules entirely, should be used for a Fantasy campign? I'm still new to GMing and trying to stay alert for what I should watch for.

What we were using worked very well for a modern-era street-level campaign. That is what it was designed for. Our Fantasy Hero games use much less in the way of house rules. Our swords and bows basically work using the normal rules and so does the armor. We occationally use the Peircing rules from Dark Champions to represent an especially fine weapon so that it can bypass a point or two of defense to represent the high quality of the steel. Of course we generally use the Piercing rules in place of Armor Piercing in a lot of our games.

BTW Piercing was an old pre-4th Edition rule that was reintroduced as an optional rule in the 5th Ed version of Dark Champions (page 96).

I soooooooo wish I could get in on some of this Dark Champions action you are running.

Well if you ever happen to move to, or visit, Oklahoma City let me know. We can always use another player.

[Eosin]

-What factors did you take into consideration to actually design these house rules?

We primarily take realism into account as the primary trump card. Once we look at a rule the group will usually discuss things and then Edsel and I discuss things if there isn't a clear concensus (being the two GMs - he DC and me FH). The rules are generally equatible across those two genres. If we decide to give a go, it endures the "Audie Factor" --- Audie is the resident rules wizard and capable of making any rule do untold numbers of tricks to work in his favor. If it survives Audie then we pretty much green light it. Sometimes both Edsel and I have allowed stuff into the game that we came to regret because we didn't see the overall impact (The Predator Armor in Edsels case and certain magics in my own being the ones that stick out immediately in my mind).

Edsel is pretty meticilous when it comes to weapons and armor (along with our other one time GM - BGliechman). There are formulas and other esoteric stuff designed to convert things into champions based off FPS etc.... (stuff that I don't care to learn).

So, a person could only use a max of 30 character points to buy equipment, period? Both during creation and the rest of the game? Variable I understand...... but it was 1 for 5 (I think I understand, just making sure) correct? Allowing a max of 150 Active Points of equipment per person?

Nope, you could buy it up further but most of us didn't.

-Why was the bonus listed under the disads? Where they give 2 raw points to spill, or 2 points "given" to them on disads (Which frees up 2 points indirectly, but can be slightly less convinient considering that disads typically work in increments of 5.)

We try to keep a tight record of exp - sessions are listed and xp totals for each session are known to all. Keeping the bonus points in disads, keeps them from causing confusion.

Also, how do you think some/any of these rules, or other House rules entirely, should be used for a Fantasy campign? I'm still new to GMing and trying to stay alert for what I should watch for.

I don't think any of those older rules really apply to 5th ED. Assuredly, BODY should be kept low in games where there should be some degree of lethality and if you want set characteristic maximas that deviate from 20 than the way we used to do it is exactingly fair.

Edsel and I both frown on Deadly Blow -- it throws the damage to DEF ratios all to heck and back. I am sure there is tons of other nuianced rules that can be developed but I am drawing a blank right now.

[Manic Typist]

If you aren't going to go back and finish off this campaign........ can you at least share what the ultimate plot towards the end was going to be?

Like, all the shadowy stuff going on behind the scenes that they will never be able to find out since they aren't going to play it out, who might the final boss you would have pitched them up against would have been, etc?

[Eosin]

An interesting plot development that was known only to myself (me and Edsel talked about it a few times and had started to foreshadow it in game) was that Savant was just gonna up and die one day. The character concept called for a young genius facing an inevetible death from brain cancer so it kinda felt right to have him die a WTF death. I predetermined the date of his death at some point in the last campaign arc –IIRC was sometime in August or about two months away. It would be fun to tweak Hippocrates like that.


I know that part of the emerging campaign arcs included Reverend M and the Pack from one of the other 4th edition modules but what and how they were to evolve was never revealed to me. I still have the sneaking suspicion that they are connected somehow.

[Edsel]

Reverend M and the Pack were two story threads taken from Shadows of the City (by Scott Sigler, published 1993). I don't want to discuss their grand plans since we didn't get very far into them. Since they never fully developed I may want to use some of that material in the new campaign.

Some of the horror threads were taken from some old game modules for the RPG Chill (published by the long defunct Pacesetter Ltd.). Modules: Deathwatch on the Bayou, Highlands Terror and Thutmose's Night.

A lot of stuff was original. I was thinking about the missing machine (the self-aware software) might in the future become hostile to mankind, sort of like Skynet, and send Terminators back from the future to deal with the few humans who knew enough about it to pose a threat.

I didn't really have too much else planed that long-term. I usually only plotted ahead about a month or so. When one thread would start to play out I would try to come-up with another one or two to take it's place.

I though about having a few of those early scum, that they shipped off to China, return as martial artists seeking revenge.

It has been a good five years since the end of that campaign and it is hard for me to remember what I had in store. Part of the reason that I keep a campaign log in the first place is because I have poor recall. Often the players will have a better memory about what happened that I do.

[Killer Shrike]

It has been a good five years since the end of that campaign and it is hard for me to remember what I had in store. Part of the reason that I keep a campaign log in the first place is because I have poor recall. Often the players will have a better memory about what happened that I do.

Oddly enough, Im the same way. If I have something to jog my memory it'll come back to me, but the players in my campaigns regularly have better recall of events that occured than I do off the cuff.