Hillbilly Hero

[zornwil]

He was kidding, but I am adding on to "playtest" (as an extended joke I guess) Chromatic's "Hillbilly Hero". Base rules:

 

Hillbilly Hero. I think it goes something like this:

 

You could combine all the similar skills that involve talking to other people, that would be acting, bribery, bureacratics, conversation, high society, interrogation, lip reading, mimicry, oratory, persuasion, seduction, streetwise, trading, and ventriloquism and call it Chattin'

 

Then you could combine all the similar skills that involve fixing or breaking things, that would be armorsmith, computer programming, demolitions, electronics, forensic medicine, mechanics, paramedics, systems operations and weapon smith and call it Messin'

 

Then you could combine all the similar skills that involve operating or studying things, that would include anaylze, animal handler, autofire, bugging, combat driving, combat piloting, forgery, gambling, navigation, sleight of hand, tactics, tracking, transport familiarity, two weapon fighting, and weapon familiarity and call it Fiddlin'

 

What ever's left combine into a single skill called Pokin' for when you poke around.

 

Now that that's been simplified, just forget about all the complicated different defenses and defensive powers, have a stat for not taking damage. Heck, combine it with the DCV thing too, we can call it likelihood of hurting. It's gonna be expensive though, maybe 10 points a value.

 

On the offense side, forget all those complicated powers that do damage in many ways, that's really all just part of special effects, have a stat that determines if you can connect and do damage, we can call it Puttin' on the Hurt, since offense has to me more costly than defense, better make this one 15 points a value.

 

All the travel type stuff can be combined together too, call it Movin' and make it cost 1 per unit.

 

What's missing? Oh yeah, just use one d6 to figure out stuff, it's a lot simpler that way, and easier to count up.

 

Adding on, you have the following:

 

Characteristics:

 

Muscles - how strong/tough you are, pay 10 points per

- to use Muscles, you can add Muscles to Puttin' on a Hurt, 1d6 per each point in Muscles - also used for all kinds of general checks if you try to do something with strength or the like

 

Lightnin' - how dexy/agile/quick you are, pay 15 points per

- Lightnin' says how fast you can go; each point in Lightnin' allows you to roll 1d6, whoever has most 6es goes first, if no 6ses or tied, go by 5s, if tied it's just tied! - used for all kinds of general checks about how dexy or quick you are

 

Smarts - how smart/wise you are, pay 5 points per

- Smarts is how fast you think and how strong your mind is

 

Slick - how slick/smooth/pretty/sweet-talkin' you are, pay 5 points per

- Slick is how smooth an operator you are, how much a wheeler-dealer or how purty or such

 

Tar - how much tar you got to put the whippin' on, pay 10 points per

- Tar is your damage, you roll 1d6 per 10 points in resisting damage (see combat)

 

For each characteristic, you can have a Characteristic Check if you try to do something based on it, such as see if you can punch through a piece of wood, which would be a Muscles Check. A Characteristic Check involves rolling as many d6 as you have resulting points in the characteristic (e.g., if you paid 30 points in Smarts for 6 points, that's 6d6); each 1 counts towards success; normally a 4 or less on any dice is required for "Not Too Challengin'", a 2 or better on any dice is required for "Kinda Challengin'", a 1 or better on any dice is required for "Real Challengin'", 2 1s among the dice for "That's Real Real Hard", 3 1s for "Purt Near Impossible". And if it's Impossible, don't roll no dice, you can't do it!

 

Movin' - how much you move, pay 1 point per, that's how many inches (2 meters per inch) you move in a turn

 

Skills:

 

Chattin' - 10 points for 1st d6, 3 points per +1d6, Slick Bonus - Acting, Bribery, Bureaucratics, Conversation, Disguise, High Society, Interrogation, Mimicry, Oratory, Persuasion, Seduction, Streetwise, Ventriloquism

 

Messin' - 10 points for 1st d6, 2 points per +1d6 - Animal Handler, Bugging, Demolitions, Electronics, Inventor, Knowledge Skill, Mechanics, Paramedics, Professional Skill, Science Skill, Security Systems, Survival, Systems Operation, Transport Familiarity, Weapon Familarity, Weaponsmith

 

Figurin' (renamed from Fiddlin') - 10 points for 1st d6, 3 points per +1, Smarts Bonus - note some stuff came out and went into Monkeyin' below - Analyze, Computer Programming, Cramming, Criminology, Cryptography, Deduction, Forensic Medicine, Forgery, Gambling, Language, Lip Reading, Navigation, Tactics, Teamwork, Tracking, Trading

 

Monkeyin' - 10 points for 1st d6, 5 points per +1, Lightnin' Bonus - this includes Acrobatics, Autofire, Breakfall, Climbing, Combat Driving, Combat Piloting, Concealment, Contortionist, Defense Maneuver, Fast Draw, Lockpicking, Martial Arts, Rapid Attack, Riding, Shadowing, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Two Weapon Fighting

 

Didn't need "Pokin'"

 

Skill Checks function just as Characteristic Checks, same idea. Note that opposed checks are basically just each party throwing dice and whoever has more 1s wins, in case of ties resort to 2s, and so on down. Ultimate tie(same # of 6s, 5s, 4s, 3s, 2s, 1s) goes to the defender.

 

Knowledge, Resources:

Any skill, any characteristic requires you know somethin' about what you're trying to do. So you have to buy Knowledges, Resources, all that. They cost as follows:

 

Real Useful: 5 points - Doctorin' stuff, Bein' stinkin' rich, Kung Fu, Knives, Drivin'

Kinda Useful: 2 points - Animal doctorin', Throwin' people, Knowin' some rich folk, Slingshots

A Little Useful: 1 point - Sewin', Drawin', Knowin' a drug dealer, Knowin' a low-ranking cop

 

If you know something related, the GM removes 1-3 d6 from your roll at his discretion. If you don't know something about what you're trying to do (e.g., you have Messin' and you're trying to be a doctor but you don't know doctorin'), then you just can't do it! Some stuff is common folk knowledge; you can always do that but can't do anything real special, so the GM will set the "Impossible" mark lower and you can always roll 3d6 if it's common enough that you have a good chance.

 

Combat, Powers, that stuff:

 

Puttin' a Hurt on - Puttin' a Hurt on costs 15 points per d6; when you buy it, you declare what characteristic (normally Tar) it goes against and any SFX; you can put a Hurt on not just Tar but Smarts or any other category, then one just rolls dice for Puttin' a Hurt on against the other character for which their dice for that characteristic; as much Hurt (damage taken, points removed from the characteristic) is taken as the inflicted number of 6s minus the defender's 6s.

 

Healin' - if a character has a skill that would help (such as Doctorin' (a 5 points Knowledge) normally helps Tar, but could be something more specialized such as Animal Doctorin' (a 2 point Knowledge) helps Waterkid the Human Dolphin's Tar, and could be something else such as Plumber (a 1 point Knowledge) helps fix the Amazing Plumber's plumbing weaponry), they roll it, each 6 takes some Hurt off. Healin' on one's own requires waiting a day, rolling Tar, and for each 6, get a healing point.

 

Special buyin' of stuff - you can always buy stuff "special" such as "Special Tar - real good eyes" which gives extra dice for any hurtin' against the eyes, or "Special Puttin' a Hurt on - against the Eyes" for blindin' someone. Special costs as follows:

 

Real Extra-Special (+1, such as NND, Area) - double cost

Real Special (+1/2, such as Armor Piercing, Resists Normal Damage) - 1.5x cost

Special (+1/4, Fixed Hole in the Middle or such) - 1.25x cost

Kinda Limitin' (-1/4, such as Doesn't Work in Dark, Extra Phase, 15/less Activation) - .8x cost

Purty Limitin' (-1/2, such as 4 recoverable charges, Extra Segment) - 2/3 x cost

Real Hurtin' (-1, such as OAF) - .5x cost

 

An example of use in this sort of simplified system would be "Fast-Healin' Tar" which is Tar that gets a Healing Roll, say, in a Turn, the GM might figure that's real powerful and make it Real Extra-Special, so Fast-Healin' Tar costs x2 and so is 20 points for each dice of this; he might even go further and make it Super Real Extra-Special for x3 or Double Real Extra-Special for x4!

 

If there's bunches of special stuff, just tally it all up and figure out how plus or minus special it is and apply one time as per the above!

 

That's Hillbilly Hero. We'll try something like this, probably after some more tinkering, for fun.

[Agent X]

Re: Hillbilly Hero

 

You might want to revise the rules if you take The Shepherd of the Hills as some inspiration.

 

Just a little remark from an Ozark hillbilly/military brat who is wondering how many people have actually spent some time in the hills based on the game you guys have described.

[zornwil]

Re: Hillbilly Hero

 

Heh, well, Hillbilly Hero is really a misnomor, as it's more a super-simplified HERO period for any genre.

 

I haven't spent time in the Ozarks but have spent it in the backwoods at the foothills of the Appalachians in South Carolina. But that's an entirely other discussion!

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Hillbilly Hero

 

Heh, that's hillarious, have a rep!

[zornwil]

Re: Hillbilly Hero

 

Version 0.1

 

To put a Hurtin' on any characteristic, the cost for the Hurtin' dice is

that characteristic + 5.

 

The Bonus Characteristic adds 1d6 per 2 points in the indicated

characteristic - round in player's favor.

 

Challengin' Chart: (no change, included just to support the change below

this)

 

Impossible - don't roll no dice, you can't do it

Purt Near Impossible - 3 1s required

Real, Real Hard - 2 1s required

Real Challengin' - 1 1 required

Kinda Challengin' - 1 2 or better required

Not Too Challengin' - 1 4 or better required

 

If you know something related to but not exactly your knowledge/resource,

move the required level of success up 2-3, GM discretion (i.e., Real, Real

Hard becomes Purt Near Impossible or Impossible). Common man knowledge is

always considered Not Too Challengin' in any appropriate

characteristic/skill.