Kaiju RPG!

A place to discuss game rules, homebrew systems and the like.
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

This is why I love brainstorming with others here. These are some good ideas. Thanks.
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Davies
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by Davies »

drkrash wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:22 pm I honestly fell in love with Kaiju SOS.

Unfortunately, it seems to be the name of an upcoming CGI online comedy film.
I would suggest contacting the makers of said film and asking whether they'd be willing to let you also use the title, as long as you make it clear that it's not associated with their film in the work. It's what Steve Jackson Games did when their GURPS Aliens came out at the same time as Leading Edge's adaptation of the Aliens franchise did, with a little acknowledgment on the first page.
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

That's interesting. I suppose it doesn't cost anything to reach out. TBH, it looks like one of those projects that may never see the light of day or, if it does, will only matter to a small group. In other words, at this point, maybe exactly like mine.
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

I tried finding a way to reach out to the guy that wasn't as clunky and public as responded on his Twitter account. As far as I can tell, he has no internet presence unless you look for the name specifically. I think I might just table this concern for now, continue using "Kaiju SOS" in my head as the working title, and re-address the issue further down the road. If it comes down to me having a finished product first, I might just make it his problem instead.
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

Looking for some opinions on a core mechanic. I wanted one that was simple, roll under, and had enough character without being cute only for the sake of being cute.

I'm planning on naming the core mechanic after Godzilla’s 1954 birthyear, the 1d54.

Here’s what I have and then I’ll ask my questions:

Stats are based on a 1-5 skill (2 average). Skills are rated 1-3. (These numbers can be changed, but this seems to work just fine now.)

A roll is a 1d5 roll under the relevant stat. If successful, the d4 is the “effect die” (e.g., damage or degree of success). If both dice are rolled at once: 1d54. (OK, so it’s a *little* cute for its own sake.)

Now my questions and observations seeking comment:

Originally, I thought of adding skills to stats for success chance, but it seemed like that made things *too* easy.

Then I thought about adding skills to the effect die, but that created the weird effect that a skilled person was no more likely to succeed, but who’s successes were always extraordinary results.

My present version is a little of both:
Skill 1 = +1 to stat
Skill 2 = +1 to stat and +1 to effect
Skill 3 = +2 to stat and +1 to effect

I don’t think a d5 allows enough variance for critical successes or fails, and I don’t like the idea of auto fails either. Right now, I’m inclined to think that a 5 or more chance of success always succeeds, just because it is faster and more heroic.

Should a chance of success greater than 5 add to the effect die? Or is auto-success its own reward?
Should a player be able to voluntarily reduce chance of success to increase effect? Or take some sort of narrative “twist” to get a bonus on the effect die? (I may be playing a lot of Sentinel Comics RPG these days.)

ecause some people probably hate rolling d5s, the system could still max out at a 5 chance of success, but use a d6 instead, with a 6 being an auto-fail. But I don’t like the best of the best failing 17% of the time.

It’s impressive that a system designed to be easy and move out of the way has cost me this much thought. 😊 Any of your own thoughts are welcome.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by Batgirl III »

The biggest problem with this system is the obvious issue that five-sided dice are all but non-existent. The few that are manufactured are all either triangular prisms (which are not a fair die) or capped five-sided cylinders (which are a pain in the butt to roll).

I think you're breaking your own rule of being cute for the sake of being cute.
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

Thanks. I appreciate the opinion. FWIW, the text as presently written just says to use a d10.

Excepting the potential issue with a d5, any thoughts if I were to keep the numbers more or less the same? Or the use of a separate die as an effect die?

I'm not a fan of dice pools and I don't want high variability (so no d20s).
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

OK. A different approach along the same lines. I can keep the "cute" without it getting in the way.

Attributes are 1-5; Skills are 1-4 now. Those 5-4 limits give me my cute '54, so I can still keep that.

The system is a roll under system. Add Attribute+Skill and roll under on 1d6. A second d6 is rolled as an Effect Die. The amount you make the roll by is added to the effect die. Thus, success is measured by the Effect Die in a range of 1-14, averaging around 4.

Howzat?
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Davies
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by Davies »

Okay, so Attribute 5 + Skill 4 is an automatic success and a minimum of +3 to any effect die?

My only real comment is that you should probably make it impossible to improve an attribute after character creation, and difficult to improve a skill.

Or possibly make buying or improving a skill more expensive depending on how high its associated attribute is. The higher you go, the harder it gets to go further.
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

Thanks. Yeah, I was planning on making higher end stats and skills difficult at both chargen and with XP.
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

Here is my preliminary skill list. It was tough, as I really wanted to restrict it to no more than 20. Is there anything that stands out as missing (and not able to be subsumed into another one on this list) OR something that doesn't seem like its appropriate? (Names can be changed; I generating my working list by grabbing skill lists from modern RPGs.)

Athletics
Bureaucracy
Charm
Close Combat
Cultures
Demolition
Drive
Investigation
Knowledge
Languages
Medicine
Perception
Pilot
Ranged Combat
Science
Security
Stealth
Survival
Technology
Weapon
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Davies
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by Davies »

I'd suggest dropping languages, when they show up in kaiju movies they usually take the form of translating ancient languages, which falls more under the heading of Knowledge. Making sense of unfamiliar modern languages might be a Cultures check.

Why is there a Weapon skill as well as Close Combat and Ranged Combat?
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

Whoops. Weapon was a leftover. That shouldn't be on there.

I might split Cultures into something like Modern and Ancient or something like "regular world" and "worlds of mystery."

Thanks.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by Batgirl III »

Languages seems unnecessary, in most kaiju films everyone on Earth (even faeries from hidden magic islands and aliens from undiscovered planets) seems to speak modern Japanese... or modern American English. Depends where the film was made. The ability to translate some ancient writing is occasionally used, but that probably should be lumped in with Science / Archaeology.

I'm usually onboard with modern action-adventure games having a blanket "Science" skill, even if this doesn't make much sense in real-world terms, but in superhero comic books and action-adventure shows, the trope of the "Omnidisciplinary Scientist" is alive and well: The Beast (Hank McCoy) is an expert geneticist, surgeon, aerospace engineer, and computer programmer after all. But kaiju films tend to actually hue closer to real world sciences here: medical doctors and biologists tend to know everything about all the life sciences; computer programmers and roboticists tend to know everything there is to know about anything technological; and so forth... Maybe break up the science skill into "Life Sciences," "Physical Sciences," "Humanities" and "Technology"?
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drkrash
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Re: Kaiju RPG!

Post by drkrash »

Well, since I may have shaved off one or two, I could probably do something like this. Thanks.
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