Marine Rules Alpha Available

Well, I am still working at making them a little more pleasing, but the rules themselves are down on "paper". If you would like a copy of these (some of you have mentioned it), please send me an email (or post your email if you haven't already) and I will send you a copy.

My email again:

LiberInterdicoGmailcom

I'm guessing you can figure out how to format that into an address.

Projects and Marine Rules

Normally I like to be working on one major project that takes up most of my design time, one side project that I work on when I need a break from my main project, and one "hobby" project that I throw a few lines or ideas on as they appear to me, usually taking up no more than 10-15 minutes a week.

Unfortunately sometimes life (and work) throws on several new projects to the top of the pile without any forewarning. This is one of those times. I had hoped to have put out a nicely done up Marine rules PDF yesterday, at this rate I hope to have functionally written rules by Monday evening. I apologize for the delay.

Marine Voyages

One thing I've frequently dealt with in games is naval travel and combat. Be it tri-remes or galleons, my group loves to get in boats to get from A to B (or more usually from A to Ω) faster. Invariably this means they run into long sea voyages (with needs to resupply, get crew etc) and of course naval combat.

I've had several naval rules sets, but none I've loved. invariably it involves a simple set of rules with turning and speed, and wind rules. Combat for boarding actions involves skirmish level combat (rules for which are always also WIP and I'll post later), while weapon mounts and rams and fire focus on the other main aspects.

This almost always involves miniatures and a measuring tape, though I am always struggling against that (miniatures are fine, I just like being able to not need them).

These rules also tend to work best when each PC is captain of their own ship. I am planning to put these out as a separate PDF for play testers (they would be very plug and play, or even a game in their own right) if anyone is interested?

Any takers?

Halloween Creature Feature - Peripheral Terrors

I don't normally deal with specific creatures, but I thought I'd put up a system neutral creature for use in anybodies horror games. The Peripheral Terrors.

Peripheral Terrors are a lanky, fast moving humanoid with a dull grey skin. What exactly they look like is not known... as they can only be seen in your peripheral vision.

Turning to look at a Peripheral Terror means you can no longer see it, asking you to wonder if it was ever there at all. Terrors appear to be incorporeal, in so far as they can only be interacted with while in your peripheral vision, flooding a hallway you are certain they are in with flame,arrows or bullets will not harm them. They leave no footprints, yet cannot go through walls or closed doors or windows. They do however have the ability to manipulate, pick up and move objects (or harm people), though they are always quite discreet to avoid doing anything obvious (such as walking around holding something you can see when you turn to them).

Peripheral Terrors appear to be skilled climbers, able to scale sheer surfaces. They also appear to be quite adept at picking locks, disabling security systems and hiding from someones peripheral view behind objects.

These creatures will frequently be seen out of the corner of ones eye, standing in front of oblivious individuals, doing something with their mouth to the individuals face. Exactly what is being done cannot be seen.

Over time the affected individual will appear to have their face covered in small writhing worms in your peripheral vision, but again, you will see nothing straight on. The targeted individual will start to grow sickly with wasting diseases, their mind will begin to lose memories, at points they will black out and not remember actions they have taken. They end up both insane and infirm unless the worms are removed from on (and inside) their face.

Peripheral Terrors are not invisible, so spells or electronic devices to see the unseen will not locate them... unless you see the device through the corner of your eye, where it will clearly show them (ie, motion detectors), until you once more look at your device straight on..and it will clearly show they were not there. If a security system (such as cameras or motion detectors) leaves hard copy proof (such as log files or photos) the Peripherals will also not appear, unless seen through your peripheral vision.

The exact goals of the Peripheral Terrors are inscrutable, but they are filled with malice. And they do not like being investigated or discovered, they can and will lash out to cause your death..usually through unfortunate but scientifically plausible accidents. The Terror's may act alone, or they may travel in packs.. no one knows how large these packs get..some say they are a rare creature, some say thousands..some say they may outnumber regular people.

Peripheral Terror's will fit into any fantasy, supernatural horror or science fiction game.

Piecemeal Alpha Version 0.35 now released

I am having hosting issues with http://zzarchov.bravehost.com so the file is only currently available at pen and paper games .

This has the following Changelist:

Added Dynamic Saving Throw rules
Added rules for retirement and post-death adventure
Altered "Forked weapons" to be "Vicious" weapons, and included spiked and serrated weapons into the category.
Altered Charm and Command to use social conflict rules.

Saving Throws: Adding thoughts and tactics back into split second choices

Recently Troll and Flame discussed his dissatisfaction with saving throws. On that he brought up a few points I strongly agree with, and a few changes I'm looking to make.

The big one is to make players request saving throws. A saving throw requires the player declare how his character tries to get out of the way or mitigate the problems.

This is a great mechanic for bringing in the next rule I've been toying with throwing in.


Currently I go with ability checks, altered by ability modifiers. Currently these are listed in the spell or effect. IE, Fireball uses agility checks (saves).

But I want to drastically cut it down in complexity to where the type of action the player declare determines not only the ability score tested, but the chance of it succeeding and the effect of a successful save.

I've broken up the actions taken into three categories. The first option if its a situation you can't fully avoid (barring an epic success)such as an explosion and the second being a "hit or miss" event.

Crazy enough to work(I leap at the lightning bolt and hope it goes under me):
Double or half
Double or nothing

Standard response (duck, dodge, dip, dive or dodge)
Normal or Half
Normal or Nothing

Brilliant defense ("I throw the chest into the path of the fireball to make it explode prematurely!")
Half or Quarter
Half or Nothing


Epic successes always result in no loss,
Epic Failures always result in full.


The check will have a difficulty modifier (from +20 to -20) based on the difficulty in pulling off the action, not in how crazy or brilliant it is. It may be very hard (-10) to hit the fireball with the thrown chest or very easy (+10) to pull some form of crazy stunt.

The issue comes to what type of actions some spells have, I'm thinking the "Half" and "Double" should apply to any numeric modifier, most notably with duration for enchantments.

A big thank you to the people behind the RPGBN

I'd like to take this moment to give a brief but heartfelt thank you to the RPGBN. Much of my readership has found me thanks to the RPGBN and I wouldn't want the site leadership to change hands before I can take this opportunity to tell you how much I appreciate you letting me into your merry band.