Stripped Gears: Difference between revisions

From 2d4chan
Jump to navigation Jump to search
1d4chan>StrippedGears
m (37 revisions imported)
 
(35 intermediate revisions by 8 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
=Stripped Gears=
==Background==
Stripped Gears is a work-in-progress [[/tg/'s homebrews|homebrew]] roleplaying game based on the [[One Roll Engine]]. It is set in a near-future where the players are participants in an illegal subculture built up around modifying domestic robots into pit fighters.
Stripped Gears is a work-in-progress homebrew roleplaying game based on the [[One Roll Engine]]. It is set in a near-future where the players are participants in an illegal subculture built up around modifying domestic robots into pit fighters.
 
==Story==
The year is 20XX, and robots have become indispensable in society. Powerful positronic brains combined with several breakthroughs in rechargeable batteries and animatronics meant that it had finally become feasible to build humaniform robots that could fill a wide variety of roles. At the low-end, these brains aren't good for much more than housekeeping. At the high end, these robots fill a wide variety of roles. Lawbots are dedicated public defenders, medibots are the perfect general practitioners, and law enforcement and the military have obedient "man"power that don't collect pensions.
 
Naturally, not everyone was perfectly happy about the rise of robots, and it wasn't long after the first models entered the consumer end of the market before anti-robot activists successfully campaigned to heavily regulate them. Civilian robots always had to be "Three Laws Compliant" - that is, compliant with Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics - but that wasn't enough. Thanks to a few easily-scared killjoys swayed by a couple horror movies about haywire robots going on killing sprees, robots had to be further inhibited. Under the principle that a robot cannot do anything it has not been programmed to do, [[Stripped Gears Combat|combat]] skill packages were banned and access to all but the most "simple" of brains had been heavily restricted.


==Background==
And, for a while, this regulation seemed to work. After all, what was the point in taking a Three Laws-compliant bot and loading it up with [[Stripped Gears Combat|combat]] software?
The year is 20XX, and robots have become indispensable in society. Powerful positronic brains combined with several breakthroughs in rechargeable batteries and animatronics meant that it had finally become feasible to build humaniform robots that could fill a wide variety of rolls. At the low-end, these brains aren't good for much more than housekeeping. At the high end, these robots fill a wide variety of roles. Lawbots are dedicated public defenders, medibots are the perfect general practitioners, and law enforcement and the military have obedient "man"power that don't collect pensions.


Naturally, not everyone was perfectly happy about the rise of robots, and it wasn't long after the first models entered the consumer end of the market before anti-robot activists successfully campaigned to heavily regulate them. Civilian robots always had to be "Three Laws Compliant" - that is, compliant with Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics - but that wasn't enough. Thanks to a few easily-scared killjoys swayed by a couple horror movies about haywire robots going on killing sprees, robots had to be further inhibited. Under the principle that a robot cannot do anything it has not been programmed to do, combat skill packages were banned and access to all but the most "simple" of brains had been heavily restricted.
The point, as it turned out, was entertainment. Nobody's sure exactly where it all started - clubs in London, New York, Chicago, and Tokyo all have strong claims of being the first ones to do it - but a culture of underground robot pit fighting sprouted up like mushrooms after a rainstorm. People had started taking their domestic robots, wiping their programming, and loading them up with [[Stripped Gears Combat|combat]] subroutines so that they could watch their meidobots and butlerbots and nannybots and sexbots rip each other to pieces. Naturally, these clubs became dens of all manner of vice and shutting them down became a high priority for law enforcement. Cops quickly figured out that a [[Stripped Gears Combat|combat]] meidobot makes a shitty maid when all her housekeeping skills had to be wiped to make room for the ability to beat another robot into an unidentifiable mass of metal, and the Junk Johns (the owners of these [[Stripped Gears Combat|combat]] robots) learned to get their hands on high-end brains that could [[Stripped Gears Combat|fight]] AND clean. The arms race was on.


And, for a while, this regulation seemed to work. After all, what was the point in taking a Three Laws-compliant bot and loading it up with combat software?
Public opinion on the matter remains rather split. Some feel that as long as the robots are hardwired into Three Laws compliance then it doesn't matter if they know how to hack apart another robot with a chainsaw. Others feel that there's too much risk of a robot going rogue after a [[Stripped Gears Combat|fight]] and killing people. The media, for its part, seems to make a point of preserving the outlaw status of these rings because the issue makes great ratings. Either way, the problem isn't going anywhere any time soon, and truth be told, most of the Johns couldn't care less.


The point, as it turned out, was entertainment. Nobody's sure exactly where it all started - clubs in London, New York, Chicago, and Tokyo all have strong claims of being the first ones to do it - but a culture of underground robot pit fighting sprouted up like mushrooms after a rainstorm. People had started taking their domestic robots, wiping their programming, and loading them up with combat subroutines so that they could watch their meidobots and butlerbots and nannybots and sexbots rip each other to pieces. Naturally, these clubs became dens of all manner of vice and shutting them down became a high priority for law enforcement. Cops quickly figured out that a combat meidobot makes a shitty maid when all her housekeeping skills had to be wiped to make room for the ability to beat another robot into an unidentifiable mass of metal, and the Junk Johns (the owners of these combat robots) learned to get their hands on high-end brains that could fight AND clean. The arms race was on.
===Further Reading===
Stripped Gears is meant to be relatively open, with no fixed setting or plot, but /tg/ has written a great deal of [[Stripped Gears Writefaggotry|additional material]] that might provide a jumping off point.


Public opinion on the matter remains rather split. Some feel that as long as the robots are hardwired into Three Laws compliance then it doesn't matter if they know how to hack apart another robot with a chainsaw. Others feel that there's too much risk of a robot going rogue after a fight and killing people. The media, for its part, seems to make a point of preserving the outlaw status of these rings because the issue makes great ratings. Either way, the problem isn't going anywhere any time soon, and truth be told, most of the Johns couldn't care less.
==One Roll Engine==
Stripped Gears runs off of the [[One Roll Engine]]. It uses d10 die pools, and you want to roll pairs or better of dice showing the same value.  The "width" of a matched set is how many dice match, and it's used for the speed and power of an action. The "height" of a matched set is the value the dice are showing, generally determines the quality of an action. A roll of 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 8 has two sets: one with a width of 3 and height of 2 (3x2) and one with a width of 2 and height of 5 (2x5). A dice pool can have one master die, which you can set to any value before you roll the rest of the dice.


==Mechanics==
Stripped Gears also uses something like the aspects feature of [[FATE System]], renamed to "drives."  On character creation, humans may be assigned up to five drives for free.  Drives are motivations for the character. They are almost always what polite society would refer to as flaws. If the player acts out a character's drive in a way that causes a setback, the GM should award a drive point to the player. Drive points can be spent later on advanced maneuvers in combat.
===One Roll Engine===
Stripped Gears runs off of the One Roll Engine. It uses d10 die pools and looks for matched sets of dice. The Width of a set generally determines the speed of an action, and the Height of the set generally determines the quality of an action. A roll of 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 8 could be said to be three wide, five high, or 3x5.


===Stats===
==Character Creation==
Every human character has six stats that determine general aptitudes: Body, Charm, Command, Coordination, Mind, and Sense. A human cannot have a stat higher than 5.
Stripped Gears uses a point buy system to [[Stripped Gears Character Creation|create characters]] . The standard [[Stripped Gears Character Creation|character creation]] process involves each player creating one human character, and then a robot that uses that character's in-game resources and skills.
*Body describes physical toughness and power. A character with low Body could be considered "scrawny", while a character with high Body could be referred to as "beefy".
*Charm describes a character's ability to manipulate social situations. A character with low Charm could be considered "boorish", while a character with high Charm could be referred to as "persuasive".
*Command describes a character's force of personality. A character with low Command could be considered "meek", while a character with high Command could be referred to as "forceful".
*Coordination describes physical agility and dexterity. A character with low Coordination could be considered "clumsy", while a character with high Coordination could be referred to as "graceful".
*Mind describes a character's intelligence. A character with low Mind could be considered "stupid", while a character with high Mind could be referred to as "brilliant".
*Sense describes a character's ability to perceive the world around them. A character with low Sense could be considered "oblivious", while a character with high Sense could be referred to as "vigilant".


Robots, unlike humans, only have Body, Coordination, and Sense, and these physical stats can exceed five in the case of superhumanly strong, agile, and perceptive chassis.
Humans have six stats — Body, Coordination, Sense, Charm, Mind, and Command. Robots only have the first three. Both humans and robots have a variety of skills to choose from, and must roll a number of d10s equal to their skill plus the associated stat when attempting a difficult action. However, humans can attempt actions they are unskilled in, while robots cannot.


===Skills===
In addition to stats and skills, humans can buy advantages and robots can buy add-ons, which are roughly equivalent and represent extra equipment. These features give their owners extra situational advantages not covered by skills and stats.
Skills represent learning and life experience above and beyond natural aptitude. When a character uses a skill, they add their Skill total to the appropriate Stat to find the size of their die pool. For example, a character with Robotics (Hardware) 3 and Mind 4 would roll seven dice in their pool. Humans can raise no skill higher than 6, but they can attempt to use any skill - even ones they aren't trained in - as long as they have at least a 2-die pool. For example, a person with Mind 1 can attempt an untrained Cooking check with the help of some situational bonuses, like a detailed cookbook (+1), a well-stocked kitchen (+1), and enough time to be careful and do things right (+1 or 2), bumping his overall die pool up to 3 or 4. A robot's skills are determined by the quality of their skill packages, which can be as simple as Rank 2 (bare-bones) up to a maximum of Rank 8 (superhuman). Unlike a human, a robot that lacks a skill package for a given skill ""cannot"" attempt any use of that skill.
====Body Skills====
*Athletics: You are able to run efficiently, use your body’s leverage to lift heavier things than otherwise, climb rapidly, and so on.
*Block: You can intercept and deflect incoming attacks.
*Endurance: If you’re a person, Endurance lets you push through pain and push your body to its limits. If you’re a robot, Endurance can help you overcome negative Condition penalties and shut down secondary systems to extend operating life between charges.
*Melee Combat [Type]: You are skilled in a type of melee combat or weapon focus. Example Types: Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, Swords, Clubs, Flails.


====Coordination Skills====
==Combat==
*Acrobatics: You are a skilled gymnast and can complete flips, rolls, and handsprings. You can also use this skill to fall properly and to retain your footing after being thrown or knocked back.
[[Stripped Gears Combat|Combat]] in Stripped Gears is almost exclusively robot against robot, due to the limits on available robot brains. The fights take many forms, with many different possible special rules and outcomes.
*Ranged Weapons [Type]: You know how to use ranged weapons. Example Types: Guns, Throwing Knives, Crossbow.
*Dodge: You are adept at getting out of the way of attacks and danger you can see coming.
*Vehicle [Type]: You have training in the use of a specific type of vehicle. Routine use does not require a roll. Example Types: Car, Motorcycle, Truck, Blimp, Hang-Glider, Jet Aircraft, Helicopter, Sailboat, Speedboat.
*Escape Artist: You are skilled at escaping ropes, handcuffs, and other restraint devices.
*Lockpick: You are familiar with how to force, pick or bypass locks.
*Pick Pocket: You are skilled at sleight of hand and are capable of stealing jewelry, wallets, and other personal effects from people without their knowledge. This typically means a dynamic contest of your Coordination+Pick Pocket vs. the victim's Sense+Perception.
*Stealth: You are light on your feet and know how to remain unheard and out of sight. This typically means a dynamic contest of your Coordination+Stealth against their Sense+Perception.


====Sense Skills====
Fights between robots begin with an entrance sequence where the robots attempt to impress the crowd. During this time, the owners may attempt to figure out exactly what types of components the opposing robots have installed.
*Awareness: The ability to rapidly track changes in an environment.
*Empathy: The ability to discern lies and the emotional state of a person.
*Perception: The ability to rapidly spot details at a glance (like spotting an access panel on an enemy robot).
*Scrutiny: The ability to sift through an area or document in an organized manner.


====Mind Skills====
Once the fight begins, there are many ways it can end. Some fights are to KO, while others are to the first good hit, or to the death. During the fights, the robots use their skills to attack and defend, and the owners use their knowledge to command and assist.
*Computer Hardware: You can repair and build computers.
*Cooking: You can cook.
*Programming: You can program or reprogram computers.
*Electronics: You can build, repair, and disassemble electronics without electrocuting yourself.
*First Aid: With the proper equipment, you can treat minor wounds in the field and help a badly injured patient survive long enough for more intensive treatment.
*Forgery: You can forge documents and recognize forgeries.
*Housekeeping: You can clean, put beds in order, and handle simple, regular maintenance of the household (like changing light bulbs).
*Mechanic [Type]: You can repair or build machinery of a particular type. Example Types: Cars, Jet Aircraft, Industrial Machinery.
*-Ology [Type]: A catchall skill for any form of high-level field. Example Types: Criminology, Cardiology, Law, Psychiatry
*Robotics (Hardware): You have the ability to work on the mechanical and electronic hardware of a robot.
*Robotics (Software): You have the ability to write and refine software packages for robots.
*Tactics: You are well versed in the arts of war and know how to use terrain, manpower, and equipment to coordinate attacks, prepare and avoid ambushes, and gain the upper hand in battles.


====Command Skills====
When the fight is over, the winning team receives prize money or reputation, depending on how impressive of a fight they put on.
*Intimidation: You can cause a person to fear you through physical or psychological threats. This usually means a dynamic contest between Command+Intimidation and Charm+Resist.
*Leadership: You can effectively guide and direct others, even under fire.
*Performance [Type]: You have an entertaining skill and the confidence to perform it in front of large groups. Example Types: Acting, Flute, Guitar, Public Speaking, Singing.
*Robotics (Command): You know what orders to give to get the most out of your robot in-combat.
*Seduction: You’re skilled at attracting and manipulating others, particularly in a romantic sense.


====Charm Skills====
[[Category:Homebrew Settings]]
*Counseling: You can talk down a traumatized individual.
[[Category:Stripped Gears]]
*Deception: You can obfuscate the truth and create convincing lies.
*Persuasion: You can convince people to see your side of an argument.
*Resist: You are unusually resistant to psychological and physical coercion such as intimidation, torture, telepathic attack, and brainwashing.

Latest revision as of 23:36, 22 June 2023

Background[edit]

Stripped Gears is a work-in-progress homebrew roleplaying game based on the One Roll Engine. It is set in a near-future where the players are participants in an illegal subculture built up around modifying domestic robots into pit fighters.

Story[edit]

The year is 20XX, and robots have become indispensable in society. Powerful positronic brains combined with several breakthroughs in rechargeable batteries and animatronics meant that it had finally become feasible to build humaniform robots that could fill a wide variety of roles. At the low-end, these brains aren't good for much more than housekeeping. At the high end, these robots fill a wide variety of roles. Lawbots are dedicated public defenders, medibots are the perfect general practitioners, and law enforcement and the military have obedient "man"power that don't collect pensions.

Naturally, not everyone was perfectly happy about the rise of robots, and it wasn't long after the first models entered the consumer end of the market before anti-robot activists successfully campaigned to heavily regulate them. Civilian robots always had to be "Three Laws Compliant" - that is, compliant with Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics - but that wasn't enough. Thanks to a few easily-scared killjoys swayed by a couple horror movies about haywire robots going on killing sprees, robots had to be further inhibited. Under the principle that a robot cannot do anything it has not been programmed to do, combat skill packages were banned and access to all but the most "simple" of brains had been heavily restricted.

And, for a while, this regulation seemed to work. After all, what was the point in taking a Three Laws-compliant bot and loading it up with combat software?

The point, as it turned out, was entertainment. Nobody's sure exactly where it all started - clubs in London, New York, Chicago, and Tokyo all have strong claims of being the first ones to do it - but a culture of underground robot pit fighting sprouted up like mushrooms after a rainstorm. People had started taking their domestic robots, wiping their programming, and loading them up with combat subroutines so that they could watch their meidobots and butlerbots and nannybots and sexbots rip each other to pieces. Naturally, these clubs became dens of all manner of vice and shutting them down became a high priority for law enforcement. Cops quickly figured out that a combat meidobot makes a shitty maid when all her housekeeping skills had to be wiped to make room for the ability to beat another robot into an unidentifiable mass of metal, and the Junk Johns (the owners of these combat robots) learned to get their hands on high-end brains that could fight AND clean. The arms race was on.

Public opinion on the matter remains rather split. Some feel that as long as the robots are hardwired into Three Laws compliance then it doesn't matter if they know how to hack apart another robot with a chainsaw. Others feel that there's too much risk of a robot going rogue after a fight and killing people. The media, for its part, seems to make a point of preserving the outlaw status of these rings because the issue makes great ratings. Either way, the problem isn't going anywhere any time soon, and truth be told, most of the Johns couldn't care less.

Further Reading[edit]

Stripped Gears is meant to be relatively open, with no fixed setting or plot, but /tg/ has written a great deal of additional material that might provide a jumping off point.

One Roll Engine[edit]

Stripped Gears runs off of the One Roll Engine. It uses d10 die pools, and you want to roll pairs or better of dice showing the same value. The "width" of a matched set is how many dice match, and it's used for the speed and power of an action. The "height" of a matched set is the value the dice are showing, generally determines the quality of an action. A roll of 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 8 has two sets: one with a width of 3 and height of 2 (3x2) and one with a width of 2 and height of 5 (2x5). A dice pool can have one master die, which you can set to any value before you roll the rest of the dice.

Stripped Gears also uses something like the aspects feature of FATE System, renamed to "drives." On character creation, humans may be assigned up to five drives for free. Drives are motivations for the character. They are almost always what polite society would refer to as flaws. If the player acts out a character's drive in a way that causes a setback, the GM should award a drive point to the player. Drive points can be spent later on advanced maneuvers in combat.

Character Creation[edit]

Stripped Gears uses a point buy system to create characters . The standard character creation process involves each player creating one human character, and then a robot that uses that character's in-game resources and skills.

Humans have six stats — Body, Coordination, Sense, Charm, Mind, and Command. Robots only have the first three. Both humans and robots have a variety of skills to choose from, and must roll a number of d10s equal to their skill plus the associated stat when attempting a difficult action. However, humans can attempt actions they are unskilled in, while robots cannot.

In addition to stats and skills, humans can buy advantages and robots can buy add-ons, which are roughly equivalent and represent extra equipment. These features give their owners extra situational advantages not covered by skills and stats.

Combat[edit]

Combat in Stripped Gears is almost exclusively robot against robot, due to the limits on available robot brains. The fights take many forms, with many different possible special rules and outcomes.

Fights between robots begin with an entrance sequence where the robots attempt to impress the crowd. During this time, the owners may attempt to figure out exactly what types of components the opposing robots have installed.

Once the fight begins, there are many ways it can end. Some fights are to KO, while others are to the first good hit, or to the death. During the fights, the robots use their skills to attack and defend, and the owners use their knowledge to command and assist.

When the fight is over, the winning team receives prize money or reputation, depending on how impressive of a fight they put on.

Retrieved from "http://23.235.193.55/mediawiki/index.php?title=Stripped_Gears&oldid=467983"