Aberrant RPG - Aberrant Character Creation: Roll of the die!

[Matt]

Roll of the die!, contributed by Chris Hill & Tom Martin

Overview:

Firstly, let's get the important notice out of the way - don't (please god) take this seriously. This optional character creation rule will not do the following:

• enhance your game in any way that is useful
• enable the Storyteller to run a 'balanced' game
• stop the players from trying to wipe each other of the face of the earth

What it will do is:
• provide at least 10 minutes of entertainment
• totally unbalance your game
• reduce the change of you running a game again (ever) if you even consider taking it seriously!

With all that said, lets get on with it shall we?

Roll The Die! - a completely stupid, but dangerously addictive new character creation rule

This rule is designed (with the 'on the back of a ciggy packet after a few beers' approach) to provide the Storyteller with a tool to see just how much the players can be bitten by the gambling bug - and provides the players with endless opportunities to screw over the ST if they manage to benefit from this (lets face is, completely twink-worthy) character creation rule.

There are two variations on this rule (yes, we did put that much thought into it, worrying isn't it?). Variation One is something that you could probably get away with during the course of a normal Aberrant game (honest). Variation Two is just plain stupid (but immense fun).

Variation One: It could (ahem) work as a game mechanic

At the beginning of character creation, each player to roll a d10 to see how their Nova Points are affected. This assumes that you are using the standard 30 Nova Points. The effect depends upon the number rolled.

Odds = the player only gets 15 Nova Points!

(multiple giggles from the other players, and a sense of dread from the unlucky player as s/he realizes that s/he is royally shafted and now a candidate for first casualty courtesy of one of the other giggling players).

Evens = the player gets a whopping 45 Nova Points!

(looks of envy from the other players ensue, along with comments akin to 'BASTARD!'. Player can exercise their right to look menacingly at other players - especially the poor sod who rolled odds previously).

Variation Two: Complete and utter nonsense, expect your game to fail miserably.

What you are aiming for here, as the ST, is to get involved in the fun ('cause your game isn't going to last long - so enjoy it whilst you can.). Drum up the anticipation - sell the idea of continuous rolling - point out the benefits (see if the idiot player can forget about the potential downside). Oh, and expect your game to get trashed as well - but who ever cares about that sort of thing anyways? (you do?, oh - you're one of those 'serious' types? You're on the wrong page of this site then buddy).

This is how it works. Each player can Roll the Die! a total of three times. They can of course chicken out (give the little gits a kicking if they do - the pussies). The basic rules are the same - odds = unfun, evens = fat crackling cosmic power of the gods! (heard that before somewhere, ahem)

Go around each player one at a time - it is essential that the other players shut up and stop talking about Star Trek / DnD / lack of girlfriend / latest DVD purchase / other geek drivel and listen. You want to 'up' the pressure on the player making the roll as much as possible. In fact, this works a lot better if you can get the other players to cheer, shout at, and goad the player in any way possible.

Each roll results in the a deduction of half (round down) or an addition of half (round up) of their current Nova Points, depending upon each odds or evens roll. Here's an example of such a roll.

Player A (the victim) has 30 Nova Points and makes his/her first roll (insert abuse from other players). The player gets a 7. Bad news! This is a loss of half the Nova Points - resulting in 15 NP's left.

The Victim rolls a second d10. The idiot goes and gets a 3. Again bad news!. (At this point the other players should be making overtures about just how 'dead' his wannabe Nova is going to be on time-in.) The poor (heh heh) Victim looses half his/her 15 Nova Points (round down) leaving a total of 7 Nova Points!

Before the rest of the Players get too cocky, feel free to remind them that they are up next. In fact, a good trick (to stop the Victim quitting the game there and then, getting in their car and driving off in huff, shouting 'Sadist!' out of the drivers window at you) is to target the loudest abuse giver - and tell him/her that they are next. Of course, the loudest abuse giver is likely to be someone who has already rolled, and benefited greatly. Keep an eye on such a case - they are going to need a serious pummeling by your hardest NPC on time-in (that is, if you want any chance of running a game for more than one session after opting to use this rule).

The victim still has his/her third die roll left. The result could be catastrophic (immensely funny, though), or they could manage to claw back some semblance of quantum capability. A roll of odds means the Victim will start the game with a character developed on only 3 Nova Points! A success would mean the Victim might a at least last the first session - with a total of 14 Nova Points.

Of course, things could go very differently for another Player - Player B.

Player B makes the first roll (starting with 30 Nova Points). S/he is a lucky git and manages to roll an 8. That means that the Player gains 15 NP's and jumps to a total of 45 NP's. (Do not despair however, the player might manage to roll badly the next two times and go down to 15 NP's in total - but sometimes you can see a winner a mile off).

The next rolls is a 10, which means a jump of half the players current NP's (rounded up) - a new total of 68 Nova Points! (At this point, allow the Player to stare menacingly at the other players - especially Player A, who just knows his/her character is going to get pasted - painfully and quickly, upon time-in).

The final roll also comes up evens (a 2) - gifting the Player with another jump of half current NP's (24) for a total of 102 Nova Points! The Player at this point should (and probably will, if s/he is in any way human) feel supremely confident about his/her ability to stomp all over the rest of the PC's and in fact your entire game.

Summary

Of course, you may now have figured out that your game could start with a couple of 3 NP novas, and a couple of 100+ NP Nova's. My advice - run the game anyways. It might last a session - if you manage to make it last longer than that then your players are not enjoying the spirit of the whole idea! Remind them of the 'what would you do with the power of a god' quote - and add the following line:

"when the other pansy-ass PC's are about as quantum capable as your average squirrel'.

Then watch their little faces light up.

Get a new game ready for the next session - plan in advance, it helps (sometimes).

[Stargaizer]

Just a quick point out to anyone able to modify...

Quote:

The victim still has his/her third die roll left. The result could be catastrophic (immensely funny, though), or they could manage to claw back some semblance of quantum capability. A roll of odds means the Victim will start the game with a character developed on only 3 Nova Points! A success would mean the Victim might a at least last the first session - with a total of 14 Nova Points.

The last number should be 11 Nova Points. If they gain half their total, half of 7 (rounded in favor of the player) is 4, and 7+4=11 not 14.

Quote:

Player B makes the first roll (starting with 30 Nova Points). S/he is a lucky git and manages to roll an 8. That means that the Player gains 15 NP's and jumps to a total of 45 NP's. (Do not despair however, the player might manage to roll badly the next two times and go down to 15 NP's in total - but sometimes you can see a winner a mile off).

In the same way, the last number in this should be 12, as half of 45 is 22 (which leaves 23), and half of 23 is 11, which leaves 12.

Just saying, for clarification.