Weird & Wonderful Weapon Hack

Picture Reference

This hack is intended as a simple tool to generate simple but interesting weapons/loot for OSR games (although it's so simple that it could probably be applied to other systems as well). Below is the table to manually construct the weapons, and below that are some automatic generators.

This hack takes elements of weapon rules from Cypher System and the Powered by the Apocalypse game Uncharted Worlds. The basic principle is that any kind of simple weapon can be constructed from a base, and a number of qualities. There is a cost associated with those qualities which could be thought of as the weapon level, or converted to a 1point = Xgold system.

If people like this hack and find it useful, I want to expand on it in a whole bunch of ways. I'd like to make a version of this hack with qualities unique to my Phantasmos setting, or to various other specific settings or genres. I would also like to make some additional tables with more advanced / spell-like qualities, or add flavors as additional 0 cost qualities just to add more fun and versatility to the hack and make each piece of equipment feel more special.

I also would like to thank Angus Warman for making publicly available an automatic list to HTML translator for the automatic generator, Lungfungus for additional coding experience, and Saker Tarsos for bringing me into the fold on this and inspiring me with his Saker Summon Hack.

Anyway, here are my recommendations for how to use this hack (with some suggested alternative implementations- this hasn't been playtested at all!):

New character starting weapon

In place of whatever starting weapon your class would start with, you can instead construct a level 0-1 weapon, either randomly or by what would make sense for your character.

For level 0, just pick a base form. For level 1, add one quality with 1 cost.

Despite the fact that this generator was designed so that short-long range has a cost of 1-3 respectively, I don't think it would be unreasonable to let a player take short/medium range for free, or long range at cost 1 (or maybe even make that free as well).

Loot / randomly rolled weapon

Decide on a weapon level or randomly roll for level. Depending on how powerful you want the weapon to be, I would recommend something like level 1d4, 1d4+1, 1d6, 1d6+1, or something like that. I think if you add too many qualities it might get a bit out of hand. You could potentially also make it relative to the HD of the enemy holding it.

As with new character starting weapon, I think range could be handled in an alternative way. By default, the random distribution is uniform so the probability of rolling for even just short range is pretty low, and you'd have to randomly roll range 3 times to get long range. Instead, you could roll 1d4, where 1 in 4 is ranged, and an additional 1d4, where 1 = reach quality, 2 = short range quality, etc., prior to rolling other qualities.

Weird & Wonderful Weapon Hack Tables

D3	Base Form	Base Qualities
1	Light	1d4, +1 AB, One-handed, Concealable as free feature
2	Medium	1d6, One-handed
3	Heavy	1d8, Two-handed

D30	Qualities List	Description	Cost
1	Area of effect	Each upgrade increases area of AoE (close, short, medium, long).	2
2	Attached	Attached to gauntlet or armor, leaving hand free.	1
3	Bonded	Weapon only usable by owner, cannot be removed from person without consent.	2
4	Breaking	Can be used to target and break objects at no disadvantage.	1
5	Concealable	Can be hidden from view.	1
6	Concussive	Creates a burst of sound or light on impact to deafen/blind/temporarily stun.	1
7	Deadly	Each upgrade increase attack die (up to d10).	2
8	Elemental: Air	Has properties related to air (e.g. can subtly manipulate winds, harness electricity).	1
9	Elemental: Earth	Has properties related to earth (e.g. benefits to mining).	1
10	Elemental: Fire	Has properties related to fire (e.g. produces heat/light, can cause burning).	1
11	Elemental: Metal	Has properties related to metal (e.g. benefits to blacksmithing).	1
12	Elemental: Water	Has properties related to water (e.g. can extinguish fires).	1
13	Elemental: Wood	Has properties related to wood/plants (e.g. benefits to gardening, nature traversal).	1
14	Flexible	Whip or whip-like; Range (close), AoE (close), Stunning (binding), Unwieldy (-2 AB).	1
15	Focused Area	AoE can be focused in a line, cone, etc. Each upgrade allows a different option.	1
16	Focused Damage	AoE can be focused to only target specific creatures or objects. Each upgrade allows greater flexibility.	1
17	Impacting	Each upgrade increases range of knockback (close, short, medium, long).	1
18	Magical	Has general magical properties.	1
19	Masterwork	Each upgrade +1 AB.	2
20	Penetrating	Ignore armor. With second upgrade, ignore shields. AC otherwise still applies.	2
21	Poisonous	Can cause poisoning.	1
22	Ranged	Each upgrade increases range starting at short (short, medium, long).	1
23	Reach	Can be used at close range or thrown at no disadvantage.	1
24	Rending	Serration or other features cause sustained wounds and mutilation.	1
25	Siege	Can be used to break open structures.	3
26	Silenced	The weapon produces little to no sound on projection or impact.	1
27	Spellbreaking	Can silence spells/spellcasters on successful attack.	2
28	Stunning	Can be used non-lethally to incapacitate at no disadvantage.	1
29	Suppressing	Creates an obstacle to those in weapon range. -2 AB to anyone in range.	1
30	Unique Appearance	May be a well known item or associated with a well-known person or faction.	1

Generated weapon examples

Here are a few examples of weapons generated using this hack:

1. Assasin's Dagger (Lvl. 1): Light (1d4 dmg, +1 AB, One-handed, Concealable), Poisonous. A simple dagger, easily concealable, coated in poison.
2. Martial Spear (Lvl. 4): Medium (1d6 dmg, One-handed), Reach, AoE (close), Focused (Line), Focused (Cone). A versatile spear which can be used to keep opponents at a distant and control your space when encountering multiple enemies simultaneously.
3. Excalibur (Lvl. 4): Medium (1d6 dmg, One-handed), Masterwork 1, Deadly 1, Magical, Bonded. An unassuming but powerful magical sword. Only the worthy can pull the sword from the stone and wield it. (NOTE that I did not include the Unique quality, since I described it as unassuming in appearance, but one could easily have included that as well).
4. Siege Hammer (Lvl. 4): Heavy (1d8 dmg, Two-handed), Breaking, Impacting, Siege, Concussive. A massive warhammer fit for trolls, capable of sundering weapons and armor, sending enemies flying, powering through walls, and blasting ear drums.
5. Fey-Gun (Lvl. 4): Light (1d4 dmg, +1 AB, One-handed, Concealable), Magical, AoE (short), Ranged (short), Suppressing. A fey wand capable of spraying bursts of magic all around, hindering attacking opponents.
6. War Whip (Lvl. 2): Medium (1d6 dmg, One-handed), Flexible, Rending. A whip covered in flesh-rending thorns capable of injuring all in reach. Can also be used for binding.
7. Mage-Killer Bow (Lvl. 4): Heavy (1d8 dmg, Two-handed), Range (Long), Spellbreaking. A heavy longbow, capable of firing at great distance, which can silence spellcasters hidden behind enemy lines. 

Automatic weapon generator

The below can be used to randomly roll a base form and qualities, one at a time. I eventually want to write an all-inclusive generator where you input weapon level and it'll pick a base form with number of qualities up to weapon level in cost, but I'm hardly an expert HTML coder and it might make more sense to wait until I've decided what to do about flavor qualities or if I want to change how range is treated "officially".


Select a base form:

Select individual qualities:

Anyway, with all of that, let me know what you think of this hack! I think it could be a lot of fun to do those flavor qualities, Phantasmos or other setting qualities, etc., but i want to make sure people actually find this valuable first!

Antikythera Nova Pt. 3: Technology

This is the third and final post in my series of micro-setting posts about my Antikythera Nova scifi setting. Part 1 is about the premise and history, and part 2 about the factions.

Technologies

Gaussian propulsion: Many forms of combustion-based propulsion, in terms of vehicles and weaponry, have been replaced by electromagnetic accelerators. During the journey of the Malik Tous, and still on many of the less terraformed planets, spaceships, space stations, and orbital colonies, combustion is an extreme risk. Furthermore, Gaussian weaponry can be fired at a higher velocity, at a higher frequency, and silently.

Smart rockets: While not replacing ballistics altogether, many fire arms now use smart rockets. While lower-velocity than ballistic weapons, smart rocket bullets can be used defensively, deflecting incoming projectiles, and can smartly lock-on to targets and navigate environments. Most have limited range if used non-ballistically, but they can also be equipped with various sensors, making them useful for local environment scanning or data collection.

Plasma and laser: Plasma tech consists of balls of energy, whereas lasers are any continuous beam of light within a focused bandwidth. These technologies are used as weaponry, as well as to transmit information.

Power armor: Traditional space suits have developed to the point of being light and comfortable, however many jobs in space require power armor. In particular, the space marines have various power armors which provide enhanced strength and speed, weapon and reflex assistance, jetpacks, augmented reality, and various other useful features.

Nanotube plate armor: The Gabor have developed an armor made of some kind of matte, carbon-like material filled with nanotubes of a possibly organic nature, or modeled after organic materials. The armor is tougher, and significantly lighter, than any power armor, and neither the KFP nor HLC have been able to reverse engineer it.

Cintamani and the Makara: Cintamani is a high-energy gem found throughout the Pickman Galaxy. Longterm exposure to cintamani induces a mutation in some humans, who are referred to as Makara. In the early stages of the mutation, they grow patches of cintamani gems or crystalline skin. Next, they develop enhanced speed, strength, agility, and dexterity, and the ability to traverse space unprotected. Eventually, they begin to develop psionic abilities not unlike the Gabor. However, over time they become increasingly crystalline, and what little organic material remains becomes bestial; an alien form with vague mammalian, reptilian, and aquatic features, but mostly altogether alien. These Makara lose their human intelligence, lash out violently at anything around them, and attempt to flee into space if threatened.

This risk aside, both the KFP and HLC have a supersoldier program for makara, including makara training and research. This research includes creating makara under controlled circumstances- a politically divisive practice. In the KFP, the general public is not aware of this cintamani-related mutation, and even among military personnel, if they know of the makara at all, they know of then only as part of a supersoldier program.

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On an unrelated note, if you have not done so already (and given how little data I have, I suspect you have not >.>), please take my Weird & Wonderful Survey! It should only take a minute, it will really help me, and also I want to show people how much fun it can be to play with data, but I can't do it if I don't have any!

Likewise, please participate in my GNS study! This is a somewhat controversial topic and I've received a lot of resistance on it. All I can say is that if my study is somehow fundamentally flawed, then either I won't find anything, or what I find will require a degree of healthy skepticism, but it is possible I may find interesting effects or interesting trends in the data, which could inform our understanding of GNS or tabletop or inform better follow up studies, but the only way any of that happens is if I get data! There is literally no harm in participating, so if you value empirical science at all, why not just take a minute and let's see what the data have to say!?

Danscape (Partial) Play Report 9/28/18

Finally my schedule allowed that I could play again in Dan's Danscape Campaign! I don't need to provide a full account because I'm sure Dan will at some point, I'll just say a few pieces from my perspective.

1. As per usual, Dan was awesome! I also got to play with some people I've never been able to play with before so that was a lot of fun!
2. I was not feeling too great and wasn't able to get into the right head space. I had some moments where I felt like I was really in Rob's head but on the whole I don't think I was RPing to the standard I hold myself to, which was super frustrating. It doesn't help that my connection was shit and I would occasionally just not hear anything for like 60 seconds. At least I was rolling like a boss, which was a ton of fun!
3. Here is a choice quote that we didn't actually do (although what we actually did ended up being just as or more exciting) but might give you a sense of what can happen in a Danscape game.

What if lantern boy just sits in the 'weird' chair? Just sits and stairs at him. Knowingly. Just sits there, as time passes. Each moment, Osric wonders, why? He contemplates the meaning of life. Why are we fighting? Why is she sitting in the chair? Why is the chair so weird? Why is chair? Is chair life? Is there anything besides chair? Chair is all. Chair is life.

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On an unrelated note, if you have not done so already (and given how little data I have, I suspect you have not >.>), please take my Weird & Wonderful Survey! It should only take a minute, it will really help me, and also I want to show people how much fun it can be to play with data, but I can't do it if I don't have any!

Likewise, please participate in my GNS study! There was a lot of controversy around this study, which is understandable but still frustrating. I wish people would participate, even if they fundamentally disagree with GNS or think I don't know what I'm doing (which quite frankly is super insulting as someone who does this stuff professionally and coming from people who seem intelligent enough but clearly don't have a background in research design or statistics, even if the comments are not intentionally malicious, but that's neither here nor there). The survey only takes a minute, it's anonymous so no one will judge you based on your responses if you think the survey doesn't effectively capture your unique and nuanced view, if I'm wrong I'm wrong and no harm is done, or even if I do find interesting effects or trends in the data, it's not the end all be all on the topic and likewise no harm is done, so why not just try it so we can see what happens!? It actually legitimately makes me existentially sad that data science does not seem to be practiced or appreciated in our community, so why not participate just to make me less sad :), even if you don't believe anything I have to say about it?

An empirical approach to studying GNS

GNS is a theory about tabletop RPGs, and while many people have discussed it in great detail, to the best of my knowledge there has been no attempt to test any aspect of GNS empirically. In order to test the predictive utility of GNS, I have designed the following study. I am primarily looking for a sample that is already aware of GNS, has a broad range of tabletop RPG knowledge and experience, and is active in this or other tabletop RPG communities.

The research topic of the following study is about the (empirical/statistical) predictive utility of GNS. This is a separate question from whether GNS is a valid framework to think of tabletop RPGs from a critical theory or game design perspective per se. At this stage, my hypotheses are the following:

1. Are certain RPGs reliably labeled as G, N, or S?
2. Do people's stated preferences for G, N, or S-style games predict their preferences for specific games, assuming we do find an effect in hypothesis 1?

I want to avoid discussing my personal opinions / expectations in order to avoid biasing the study. If I collect enough data to do meaningful analyses, I will report my results in proper APA format and discuss how I analyzed the data and provide interpretations of the results. I'm aiming for planned analyses, but I may do some exploratory analyses as well.

At the risk of sounding adversarial, I have zero interest in getting into a debate. If you think there are serious issues with the design and have suggestions for how to fix them, I can attempt to do so in a followup study. When I report the results, if you have criticisms of how I ran my analyses or how I'm interpreting my results and have suggestions for how to fix them, we can discuss that at that time. If your comment is needlessly confrontational, does not include a suggestion for a practical solution in terms of research methods or experimental design, or is not relevant to the stated research topic or hypotheses (e.g. it's about critical theory or game design per se), I will likely ignore you.

With all of that being said, here is a link to the survey!

Also, I would really appreciate it if people would check out my blog and fill out this survey for my blog as well!

SHIELDBREAKER: Play Report 3

This is the third session in what I'm calling the SHIELDBREAKER campaign, set in my Phantasmos campaign setting.

Click here for the Session 1 Play Report!
Click here for the Session 2 Play Report!
Click here for the NPC Character Cards!

Characters

·       Jim Casper: Tartarian-Mutant Specialist. Working in a storehouse in the tartarian kingdom, he learned about a mysterious martial cult, and has since been attempting to learn more about it. Has a mutation, a slit on his body which must be fed ancient artifacts.

          -- Player: z_bill

Kail: Mimic Knight (Fighter). Kail is a humanoid mutant, almost painfully bland with his stone-grey skin and coal black eyes. He actually sought out the shoglite parasite in order to feel special, and the change produced a sense of wanderlust in him. Now a mimic knight, he acts like a young astral Jack Kerouac, hitching his way around the cosmos/setting. He seeks out different ways to express himself to new people in new situations.
    -- Player: David Horowitz

Play Report

• After defeating Asimov Dengo last session, the party headed towards Occulon's industrial complex. As one might expect from that crazy bastard, he overworks his employees, who cannot stop for even a second to talk. They needed to talk to Occulon, but he was locked away in his office and could not be bothered. Zeffre contacted them from the mesmerist network, asking them to retrieve a secret document, which glowed faintly in only their vision. The glow was coming from Occulon's office.
• They created a Rube Goldbergian-level disaster on the assembly line and not-so-subtly blamed it on the nearby worker Toddward, who went into a panic. Security (Occulon's mafia thugs) and an aquorum security drone came to take him away.
• The players used this as an opportunity to incite a riot, prompting Occulon to come out. In the panic, Occulon decided to kill indiscriminately, using his hard-light projections to mow down unruly workers. 
• They investigated the office, finding both the document for Occulon (encrypted) and the second partial decryption of the SHIELD's location.
• As the Doomsday Clock ticked closer to midnight, they learned from Arnold Tanaka that Terry and Barry were attacking The Forum and that they would be compensated by the overworked police if they took care of it.

• They headed there, and found that while Terry was Punisher-ing the Forum, Barry was in his blue-phase, crying in the corner. Barry is not the brightest, and after conversing with him, they reminded him of childhood trauma, having no friends in school, and convinced him that Terry was just using him. He transformed into his red-phase and brutally pummeled Terry to death, tearing off his foldy flaps, then turned himself in to the police.
• The document that Terry was trying to steal showed that both Barry and Terry were former patients of Doctor Hyborea, prior to release, and after committing further crimes, were then taken to prison.
• Terry had also attempted to steal a corkscrew-shaped astrium looking glass. With this glass, the party would be able to enter the asylum on the astral plane while maintaining their "object" forms, which would be useful against the insane Doctor Hyborea.

• Before heading back to Doctor Hyborea's mansion, they decided to check out the Grand Stable, based on information from the partial decryptions. Mr. Myce, the head of the Grand Stable network, was not available, but they conversed with the attendants at the nearby station. One attendant was a red-skinned naked mole-rat with hands like the nose of a star-nosed mole, and the other was a tiny grasshopper able to rub his appendages together to produce muzak. 
• Through a pneumatic tube system across the Grand Stable network, they received a message from Mr. Myce that he was in communication with Arnold, and that they should come back when they have the full decryption. In the mean time, he provided them with tunneling gauntlets and two mirrors which reflect the light of each other.

• They also took a detour to Zeffre's secret base. She informed them that the document they stole for her from Occulon was for a planned coup against her father, the Grim General. After some discussion, she convinced the party that her intentions were (reasonably) noble, and she now "owes them a favor".

• On the way to Doctor Hyborea's mansion, they encountered a magi-SLIME with a wall of ice spell. After defeating it, they tracked it back to a cave containing several dead magi-SLIME and were able to recover two unidentified spells from their meridian cores.
• They broke into Doctor Hyborea's mansion, and once in his proximity, used the astrium looking glass to transport to the asylum on the astral plane. 
• Doctor Hyborea murdered the inmates, their “dead spaces” and his fractured mind filled the asylum with broken edges, gore, and various psychopathic entities. 
• "Psychopathic" both in the sense of being psychic entities and being insane...
• They encountered three entities. The descriptions were pulled from this table by u/semiurge on reddit, and I would encourage people to check out his work!
• Arrogance: A toad standing on its hind legs, wearing fine raiments. It is haughty, abhors contractions, and enunciates with infuriating precision.
• Misanthrope: A crawling tide of vermin, constantly devouring each other and rapidly breeding more. Speaks in a shrieking chorus.
• Self-Loathing: A worm made of rusted and bloody weapons. Speaks with grinding steel.
• Over a series of awkward, creepy, and Wonderland-esque conversations that I really wish I had recorded, the party made each of these three psychopathic entities confront their personal flaws and kill themselves.
• In doing so, they returned Doctor Hyborea to sanity. Before leaving the asylum, they met two new psychopathic entities:
• Honesty: Like a kind, fat old grandma; ugly on the outside, but warm and sweet on the inside.
• Responsibility: Like a frazzled single-mom working three jobs to take care of her kids. Doesn't take crap, off-putting at first, but only because she is working so hard to do what needs to be done.
• After leaving the asylum, the now (mostly) sane Doctor Hyborea gave the party the last partial decryption of the SHIELD's location, which seems to be somewhere deep in the labyrinthine Grand Stable network. 

And that's where we're leaving off, with what will hopefully be a fun dungeon crawl leading up to the conclusion of the SHIELDBREAKER campaign! I don't even need to do a "Breakdown", this was an awesome session and has me super excited for next time! I only wish I had recorded it because I think there was some really good stuff and I have a terrible memory for details, so I think I'm washing over some of the best parts :/.

Phantasmos/SHIELDBREAKER NPC Reference Sheet (I made a thing!)

To help my SHIELDBREAKER players (or anyone who wants to use Phantasmos), I've made some Magic the Gathering-style cards for some of the NPCs. Since I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to do this, I've only done a handful of NPCs that my players have encountered, are relevant to the plot and setting overall, or that will be relevant for the upcoming session. One of them they haven't encountered yet but I think it's likely they will so I'm including it. I'll try to update this in the future to include NPCs they already encountered or future NPCs.

I generally hate doing stuff like this, in part because it's cumbersome and I have no artistic skills, but also because I have these very particular ideas in my head of what these characters look like and they don't look like these things, but if it'll help other people then I'll do it :p.

Also, if you're reading this and it is still September or October 2018, please take my survey!

Click here for the Session 1 Play Report!
Click here for the Session 2 Play Report!
Click here for the Session 3 Play Report!
Click here for the Session 4 Play Report!
Click here for the Session 5 Play Report! (Final session of SHIELDBREAKER)

Weird & Wonderful Survey September 2018

As a cognitive neuroscientist and data analyst, I like to take an empirical approach to decision making. I want to understand how people feel about and engage with my blog, both for the sheer curiosity of it, but also so that I can make the blog better, in a systematic way.

The survey should only take a few minutes, and it will help me make the blog better, so I would appreciate it if people could participate.

Thanks!

Click here to take survey