The Awesome System

Good idea for advertising Mayors Of Fight Town book

2012-11-13T17:59:05Z

A little interactive game! The first part of the Mayors campaign has the PCs riding jet-skis towards the city, until some ninjas interrupt, so the game would cast you as one of the characters, with a cutesy little sprite, probably Lieutenant, riding his jet-ski... Ninjas turn up and attack, four or so, and there's a little 16-bit JRPG-style sequence where their jet-skis travel at equivalent speeds so as to have a turn-based battle.

The turns unfold and attacks go back and forth, dynamically showing off The Awesome System's mechanics, with ninjas getting tossed in the water as their jet-skis explode, then a Boss Ninja turns up and he has to be defeated as well.

After the ninjas is the battle with the giant Sniper Robot Yin, so the last part of the game would show her crouched atop the Statue of Liberty, silently drawing a bead on the jet-ski, then cut to the title.

The point of the 5-minute or so game is to show off how stunts work in terms of rolling actions and how they're laid out on the grid. It'd probably have the option to spend Awesome Points and ask you if you want to do it for dodges, but wouldn't shove the concept in your face. Normal attacks could be punches, whereas stunts would be something like picking up your jet-ski and hitting them with it.

For the graphical style, I'd use something simple like Mighty Final Fight:

And the music might be something jazzy and upbeat like this track from Contra.

awesomesystem @ 2008-01-16T22:12:00

2008-01-16T14:13:43Z

This is quite a significant change to the system.

The old Defence system where you add Melee level or bonus, whichever's highest to 4, is out.

Now you add 6 to your Flow level.

Weapons and shields remain the same.

awesomesystem @ 2007-10-24T12:44:00

2007-10-24T08:46:00Z

So here are the Giant Robot rules as they're going to stand for the time being.

Your Robot Friend

Buying a Giant Robot requires the use of the Props power. As a rough guide, we're going to say every point of Props you spend gives you 25,000 Credits to play around with, meaning for 20 Character Points you can easily get your hands on a 500,000 Credit Robot. This would equate to about a 100 point Giant Robot with no Upgrades purchased, and keep in mind that it's not a "character" so, just like Mooks, everything costs half its regular amount. The drawback to this is, obviously, that your Robot cannot function without you, the esteemed pilot, and you probably won't function too well without it, either! This cost this could easily be scaled up or down by your GM, based on the setting and availability of Giant Robots.

A giant robot and its pilot are two separately built, complete characters that function together as one. Therefore, the character used is a combination of their traits.

Making Checks

The Robot's Brawn, Flow and Speed are used, while the Pilot's Brains, Knowledge and Soul are used.
For all stat or skill rolls, the Robot's stats are used for Brawn, Flow and Speed, while the Pilot's stats are used for Brains, Knowledge and Soul.

When making a Skill Roll, use the Pilot's stat and skill for Brains, Knowledge and Soul. These are unique to him, after all. But when making a Skill Roll for Brawn, Flow or Speed, the two must work together. To arrive at your skill result, you must compare the abilities of the Pilot and his Giant Robot and see how they function together, how the two are incorporated. After all, a good pilot can be constrained by a bad mech and a good mech can suffer because of a bad pilot. Take the Pilot's ability and compare it to the Mech's current skill being used. Use whichever is lowest when making Skill checks, but always use the Robot's physical Stat.

This does not apply to the Firearms checks. The Pilot's skill is used for those!

A Pilot is making a Heave check. He has a Flow of 3d6 and a Pilot Skill of 7d6+5. His Giant Robot has a Brawn of 25d6 and a Heave skill of 6d6+10. The Pilot compares his Pilot skill to the Robot's and sees his Piloting ability is reduced to 6d6. Also, he cannot quite master the computer systems yet that would allow him to use the Robot's full bonus. Therefore, his Piloting skill is treated as 6d6+5, added to the Robot's natural Brawn of 25d6. The Pilot rolls 31d6+5.

A Pilot is making an attack. The Robot has a Flow of 3d6 and a Melee skill of 10d6+10. The Pilot has a Flow of 2d6 and a Piloting Skill of 20d6+8. When making the attack, the Pilot would use the Robot's level in Flow, the Robot's level in Melee and the Pilot's bonus in Melee. He rolls 13d6+8 to attack.

As you can see, the more attuned a Pilot and his Robot are, the better they'll fight!

A Note On Awesome Points

These work more or less the same as for any other character. A Pilot with the Mecha Pilot power can spend his Awesome Points on his Robot's rolls as if it were his own, physical body, thankfully! The only difference is that, since the Robot and the Pilot are working together, when you are increasing the Stunt Level of an action, it costs 4 Awesome Points, instead of the usual 2! Two bodies means two mouths to feed when it comes to Heroing Up. All other Awesome Point usages work the same, however.

awesomesystem @ 2007-01-25T03:00:00

2007-01-24T18:58:57Z

AWESOME -- Given a one-year moratorium in 1984, when the Unicorn Hunters banished it "during which it is to be rehabilitated until it means 'fear mingled with admiration or reverence; a feeling produced by something majestic." Many write to tell us there's no hope and it's time for "the full banishment."

"The kind of tennis shoes you wear, no matter how cute, don't fit the majestic design of the word." -- Leila Hill, Damascus, Maryland.

"That a mop, a deodorant or a dating service can be called 'awesome' demonstrates the limited vocabularies of the country's copywriters." -- Tom Brinkmoeller, Orlando, Florida.

"Overused and meaningless.' My mother was hit by a car.' Awesome. 'I just got my college degree.' Awesome." -- Robert Bron, Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand.

awesomesystem @ 2007-01-24T02:50:00

2007-01-23T18:53:13Z

COMBOS

(These are never going to be used in the forseeable future. It's just a thing I made up.)

Whenever you deliver two or more blows in a row, your character enters a COMBO. Combos are totally sweet. In this case, "in a row" is defined as on consecutive turns.

If a character hits multiple enemies during one turn with a Spin Attack, each enemy hit counts as a hit in the combo

Hideki hits an opponent on turns 6, 5 and 4. On his four, he hits two enemies. This is a four-hit combo.

The more hits in a combo, the more awesome things happen. Combos carry over from one round to the next. Being hit will break a character out of a combo. A turn in which the character does not score a hit will end the combo.

5 hits = 1 Awesome Point
10 hits = 2 Awesome Points
20 hits = 3 Awesome Points and 10 HP restored
50 hits = 5 Awesome Points and 30 HP restored
100 hits = 10 Awesome Points and 50 HP restored

Suggestions, chaps?

awesomesystem @ 2007-01-19T03:16:00

2007-01-18T19:20:43Z

I'd like to ask a favour of the members of this community, if possible.

I'm making 32 sample characters for the Awesome System and I thought I'd see if anyone wanted to throw their hand in to help out. I know some of you love making characters after all.

Here's the list of what I need made:

Fantasy

Barbarian
Dwarf/Earth Tempest
Elf
Giant Killer
Priest/Divine Tempest
Swordsman
Thief
Wizard/Energy Tempest

Modern

Cop
Delinquent
Man In Black/Superspies Movie Magician
Paranormal Investigator/Decay Tempest
Private Eye/Mystery Movie Magician
Soldier
Street Fighter/Action Movie Magician
Superhero

Sci-Fi

~~Alien~~
Alien/Slime Tempest
Mechanic
Mecha Pilot
Ninja/Kung Fu Movie Magician
Pilot/Sci-Fi Movie Magician
Robot
Rocker/Rock Star

Western

Bandit/Fire Tempest
Gambler
Indian
Gunslinger/Western Movie Magician
Muckraker
Saloon Gal
Sheriff
Soldier

All of them are 100 point characters and we're using the most up to date version of the rules, which friends can obviously get off of me. I'm not expecting a lot, but if you have a moment or two free it would really help me out with the workload. Also, if anyone has any out-of-date characters, such as those from Lightning High or What's Cooking or Jupitris they'd like to post, please do, those are just as good with a bit of tweaking.

awesomesystem @ 2006-11-21T17:27:00

2006-11-21T17:27:58Z

The Musical: Musical Numbers

ANYTHING WRITTEN HERE GOES OVER ANYTHING I WROTE BEFORE OK

At tense moments during the game, the GM will announce the arrival of that most wonderful of plot devices, the Musical Number. When this happens is, of course, completely up to the GM, but Numbers should usually be at important plot points or dramatic confrontations.

So how does it work? Pretty simple, really, just like everything else in this game. First things, first, characters in Musicals have drastically smaller Awesome Pools than normal, instead counting upon songs to make their AP. Their Awesome Pool is equal to their Soul and it starts half full.

Musical Numbers should start with the GM reciting a few verses for the villain or, with his permission, the PC's doing the same, so as to set the tone for the song. After that, they use regular combat rounds, with potential singers spending Awesome Points to compete. These AP correspond to Speed Dice and are rolled at the start of every round. Just like with regular Speed Dice, they also get one for free.

It's totally on. The evil Baron has kidnapped a beautiful princess and is attempting to serenade her. She thinks of the handsome hero who is even now coming to rescue her, however, and fights back as best she can. She spends three Awesome Points and rolls a 6, two 5's and a 2. She will sing on the turns 6, 5 and 2.

Once that's done, proceed through the round as normal. If a turn comes up where only person has an action, they may elect to sing, reciting a verse of the current song. That's all they have to do, make up some lines and make sure they rhyme. Making a successful rhyme grants the character 1d6 Awesome Points, which may be spent on any task. Sixes are rerolled. As an added effect, something appropriate will always happen, such as choreographed dancing among chorus members, fruit stores shattering and sending city guards flailing or whatever the GM thinks works for the scene. Sometimes a passing musician will strike up a note, playing to the PC's tune. That's the simplest form of the Musical Number. It gets a bit difficult when competition rears its ugly head, though.

Fighting For A Verse

In a turn where two or more characters act, whoever rolls the highest on a Voice check gets the first line. Others may spend Awesome Points to supercede their roll, but upon doing so THEY must recite a line. And it must rhyme with the original line. If they can't think of one, they automatically lose. Assuming they succeed, someone else may then supercede them with more AP. It can get a little nutty.

The Princess and The Baron both have turns on 5. The Princess rolls a 34 on her Voice check, beating the Baron's 32 neatly, turning to the window:

"My prince will come, I have no doubt!"

The Baron immediately spends an Awesome Point, raising his 32 to a 40. He cups her chin and grins at her wickedly:

"My guards will end that foolish lout!"

The Princess, not wanting to be outdone, spends three Awesome Points and raises her 34 to a 45. She stomps on his boot and then turns to the window:

"Will he save me? We'll haaaaaaaaaaaaaaave to fiiiiiiiiiiiiiind ooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuut..."

The Duke grabs his stubbed toe and is unable to think of a rejoining rhyme. The Princess gains 1d6 Awesome Points, rolling a 3, as 3 bluebirds land on her hand and twitter.

Winning!

At the end of every round of combat, the chorus is recited. At the end of the third round of combat, the chorus is recited TWICE (or some variation on this) and the song ends. Of course, it's entirely possible a song could end before this, but it would surely only be by the most nefarious deed, such as when a Musical Number is layered over combat, a risky maneuver. If this happens, just go with the final verse and announce a winner.

The winner is the person with the highest total of Awesome Points remaining and turns in which they completed a verse (and beat out the competition) and this lucky kid achieves whatever their goal was in the scene, as well as getting to spend as many of their ill-gotten Awesome Points as they like on ONE action. After that, remaining AP are reduced to their maximum, equal to the character's Soul. PC's should be rewarded with Awesome Points for clever rhymes or radical use of scenery, so everyone is all prepped and ready for the next number.

Optional Rule: The Chorus

Each side gains 1 free AP at the start of every round for every Musician or Dancer they have on their side. This shouldn't always be used as some villains will use this advantage to crush the party utterly. But what can you do, huh?

awesomesystem @ 2016-10-28T23:54:00

2006-10-28T16:47:04Z

The Musical

Not to be confused with musical combat, The Musical is an artform unto itself, a glory of form over function, a beautious pageant of raw humanity. It's time to wring out those lungs and get to rhyming.
The Musical is a trademarked Awesome System Device but it can be inserted into almost any other roleplaying game with only a little work. Awesome Point awards can be replaced with bonuses to hit, free Hit Points or M&M's.

The Musical is self-explanatory. When the characters are in need or the flow of battle has turned against them, they can flex their lungs and give forth an exaltation of life and love. The in-game effect of this is that the character begins a simple, four-line verse, relevant to the current situation. If they can make the second and fourth lines rhyme, they're rewarded an instant Awesome Point. If they fail, they lose an Awesome Point. They may do this as many times as the GM allows.

While making a verse, a character has to be careful. While they recite lines, other players or the Gamemaster may intervene, making a silent gesture that they are going to take the next line. It may be as flamboyant or reversed as they wish. After that line, the speaker must give over the verse to the other person. The Awesome Point is awarded to whoever finishes the verse, regardless of how many times it stops. But if they can't complete the rhyme, they lose an Awesome Point, not you.

Combat

During combat, only one verse may be initiated per turn, but it can be initiated even by people without actions on that turn. The only exception to this is when a "Boss" character is present, usually the villain at the end of an adventure or campaign. Bosses are bad news.

On any turn where the Boss has an action, he is the only character who may initiate a verse. Gamemaster's may prepare difficult rhymes for him before the session, so stay on your toes or you'll find an Awesome Point-recharging powerhouse on your hands. Player Characters may only begin verses on turns where The Boss doesn't act, although they may still interrupt as normal.

---

I'm going to add more to this soon.

awesomesystem @ 2016-09-07T22:00:00

2006-09-07T14:00:53Z

Giant Killer (15)

David and Goliath. Jason and the Hydra. Popeye and Bluto.

Throughout history, there are numerous records of men felling incredible beasts of outrageous power and size and your character is a tough son of a bitch who’s been doing it for as long as he can remember. In his travels he’s learnt a lot of tricks for slaying these monsters, which you can now take full advantage of.

Whenever you are fighting a monster of at least one size category greater than yourself, you may attempt to find a critical weakness to take advantage of. Make an Academia: Giants check against the Giant’s Armour, with success indicating you’ve found a weak spot. Hitting this weak spot with an attack will multiply any damage that gets past the Giant’s armour by five, but most Giants are clever enough to only let you get one shot at it. And you’ll have to get to it first.

It’s easy if you’re making a Ranged Attack, simply take a –30 penalty on your attack, in addition to existing penalties for targeting a small area, and hope you hit. Success means you multiply any damage that gets past the armour by five.

If you want to attempt climbing on the Giant for a melee attack, it’s completely different. Being close up means you can find a chink in the Giant’s armour, but you’re going to have a hard time staying on when he’s doing his best to get you off. Every turn you stay on the Giant, he may spend an action to attempt to grab or damage you with an attack, opposed to your Climbing skill, success meaning you take full damage and will begin falling unless you can grab on again. Failure means the Giant not only misses you but does his weapon’s base damage to his own body.

If a character is shook off, they may attempt to grab back on in the next two turns with a difficulty 40 Climbing check, with the location they seize being up to the Gamemaster. If they fail, work out how much falling damage they would take if they fell straight down and double it.

If the character can successfully reach the weak spot, they may not only multiply the damage dealt on their next attack by five, they may also attempt to slide their weapon through the Giant’s armour plating at a –2 penalty, bypassing all armour on a successful hit.

Roll 2d6 Weak Point Location
2 Calf
3 Thigh
4-6 Chest
7-8 Arms
9-12 Head

awesomesystem @ 2005-11-27T02:09:00

2005-11-26T18:16:58Z

So!

Content!

First of all, our delightful Danica has designed what is quite possibly the GREATEST CHARACTER SHEET OF ALL TIME and if you see her in the street you should buy her everything within sight, including the road.

The new dodge rules are good enough that I'm going to keep them. I'm going to be adding a new stat soon called Defence, which is essentially the amount required to hit someone in melee with the formula "4+(Melee Level or Melee Bonus, whichever is highest)", but the new dodge rules have got me wondering if I should change it to "4+(Dodge Level or Dodge Bonus, whichever is highest)". Using your dodge skill to determine how hard you are to hit sounds stupidly simple when I just come out and say it and characters like Amadiel and Birdy would probably be a bit more viable because of it. Not that Birdy's going to live much longer anyway. :D

EDIT: After speaking with Nathan, I've decided to keep the current system, but there's now a new Power called, uh, Zen Dodge Master, that allows you to substitute your dodge for your Melee in your Defence. I think that's a radical way to do it.

Jupitris 2 has FINALLY come to a close and I'm very happy about it. Thanks a bunch to the players.

And finally, the new Tempest rules are coming along nicely and I'm still taking suggestions for elemental themed powers. Keiro, I've been working on the Slime Tempests and Slime Powers I have so far are Mitosis, Spongy and Squishy. Spongy absorbs damage and Squishy allows you to get through tight gaps like Sammy did a million times.

That's right, I'm coming up with RULES for her crazy bullshit. You're in for a treat.

And this is how I've decided to handle dodging from now on. It's a bit weaker, but more realistic.

2005-11-17T16:42:46Z

Dodge (Flow)

An essential skill for surviving in a fire fight, Dodge allows your character to duck out of harm's way, often at the last possible moment. During combat, when your character has been attacked, you may elect to make a Dodge, spending a single action or Awesome Point to activate it.

When a Dodge check is made, the total is subtracted from the attacker's to hit roll, reducing bonus appropriately. If the subtracted amount reduces the attack roll below the required to hit, then the attack is a certified miss. If the attack is an area of effect, the character is allowed to move six feet in any direction. If this moves them more than halfway outside the explosion's Burst then the damage is halved. If it moves them all the way out the damage is negated.

If a character wishes to stunt on a Dodge check, it must be nominated as a Hero Skill and they must spend 2 AP as normal.

I think I made this one too long. Any thoughts?

2005-11-17T16:39:07Z

Undead (15)

Your character is an unliving abomination! A corpse given life, you feed upon the living and live in darkness. You feast on souls and blight the land. That's some major awesome right there and we haven't even got to the bonuses!

Since Space Rock Future is a science fiction setting, you may think it hard to work the living dead into a fairly standard game. The simple fact of the matter is that budget sci-fi is overflowing with excuses to make corpses walk, ghosts fly and vampires stalk the night. Everything from radiation to psychic emanations to mad science to the bending of the time-space continuum have all been credited as potential causes for zombification and if one of your PC's wants to try it, why not let him? After all, they get a bevy of weird abilities that really set them apart.

First of all, Undead are enormously hardy and get twice as many Hit Points as normal. Their bodies are damaged in the same way as the living, but they are almost completely unaffected by it. They also don't have Souls. That was sacrificed or lost a long time ago and now the body is a dead husk driven by either a cruel mind or basic needs and desires. In its place, Undead have Void, which has its own requirements for care and feeding. Void affords an Undead the same Awesome Pool as a living, breathing human, but they do not regain Awesome Points naturally. To get their fill, they must feed.

Whenever the Undead is running low on AP, they must find a living being and incapacitate them somehow. Killing is the method of choice. After that, the Undead must feed on the life-force of the victim, draining one level of Soul for every uninterrupted minute. For every level of Soul stolen like this, the Undead regains one Awesome Point to spend as they please. If they do not kill the victim and do not drain all their Soul, they will recover Soul at the rate of 1 level per week. If they are completely drained of Soul, they will either die from the shock or go mad shortly after. Characters with more than two levels of Soul may sometimes rise from the dead. Rock Stars always rise from the dead. It's in their nature.

However, these "free" Awesome Points come with a heavy price. The Undead body is in a constant state of decay, and one Awesome Point must be spent at the start of every week or the Undead begins to decompose, losing a number of HP equal to its Void every day, until they feed. Most Undead do this without realizing, but Undead with Brains of more than 1 can also voluntarily spend AP to recover 20 Hit Points, at any time, going so far as to regrow lost limbs or repair broken bones.

Due to this talent for regeneration, if you bring an Undead to 0 Hit Points, if it has any Awesome Points remaining, it won't die. It will fall to the ground and be unable to defend itself, but intelligent Undead will be able to spend 1 AP every minute to regain 20 HP. When they are restored to 1 or more Hit Point they are free to rise again to stalk the living. The only way to kill an Undead is to reduce it to 0 HP, then destroy its source of power, normally either the head or the heart. Some particularly old or powerful Undead even go so far as to seal their life-force away somewhere, making themselves effectively invulnerable. A successful hit to this area with a lethal weapon will deal an additional 10d6 damage to the Undead and reduce its Awesome Point total by 1 as it weakens. Once reduced to 0 Hit Points, a strong blow to the source of power will permanently slay the abomination.

awesomesystem @ 2005-10-16T23:27:00

2005-10-16T15:29:36Z

awesomesystem @ 2005-10-06T18:55:00

2005-10-06T11:18:57Z

"Eat your broccoli, Tillia."
A small girl frowned and pushed the offensive vegetable around the plate with her fork.
"I did, mom. I ate a little bit and it made me sick, look!"
Laura Watson sighed, pushed away the stack of bills she had been working on, and focused on her daughter.
She was flourescent green.
"People don't look like that when they get sick, only in cartoons. Besides, what have I told you about shifting at
the table?"
"Sorry," mumbled Tillia, fading back to her natural olive-skinned color.
"Do I have to eat the stump too?" She pleaded.
"No, just eat the rest real quick and then you're done."
Tillia bit the head off her broccoli, jumped down from her chair and ran out of the room. Laura picked up the
next bill in the pile, read the polite, formal, and inhuman demand for more money, then gently set it back down on the
table.
She laid her head down on the stack of bills and let despair and self-pity crawl over her for a moment. Just for a
few moments, she told herself as she cried.
The creak of her kitchen floor startled her into looking up. A young woman with shiny brown hair and sparkling
green eyes was watching her. She stood only 3 feet tall. They stared at each other for a moment before the woman
announced "I'm all grown-up!"
"I see. You're pretty small for a grown-up" said Laura, hurriedly rubbing the tears out of her eyes.
"I don't like being big." declared the little woman.
"Why not?" Laura pressed.
"It's hard to notice little things when you're big."
Laura paused for a moment. "That's true. You're very wise. Why don't you go back to being my little girl? I
don't think I'm ready for you to be all grown up."
"'kay".
The young lady faded back into Tillia, who ran over to her mom and climbed into her lap.
"Why were you crying, mommy?" asked Tillia, looking up.
"I'm sorry, honey." Said Laura, hugging her child closer.
"It's okay."
"I think we're going to lose the house. We just don't have enough money."
"It's okay, don't cry."

* * *

The man in the suit was uncomfortable. He was always uncomfortable when he used the Double-M, afraid that people
would see his account balance and know how much he was worth. Luckily, he wouldn't be having this problem after today.
"State your name, please." The machine requested in an awful robotic voice.
"Sarallimuel Jacobson" said the man in a voice he hoped sounded confident.
"Place your thumb on the scanner, please." groaned the machine. He placed his sweaty thumb on the flashing
plastic square.
"Please look directly into the retinal scanner." A greasy metal plate slid back to reveal a smudged lens. The man
in the suit complied.
"Thank you." And finally, another metal panel slid back to reveal a touch screen with very large (not the font
size) numbers on it. The man pressed a few buttons and the machine dropped several stacks of bills that also had very
large numbers on them into the tray. He shoved them into his briefcase and walked off as fast as possible without actually
breaking into a run.
A few minutes later another man who happened looked exactly the same as the first man was at the Double-M machine,
except this time he had a pink backpack with pictures of adorable animals on it instead of a briefcase.

* * *

Laura shifted some of the grocery bags she was carrying from one hand to the other so she could dig the house
keycard out of her pocket. She waited until she was in the kitchen with the grocery bags placed safely on the counter
before announcing "I'm home!"
Tillia came careening out of the bedroom and hugged Laura on impact.
"Mommy, I got you something, come here, follow me!" she said excitedly, grabbing Laura's hand.
She pulled Laura down the hall, past pictures of peaceful rivers and trees, into their bedroom. Her adorable pink
backpack was sitting on the bed, bulging worrisomely. She turned it upside down and shook its contents onto the floor.
Laura's knees gave out, hitting the floor at the same time as the last bundle of 1000 credit bills. What lay in front of
her was more money than she could hope to make in a lifetime. With shaking hands, she picked up one of the bundles and
turned it over, making sure it was real.
"Honey, Sweetheart, Darling, Sweety-pie," Her daughters household nicknames tumbled out one after another, trying
to buy her mind enough time to digest the situation. "Sugar, Pumpkinface..." Laura's hands found her daughter's shoulders
and pulled her around so they were looking eye to eye.
"Where...how...did you get this money?" Each word came slowly, as though she wasn't sure of her ability to speak.
"The double M machine." This wasn't happening the way Trillia had pictured it in her head. There was a long pause
before Laura's next question.
"What did you look like when you got the money from the machine?"
In response, Tillia began to grow, and a moment later the man in the suit stood before Laura. She inadvertantly
recoiled a bit at the sight of him.
"S-Sarallimuel? Tillia, are you sure? He couldn't possibly have had all this money!"
"This is what I looked like," the man boomed confidently.
"Okay...okay, change back, please." Nobody wanted Sarallimuel looking down at them, real or not. Tillia smoothly
faded back to her natural form. Laura pulled her daughter close and whispered in her ear:
"Tillia, you need to listen to me very carefully. This is important. You're not allowed to get money from the
double M machine that way. This isn't our money, we can't have it. This money belongs to Sarallimuel, and we have to
give it back to him. We're already in trouble because you shouldn't have taken the money in the first place, but we don't
want to get in anymore, so we're going to give all this money back to him right away. Do you understand me?" It was the
most authoritative whisper Tillia had ever heard.
"Yeah, but can we just keep a little so you can come home from work early? And we don't have to buy the bad rice?
And I could take the bus in the morning instead of walking? And we wouldn't have to lose the house?" Tillia begged.
"I'm so sorry honey, we can't." Laura was fighting tears.
"It's okay."

* * *

"Look I swear to god-" The man in the suit was interrupted by a knock on the door. The color drained out of his
face as he dropped the telecom receiver into it's box.
"You've got like 5 fuckin' seconds till I break your door!" yelled a terrifyingly familiar voice from outside the
door. The man in the suit opened the door to reveal a sleak, clean cut businessman twisting a silencer onto his pistol.
Without looking up, the businessman walked into the apartment, apparently focused on getting the silencer on just
perfectly.
"Damien, look I-" The man in the suit was cut off by a simple hand gesture for silence. Damien sat
down in an uncomfortable-looking metallic chair, still twisting the silencer on while sweat dripped down the man in the
suit's forehead. After nearly a minute, he seemed to finish. He looked up, giving the man in the suit his full attention.
"Nice shoes you got there, Saral." He gestured at the pair of dress shoes.
"What?" said the man in the suit, caught off guard.
"I said I like your shoes. Where did you get them?"
"Oh...uh, Meredith's, I believe."
"I think I might pick up a pair myself when I'm done here." said Damien as he shot the man in the suit once in
each foot.
"That's for making me come all the way up here. Do you know how hard it is to find parking?" Damien griped while
the man the suit clutched at his feet and tried not to scream.
"Please Dami-" tried the man in the suit, but he was cut off again.
"Look, you've got like...fuck, I'm tired of coming up with numbers. You've basically got not enough time at all
to tell me where you put the money before I kill you."
"Damien I swear, I didn't take all that money out, just enough to pay off the shaman." he said desperately.
"Look, we've got bank records and witnesses and stuff that say you did, so where should I shoot you? Head or
heart? Head is pretty messy, but I might miss your heart and that would suck for you."
"Plea-" he started to say, but was cut off by the bullet bursting through his skull. Damien studied the corpse in
the suit for a moment before nodding to himself in satisfaction.
He began searching the apartment for the money, just in case. He gave the bedroom a thorough gutting, ripping
open mattresses and the like. He had just started in on the bathroom when someone knocked on the door. Damien sighed
dramatically.
"Come in!" he yelled after grabbing his gun off the chair and leveling it at the door. The door opened. Laura,
Tillia looked at the gun leveled at them in shock. Damien stared at the innocent mother and daughter standing in the
doorway of his murder scene in shock. A few seconds passed before anyone found their voice.
"If you try to run I'll-"
"Tillia RUN!" screamed Laura before Damien could finish his threat. Damien's gun swung around and he squeezed the
trigger. The bullet hit Tillia's lower right leg as she was turning to run, passing clear through. She went down with a
scream.
"The next bullet I fire is going to kill someone, so think carefully before making any rash decisions," warned
Damien while Laura picked up her sobbing daughter.
"Now come inside and show me what is making that backpack bulge in such an interesting way." Laura entered the
apartment on unsteady feet, giving the corpse in the suit a wide berth.
"Why don't you just dump whatever's in that backpack on the floor right there?" asked Damien amiably. Laura set
Tillia on the floor, propped up against the wall, removing her backpack as she did. She carried the backpack to the spot
Damien had indicated, fumbled with the zipper for a moment, then dumped all the money out onto the floor.
"Y-You've got the money now, please let us go," pleaded Laura.
"Huh. I didn't know Saral had a girl. Learn something everyday, I guess. Sorry, I gotta kill you both. Witnesses
, you know?" Damien shrugged.
"P-Please, just let my daughter go, she doesn't know anything." Damien studied Tillia for a moment before
answering.
"Heh, she looks a little too smart, sorry. Any last wishes?" he asked impatiently.
"I wish to die before my daughter." Damien was surprised at how quickly and confidently she had answered. He
grinned.
"Granted."

* * *

Voices drifted through the dark.
"...yeah. Yeah...Seven times...We don't know what kind of gun it was...mhmm...I swear, I hardly did a thing. I
just helped her along, her body did most of the work...No. The mother was dead long before we arrived...Yeah, they
probably do...I'll check...alright, bye."
"You're one lucky girl."

Locked in clutch
Pushed in place
Hold your breath
LISTEN!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Have a nice day sir," said John Lavitzor automatically to the back of a sweating obese man, who waddled to the exit. John took a moment to scan the room. His gaze swept over a few rows filled with unhealthy looking snacks and desserts, past shelves neatly stacked with the latest news data chips, through boxes filled with basic cold and flu medicine, and finally came to rest on the line of impatient customers standing behind the yellow line in front of him. He adjusted his goggles and tie before announcing:
"Next customer, please." A clean-shaven man wearing a business suit stepped up to the counter. He handed John a cheaply-made toy pellet gun. John rang the purchase up.
"That will be 23.47 credits. Is it for your son?" asked John while the man pulled out his wallet.
"No. Keep the change." The man handed John a 50 credit bill.
"I'm sorry sir, but ShopQuick's company policy forbids..." he puttered to a halt, watching the door slam shut behind the departing customer. John sighed and put the bill aside.
"Next customer, please."
Once John finished ringing up all the customers, he began writing a memo. The obnoxious Ding-Dong noise made whenever a customer enters the store caused him to look up. This is what he saw: A small woman, a little over three feet high. She was flawlessly beautiful, with sparkling green eyes and silky brown hair all the way down to her waist. She was wearing an oversized brown sweatshirt that she has to keep pushing the sleeves back on, and silk pajama pants. Her feet were bare. John was so surprised by this strange person that he didn't even mention the store's no shirt no shoes no service policy.
She walked over to the refigerated ice-cream chest and appeared to study it for a moment. She placed her hands on the metallic surface, then pressed her cheek up against it. She closed her eyes and remained that way for almost a full minute. Finally she turned away, and began investigating the little bottles of medicine on a nearby shelf. She would pick up one, shake it a little bit and listen to the noise it made, then move onto another.
At this point he had to ring up another customer, and a line formed again, but John would glance over at the little woman as often as he could. She stayed in the store for nearly a half hour before she approached the counter.
She was carrying a bright green apple with both hands as though it was a fragile vase. She noticed him watching her as she moved towards the counter and gave him a big smile, before lifting the apple above her head and placing it on the counter in front of him.
"I'm sorry m-maam, you need to step behind the yellow line and wait to be called," stuttered John.
"Oh, ok." She stepped back behind the yellow line, leaving her apple on the counter.
"Next customer please." She looked around to make sure that she was the only one there before walking back to the counter. John rang up the apple.
"That will be 5.32 credits, maam."
"oh, I don't have any money, but I'll trade you something for it." She smiled up at him.
"W-What?" John had never faced a situation like this.
"How about this?" She pulled something small and wooden out of her pocket and handed it up to him. He held it up to the light and examined it. It was a tiny wooden Kiutshisitizi, strumming its guitar. Quite an exquisite one at that. In fact, it was beautiful. The detail was absolutely incredible, especially on something so tiny.
"Wow. This is...this is magnificent, where did you get it?" he asked, turning it over in his hands.
"I made it. So do you wanna trade?" she asked hopefully.
"You could get a lot of money for this," he told her.
"I just want an apple."
"Are you sure?" He asked, feeling guilty.
"Yep!" She grinned again.
"Well, alright, but you can't tell anyone that I did this, ok?" He looked worried.
"Ok." She picked up the apple and carried it out of the store.

* * *

The glass felt refreshingly cool against Seren's fingertips, like the refrigerator had. She pressed her hand into the door, leaned into it, and slowly pushed the door open. Then she was through, and a satisfying "thunk" told her the door had shut itself behind her. She watched the hovercars speed back in forth on the street in front her for a bit. The second sun was just setting, and the air already had a delicious chill in it. The concrete under her feet was still wonderfully warm, so she sat down.
She lifted the apple up to her nose and inhaled, savoring its scent. She was nearly shaking in anticipation; she hadn't eaten anything in nearly a month. She raised the apple to her mouth...
"Miss?" Seren looked up at the voice, annoyed. It was yet another man in a business suit. He towered over her, even more so than most people. She couldn't even see his face, hidden behind a huge bushy beard.
"Excuse me madam, but you are blocking the way." He gestured at the door behind her.
"Oh, sorry," She started to scoot to her right, but bumped into a metal signpole. With a sigh, she stood up and moved around the pole. As she moved around the pole, the sign on top came into view. It read "No Loitering". Seren gave the sign a withering glare, but it didn't seem to care. She told her feet to kick the sign, but they turned out to be smarter than her and started walking away instead. She put the apple inside her sweatshirt while she walked. There was a place about a block away where she could spend the night, and more importantly, enjoy her apple in peace.
A cricket began to chirp in a nearby bush. Seren stopped to listen and see if she could spot the little insect. The moon was just rising, and the wind was starting up pretty strong. It blew the bush back in forth in the moonlight, and shadows danced on the wall behind. Seren moved her hands back and forth for a while, adding to the shadows, creating animals, houses, and the fat man who made her leave the swimming pool earlier that day. At last she tired of this and continued down the street.
The wind had really picked up now, blowing Seren's hair out wildly behind her. She turned into an alley and began feeling along the wall in the dark. Her fingers found slots in a wooden lattice and she began to pull herself up. A few more handholds and then she was hauling herself over the gutter onto a flat gravel rooftop. The rooftop wasn't very big, but then neither was she. The crunch of gravel underfoot was wonderful. She sat with her back up against the chimney, the only protection the rooftop offered from the wind.
Wind howled and rushed all around her, ruffling her sweatshirt and blowing her hair into her eyes. She pulled her knees up into her sweatshirt, something her mother would have scolded her for. Tiny hands found tiny rocks and tossed them off the roof, enjoying their noise. Something was pressing against her stomach. The apple! She reached inside the pocket and traced her finger around the apple's smooth surface.
Footsteps sounded in the alley below, interrupting her train of thought. She held her breath and listened. Someone was running through the alley, gasping for breath. She crawled, silently, to the edge of the roof and peered over.
A man, she couldn't make out any distinct features, was sprinting past. A few yards behind him a monstrous boar followed. It was a thing of nightmares. In the dark, one eye glowed red and the other purple. Footlong tusks gleamed like daggers in the moonlight. Saliva dripped from rows of shark like teeth not found on any boar created by nature. It's rear legs appeared to be constructed entirely of metal, and it used those powerful legs to hurl itself through the air, rather than charging. But the worst part, the very worst part, was the noise; there was none. Where there should have been animal grunts and the clunk of hooves on concrete there was nothing. It shot through the night in pure silence.
I chase the sun...
It chases me...
Seren was running, sprinting, leaping along the rooftops after the abomination. Her right hand changed as she ran, reshaping itself, skin pulling away, bone hardening, until all that remained was a wicked looking hook. Clenching her teeth, she hurled herself off the roof. She plummeted through the night and slammed into the boar's back. Using the momentum from her fall, she shoved her hook-hand deep into the boar's back and held on for dear life.
The boar completely failed to slow its pursuit or even acknowledge her. Seren struggled to pull herself towards the boar's head as it leaped through the alley. With a well calculated leap the boar's left side smashed into one of the alley's brick walls. Seren let out a piercing scream as her left arm was crushed. Seren released her hold on the boar as her world began to rotate. Her feet hit the ground as the boar rolled into the alley's right wall, smashing bricks and spewing dust into the air.
The boar righted itself while she backed away, her left arm hanging useless at her side. Her right arm changed again, forming a blade. Seren and the boar stood their ground, glaring at one another. An apple lay just in front of the boar...her apple! Even as she patted her pockets in horror, the boar scooped up the apple and devoured it in a single bite.
With a cry of rage, Seren charged. The boar leaped foward, intending to trample her under its hooves. Seren slid under it like she was going for home plate. She raised her sword-arm, slicing deep into the boar's soft underbelly as it passed overhead. The ground shook as the boar came crashing down behind Seren. It didn't get up.

Seren struggled to her feet, leaned against the alley wall, and tried to catch her breath. Her arm stop being a sword and started being an arm again.
"Well done, my lady. I owe you my life." She had completely forgotten about the boar's prey. She looked up, but saw only bushy beard. It was the man who had made her leave the store in the first place.
"You owe me an apple too." she told him. The flow of adrenaline began to ebb, and the pain in her arm was excruciating.
"Pardon me madam, but what are you? I have never met one of your kind before," he asked, ignoring her.
"Demon, Monster, 'just plain unnatural'. Thats what...Aah!" Pain screamed up her arm and her knees gave out. She sat down heavily
"Oh my! You are injured. We must get you to a medical facility at once!" He declared.
"No way. I'm not going to a hospital," she told him firmly.
"Oh miss! Please, your injury is severe!" seeing the look in her eyes, he changed tactics "Will you at least come back to my place? I have a first aid box," he pleaded.
She nodded, trying to hold back the tears.
"Would it be alright if I carried you? You do not seem to be in a very good state for walking." She nodded again, not trusting her voice. The pain was somehow burning hot and icey-cold at the same time.
He gently scooped her up into his arms. For the first time, she was able to see his face. He was older than she had suspected, probably somewhere in his early fifties. His eyes were tired; they were the eyes of a fanatic who had seen his god fail. And he smelled like pinecones.
Every step he took jostled her arm, sending waves of pain through her. Soon enough tears were sliding down her cheek. The man carrying her stopped for a moment, and withdrew a small earpiece from his pocket.
"Madam, I'm afraid these were designed for someone a little larger than yourself, and they may not match your taste in music, but I believe it will do you good to have something to focus on other than pain."
"Thanks." She took the earpiece from him with her good hand and held it up to her ear. Beethoven's 4th symphony wafted through. The last thing she remembered thinking was: If it takes 33 minutes to play Beethoven's 4th, then how many minutes does it take to play Beethoven's 7th?

* * *

Seren opened her eyes. She was propped up against a wall of some sort, in a tiny room barren room. A tiny toddler stood nearby, watching her with wide eyes. With one hand, she reached out and pulled the small child next to her.
"Where am I?" She asked, groggily.
"Whoa, don't hurt me, I didn't do nothin," it said in a man's voice. It was at this point she realized that her arms were thick and hairy, and her voice had sounded like a narrator for a movie trailer.
"Oh, one sec," she said. The room expanded around her as she resumed her natural form. Doing a quick checkover, she saw that her arm had healed completely. Instead of a child, a young man now stood over her. He looked to be in his early twenties. He was awkwardly skinny and although his hair wasn't very long, it was wild and unkempt.
"Whoa..." He reached out slowly and poked her in the ribs. She giggled, not surprised by his reaction.
"Yes, I'm real," she affirmed.
"No, uh. I didn't...I mean, I'm sorry," he babbled .
"Where am I?" she repeated.
"Uh...This is my dad's place. He brought you in like a week ago, and you were sleepin the whole time," he explained.
"I slept for a WEEK?" she exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yeah, we was gonna give you a bed, but you were too big and kept havin' nightmares and screamin' and tossin' and stuff."
"I'm sure I didn't scream that loud," she said indignantly.
"Yeah you did, dude, you kept me awake all night." he insisted.
"Yeah? Well you smell like dirty socks,' she retorted.
"...what?"
"I said you need to take a shower."
"I just took a shower, that's probably you. You've been passed out on the floor for a week."
"I don't need to take showers. I'm special that way."
He bent over and sniffed her.
"Huh. I guess you're right. You smell like plants."
"FLOWERS!"
"What?"
"I smell like flowers." she said, folding her arms and glaring up at him indignantly.
"Uh, right, and I smell like dirty socks?"
"Yes."
He stretched out and rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit embarassed.
"So what's your name?" He asked.
"I'm Seren
"Well, I'm Jack. Nice to meet ya Seren." He extended his hand. Seren examined it for a few seconds, checking to make sure it wasn't caked in mud, before she uncrossed her arms and shook it.

Fray the strings
Through the sheaves
Hold your breath
LISTEN

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Captain Peligronor of the PEG force
From: Jack Rynd of Relic Research
Subject: You are a paranoid asshole

Here is the report on Ghyr's that you mistakenly thought was worth waking me up at 0300 for. It's a real general outline, because that's all we know. These things are rare as fuck, and I'm willing to bet that Prince could count the number of Ghyr's that are currently alive and accounted for on a single hand. I seriously doubt that one of them has killed and copied your wife, but hey, maybe you got lucky.

Attached document: RRJacobson#2213.

Title: Ghyr Threat and Analysis Report
Date: 121-33-89912
Revision: 1.3
Property of Relic Research TCO. "Innovation with Application"

We don't know how Ghyr (Prounounced "Gear") crystals are created. At the time this document was written, none of our technology is even close to being capable of creating this sort of thing. Ghyr crystals have appeared on many different planets, in many different climates, from frozen peaks to molten rivers to green jungles. The variation in the enviroments they have been found in leads me to believe we can rule out creation through specific enviromental phenoma. I propose that they are a more universal phenomenon, such as the black hole, but alien technology seems to be the more popular theory these days.
The stories we've heard regarding the crystal's size, shape, and color vary widely. The only fact that we've been able to pin down is this: All the crystals appear to have an electric charge. Bolts of electricity appear to crackle through the crystal, but even in cases where the crystals were in contact with conductive material, the apparent electrical charge remained inside the crystal.
If the Ghyr crystal comes into physical contact with any carbon based lifeform (which they always seem to do long before we find out about them), something happens. We don't have any idea what this something is, because the few witnesses we were able to question claim that they "blacked out" or simply don't remember. Although we don't know exactly what happens when a carbon based life form comes (Hereafter referred to as the "parent") into contact with a Gyrh crystal, we do know that it takes only a few seconds, and the result is a brand new life form: A Gyrh.
At first glance, the newly created Ghyr appears to be a duplicate its parent. The Ghyr has its parent's mental capacity, apparent physical form, and instincts, but none of its memories. The mind of a newly created Ghyr is completely undeveloped. This means that if a human touches a Ghyr crystal, you get an apparent physical duplicate of the human with the mind of a newborn baby. Its also interesting to note that unless a freshly created human Ghyr is cared for, it will die like a regular human baby. My research also shows that Ghyr do not tend to be any more or less intelligent than their parent form.
Although it initially appears that a Ghyr is physically identical to its parent, it simply isn't. Ghyr can alter their physical form easily, quickly, and dramatically. Gender, age, size, height, and weight are all easily changed in a matter of seconds. Ghyr animals often learn to grow larger when they feel threatened, and to change their gender when seeking potential mates. The degree with which a Ghyr can alter its original form varies, but its safe to say that a human Ghyr could not ever change itself into an animal, although they could make themselves appear animal-like. For example, a Ghyr could not change into a cat, but it might be able to grow fur. Some Ghyr are able to grow as large as double the size of their parent form, or as small as a quarter of the size of their parent form. This means that a human Ghyr could change from a young man to an old woman back to a young elf or dwarf in a matter of seconds. Ghyr are also capable of copying the appearance of others.
This incredible control over their physiology has a few other beneficial effects. Their bodies are simply more efficient in almost every regard. Human Ghyr require only a little water to survive, and produce no waste. They can hold their breath for an unreasonable amount of time because they require less oxygen. Ghyr are able to heal wounds nearly twice as fast as a regular person, and are actually capable of regenerating entire lost limbs.
Because of their ability to copy the appearance of others, Ghyr could be used as spies against us, but there are so few of them that I don't think they pose any threat to Prince. However, securing a fresh "unhatched" Ghyr crystal could lead to a scientific breakthrough. Therefore, I give my recommendation to raise the GCR project to level seven.

Bow down before the one you serve
You're going to get what you deserve
-Sarallimuel Jacobson

awesomesystem @ 2005-10-05T20:03:00

2005-10-05T12:02:11Z

I feel like people aren't using Handling enough. I went through and increased the Handling of every weapon by 1, so now 2 is the average and Fists have a Handling of 4. I think it's a good start, but can anyone else think of any other ways to make it more useful?

Shapeshifter (20)

2005-10-05T11:08:12Z

The character has, quite simply, an amorphous physiology. Most people go through life set in a form that will only grow up or down or out. A Shapeshifter can grow in all of those directions, as well as inside out and upside down.

In their most commonly used forms, Shapeshifters are often plain, uninteresting looking people. Their appearance shifts with their concentration and more complex shapes require more effort and thought, like molding a lump of clay. When a new shape is first formed it will often only have the appearance of its form, gradually filling out details over the next few weeks or months. Any form the shapeshifter takes will no doubt pass casual scrutiny, but more complicated checks will require the character to make an Art: Sculpture check opposed to the onlooker's Notice. If the character disguises themselves as a businessman they saw in a magazine, everyone will recognize them with ease, but shaping the larynx just right so as to emulate his voice or shaping the whorls of one's thumbprint to get through a security measure can take hours of careful, painstaking work.

Whenever a new form is taken, the character must make an Art: Sculpture check, compared to the table below.

3 - Copy the shape and skin tone of the target perfectly
5 - Assure that all internal organs are in the right place
8 - Emulate the original's voice perfectly
10 - Copy mannerisms of the original
20 - Create accurate clothing from scratch
30 - At this level the copy is identical to the original in every way. Only old friends or a full computer check-up could tell the difference.

The character may spend time making further checks, as many times as they like. The new check result always supplants the previous, since Sculpting's irritating like that.

If the Shapeshifter wants to make something entirely new, it's a bit more complicated. For example, if they want to make themselves a set of hooks for climbing, or fins for swimming, they may attempt a Sculpture check with a difficulty of 8, success indicating they've made something rudimentary, giving them a +5 to all skill checks, to be removed when the character chooses. Making the change takes one combat turn, doing which the character may act normally. A character may not make more changes than an amount equal to their level in Soul. A set of gills would give the character a +5 to all Toughness checks for holding their breath and swapping out their left arm for a cutlass gives them a simple +5 to damage. Where there's a will, there's a way. Additionally, if the character can succeed at a difficulty 30 check, they may spend a full five minutes on the change, increasing the bonus rises to +10, but these adjustment may not be removed for a minimum of 12 hours, as the body takes time to adjust to them.