Mythic RPG Project: Chapter 7a: The Adventure: Scenes and Lists

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Over the last 14 blog post we have explored basic concepts, character creation, the use of the Fate Chart, some resolution rules and combat rules, with an example here or there. Today and tomorrow, we add the few remaining rules, and we show how everything fits into a complete system.

"The structure outlined in this chapter is designed to generate a dynamic, and improvised, adventure." pg.67

"Improvised means “free-form,” right? Not necessarily. Mythic is designed to move the adventure along based on improvised ideas, but it provides a structured framework to guide and shape those ideas. This isn’t “making it up as you go along” so much as hopping from one idea to the next with rules to navigate the way. The current idea is the current scene, the action of the moment. You may have some clue as to what the next idea is, but you won’t know what happens for sure until you get there." pg.67


This chapter covers a lot of topics. 

• Scene Setup 
• Lists
• Running Scenes
• Chaos Factor
• Altered Scenes and Interrupt Scenes
• Playing and wrapping up Scenes
• Book Keeping (it is minimal I promise)
• Favor Awards
• Example of play in Action. 
  

(Editor: This overview is the "Cliff's Notes" of the Mythic RPG. Useful to have around, or so I hope, but in no way a replacement for the game. So, if by the end of this blog post you are thinking this is for you then use the link at the top of the page to zip back to the project intro where you will find a link to purchase the game. It is an investment of less than 10 dollars for potentially endless hours of play. I think by now I have paid about 10 cents an hour of game play.)

Before we jump into Scene Setup, lets make sure we are all on the same page. There is a lot of overlap in RPG terms game to game. So lets sure your Scene and my Scene line up. In Mythic RPG a Scene is the basic unit of game play. Within it you could find further granulation of individual actions, but the purpose of those actions is to explore, interact with, or experience the Scene. 

While Mythic RPG is a solo game, and yours to do with as you wish, it has more of a cinematic feel than a simulationist feel. Thus, like a movie scene begins when something interesting happens and it ends when the interesting thing comes to some resolution.

What sorts of interesting things are we talking about? Anything interesting to you. While Mythic can be a GM tool, or a GM free group tool, I am writing this body of essays for soloist. As a soloist you can pursue your game from Scene to Scene following what ever drives you. The GM Emulator (which we will get to in the next Chapter) will make sure that your game has a diversity of Thread (plots), and fun weird things happen with some regularity, but it is your interest as the sole player that ultimately defines what you play.

With that bit of proselytizing aside, lets get to the specifics. A scene typical starts with something a Player Character (PC) wants to accomplish. This usually involves moving to the place you wish to accomplish it, whether that is another room in the PC mansion or on the other side of the city (I feel if you want to go to the other side of a continent, I say throw some adventure in there, but that is up to you). When you arrive (assuming the Chaos Factor hasn't thrown a monkey wrench in the work) there you start the Scene. You follow a Scene through its actions, reacting in character to the events that unfold, and when the action (whether is it is fighting a super villain or laying in field of wild flowers recharging your emotional battery) is resolved you wrap the Scene and move on to the next one. The next scene may be suggested by the ending of the current scene, or you may take the adventure down a different avenue. That is up to you.

"The simplest way to move from scene to scene is for the characters themselves to physically move. However, they don’t have to. Time can pass and move characters to the next scene while they remain in the same physical location. For instance, characters travelling through the woods make camp for the night. They rest up, and the scene ends. The next scene takes place in the morning as they get up and prepare for the day." pg.67-68.

Now lets move from generalities to specifics.

The Setup

"The first thing to do is to come up with scene number one. As with any movie, TV show or book, the very first scene of the production is vitally important. It sets the tone for everything that will follow. Chances are, the first scene will give the characters whatever “mission” that they will follow through for the rest of the adventure.... You’ve got two options in this department: make something up, or roll something up." pg. 69

The two choices here largely depend on your intent when you sit down to play. If you have a specific scenario in mind by all means start with that as as your first scene. Understand that along the way the Mythic system will alter things so they will never just be you typing out a story, but if you launch the game you want to play, and pursue your scene changes in that direction you will largely get the experience you are aiming for. More on that in a bit.

"If you make it up, keep in mind that the scene does not have to be very complex. You don’t need to take all week to create a multi-layered plot. Mythic is all about improvisational role-playing. Just take a few minutes to concoct an interesting concept, or even just a few interesting ideas for a starting scene." pg.69

If you just have a character and a setting and want to just let it fly you can roll up your first scene and let it set the stage for the flavor of the adventure to come. You still have some steering available by way of picking scenes and asking questions, but the starting scene will set the stage for the adventure. The expert advice for starting randomly is generate a Random Event (see last blog post or Chapter 6). Here is the expert advice on the subject.

"If you are truly playing off the cuff, and want to be

surprised from the get-go, use a random event to set up

the initial scene. Generate a random event... and use this as the setup for the

scene. Since you are generating a random event out of

thin air, without any context or other events to compare

it with, you will have a wide range of interpretations to

make. I suggest you aim for the most exciting

interpretation you can." pg.69 (bold highlight from the editor)

An important note about your opening scene, and to a lesser degree the scenes that follow, "Keep in mind that the setup should establish a goal for the characters to attain". pg.69

After generating your opening Scene jump into playing it out. Use the Odds questions and the  Action and Subjects charts to fill in the details. Use the Task Resolution and Combat rules to handle any action in the scene. The Chaos Factor (see below) may throw you some curve balls, but that is good. That adds an element of the unknow to any scene and transforms it from 20 questions to a vibrant and exciting RPG experience. When you have concluded the Scene and are ready to move on to the next you will need to do one more step, which is updating your Lists.

Lists

Lists are essential for keeping track of people and on going plot lines. Fortunately, they are simple to build. Simply use a printed or hand made copy of the adventure sheet found on pg. 69 to fill in the details of who you met (Characters column) and what plot hooks you discovered (Threads column). I highly suggest that you use the Scene Setup boxes as well. They will be valuable memory aids as your game continues to unfold. 

Characters and Threads while also useful as memory aids, are essential for Random Events, so don't hesitate to add anything interesting to the list. A character can be any individual that you meet, but it could also be anything with personality, such as a group, a place, or an organization. Threads are plot hooks, mysteries, unanswered questions, quests, or anything you want to pursue that arises from a scene. 

As mentioned above, you update your list after a scene. As a rule of thumb, add Characters that are important and Threads you want to follow up. Important doesn't necessarily mean powerful. If your character was talking to a family member or had an encounter with an interesting neighbor, and you would like those characters to stay in your growing adventure go ahead and include them. If you rush to your car just as the meter authority is putting a ticket on your windshield, you probably don't need to record the meter reader in your list of characters. 

(Editor: Here is also where you can do some of your adventure shaping. If you meet a crazy mad scientist, but don't want that to be a focus of the game, you can choose not to add him to the character list, sometimes there are people and plots in RPGs that just aren't followed up and that is OK). 

While making Character and Thread list updates is typically done after a scene, feel free to pre-populate a few Characters that are essential to your starting scene (assuming you are not spontaneously generating it). As Mythic can be used to play anything, that could include a story that you already know the start to, and the opening scene is where your players join the story. In such a case pre-populating a few Characters or a Thread or two, make perfect sense.

"In between adventures, a player can change his list,

adding characters he has met from an adventure who may

stick around and removing any who have left." pg. 71

(Editor: In the next blog post we will finally cover Chaos Factor, Altered Scenes, Interrupt Scenes, and Scene wrap up.)

Mythic RPG Project: Chapter 6: Randomness

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"Logic is poor at one thing: coming up with surprises. Taking this into account, Mythic builds random events into the adventure so everything doesn’t make too much sense. In an adventure that is guided by players’ questions and expectations, randomness will add extra dimension to the action, spinning plot twists you may never have thought of before." pg.59

I couldn't think of a better lead into this topic than the first paragraph of the chapter. It explains the why, now we will dig into the how.

There are two opportunities to introduce randomness built into the system. The first is a check between scenes to see if the scene goes as expected. Should that check indicate an interjection of randomness it could make a small Alteration to the scene or it could be and interruption between one scene and the presumed next scene by way of a Random Event. This is determined by a random roll between scenes to see how the next scene starts. It is heavily dependent on the current Chaos Factor. Chaos Factor will get its own discussion in the next chapter Adventures.

The other manner it which random events can take place is mid-scene, by way of a Fate Chart generated Random Event. These tend to be the most common kinds of Random Event and are generated by rolling doubles on your percentile check (11, 22, 33, etc.). If the digit that is rolled is equal to or less than the current Chaos Factor, it will generate a random event. What we are going to focus on here is how to build a Random Event, once one is determined to take place. 

Random Events

So fate has decreed that your adventure is going to go differently than you planned. So what is next? Well there are three components that must be determined to build the Random Event: Context, Focus, and Meaning.

Event Context
Context is a culmination of the setting style, background, adventure thus far, and your current situation.

"The random event isn’t happening in a vacuum; all that has already occurred is the stage on which this new event takes place." pg. 59

There is no special rule to generate context content, you have been doing it all along as you play, or even before you played if you came to the game with a certain setting, adventure theme, or goal. The main point here is to keep the context in the forefront of your mind as the random event unfolds, so that it fits into the narrative of the game you have been playing/building.

Event Focus
If you look on pg. 60 of the Mythic RPG you will find a chart on the page with a number of focus topics. Some of them are pretty self explanatory (such as PC Positive or NPC Negative), but we are going to tackle some of the less obvious. 

Remote Event
A remote event is a relevant situation that occurs, but not at the PC location, but the PCs do learn of it in this scene. They maybe informed by an NPC, see it on the front page of a news paper, find evidence indicating an event took place, etc. The point is that the event is non trivial and the PCs are informed about it. 

NPC Action
In this random event a Non Player Character (NPC) takes some significant action. Later on in the Adventure chapter we will be discussing Character Lists. The NPC actor is drawn from that list randomly then the context and the Meaning will dictate the action it takes. Considering the randomness of the who with the context and the meaning and you may find someone you feel your character knows quite well taking completely unexpected actions. This could reflect a different aspect of their personality you were not aware of, or there could be an underpinning motivator that your character isn't aware of. But whatever the reason it will fit within the Context of the game. 

Move Towards a Thread; Move Away from a Thread; Close a Thread
Threads, while explained in the next chapter better, are, in short, the various plots going on in the game. Usually your character will be pursuing the Thread of there choice or need in the adventure at hand, but that doesn't mean that the world isn't still going on around them. 

When you roll Moving Towards a thread you will get a clue, item, advice, or insight that will help move you in the direction of a Thread. It may not be the current thread you are on, because in adventure surprises can come in from screen right at any point.

When you roll Move Away from a Thread it indicates some obstacle or setback to one of your Threads. Again this may not be the Thread you are currently pursing. 

For example in a fantasy adventure I was recently playing my character rolled Move Away From a Thread while on an urban adventure. Rolling on my Threads List I got "Marry my Fiancée'". Taking the context, she was also an adventurer and worked for a powerful patron, and the Meaning (we will get to this soon), I determined her patron had sent her on a secret mission, thus forcing the delay of the marriage. He found this out by way of a note delivered by a messenger, thus there was yet another obstacle to the upcoming nuptials.

When you roll close a thread it means one of your threads falls off your list. This is probably the strongest indicator that the world around you is active and not in the PC (or necessarily the solo players) control. Depending on the Meaning this could happen in any number of ways. It can even lead to new threads. 

Imagine your character is currently on a quest to quell bandit activity in a fantasy kingdom. That thread maybe suddenly closed when you get to the bandit camp and find no bandits at all, and no sign of them leaving in mass. Well you can't quell what isn't there, but you may have a new thread opened along the lines of "What happened to the bandits of grizzly wood?" (Editor: If the thread that you roll to close is the central theme of the adventure that you wish to be following, or the one you find the most fun, reroll the Event Focus or just treat it as "Move Away from a Thread. Don't let one random dice roll ruin your campaign) 

Ambiguous Event
This maybe the hardest  or easiest type of Random Event. An Ambiguous Event doesn't tie to a Thread or Character or change the current circumstances. It is just an element of the setting that is interesting enough to arrest the movement for its own little scene. It could be used to show the largeness or strangeness of the world your PC is moving through. This isn't to say it isn't something you can interact with, but it isn't about your character or there adventures.

Imagine you are travelling through a fairy tale wood and you encounter a number of animals around a large round table enjoying a meal and company. When you approach the resume the actions of wild animals and dart into the wood. This isn't tied to your NPC or your Threads, it is just a thing that happened. It does inform you of the larger world though, and if you chose to you could add the event to the Character or Threads list, or just take it at face value and continue your quest.

Event Meaning and Interpreting the Random Event

Now we reach the third element that makes up a Random Event. If you flip to page 64 you will find two tables: Event Meaning: Action and Event Meaning: Subject. Roll one word from each table and combine them. Then think about the Context of your game and the type of Random Event you rolled, and apply the Meaning Action and Subject to those other factors. Don't over think this, it isn't a rule, but an inspiration. Just take a few moments and let the details percolate in your mind then interpret the Random Event with the first idea that encapsulates the three parts.  

Page 66 has many excellent examples of building Random Events, but lets do one now just demonstrate the process. 

For Context we will use the Cyberpunk Setting and Character (Mr. Quin) we have used through out these examples. To set the scene Mr. Quin is currently remote piloting a drone from the top of a neighboring building, doing a little snooping for fun and profit. He is in the Fringe, and recently was involved with a nasty accident that left several hostile gang members very dead. He has a few mini drones around him keeping guard and is ready to run if he feels he is in any danger. With the stage set let see what sort of randomness Mr. Q will have to endure.

The Event Focus is PC Negative. Considering his luck lately I am not surprised. 

Lastly we need to add some Meaning, to see what sort of hot water Mr. Q is getting into: Action: Punish, Subject The Intellectual. 

Putting it all together I think Mr. Q isn't as smart as he thinks he is, and even though he is surrounded by his little helper drones that are keeping watch, they do little good when someone drops a signal scrambler grenade right next to his control rig. Suddenly, all the drones are off line. And then the roof door opens and a brute nearly the size of Gnasher ducks through it with a club in his hands. 

Randomness can help your character, harm your character, and sometimes just be weird things along the way, but what it isn't is predictable, and that keeps the game fresh and makes the difference between a game and a story. 

Next Chapter The Adventure, where we add all the rest of the elements, such as Lists and Chaos Factor, that run the the Mythic RPG engine, and allow you to play whatever it is you can imagine.

Mythic RPG Project: Chapter 5c: Ranged Combat Example

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In some games defending against a ranged attack is the same as any other, some quality off a character (Such as Armor Class in the d20 based games) and Reflexes, allow you go jump out of the way of bullets and laser beams. This isn't the the way Mythic handles it. 

"Defending Against Ranged Weapons

When a question of “Did the character hit?” comes up, it

usually pits the combat rank of the attacker versus the combat

rank of the defender. This is most often the case in melee

attacks. Ranged attacks are different, however. After all,

knowing how to fire a gun will not give you any chance of

dodging a bullet.

Difficulty ranks for ranged attacks should be based on

circumstances, not on character ranks. The difficulty rank is

abstract, a measure of how difficult a shot the attacker is

attempting. Unless the character has superhuman reflexes,

she will probably not be dodging any bullets or laser beams. In

that case, she’d better just take cover." pg. 47-49

While this does strip some agency from those not carrying the gun, there are things that can still be done to make it harder to be hit. First, of all a moving target is always harder to hit, so unless the character is being sniped, they should be running. If the can pull off running in unpredictable zig zags, that makes the shot harder still, and if they can get in good concealment or cover the chances of being hit drop dramatically. Also in most settings armor is available, and if you play in a game where bullets or lasers are common, there will be special armors made to mitigate that damage. 

Lets pick up where we left off with Gnasher chilling out beside the unconscious drifter to give him a stern and heartfelt lecture on politeness when he wakes up. There is an important detail poor Gnasher has forgotten. He is on the edge of Scorpion territory, and most of that gang vehemently hates him. 

After the drifter awakes, receives his lecture, and is even given a bit of aspirin for his aches (Gnasher really isn't a bad guy), the big guy starts back out the alley and is heading back "home" to Tommy's groceries where he plans to eat until he is stuffed and then get a nap.

As Gnasher is about as stealthy as a rhino tap dancer, he is seen by a group of Scorpion's on patrol. The three are all armed with a variety of melee weapons, some blunt and some very sharp, but one of them has a has a cheap pistol with 5 shots. 

If you recall from our Gnasher's first adventure, to get the location of the drifter he went to Mr. Quin and offered him up to to weeks of muscle work in exchange for some recon, and Quin secretly sent a drone to watch over Gnasher. Now because Quin knows Gnasher will feel awful if he is even indirectly involved in killing this drone is loaded with about 100 rounds of hard plastic pellets with small pieces of iron in there core and are fired by an induction rail. Not the most accurate weapon, but usually non fatal. If they rally piss him off though it is also a bomb.

As the gangers close in to a shooting distance, Mr. Q turns the loud speaker on for the drone and emits and ear splitting shriek. To stay on task everyone must make a Toughness test against a Resistance  of Exceptional or do nothing but cover their ears for at least a round. 

Gangers 

Attributes

Strength Above Average

Agility Average

Reflexes Above Average

IQ Average

Intuition Above Average

Willpower Low

Toughness Average

The three gangers have a 15% chance to resist... Roll 46/83/83, though all three fail, the threshold for Exceptional failure was 84%. 

Gnasher is pretty tough and has an Exceptional toughness giving him a 50% chance to resist... roll 52%, 

So all four players in our drama are covering there ears and in the process dropping there weapons (clubs, knives, and one gun).

After the high pitched squealing ends Mr. Quin say over loud speaker "Gnasher, run for it, I will cover you". Gnasher looks up at the drone then over his shoulder and starts to lope away. 

Does Mr. Quin go first? Well his Remote Drive skill is High (and we are not yet inserting Chaos Factor) so he has base 75% chance. The Scorpions have no particular skill to resist so they default to Reflexes -2RS, so they are at Low, modifying Mr. Q's chance to 90%....roll 80, he does go first. 

He then tells the drone to spray the gangers with the subdual rounds, which are in a cylinder feeder in the body of the drone.  The drone locks in on its targets. It is a very well designed drone, but these pellets are not extremely accurate over a long distance as they are essentially heavy rubber bbs roughly the size and weight of buck shot. So I think that -2RS is reasonable. The Scorpions were strutting there stuff down the street so there is no immediate cover, so Mr. Q's volley is merely Above Average 65%... roll 39, 76, and 99. The 99 is a critical failure, so the gun is jammed after that shot. 

Only one Ganger was hit, so the final question is Did Mr Q hurt him? Checking the Damage chart on pg.50 this would be Exceptional damage. As we can see the Scorpions have a Toughness of Average, but they also have leather jackets with tough sewn in scrap metal patches giving the a +2RS for armor. 
So Mr. Q has a 65% chance of damaging him....roll 24. So Yes, but it is not exceptional. So Scorpion 1, as we will call him, has a -1RS for future actions till he can recover from this Stunning attack.

Gnasher has run behind some cars, and Scorpion 2 has picked up his gun. 
Did Gnasher get far enough to be out of Scorpion territory? Probalbly not but he was close so we will just say Unlikely 35% chance... roll 70. not an Exceptional No, but also not going to get help from the local gang either. 

Does Scorpion 2 shoot at the drone? I think it is very likely. They don't know the gun it jammed.  Very Likely is 85% chance... roll 28. He is gunning for the drone. 

Does Mr. Quin get to go first? His Remote Drive is High and the Gangers Shoot is Average so his chances are 75%... roll 53. He skims the light weight drone straight at the ganger with the gun, hoping to draw the fire so Gnasher can get the hell out of there. 

Mr Q is going to try to skim the flier right over Scorpion 2, but not actually hit him. A failure in his piloting roll will actually result in a hit, and possibly a badly damaged drone. His Remote Pilot is high, and this is unresisted so we will call it a Below Average challenge, so his chances are 85%... roll 90. He does strike the ganger, Fully loaded as it is it probably weighs about 20 pounds. Does it strike the Scorpion 2's head? very unlikely 25% chance... roll 17! 

Is he hurt? He is unarmored and it was a head shot with a 20 pounds of whirring plastic, as there is no guideline for this I will call it High with a +2RS for a head shot....90%... roll 67. He takes a lethal wound and has -1RS for his action, should he get one. 

Mr. Q, says through the loud speaker.  "I suggest everyone get some cover" Then an LED countdown starts on top of the Drone starting at 7.

Gnasher, completely forgotten the Scorpion takes a point blank shot at the unmoving drone. His skill is Average, with a +2RS for point blank, but a -1RS for his bleeding scalp. 65% chance... rolls 18. He its it.

Does that set off the bomb... Very Likely 85% chance... roll 12 Exceptional Yes. 

BOOM!

Well, Looks like we may have a gang war soon. oops.

Wizard Dad's Workshop: Voyage of the Yggdrasil: A new introduction.

Tall as a mountain, the impossibility glides through space with a deceptive slowness, driven by engines that seem to defy physics. A made structure that appears on the edge of a colonized solar system, and then settles out side of the gravity well of the first planet with sapient life. From it's depths deploy cargo ships and battle units that hover in orbit near the unknowing world, while one heavily armored transport breaks through the atmospheric barrier to land.  

"There is nothing to fear", it broadcast in the many tongues of scattered humanity, on all common spectrum of communication. 

The Yggdrasil, the great Star Mountain, the burning torch of civilization, has come to remind you of who you were. For better or worse.



About six years ago I ran, a sadly brief, campaign for Stars Without Numbers titled "The Voyage of the Yggdrasil" I would like to revive it for solo play, and I have decided to keep my notes here.  

The Yggdrasil is a massive, and theoretically impossible, space station/craft, that can move into and out of hyper space to travel between star systems. Its immense mass shouldn't be able to make the jump in and out of the higher dimensions necessary to make such voyages, and yet it does. 

It visits space faring system and lost worlds. It rarely is seen in the same sector twice, after its initial exploration. It brings the gifts of higher technology and it leaves behind star maps of its prior voyages. Some cultures rapidly advance to star faring, others hide away the information as not to change a valued status quo, but nothing is ever the same for them again. 

What is taken away with the Ygg, as it vanishes into the deep dark depth of space once more, are people. Sometimes a mere few from a backwater that has even forgotten how to use electricity, and some times a score from a techno dystopia dominated by tyrants. 

Those taken a way join the crew for a period of 4-6 years and then become passengers, residents, and explorers, because save for the few kilometers around the central hub of the hollow impossible mountain, the rest is lost in ruin, patrolled only by repair bots and ghosts of a prior, greater age. 

The plan, as it stands, is to write this for my own play. I am going to strip out all of the rules mechanics and leave it as neutral as possible, but as it does have its origins in the modern OSR game Stars Without Numbers, a version of their free PDF, game and setting book could be useful. If you want to pass on reading that weighty tome, the essentials you need to know about the grander setting are as follows. 

Once Terra (Earth) was the center of an ever spreading human civilization, that quickly grew out of control of any empire, so it was regulated by the Terran Mandate, a set of shared laws and customs, sometimes brutally enforced. Though, the spread was initially through hyper drive, eventual matter transport gates were constructed that offered instant access to all corners of human space. These were made possible because of gifted persons with teleportation psionics and complicated physics warping engines, some of which may have  originated in alien technology. 

Then came the Scream. Some psychic wave event that killed most of the psionically gifted and left the rest mad. An end result though was that none of the old matter transport gates could be operated, and many settlements on far flung worlds around near uncharted stars were left lacking food, mechanical necessities, or personnel. Thus, human space fell into a several hundred year dark age.

The story of the Voyage starts with some systems emerging from this dark age, and the Mountain of Space, which is not even known in ancient legend, moving system to system jump starting humanity back into the stars, should the shadowy and unknowable "Bridge" deem the planet ready. 

This Link will take you to the old intro and ToC for the aspects of the setting already worked out. The rest I will slowly fill in as I play. 

Whether you wish to join the Yggdrasil as a passenger, a distant observer, or just let it pass unseen, happy voyaging.

W.D.

Mythic RPG Project: Chapter 5b: Melee Combat Example

Back to ToC

When I sat down to write combat examples with Mr. Quin, I realized, that while piloting drones, has great potential as a combat prowess, it was perhaps a bit exotic for basic combat examples. Unless, you really want to see poor Mr. Quin smacked all over the pavement by a ganger. So, I am going to put some Merc muscle down below. A professional heavy we will call Gnasher, because I think it is a rough and tumble sort of name. I am going to design him off camera, as you have already seen character creation in action.

Concept

There are a lot of people who are forced out of the burbs and even out of archologies who end up on the Fringe, but since the big collapse of ‘05 there have always been Fringers, and in the 42 years that follow they have developed there own ecosystem of doctors, lawyers, diplomats, and lawmen. None of these things would necessarily be recognized by burb’inite, but in the Fringe is where life goes on. Hard life. Life with little luxury, but life none the less. And every one needs a little problem solved now and again. 

Gnasher, who despite his 6'6" height and 300lb weight, is a people person and liked to solve problems. He does this mostly by ramming problems repeatedly into a wall until they stopped wanting to be problematic. In a tiny world where have and have nots may be defined in calories, Gnasher's democratic view of problem solving (as he would work for nearly anyone with a problem, a little bit of cred, and perhaps a Hostess wrapped pie) makes him a popular people person indeed.

Summary:
“Gnasher is a semi gentle giant who will help settle the score for the little guy in exchange for a place to sleep and a really big meal. If you throw in some cred and a kind word you could have a friend for life. Sadly, Gnasher is not a great thinker or judge of character, and only has a few skills, but one skill he is very very  good at. That be fighten’ ”

Gnasher

Attributes
Strength Incredible
Agility Average 
Reflexes High 
IQ Low 
Intuition Low 
Willpower High 
Toughness Exceptional 

Abilities
Drive Rig Below Average
Brawling Incredible

Strengths
Local Hero (good for free beer and social rolls) +2RS
Luck of the innocent (bullet miss) +2RS

Weaknesses
Scorpion Troubles (a gang) -2RS
Big Hearted (hard to tell people no) -2RS
Felony Record and Tattoo (to all social rolls with corps and cops) -5RS

Scenario: A mom and pop grocery store, Tommy's Groceries,  got vandalized, and the local gang they pay for protection, Fat Cobra,  doesn't seem to be taking it very seriously. With an offer of 100 cred worth of groceries and an invitation to stay in the employee break room every night for a week Gnasher takes the "case". 

Gnasher goes to the nice man with all the drones, which remind Gnasher of toys from when he was a kid, and offers some free muscle over the next week or two if he can find the "spiky haired punk in the green jacket" (a direct quote from Mr. Tommy himself). As it happens, the semi hyper vigilant drone jockey has a few square blocks around his house bugged for video, and can provide a good picture of the jerk and this current residence, an alley on the boarder of Fat Cobra and Scorpion territory. Gnasher Thanks Mr. Quin and hurries to the location. 

The ganger in question is a drifter, but one that looks pretty hardcore, and he is sporting a little chrome so a small timers, like Fat Cobra, don't see enough reward for the risk. Fortunately for this demo, Gnasher doesn't think that far ahead. (If it should be necessary a few armed drones are following Gnasher, Mr. Quin likes him and is looking out for his investment).

Unknown Drifter

Attributes

Strength High (Exceptional with right cyber arm)

Agility Above Average

Reflexes High (hard wired, and he can't sleep)

IQ Average

Willpower Low

Toughness Average

Abilities
Knife Exceptional

Judo High

Machine Pistol High (and out of ammo)

Strengths
Nylon weave plating to ribcage (+1RS vs blows to central mass)

Cyber arm punch lethal damage

Weakness

Stress Hallucinations after 2 wound levels (-1RS to all mental tasks)

Setting

The stage for our pugilistic drama is a 20 wide dead end alley with a few trash bens and a strong smell of urine. There are a few intact beer bottle and liquor bottles and a very out of date band poster at mouth of the alley.

Is the drifter awake? (odds question) very likely as he can't shut off his enhanced Reflexes which gives him awful insomnia (High 75%, roll...25 Yes), he is slumped against the wall drinking the cheapest of strong booze trying to unwind enough to sleep.

There is no roll to see if he notices Gnasher coming down the alley, grabbing a full garbage bin along the way.

Gnasher plans to say hello by throwing a 50 pound garbage ben from around 10 foot away, this gives the drifter time to hop up to his feet. 

Does Gnasher go first? the intersection of Incredible to High is 75%...roll 37. Yes

Does Gnasher hit the Drifter? Same skills so same difficulty? 64. Yes

Does Gnasher Hurt the Drifter? Here we pit the damage of an aluminum garbage, say +1RS added to Gnasher' Incredible Strength, against the Drifters Average Toughness +1RS for his cybernetic enhancements. This is Awesome vs Above Average coming to an 85%....roll 50 Yes. (had it been an Exceptional Yes we could have tagged on that it knocks him back down or even tested to see if he was knocked out). From here out the Drifter has -1RS to all of his rolls

Gnasher follows the throw with a lumbering charge in hopes of body checking the Drifter, who is just now reaching or his combat knife in his jacket.

Does Gnasher go first? This pits Gnasher's Brawl (Incredible) vs the Drifters Knife fighting (Exceptional) with a -1RS wound penalty. Gnasher has a 75% chance of going first... roll 68, Yes

Does Gnasher hit? as the Drifter couldn't get his knife out he has to rely on his Judo score of High -1RS, while Gnasher is still Incredible, giving Gnasher an 80% chance...roll 61, Yes

Does Gnasher knock the Drifter down? I will say the Drifter has to pit his full Strength against Gnasher's, there is no way his chrome will help with this so it is Incredible Vs High -1RS.  The chance of success is 80%... roll 04, an Exceptional Yes. In this case we will tag on a second wound as well as being knocked prone. The wounds are up to -2RS and being prone (for which there are no guidelines) is worth another -1RS which can be cancelled if he can get up.

Gnasher intends to end this quick by giving the Drifter a swift kick to the head. The drifter at this point just wants to get away from this giant and will try to sweep his legs, but from this disorganized prone position the penalties to being prone still stand.

Does Gnasher go first? Gnasher has a wicked 95% chance...roll 52, Yes.

Does he hit the Drifter? Because he is aiming for a small area he has a -1RS,  so he is down to a 90% chance...roll 63, Yes

Does he Hurt the Drifter? having just taken a head shot gives Gnasher a +2RS to his Incredible Strength (Superhuman) vs the Drifters Average Toughness -3RS to Low, which gives Gnasher a 100% hit with a Exceptional Range of  20%...roll 13! This means in additional to getting another wound (-3RS) the damage is Full Effect, and as this is a blow to the head he is knocked out.

It is only then Gnasher remembers he forgot to tell the drifter why he was taking a beating... guess he will just have to wait till the drifter wakes up.

Mythic RPG Project: Chapter 5a: Combat Rules

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Combat in Mythic is like no game I have ever seen before, be it abstract or tactical. The whole of chapter 5 geared for you to get the most out of it with charts that explain various tactical advantages, weapon capabilities, the effects of armor, and the consequences of hit location. As such I highly suggest you have a copy of the book at hand to play, but can give you a simplified run down here. 

Basic Combat Procedure

Combat comes down to Fate Questions. There is no side system that treats combat differently than a car chase or reeling in a swordfish in a deep sea fishing trip; with that said though, combat is more granulated than most other Fate related question answer pairs.

The first step is to define what you wish to do. Also give some consideration to what the opposition will do should they go first. 

"I hit him with the shovel; I blast them with my shot gun; I do a roundhouse kick to her face; I body check the ganger and knock him down. After that it is rolling time.

The three (or four) things to ask to lead to a resolution are:

1. Do I go first/next/again? Yes, move on to the next question. No, declare the oppositions action and move to step 2.
   
2. Do I hit/do they hit me?
3. Do I hurt them (or accomplish the combat related task like disarm or trip)/ Do they hurt me( etc.)?
4. (Do I/they succumb to their wounds? Start asking after a side has taken 3 wounds)

Depending on the weapon, the character skill, and a dose of luck combat can be very fast or very drawn out.

Do I go first (or Next or Again)?

As simple as this question is there could be some complexity around the answer. The relevant check would be either the combat ability that the PC wishes to bring forward (Martial arts, sword fighting, a hip shot with a pistol, or a magic combat spell). But there is a secondary consideration that has to be wedged in. Is your pistol or sword in hand? Is the spell simple enough to "cast on the fly"? Are you in a combat disadvantaged position (sitting in a chair or laying in bed). If you don't have a particular combat related skill or can't bring it to bare you can default to Reflex Attribute -2RS.

If the answer is yes, you preform the combat action you have in mind. If it is an exceptional yes you may, if logic of the situation dictates get an additional +1RS on the following question. 

If the answer is no then the opposition goes first, usually with the most logical attack available to them. If the result was an exceptional no then the opponent gets the leg up in the next section.

Do I hit/Do they Hit? 
In the case of a melee this is an apposed roll between two combat skills or failing that combat skill vs. Reflex -2RS.  

If you are aiming for a particular location then that will penalize your roll. It is assumed most attacks are for center mass or some other logical position (an armor leg maybe if you are using a swinging weapon).

In the case of ranged weapons, such as guns, lasers, and crossbow bolts the attack is abstracted to the difficulty of the shot, considering things like range, cover, and visibility, but after that point it follows the same procedures below to how effective the hit is. 

A Yes is a hit and a No is a miss, but and Exceptional hit can give an additional +1 or +2RS, or instead give a rider such as disarms knocks down. An Exceptional No, suggest something goes wrong in your attempt that will disadvantage you in the next round.  

Do I hurt them/Do they hurt me?
To determine damage make a Fate check with the aggressors weapon damage (see chart pg. 50) verses the defenders Toughness Attribute (modified by armor if applicable). On a Yes you have a partial effect and the defender now has -1RS for all actions until they have a chance to recover.  All wounds are cumulative.

On a No the damage was grazing or absorbed as a cosmetic wound. 

On an Exceptional Yes  you get the full effect. Not only does the defender take a -1RS wound penalty, but the but a lethal weapon, assuming a hit to center mass or head is dead. A hit to a limb renders that limb crippled. If the weapon is designed to stun the effects are the same for the combat. The defender is knocked out or the limb rendered inoperable. 

Make sure to track each wound taken in your notes, because the information is vital for recovery.

Do I/They Succumb to Wounds?

After taking 3 wounds, whether are lethal or stun, a character must make a Toughness check against an opposition of the damage rank that caused the last wound. Succumbing to wounds is not fatal, but it is the end of the fight. Should you pass, you still have to make this check again after every additional wound, at the new difficulty. 

On a Yes answer the character falls unconscious, over come by the massive system damage of a terrible beating. 

On a No you still take the damage of the hit, -1RS, but you still have fight in you. 

On an Exceptional Yes Stun damage knocks you unconscious. Lethal damage kills you

On an Exceptional No the lethal hit becomes a stunning hit, and a stunning hit is not registered.

Editor: Speed this up by rolling three sets of dice percentile as soon as you declare your action. Make sure there is an order to them (or if you are rolling  a dice rolling app read them in the order they are generated). Then, you just need to look up results. 

Recovering from Stunning Wounds

As one would expect recovering from stunning wounds takes less time than recovering from lethal wounds. This roll places the characters Toughness across from the most damaging Stunning wound. 

On a Yes result the character recover from that particular wound. (Each wound must be handled individually, so keep track of how and where you are damaged).

On a No result, there is no change and the accumulated penalties still apply to your actions.

On an Exceptional Yes, You recover form this wound and the next highest wound.

On an Exceptional No, the wound not only doesn't recover, but a recovery check cannot be made for another 1-30 days (depending on players choice based on the severity of the wound)

Recovering from Lethal Wounds

Recovering from a lethal wound is harder. First an appropriate increment from 1-30 days must pass. Then a Toughness check is made against the highest ranked Lethal Wound.

On a Yes Result the character recovers from that particular wound. 

On a No Result the character has no change and the same amount of recovery time must pass before another roll can be made.

On an Exceptional Yes result the Character recovers in half of the expected time.

On an Exceptional No result a complication arises from the wound and the character dies.

Each one of these rules above are just the bare bones of the system. The full combat chapter has all kinds of useful modifiers to make the game shine. 

Over the next couple days I will play out a few combats the come back here and drop a demo, but if you are reading this before I do, pick up a copy of the book and see all the excellent demos that are already in print.

Random Events
Though we haven't covered the topic of Random Events yet, they can happen during any Fate question. I suggest all Random Events generated during a fight be be either be about the fight. This excludes Remote Events, Moving Towards or Away from a Thread, or Ambiguous Events, unless they make since in context of what you are doing right now. Combat is exciting and should be derailed. With that said, this isn't in the Rules a Written, it is just my advice 

Editor: This is one of the more lethal combat systems for a narrative RPG. If you are playing solo you can adjust the dials a bit, but then you would lose the excitement of the fight. I strongly suggest if you character takes lethal damage then you find medical care somehow. Sure you may then owe the mob money, but they will be invested in your recovery so you can pay them back. 

I highly encourage you to take some time and read this chapter. It has excellent examples and cards which outline each step of combat, useful weapon charts and charts that give combat modifiers. There is no way to do justice to this system with a mere summary. 

I am working on a combat example for melee and ranged fighting, but trying to get into a short enough blog post is proving difficult. It plays faster than it reads. The best solution I have come up with is two blog post, one melee and the other ranged. In the mean time I am going to move on to Chapter 6.

Mythic RPG Project: Chapter 4b: Resolution Table and Unskilled Tasks

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Fate Chart and Character Sheet

One of the most delightful things about the Mythic RPG is that while your character is out there doing quest, risking there lives, or just enjoying some down time at the local coffee bar, you are in fact building the setting.

Back at the beginning of the project I encouraged you folks to record baseline Attributes, Abilities, etc., because they are the measuring stick by which you can judge the power level of the character. If super strength is the norm for most NPC then that becomes the Average. If a typical hacker can crack a bank security system, that becomes the Average, if a scavenger in a post apocalyptical game can gather enough food and water in 1 day to support 1 person that becomes the Average. The degree of how much better, or worse your character is from that defines the Rank of the Detail (tag) which imbuing them with. 

But, there is another "baseline" that needs to be covered, and that is Tasks. Fortunately the author provided us with tools to easily record Task difficulties, complications, results. 

(click on image to expand)

These are Resolution Tables. As you play you fill out the details of these cards. 
(if you don't have access to a computer with a printer or a woodcut press in your garage, these can easily be made on a double sided index card, or a word processor document).

There are great detailed examples in the Mythic RPG of these getting filled in on page 39 of Mythic RPG

Mythic RPG has a great example of these cards that have been filled in starting on pgs. 36 and 39, fully filled out copies on pg. 41.

Lets go through the process real quick, using Mr. Quin as our example. Mr. Quin's best ability is designing drones and vehicle, but what does that process look like?

Question:

• Is an engineer successful at designing a new snooping drone?

Notes:

• The end result will have a unique design and custom, chasse, OS,  signaling system, firewall, etc. to make it resistant to other hackers.

Acting Rank:

• Drone/Vehicle Design

Difficulty Rank:

• Abstract quantification of unique design (Ranges from High to Awesome)

Modifiers:

• Library of drone design schematics +1RS
• Machine shop to work with hands on design +1RS
• Lack of parts or software necessary for prototype -2RS
  
• Inferior work environment (hardware or software) -2RS

Results

Yes:

• Fabricator ready schematic and software bundle, and a 1 use prototype.

No:

• Flawed product of lower than expected quality in one or more areas, +1SR to hack attempts by other pilots.

Exceptional Yes:

• Design exceeds expectations and is of a quality rank 1 higher than original design

Exceptional No:

• Time and money wasted, this drone will never fly.

Now lets look at something Mr. Quin is less proficient with.

Question:

• Can drone pilot hacker seize control of opposition's active drone

Notes:

• Impossible without vehicle control deck (VCD) or a Cyber Deck (CD), and cracking software
• Success by Hacking doesn't allow Remote Drive, it just allows the Hacker to use the listed commands.

Acting Rank: 

• Remote Drive or Hacking (or similar skill at -3SR penalty)

Difficulty Rank: 

• Higher of opposed Pilots Remote Drive (if actively controlled) or Firewall of attacked drone.

Modifiers:

• Quality of  Vehicle Control Deck's Signal module +/-1RS
  
• Familiarity with drone model +/- 1RS
• Distracting conditions -1RS

Results:

Yes:

• gain control of oppositions drone for 1 minute until it senses the intrusion and reboots.

No:

• Cannot try to gain control now and must wait 1 round to try again with -1RS (cumulative).

Exceptional Yes:

• This is your drone now to do with as you please.

Exceptional No:

• Signal interference shuts down your your VCD's signaling capability until a system reboot (minimum 1 round), All your drones go on auto pilot.

One last topic to wrap up Chapter 4: 

Unskilled Tasks

Ideally your character knows what they are doing, but there are only so many points go around and nobody knows how to do everything. Not to worry though there are ways to work around this (maybe).

Unskilled simple tasks

If a task is just an expression of an Attribute then you can just roll the attribute with no penalty. 

Semi-specialized tasks

If you are attempting a simple task that could be assisted by training, default back to the Attribute with a -2SR for the unfamiliarity.
If the character has a similar ability the penalty is only -1SR and uses the Ability as the default. 

Specialized tasks

If you are a fish out of water when it comes to a very specialized Ability there are three ways it could go. First is simply you can't perform it. Secondly if you have a very tangentially related ability you could attempt it at -3RS. Lastly if you are the sort that believes any player should be able to try anything you can attempt it at a -4RS or larger penalty. Keep in mind every negative RS brings you that much closer to an Exceptional No result.