house_rules
House Rules
- Ammunition: since the weight of a significant supply of bullets has been included in the Encumbrance value of the guns, we will not track ammunition use. Instead, if a natural “1” is rolled on the shooting die, you have run out of bullets or jammed the gun and must spend a full turn to clear the gun, otherwise you are assumed to be reloading the gun while moving etc. If the Wild Die scores a hit when the gun runs out of bullets, the hit happens before the gun runs out. A natural 1 on the shooting die may not be re-rolled for any reason. On a critical failure (both wild die and shooting die get a 1), the character has shot away all his bullets for that gun, and must re-supply before using it again.
- End Scene Now: The party will be given a single End Scene Now Card which may be played at any time during the game, causing the current scene to immediately end, more or less favorably to the players. The card may not be played at the finale or climax scene.
- Use it or Lose it: Bennies cannot be turned in for XP at the end of the session, they must be used or lost.
- Build Points: At Character Creation, each player will receive 6 attribute build points, instead of the normal 5, and will begin with 20 XP.
- Special Gear Item: At Character Creation, each character will be able to choose 1 piece of equipment (vehicle, gun, sword etc) to begin the game with. If this item is lost or destroyed, he gets a replacement at the end of the session. If he chooses the POOR hindrance, he does not get this item. If he chooses the Rich Edge he gets 2 such items, if he chooses the Filthy Rich Edge he gets 3 such items. All other equipment will be issued by the Project, or can be found or captured during play. If he ever wants to switch items, he must give up the special item for a whole session and not get the replacement item until next session. Vehicles choices are subject to GM review.
- Arcane Backgrounds: The magic background is replaced with the Arcane Background: Sorcery and the psionic background is replaced with the ARCANE BACKGROUND: Mentalism. Super power and weird science backgrounds remain as written in the rule book, but certain powers may be disallowed. The faith/miracles background is restricted to NPC use.
- Non Lethal Weapons fists, billy clubs, blackjacks, brass knuckles and staffs can, under the rules as written be used as non-lethal weapons without penalty. For this campaign, these particular weapons will automatically be considered to be used in a non-lethal fashion unless specifically declared to be used in a lethal manner. Thus for “Kill Jar” purposes, an attack by a player with brass knuckles will result in the target being incapacitated rather than killed (no Kill Chip), but an enemy armed with a billy club is not considered to be armed with a deadly weapon, so incurs a kill chip if shot to death. All other melee weapons follow the rules as written.
- Restricted Egdes: the following Edges cannot be taken: Noble, Arcane Background: Miracles, Adept, Champion, Holy/Unholy warrior
- Born a Hero: from p108 of rule book, optional rule allows characters to take edges or powers, ignoring the rank requirement, during character generation only.
- Gear, Rewards and Gang Damage the following document contains house rules for how gear is distributed and deployed, other rewards such as special cards and experience points, how to do damage to the opposing gangs, and the method to campaign victory. rewards_final.pdf
Gaming a Police Encounter
When encountering cops, draw 1 card:
- Spades means that the cops are a criminals themselves, active partners with gangsters.
- Hearts means they are crooked and will do anything for a buck.
- Diamond means they are basically honest but afraid of the crooks and won't stick their necks out.
- Clubs mean they are good cops.
- Non-face cards indicate how much the cop leans toward the suit's meaning. For example, a 2 of Spades might just be flirting with becoming a criminal, while a 10 of Spades has deep gangster connections. A 2 of Diamonds might indicate a cop who would only give up if a weapon is pulled on them, while a 10 of Diamonds will give up at just the mention of gangster revenge.
- Face cards indicate that the officer(s) in question are unique in some way. Although they represent the suit fully, perhaps they have a unique talent, trait, or quirk. All these characters should be given names, are considered to be wild cards, and they may reappear in the story.
- If a Joker is drawn, all bets are off. Chances are the police aren't what they say they are at all.
house_rules.txt · Last modified: 2018/03/04 13:23 by 127.0.0.1