Genre Expansion

[Semi-Retired Gamer]

I know that Gygax had plans to expand the LA into other genres with Lejendary AsteRogues and he mentioned that other people were working on other genres on one of the message board IIRC.  I was just wondering if you had any plans to expand PJ in a similar fashion?  I would very much like to see some additional genres represented and I just might be able to help on any projects involving a post-apocalyptic setting.

[Darius]

Some is working on a post-apoc setting for PJ.  His website is here:  http://irishzone.tumblr.com/  I haven't really followed it, but there are some posts in the past few days and it looks like it is in playable shape.  

There will be other genres.  I have an idea for a modern horror setting that is a cross between X-Files and Torchwood.  There is also a space game I have planned as well.  There is a lot I would like to do, it just takes time and then having to support all of them.  Maybe if 1-2 of these take off I can hire people to keep support material coming out while I go work on the main rule book for a new genre.  

What I am working on now is a steampunk game entitled Steamcraft.  Hence the use of airships and gears on the site.  Take Shadowrun, cross it with Jules Verne, and then set it in an alternate world where colonization is taking place in a land of weird animals - like Australia.

This project is what I am currently trying to get edited do I can do the layout.  Art is pretty much done, I have done the front and back covers already.  It should have been out a few months ago.  I am hoping for a Jan-Feb release.  Now it isn't exactly PJ for the system.  It is a percentile system and points and I do use a point based character creation system.  Most of the races are the same.  If PJ is original D&D, then Streamcraft would be more like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.  I like to have an internal logical consistency and moving to a modernish setting with modern abilities required changing things up.  Think of it this way.  To some people, having an Elf as a "class" just didn't make sense so you made it a race then they got to pick classes.  

You have the following attributes:  Strength, Agility, Fortitude, Perception, Presence, Knowledge, and Will.  You allocated to those.  Each ability in the game is connected to an attribute.  You then have 10% of the associated attributes ratting in every skill governed by it.  For example, Ranged Weapons are governed by Agility.  If you have 43 in Agility, then you have a base 4 in Ranged Weapons.  From dealing with playtesting, I know this is controversial.  I did it to address a problem I have with modern settings.  How do you handle the issue of a player doing something without an ability?  Everyone can turn on a stove and boil water and follow directions for pasta.  It might not turn out great, but you can do it.  The same with figuring out basic things like how to drive.  There are other things such as shooting a gun. You may not be accurate, but you can point and pull the trigger.  A nice GM will default to a modified attribute.  Instead of adding that in as a rule, I made it into part of character creation.  When a player looks at the character sheet, he will see everything but the magic skills filled in.  Small values may seem useless to some, but there are modifiers a GM can use or simply being able to have a chance at something sometimes is all you need.  

Those are pretty much the big differences someone coming from PJ will notice.  There are additional rules for firearms.  There are rules to design your own airship and airship combat.  Magic has been modified some.

[Semi-Retired Gamer]

Thread necro....guilty!

I have some of my notes still available for a post-apocalyptic game I was developing for a LA adaptation.  Since the PJ & SC rules are similar I am going to give a shot at converting some of that old stuff over and updating it.  Posts to come in the future detailing races, beasts, abilities, etc.  Soon hopefully...

[Darius]

If your stats are for AD&D, you can look at this thread for how to covert things:  http://www.perilousjourneys.com/SMF/index.php?topic=234.0

If they are in LA, ironically, I think that will be a bit harder.  On the one hand, you can simply treat Health as the same between the two.  Treat Precision as Agility.  Doing so is likely to make them a bit weaker than if they were in PJ.  For Speed, multiply by 4 and have the Mind be the same as Speed.  That is what I recomened if you were going to run an LA module with PJ characters.  Things will be a bit easier for the PJ character, and the GM can easily modify things on the fly. 

For something that is new, then you might want a more accurate conversion.  If not, then things will be weaker.  The difficulty is that in PJ, you have a higher base for stats than in LA.  There is often a higher upper cap as well.  However, since it is a point based system, being high in one precludes being high in other ones.  LA does that some, but then adds on random dice rolls.  Here is just a rough guess (the AD&D conversion works much better) on how to do things:

Health:  LA Health +10 if less than 50.  +5 if 50 or more
Agility: Precision +10
Speed: LA Speed x4
Mind: PJ Speed rating, as determined above, then add or subtract 5 points depending on the type of creature. 

[Semi-Retired Gamer]

Cool.  Good guidelines for conversion presented in your reply.  Most of the information I have is system-neutral.  It was the beginnings of a LA Gamma World inspired conversion.  It never really went real far.  I am thinking that a second shot with an easier to understand rules system - SC - will make it much easier to complete.

[Darius]

I've gotten pretty fast at stating things out.  There are two sorts of methods I recommend people to use.  First, find something that is close to what you want that is already done.  Then tweak things to be either hard to kill or less.

The other thing to consider is this.  For the most part, combat is what people are concerned about.  So you start with Hit Point/Armor.  The more HP something has, the more hits it can take.  The more AF is has, again the more hits it can take.  So what you really need to decide on is do you want doing damage to be easy or hard.  If you want it to be very hard to do damage, but once damage is done it is easy to kill, then you want high armor low HP.  If you reverse things, then it can take a lot of damage but can't really protect itself.

Think of the difference between a turtle and a whale.  A whale can take a lot of damage, but has no armor (unless you count the blubber but I am not).  On the other hand, a turtle can take little damage but it is very difficult to get through the shell (armor).

In terms of combat, you select the appropriate ability.  Then you decide how often you want them to succeed.  That gives you the number.  If you want them to hit with claws 1/3 of the time, you give them 33 in Melee Weapons. 

[Semi-Retired Gamer]

Good quick guidelines for statting things out.  That's one of the things I dig about the game - the simple to implement percentile system.  It is much easier to use than a d20 or 2d6 or something else.