It is a pitch black night. An empty street. The only sound that can be heard is the echoing footsteps of a single man. Behind the man, a sewer cover is silently removed. Dozens tentacles exit the sewer silently. The beast crawls up behind the man, still without making a sound. Suddenly, the tentacles lash out like bullets toward the back of the man. Inches before the impact, the man takes a single step to the side. The deadly tentacle hit nothing but the road, splattering the black tar as if it was a puddle. The man took another step, to his other side, leaving a second tentacle to the same fate. A third flies toward the back of the man’s head. He casually grabs it, without looking back, and in a single motion rips the tentacle from the body, sending fountains of blood from the creature. The formally silent assailant gives off an inhuman scream…
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-That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.
A quote said to come from the Necronomicon itself. Its meaning has been argued by everyone who managed to keep hold of sanity after reading it. But that doesn’t matter to you. You have come up with your own meaning. Even death may die. Nothing is eternal. If even death itself can be killed, why can’t everything else? A creature that has seen eternity is bound to see something more powerful then it one day. Perhaps, that more powerful being could be you.
Death May Die is supposed to be something of a cross between Call of Cthulhlu and Feng Shui. A game where you can fight the horrors of the universe with a Desert Eagle in each hand, dodge a full volley of machine gun bullets, then fight a dozen fish men using a crowbar. Death may Die is the opposite of my other “Man VS Myth” RPG, Operation Archangel, which attempts realism with a little given away to game balance and game play. Here, realism is thrown out of a five story window, only to get up and brush itself off. It is then shot down by Badassness and is now in intensive care.
Unlike several of my other Role Plays around here, which were made pretty much on impulse, I have been planning DMD for a few months now, actually writing rules and making sure I have plenty of time before actually starting the game. So yes, I will probably actually stick to this one. This was initially going to be a prototype run, but I decided it probably wouldn't be much different than an actual run.
General Rule Outline
When I said I made rules, I wasn't kidding. The actual rules are several pages long, so I will put an abridged version here. You don't need to know most of it for actual game play, but at least reading over the combat system will give you a clue to how I do things.
This game is based on a D100 system. So I will roll a virtual d100 die. If you roll less than your skill plus any modifiers, then your action succeeds. It also decides how well you succeed, for every ten points you get under the line, you get one degree of success. There is also "opposed tests", were you pit yours skills against others. There, whoever gets the most degrees of success wins. This all happens behind the scenes, so it is the part you don't really need to know, but it does help explain what your stats are.
Combat- The part you actually need to know. At its base, combat is a bunch of skill checks, typically based on Agility, Guns, or Melee skills. Combat takes place in Rounds, in which every combatant takes a turn. There are several actions you can take in each round: Full Action, Half Action, Reactions, and Free Actions. Each round you may preform one Full Action or two Half Actions, as well as many Reactions and Free Actions as is reasonable.
Reactions are a little bit different. Each time you are attacked, you are able to use one Reaction in an attempt to negate the attack. The reaction can use your Guns, Agility, or Melee skill. Of course Guns and Melee blocking is incredibly difficult without a bunch of abilities, making Agility better from a pure defensive standpoint. But using Guns or Melee to block incoming fire is not only more impressive than just stepping out of the way, but can also provide additional bonuses if skilled enough.
List of actions-
GUN
Attack-Half Action
Multiple Shots-Full Action
Unjam-Half Action
Reload-Half Action Unless Noted
Billiard Bullets-Reaction
Snipe-Full Action
Aim-Half or Full
MELEE
Attack-Half Action
Multiple Attack-Full Action
Parry-Reaction
Full Attack-Full Action
Assassination-Full Action
Throw Weapon-Full Action
AGILITY
Dodge-Reaction
Acrobatics-Half Action
Each action has a penalty or bonus for general use and each has additional effects. This isn't a total list of what you can do in combat, but most actions will hopefully fall in these categories. I have a little written down about each one, if you are curious about what each one does just ask and I can post the behind-the scenes stuff.
In combat, most of the time each round will be a post, were you will be able to choose your reaction and attack. You can (And should) say more than just simply stating the action, trying to paint the picture of what your character is doing, but it should be at least somewhat obvious what I am supposed to use for it.
For example, "I dodge then shoot the fishman twice" is acceptable, but boring. "I attempt to jump backwards, away from the fisman's blow, while sending two bullets at the fisman's head" is both clear what you want done and more interesting.
Abilities-The other part you need to know about. Abilities are essentially what you can do better than everyone else. Each character starts with one ability and gains one more each level up-at least for now. Each ability helps you out with a certain skill or group of skills. For example, if you want a long-range snipe character, then you would want to get the Snipe ability. This will make your aim better, make you harder to find, and do a little more damage using the Snipe action. Each ability (currently) has three “Levels”, each giving bigger bonuses then the last. Additionally, each upgraded ability gives you additional effects, besides the bonus. For example, if you fully upgrade your Sniper ability, you will also be able to hide from things it should be impossible to hide from, snipe from much closer and much further away, and get some of the Snipe bonuses for normal attacks if you aim beforehand.
Equipment- About the last part you need to know about is equipment. Equipment mostly means weapons. Each weapon is put into a category, and each category has its own advantages and disadvantages. For guns, these categories are: Pistols, Submachine Guns, Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Machine Guns, Shotguns, and Explosives. Guns each have an additional category, the caliber, that decides the dammage. It is preferred you use a real-world weapon if at all possible. Each of those categories has a list of what actions it is good at, Ok at, and horrible at. For example, using Multiple Fire from a machine gun means you are going to pump out a lot of bullets, but a single aimed shot isn’t going to do much. On the other hand, using a sniper rifle on multiple fire won’t do much, but aimed shots are deadly. Additionally, some have additional effects. For example, Shotguns are more difficult to block and dodge, while being more difficult to block with and having worse range, and explosives can do damage even if they miss closely, but can’t be used to block with at all without several Explosives abilities. Melee weapons are a lot simpler to categorize, with three categories: Heavy, Medium, and Light. While this isn’t as long a list as the Guns, it holds just as much diverse weaponry. In general, Heavy weapons encompass everything that takes two hands to lift, from great swords to street lights, dealing heavy damage but being slower and more difficult to use. Light weapons do less damage, most fitting in the palm of your hand (Including your hands themselves, without abilities), but are easy to throw, do multiple attacks with, and duel wield. Medium is everything in between, having the disadvantages and advantages of both.
Character Sheet:
Name:
History:
Items:
Armor: 5
Guns:
Melee:
Agility:
Knowledge:
Charisma:
Abilities:
Character Sheet Explanation:
Name: What your character is called. No in game effect, but everyone needs a name.
History: Also no in game effect, but helps decide the plot. These can be as mundane or as action hero-y as you want. Are you a hard-boiled ex-special forces officer who has been shooting his way through life, who got involved with the Lovecraftian horrors after they killed your wife, laying a path of lead vengeance ever since? Are you a 9-5 Joe Everyman who hasn’t heard of the monsters before your first post? A samurai, living high in the Tibetan mountains? A twelve year old kid who thinks he is playing a video game? Action movies don’t discriminate, no matter what you choose you choose it will only effect the plot a little. It should, however, generally include how you first came into contact with the world of the weird, if that has happened yet, and what you have been doing about it since. It is mostly to start developing your character.
Items: What items you have. It doesn’t have to have all the items, and shouldn’t. As this is based action/horror, it is perfectly OK for you to pull out something you should logically have on you, just remember you aren’t batman. For example, it is reasonable for most adults to carry around a wallet with a small amount of money and some cards in it, so if you want to stop at the store to buy some soda you could just flip out your wallet. You can’t, however, just flip out that soda machine you just happen to be carrying. This category is mostly for weaponry, armor, and any additional items you would like to add for whatever reason. It is implied that you have all the ammunition you could possibly need, but this will be were special ammunition is placed as well. During character creation, you need to choose at least one weapon. If you have a model in mind, post it. If you don’t have an exact model, just put what kind you want, and I’ll get you one. For example, you could put “Ak-47” for assault rifle, or just put “Assault Rifle” if you don’t have a model in mind. If you insist on using a fictional gun, please give me the caliber, amount of bullets in the clip, and other factors (It is preferable to use a real gun, since it is easy to make stats for.). It is the same for melee weapons, though they generally are more general. Since they are simpler under the rules, both “Katana” and “Sword” will have the same general stats.
Armor: Armor is a stat that decides how easy it is to hit something. Being a PC, you are less likely to get hit than a normal man, giving anybody shooting at you a natural penalty to hit by your armor amount. It always starts at five.
The rest are all Skills. You probably read the Rules on Skills, so you know how they work. In building your character, you have a 100 point skill bank. You can distribute that among the five skills. You have to have a minimum of 10 in each skill. I reserve the right to change this rule at any moment!
Guns: Your skill at using the most beautiful weapons ever, guns. Helps you shoot. Your skills with this is how good a gunfighter you are, and applies to pretty much anything related to guns. Find a broken gun and need to repair it? Use this. Need to shoot something? Use this. Need something dead from a distance? Use this.
Melee: How good you are at the old standby, hitting things. Whether with incredible skill, brute strength, or some other cause, this is how good you are with all things smashy and slashy. It does wonders at close range, and is slightly better than Guns at blocking things.
Agility: The finale combat ability. This is how quickly and gracefully you move. It is the best for dodging, though it doesn’t give you any additional bonuses when you dodge. It is also how fast you move, both in and out of combat. It has other purposes as well. Want to try jumping over the car rushing at you? Use this skill. Want to try swimming around the swarm of fismen? This skill.
Knowledge: What your character knows and how fast he receives new information. Separate from intelligence and cleverness, which seems to vary based on how the player plays, this is the skill that is most useful for doing investigations and any other smarty-pants activity, like building homemade explosives. It can also be used to show things that your character should logically know, but the player logically shouldn’t. While it isn’t as combat-oriented as the others, it can be used as a substitute for several Guns/Melee checks.
Charisma: How good your character is with people, animals, and eldritch horrors. This skill is advantages mostly in advancing the plot, keeping yourself out of trouble with the law, convincing people to give you information and whatnot, it can also have slight effects on combat, if you know what you are doing. Using charisma can get you low-quality “Minions”, effecting the amount and quality you get. For example, a high charisma person can call the police to get a SWAT team to back them up. Need backup? This is the skill. Want to calmly talk down the Hunting Horror? This is the skill.
Abilities: If you want to know what they do, check out the rules. This is just a list. Choose one for your first level. They all have different, cooler names, but then I would have to explain what they do. Here they are, just put a self-explanatory name down on your sheet.
General Abilities: Duel-Wielding, Minion-Slaying, Signature Weapon (Choose one, individual weapon),
Guns Abilities: Defensive focus, Mulit-attack focus, Snipe focus, Weapon Focus (Pistol, Submachine Gun, Sniper Rifle, Assault Rifle, Machine Gun, Explosive) , Reload Boost
Melee Abilities: Fist Fighting Focus, Multi-Attack focus, Defensive focus, Weapon Focus (Heavy, Medium, Light), Throwing Focus,
Agility Abilities: Dodge Focus, Acrobatics Focus
Knowledge and Charisma Abilities:….I didn’t actually write any. Most abilities were meant for combat. If you think of something cool enough, just post it and explain what you think it should do.
Remember, if you are unsure of something, just ask. Now let’s raise some R’lyeh!
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Topic: Death May Die- Modern Eldritch Action! Room for one more! (Read 8478 times)