WttC - The Immunity Stat

 

Immunity

The world of ‘Welcome to the City’ is one rife with pollution, toxins and other nasty stuff that’s all around. This can take a toll on a human body, and it does. Especially for the Work Crews who have to venture into some of the worst areas of the city to take of their jobs.

The Immunity stat is how we keep track of how well their body is holding up… or not holding up as the case may be. Whenever the character is exposed to something highly toxic, gets splattered with waste or goes to long without their filter mask then a roll could be called for.

Rolling for an Immunity check is done by rolling a number of dice equal to your Immunity stat. Normally only one success is necessary although if there exposure is something drastically bad then a higher number may be required. This roll cannot be pushed. Success means you are fine but a failure results in your Immunity stat being reduced by one.

Every PC starts out with a six rating.

Now let’s talk about what happens as that level drops. For every point below six it increases the necessary XP to increase a skill or buy a specialty by two points. Example: If you are at a three Immunity then it will cost four extra XP. At a four you are at one negative die for all physical activities. At a two you are at two negative die for all physical activities and one negative die for all mental activities. At a zero they fall into a toxic shock and are broken and will die if not treated at a medical facility within a day.

Recovering Immunity.

If you reach zero and are treated at a medical facility they can stabilize the PC. The character then wakes up with an Immunity level of one.

You can receive a cleansing treatment at a hospital. This requires a substantial amount of money and a week stay in that facility. When finished you will gain back one point of Immunity and will make an Immunity roll. If you fail, nothing happens this time, but for every success you will an additional point back as well.

Also spending XP is another way. For every ten XP spent you will gain back one point.

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WttC - Year Zero Engine starting point

 

Reworking the game to use the Year Zero Engine from Free League Publishing. I'm really liking my experiences with that system so far and it's available for free to use. Going to try and push this one to actually make it to the playtest level, unlike before. 

What I've decided on so far. 

The four stats and twelve skills. Some modifications here to fit the setting but not much. 

Force (Strength)

Close Combat (Strength)

Stamina (Strength)

Marksmanship (Agility)

Mobility (Agility)

Piloting (Agility)

Machinery (Wits)

Observation (Wits)

Survival (Wits)

Medical Aid (Empathy)

Manipulation (Empathy)

Persuasion (Empathy)

Stealth will be a specialization instead of a skill. Computer Operation will be a specialization that works with Machinery since people who actually know how to do anything beyond the very basics with a computer are not that common. 

Stress Dice will be used. 

A health bar, similar to the one in Alien, will also be used.

Need to add in some sort of Toxic measure in there. To show how badly the toxic environment has affect the well being of the characters. Thinking of something similar to the Immunity Check that was in the old game Kromosome from the Amazing Engine line. Not sure how I'm going to do that yet.

That and the basics of Psionic abilities as well. 

Welcome to the City - PMCS

 

Much of the hardware that new Operators get assigned to use in Welcome to the City isn't of the best quality. It's all made by the lowest bidder, out of date, some of it already well used and prone to breakdowns and failure if not maintained. 

So I'm going to work in PMCS (Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services, something the US Military does all the time) for the characters to do. When the players have their PCs do weapon breakdowns and cleaning, vehicle maintenance and general clean up duties while working. Basically setting up a sheet for the GM to keep track of when it's done, or more importantly, when it's not done. After so many missed times on gear that is used then there is a chance of breakdown, malfunction or outright failure. 

Of course gear that you don't use isn't going to be a focus. So if you go a week without pulling PMCS on your handgun but also haven't used it during that time I'm not going to make it an issue. 

All Work Crew vehicles will have a manual inside of them. The manual will have the name of the vehicle with a dash ten (- 10) after it. All gear comes with their own dash ten manuals as well, usually pocket sized and sometimes pretty worn out from the previous owner. Whether or not the PC carries this around with them is another issue altogether. I will add a minimum skill level needed to have before the character doesn't need the manual anymore to pull it's maintenance checks. 

In a Work Crew vehicle all necessary basic maintenance equipment is stowed inside. Anything major like a complete motor overhaul will need to be done in a garage or turned in for replacement Also inside the vehicles are basic kits for communication gear and hand held equipment. For firearms each Operator is issued a cleaning kit as part of their standard Basic Blue package. 

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Welcome to the City - Firearms

 

Guns are a part of Welcome to the City. You play the part of Operators for the City Works Division going out and solving problems. Some of them are bottom of the barrel clean ups others are go in an remove threats. But there always the possibility, and sometime unavoidable, violence. So a bit about how firearms work in this setting where there is high tech and low tech mixed in needs to happen. 

First off bullets are caseless. Each bullet is a cylindrical chunk where the accelerant is formed behind and around the bottom part of the slug. When the round is fired the accelerant is burned off forcing the round out of the chamber. But, most bullets are made cheaply and in mass quantity, therefore not held to many standards at all. What most Operators have access to are rounds that produce a lot of smoke and dirty up the weapons very quickly thus requiring a lot of cleaning. 

Ignition of the accelerant is done via electronic spark. Thus eliminating the need for a firing cap making it easier to produce caseless ammo. Most weapons have the battery packs necessary for this located underneath the barrel in the case of handguns and in the grip for rifles and larger weapons that are magazine fed from a source not located in the handle. All City Works Division vehicles have charging ports built into every seat for this. Now whether or not that all work depends on how well the vehicle has been maintained. 

Now with no brass being ejected or firing pin being driven forward this reduced the need for a slide. The next round is instead moved into place with a motorized action or a spring powered magazine. So firearms have become more boxed in with less moving external parts. Disassembly also becomes more simple with just a couple of screws being removed. The round cycling motor usually being the most complex part now but are easily replaced if they stop working. 

The firearm will still fire when wet or submerged. However prolonged exposure to water will cause some of the accelerant to soften leading to less power behind the bullet, more dirt and residue afterwards and maybe even failure to fire. If failure to fire occurs there is no slide to work so you can eject the round quickly. Instead you will have to remove the top cover and physical pull the bullet out.

Most beginning Operators are given two firearms. Both pistols. One is their standard carry sidearm the CWF-19, a small pistol that is magazine fed and fires a round slightly larger than that of a .22 with a bit more punch behind it. The other is a much heavier pistol called the CWF-25 it has two side by side barrels and is of a break open design. You have an switch on the back as to which barrel you are firing (you cannot fire them at the same time) and another button to break open the weapon to reload. It fires rounds equivalent to that of a 12 gauge shotgun, basically it fires like a sawed off short barreled shotgun including how hard it recoils on the user. 

The further up you climb the ranks as an Operator the better firearms you have access to. Some jobs also allow you to check out better firearms from your local City Armory. 

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Masters Workshop - Story Cards

 

Working on my own game world, yet again. It has a lot of background details, yet again. But I don't want to force my players to have to read through all of it when a good chunk my never have any affect on what they do. Most of it is just there to explain how the world got to where it is. But I also have players who love details like that. So that got me thinking. 

I'm going to make story cards and rate what level of world lore you need to know what's on a specific card. 

Then those who want the details can read them as they want as long as they are within their characters lore rating. Those who don't but suddenly find themselves asking a question or something does have to do with what's going on then you could just hand them the need-to-know cards for a quick read. Again, as long as they within their lore rating. 

Example: In my scifi setting there was what's called the 'Big Crash' in computer data that happened around forty years earlier. Since all the currency at the time had gone digital this caused a lot of devastation and huge problems. As a result the government went back to solely physical currency known as 'chips'. Now most players just know that physical currency is a thing and digital is not and don't care about the back story. 

Now let's say they find a box full of old Cred Sticks while searching through some old building. I tell them they are pre Big Crash. If they ask what it is I check the card for the Big Crash and it's a Lore Rating 1 so I hand it over so they can read it if they want. Some may not even care and that's fine. 

This helps me introduce history and lore as it is necessary or wanted. No handing over a thirty page world bible and telling them to absorb all that in. But it's also there for those who want that explosion of data to read through. 

Sort of a physical wiki. Now I guess I'll be picking up some more index cards and a new card holder while at the thrift shops. 

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Dicember 2021 - Ammo

 

Today Dicember says Ammo. So here we go. 

One of the scifi tropes for ammunition is that it will be going caseless. No brass flying off as you fire it, everything is either the projectile or a solid fuel source that burns up when fired. Which is a neat idea and there have been some attempts at going that way in the real world with mixed results. But one thing that rings true is that caseless ammo would be less stable than standard brass jacketed ammunition. Easier to break or crumble, easier to contaminate with chemicals or oils on your fingertips. Don't forget about setting it all off by an electrical shock. Just overall something you wouldn't want to handle and maintain a high level of quality. 

Therefore it would make sense to have it sealed at the factory inside a magazine. One that is resistant to chemicals, electrical shock and even sharp impacts. There would be no reloading yourself, just pull out another magazine from your pack and either toss the old one aside or into a pocket or pack. 

The used magazines could then be returned for a deposit or as credit towards the purchase of more preloaded magazines. Say you pay 40 bucks for a ten round mag, then return it empty for a 5 dollar credit. If there were still rounds inside unused those can be safely recycled at the factory also so you get another 2 bucks per bullet. 

Plus this lets you add to the setting flavor wise a bit. You would have folks scurrying out after a big gun fight aftermath to grab any spent and tossed magazines they could find to cash in. Homeless folks raking in everything they can get for some extra dollars to spend. Or maybe even stripping the bodies of mags and leaving all the weapons since they can be traced. Welcome to a new level of the bullet economy. 

I like this so much I'll be making it part of Welcome to the City.

Now it's a Dicember entry so I need a quick way relate this to a die roll. So here we go scrounging through the aftermath for magazines to turn in.

When scrounging a recent area where a firefight has occurred you can roll to see how many tossed away magazines you have found.  For a small skirmish roll a D4 and then scale it up to a D20 (or 4D6 if you are feeling generous) for the much larger conflicts. Then at the GM discretion you can roll a D6 to see how many still had rounds left inside. For each one of those roll a D4 for the amount of unspent rounds.  

WttC - Workcrew Infobyte 002

 

Welcome new Work Crew member. In this Infobyte we will be telling you about the emergency communications device known as the BTMX. Since work crews often find themselves in the deeper recesses of the City far and away from our state of the art telecommunications networks there is an occasional problem with communication. This is where the mobile communication unit BTMX becomes a valuable tool for any crew out there. 

Usually kept in the drivers compartment of the work crew vehicle in a stow away box located under the co-drivers seat. Weighing only twenty pounds it has an easy grip handle to a crew can take it with them if necessary. Outside of the vehicle it has a battery life of around five hours... more or less. Taking only a handful of minutes to set up and power on. The trained crew member then uses the controls on the front to designate their approximate location then flips a switch to either the Emergency or Standard settings. Once contact is made the knobs on the right side are used to fine tune into the transmission, the forward knob is for receiving and the rear is used for transmitting. 

In the Emergency setting the communications hub will put the attempted transmission as 'first in line'. Hopefully they will be able to response near immediately. On Standard setting they are in place in line behind other requests and response will be made once the next operator at the communications hub is available. Sometimes the wait can be up to an hour... more or less. 

Please do not use the BTMX unit as a weapon, the case is not nearly as sturdy as it looks when used in this manner. Do not submerge the BTMX unit in any liquid. Do not use other communications gear while trying to use the BTMX unit. Do not threaten or verbally abuse the operators at the communications hub. You are not required to expose your private areas for access despite what some unscrupulous communications hub operators tell you. Do not get the BTMX unit near open flame or intense heat. 

WttC - Work Crew Infobyte 001

 

Welcome new Work Crew member. In this first Infobyte we will be telling you about the access hatches to our cities vast and expansive underground and sewer systems. In a city as large as our the need to safely move large amounts of human waste, vent air from lower sections and run other utilities out of harms way is great. To accomplish this we have built up large tunnels and access ways under ground and between levels. All of these various tunnels share one thing in common, the worker access hatch that allows you entry into them. 

These specially designed hatchways are made to keep out those who wish to use our underground system for nefarious deeds. Please note the idea of them being made to contain various so called "threats" are completely unfounded. To open these you simply follow these instructions. 

1 - Retrieve the hatch opening device from your service crew truck (the CRP001 located in the back passenger side compartment), unplug it from the charging cord and make sure it is fully charged. 

2 - Place it onto the center socket of the hatch, set it to "open" and pull the trigger. This will spin the socket clockwise and open up the hatch one section at a time. This can take up to thirty seconds to accomplish.

3 - Return the CRP001 to the crew truck and place it on the charger. Then take the CRP002 (the large wrench located in the same compartment) with you as you return to the access hatch. 

You have now successfully completed the hatch opening process.

To close the hatch follow the simple process. Please note, you cannot close the hatch from the inside using the CRP001.

 1 - Retrieve the hatch opening device from your service crew truck (the CRP001 located in the back passenger side compartment), unplug it from the charging cord and make sure it is fully charged. 

2 - Place it onto the center socket of the hatch, set it to "close" and pull the trigger. This will spin the socket counter clockwise and close the hatch one section at a time. This can take up to thirty seconds to accomplish. Please watch your fingers and toes during this part of the operation.

3 - Return the CRP001 to the crew truck and place it on the charger. Then replace the CRP002 back into the compartment as well.

Now as for the CRP002 and it's uses. This is the mobile opening and closing device that is made to be used for anyone from the inside of the hatch. You is made so you can manually open, or close, a hatch in case of an emergency or if you find yourself unable to locate the hatch you entered from. 

Up near the top of the steps you can find the bottom of the socket that is normally visible on the surface. Simply attach the wrench and turn it counter clockwise to open the sections one at a time, or go clockwise to close them. This operation can take from five to ten minutes to accomplish and is not recommended unless absolutely necessary. 

This concludes today's Work Crew Infobyte 

WthC - Combat Damage Armor

Combat in Welcome to the City is much more a 'theater of the mind' style than any sort of mapped out set up. A simple hand drawn map just so players and the GM know where things are in relationship to each other. There are no movement squares, no rigid rules on facing, it is meant to be simple, fast and loose.

At the beginning of a round of combat each player announces what they intend for their characters to do. Then all actions take place at the same time unless one of two things happen. First a player can chose to 'opt out' and take not offensive action at all, then they may roll to defend themselves against an attack or to move out of the way. Second is they may lose a die out of their Traits die pool for the remainder of combat to take their action before everyone else this one round. Earning a bonus die during combat is done the same way as earning them while performing normal abilities.

Please note that the NPCs perform their actions at the same time as the players.

Combat order will be along the lines of: Describe your action - Roll to perform that action - Roll for any damage done. Keep it quick and fast paced if you can. While combat is an entertaining, and often important, part of the session it shouldn't take up a huge section of the game time.

Damage

Each character has six ranks of damage. The first rank being minor scrapes and bruising with the sixth and final rank being death or near death depending on how you want your games to run.

When rolling for damage the weapon or hand to hand damage chart will tell you what rank of damage was caused. On your sheet you tick that rank and all ranks below it. However ranks are not cumulative you only go up another rank when you take another hit equal to or higher than the highest damage tick. If it's equal to you go up one tick, if it's more than you go up to that new rank and tick those below it.

Example: If you are getting beat down in a fist fight and are at Rank Two and three guys hit you, each doing Rank One damage then you don't record anymore damage. Now when characters do get hit with attacks that don't raise their damage still roleplay it out a bit, get descriptive but it doesn't add up in numbers.

Example: You have taken a Rank Two of damage so far and get hit for another Rank Two then you raise your damage track up to Rank Three.

Example: You have taken Rank Two of damage and a then one of the thugs shoots you for Rank Four damage then you go to Rank Four immediately.

Armor

Body armor has two stats Absorption and Coverage. When a character is hit their player rolls a single D12 and tries to roll under, or equal to, the Coverage rating. If it fails the character takes the full amount of damage. If successful the Absorption amount reduces the amount of damage by that many ranks.

Stacking armor. A character my wear up to two sets of body armor. However when they do so they much choose taking the highest Absorption and the lowest Coverage to form their Armor stats. Or the lowest Absorption and the highest Coverage.

WthC - Currency in the City

Currency in the City.

Up until about forty years ago the City used a completely electronic form of currency. Everything was paid for using an issued credit stick. You simply waved it over a receiver to make a payment. But that came crashing down on the day of the Great Hack. The day when every major computer network got hacked by a hidden dormant computer virus that had been put in place over several year. It dumped so much available credit into the accounts of every single person that it crashed the economy and led to a level of inflation beyond anything ever seen before.

The City Administration stepped in and created a physical form of currency once again. Calling it the City Currency Standard, although people quickly started calling it 'chips' since the tokens used were about the size and weight of poker chips. The values stamped on the coins go up ten times the previous number, so 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, and so on. You can also have a paper 'standard note' generated as well. It can be of any value and is watermarked, laser tagged and has a silicon weave in the fibers to make it hard to duplicate. These are usually used by corporations who wish to store their wealth long term without using chips taking up space.

The entire idea is that it's easier to fight off counterfeiters who can only do harm in a much slower fashion than it is to fight off hackers who can destroy everything overnight.

There are a few different franchises which operate like money exchanges popping up all over the place. They take in smaller value chips in exchange for the larger values so a person doesn't have to carry around so many at one time. Usually charging a fee anywhere from 1 to 10 for the service. Some will also cash standard notes as well, usually with no questions asked. Actual banks only exist in the upper sections of the City where there is more law enforcement presence.

Work Crews get paid in chips at their local Works shop every week.

WthC - The Micro Franchise

The Micro Franchise

Most food franchise companies have started moving past the idea of having actual restaurant locations in many places in the City. The cost of maintaining, staffing and supplying a location in the lower levels is not only expensive but at time dangerous as well. Delivery drivers may pass right through a street turned warzone or have their entire shipment hijacked from underneath them. So they kept the stores in he high end and low crime areas and everything else went to micro franchising.

They basically made it dirt cheap to buy into the company as a business owner. That person is then responsible for providing their own location with little to no constraints by the contract. Also they have to pick their supplies up at designated locations, usually a small guarded warehouse that may supply up to a hundred or more micros.

This has created a huge market of entrepreneurs selling name brand food out of carts, food trucks, pop up stands and some even sell out of a window in their home as a 'walk thru' experience. While some may gain an actual building or storefront to operate out of they are becoming more rare. Everything is being made to be eaten on the go instead of any sort of dine-in with seating.

Another side effect is that it has created a turf war in many areas. Since nearly anyone can get a franchise permit there are areas saturated with franchisees and a struggle for customers begins. Except in the City this has led to assaults and bloodshed. There have been many cases of stronger owners outright killing their competition to keep their foothold.

But hey at least you can get your ten pack of hard shells at Doc Tacos on nearly any street while on your way down to deal with some two foot rats that are chewing wires outside an old stadium.

WthC - Common Abilities

In Welcome to the City each character gets various abilities listed under each Trait. Below is a list of common Abilities available. I'm going for broad sounding skills that can cover a lot of area. Also I'm trying to have a few give a bit of flavor to the game instead of just really bland wording. This list is by all means not complete. If a players wants something that is not listed then let them buy it during character creation or when their character gains points to spend later on. Just put some thought into and make sure it's not something game breaking.

Abilities

Physical

Awareness

Brawling
Cutting People
Parkour
Shake It Off
Sneaky
Throw Stuff

Mental

 

Drive

Get Your Head Together
Guns
Tech Savvy
Computer Savvy
City Savvy
Occult Savvy
Patch People Up
Fix Things
Research
Straight up Thievery

Social

Bureaucracy

Streetsmarts
Influencer
Bullshit Master
Leadership
Stalk
Vanish

WthC - Psychics in the City

This is a very, VERY, basic write up on how I want psychic powers to work in Welcome to the City. An untested rough draft with only one psychic ability listed. Basically to see what people think of the mechanics behind it.

Psionic abilities

Characters with Psionic powers have a bit of an advantage over characters who do not. While mechanical balance in the game system it is instead placed into the setting. Those with these abilities aren't seen favorably by most of the City populace. They are treated with distrust because of what they can do that they cannot. Even the government feels this way and marks all known Psions with a DNA tattoo along the right side of their face going from the forehead down. This tattoo also works to identify what powers they have, as there are scanners that 'read' the markings.

A character has a Psychic Trait that works just like regular Traits, by determining the number of dice rolled. Starting characters will have a rating of one or two.

Each Psychic Abilities work the same as regular Abilities except they must be rolled each time the power is used. Although if the roll is done at a time when the character is not under any sort of duress they get a bonus die.

They also have a Psychic Reserve that is determined by taking the players Mental Trait and doubling it. These points are spent when using the characters psychic abilities. It costs one point to use an Ability, they also use may spend points to increase the power level of an ability the amount increased in this fashion is determined in each individual Ability. Also you may spend two points for a bonus die on a single roll.

Failure to make the roll when using a Psychic Ability is simply a failure to accomplish anything. The character concentrates and nothing happens.

If you run out of Psychic Reserve points you may still attempt to use the Abilities. However if you choose to do so and fail your roll then the character looses a point off of their Mental Stability.

The Psychic Reserve is refilled after a good six hours of uninterrupted rest.

Telekinesis

Novice Level. May move an object of up to 10 pounds at the rate of a slow walk. For each Psychic Reserve point that is put in you may increase the amount by 10 pounds or double the speed at which you move it. Example: moving a 30 pound object at twice the rate of speed would cost 4 points of your Psychic Reserve: 1 for basic use, 2 for increasing the weight twice and 1 for doubling the speed.

Skilled Level. May move an object of up to 100 pounds at the rate of a slow walk. Each point put in can increase the amount by 100 pounds or double the speed at which you move it.

Expert Level: Same as the previous levels but the weight is now in 1000 pound increments.

WthC - Work Crews and ratings

The characters in 'Welcome to the City' are all blue collar workers stuck with jobs in the City Works Division. Basically they are multipurpose problem solvers that the city pays (very little) to go out and take care of whatever issue needs taken care of. Many times things get messy and there is a pretty high casualty rate among the Work Crews.

This of course got the attention of the corporate profiteers who saw that there was a way to make money off of this. So on came the camera crews and the reality show (and many spin offs) called "CWD". Capturing the events of what happens during their missions and mishaps along the way. Sometimes it's filmed and played later, other times if it gets really hot they can livestream what is happening. With multiple shows on multiple channels there is something going on 24/7. It's the most popular viewed broadcast in the city.

So during gameplay there may be cues from the camera cue to address the camera and thus the audience at home. Telling the people what is happening, answering questions from the hosts in the save little studio booths or maybe even to spit out a blatant product promotion.

Crews can get sponsored by all the various companies trying to get their names on the television as much as possible. It earns the studios quite a bit of cash but it does trickle down a little bit into the wallets of the various Work Crew members. If they manage to do well they can get a better stake of the payout and maybe even a few job offers on the side in promotions doing commercials or public appearances.

In the City you are important, but only as long the ratings say so.

So one of the goals is to provide a nice little selection of potential sponsors that the players could net for their characters. Using some that I cooked up for Sla Industries and Cyberpunk 2020 in the past as the basis and then adding to that list here and there.

WthC Defined System Basics

Been working a bit more on the system. Basically trying to define the core structure so I can then spread out from that.

First off only 12 sided dice are used.

You have three traits: Mental, Physical and Social. Each of these have a number of Abilities listed under them. The Trait score denotes how many dice you get to roll. While your abilities denote the number you need to roll under in order to succeed.

Traits have a score that ranges from 1 to 4.

Abilities come in three levels: Novice, Trained and Expert. At Novice you need to roll a 4 or less, Trained you need to roll a 6 or less and at expert you need to roll a 8 or less. No matter how many dice your roll you only count the lowest die.

All rolls are normally done with the assumption that the Ability is being performed under stress.  This means most abilities don't need to be rolled to perform basic routine tests. Example: Driving your vehicle to your destination - no roll needed; Driving your vehicle at high speeds down a crowded street while being shot at - then a roll is needed.

To simplify the book work needed when you roll the target numbers determined by the Ability level never change. Instead you may gain an extra die to roll through either good roleplaying, a good interesting description of what you are doing or by stating the use of something to help the character. Whether an extra die is awarded is up to the GM at all times.

Example of good roleplaying: "As I see Ron get shot and go down I  flash back to my training, and yell that I got him as I'm sliding in next to him letting my reflex and instinct take over."

Example of good description: "Dropping down next to Ron and checking his wound, compressing it with one hand and pulling his torn shirt back with the other as I analyze what to do."

Example of something extra: "Going to help take care of Ron's wound using my first aid ability, also I have a first aid kit and I'm pulling it out as well."

The reason for these three distinct different ways to get an extra die is because not everybody plays the same. Some people are natural thespians and can roleplay great at the drop of a hot, others are not. This way everyone has some sort of equal chance for that die.

Now some rolls can be made without an Ability behind them.  Such as using brute force to knock down a door, solving a puzzle or riddle or remaining upright after a hard impact. For these situations the GM determines which Trait is necessary to roll and assigns a difficulty number using the 4, 6, 8 scale.

WthC - character name standee

The standee that will come along with the character sheet.

In games I've ran that used pregens there is a trick that I employed to make things move a bit smoother. Each player had a little paper standee in front of them with their character name on it. In each of the pregen write ups it gave a bit about their relationship or knowledge of the other characters. So with the standees in place they could get a better frame of reference for who they need to talk to, they can get in character a bit better by instantly seeing the name they need to use for folks.

I've decided to port this over to Welcome To The City as well. You see there is no mystery to who the other characters are, everyone is assigned to a City Works Division work crew. So with a quick glance they get to see the persons name, their place in the chain of command and specialization.

Of course after my blog posts about masks there will also be a spot for someone to draw their own if they have a design. After all when you can't see a persons face most of the time their mask becomes how you recognize them.

What do others think about this idea?

WthC - Social mechanics

 

I've always planned to include social mechanics into the game. Like rolling to influence others, fast talk, intimidation, things like that. Because to many games have gone the direction of 'roleplay it out' and forget that not every player is an amateur thespian.

So there will likely be three primary stats: Mind, Body and Soul. With various abilities and skills that fall under each one.  Since day one the Social stat has been on my brainstorm sheet. I want it to pretty much work like everything else, the players can tell you what their action is and the GM decide if there is a roll necessary. Because remember everything is rated as if you are doing in under duress so many actions may be seen as automatic successes.  Bribing an underpaid security officers who hates his job into looking the other way? Yeah that's going to happen without a problem. Trying to fast talk your way out of a gang excursion when you have guns pointed at your head? Get ready to roll.

Now of course you can roleplay it out if you want.  There will be some flex room for any GM decisions so they may let you get by something stressful without a roll or give you a bonus die when you do. Again if you can't roleplay very well but come up with a good idea on how to talk your way out of something they may do the same.

This is one of the ways I want to make my system more accessible to as many potential players as possible. Making it where they can act out things if they want but that die roll is there so everybody is on level footing play wise.

WthC - Setting thoughts Masks

Current events have got me thinking on some of the setting 'appearance' for Welcome To The City. Since most games will be taking place in a densely populated urban environment and surrounding areas any sort of viral outbreak would be a bad thing indeed. Most likely they would have already experienced them a few times with the overall lack of cleanliness of the City. I mean it's a grim, dirty place with little to no oversight on pollution controls, waste dumping and about every other bad thing you can think about. So people will do what they can to try to give themselves even the slightest bit of protection.

Looking at areas where there is heavy viral outbreak one of those things would be facemasks that cover the nose and mouth. The poorest of folks would be using old shirt material, scarves and whatever else they can find. Eventually leading to those who can afford hard shelled units with full filtration. But where there is a desire for a product the capitalistic world that is the City will also step right in to sell you something.

Custom designs, logo's, various features you can have added, soft cloth type masks and one that are made of hard plastic. The sky is the limit when people are shelling out the cash for it. So there would be entire market for these.

But masks also hinder facial recognition software and that is a problem for those who like to squeeze as much control over the population as they can. To remedy this problem there would be various checkpoints when you move from one city section to another. They claim it is to 'neutralize' any harmful viral or bacterial deposits on the travelers. Basically they are led into a clean room in bathed in a UV light for a few seconds. They have to remove masks, gear and extra clothing during the process. During this they are of course scanned into the system visually and identified.

Then for those who may make their way to the upper corporate levels will be given masks to wear. Clear plastic with full filtration. They will not be allowed to wear anything that blocks the ability for cameras to see their face.

So masks will become an sort of identifying part of the setting. The basic blue CWD workers will be issued standard masks with their uniform but they are allowed to wear whatever they like as long as it's semi tasteful. Therefore a place on the character sheet for a description of the mask, or masks, they commonly wear may be a good idea.

As a GM this gives you an easy way to describe NPCs via 'funny hat characterization' with their masks. Along with a place for your players to spend their characters money at.

WthC - Quick and dirty combat goals

Combat isn't going to be mapped out and a lot more open to the theater of the mind. Maybe some quick layouts so the GM can tell the players where things are but no movement squares, no rigid rules on facing and all that. The goal is to keep it fast and loose.

What each player wants their characters to do will be declared and the action pretty much all takes place simultaneously. Nobody going before the others unless they opt to pause or the character has a special ability granting them first action. Each one doing their thing while the NPCs are also doing theirs. The goal is to make it cinematic and rewarding those who put a bit more thought into their actions than just "I shoot at it with my pistol.".

In Welcome to the City giving a bonus die is one of the crutches used to move the players into doing this. Rewarded to a player when they think of something a bit more exciting or dramatic than the standard declaration of attack. Firing at the enemy while diving backwards over a road block to seek a bit of cover. Stepping a foot forward as you headlock your opponent so they fall forward slamming their head into a steel beam. Bum rushing a startled opponent and clamping a hand over their mouth with one hand while running a blade into their belly with the other.

All of these, give them a bonus die. Even if it logically makes the action more difficult to pull off give them that reward for using their imagination a bit and make it easier for them to successfully perform the action. Of course do remind them that the action needs to be something specific and not to try to do multiple actions into one motion.

Combat order will be along the lines of: Describe your action - Roll to perform that action - Roll for any damage done. Keep it quick and fast paced if you can.  While combat is an entertaining, and often important, part of the session it shouldn't take up a huge section of the game time.

WthC - Damage

In Welcome to the City I didn't want to go with hit points or something like it. I wanted to push it away from there a bit. So I went back and looked at something I had done before with the FreeForm generic system I did many long years ago and I'll probably pull that out and use it.

Basically you have five ranks of damage. With the fifth and final rank being death or near death depending on how you want to play it. There was a death spiral involved as you get a negative to your roll with each rank, however I'm thinking of easing that up a bit and only introduce the spiral on the fourth rank.

Rank One is the lowest level of damage. If you receive another Rank One damage from a hit it will take you to Rank Two. However this is where things get different than most systems. Any hit that does a lower Rank than what you have doesn't add to the total, they are not cumulative.  Example: If you are getting beat down in a fist fight and are at Rank Two and three guys hit you, each doing Rank One damage then you don't record anymore damage. Roleplay it out a bit, get descriptive but it doesn't add up in numbers.

When you take a Rank of damage that is equal to what you already have then it goes up one. If you take a Rank of damage that is greater than what you already have then it goes up that highest Rank. Example: You have taken Rank Two of damage and a then one of the thugs shoots you for Rank Four damage then you go to Rank Four immediately.

The number of Ranks is still up in the air at the moment as well is the death spiral and when it kicks in. I am thinking of using a reverse death spiral in there somehow as well. Maybe spiraling up until a certain Rank and then you start dropping fast.

It's all still in the works and a bit wonky.