Monday, April 11, 2016

Dogwood City A to Z: The Inner Circle

[Woohoo!  Looks like I'm gonna get this one in under the deadline!]

Tonight we'll look not at an individual, but at a group that wields a great deal of power in Dogwood City and around the globe.  The Inner Circle is a small team of scientists and military leaders who work to impose their vision of "good" on the world.  I'll let Colonel Ewan give a quick explanation, as he did for prospective member Major Ramsay.  He knows how to make it short.



We soon get to meet the rest of this very select group...



The Inner Circle has a lot of potential in Dogwood City adventures, from hiring vigilante crews for covert missions to serving as the big bad puppeteers behind a major conspiracy.

What I really like about introducing them now is that it would probably sell them a bit short to only stat them up in combat form.  I should at least give a nod to their areas of expertise, which means I get to talk about one of my favorite old-school roleplaying topics...skills!  While I haven't addressed them yet in my little shorthand method of presenting RPG stats, the GRIND, I should put skills in there somehow.  Somehow simple.

In the realm of old-school RPGs based at least roughly on that really popular game that most people know the name of, there are a number of different ways that skills are handled:

1)  Roll a d6.  This is usually "roll under" a given value, but may take the form of a bonus to the roll and a target number.  It has some roots in original D&D and used quite effectively in, for example, Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

2)  Roll percentile dice (d100).  This one makes sense as it's based on the abilities the original "skill monkey" class, the Thief.

3)  Roll a d20.  This can take a number of forms...it might be modeled after saving throws, based on the d20 System's mechanic of target numbers, or played as an attempt to roll under a relevant character stat.

4)  Roll 2d6.  I've seen this one, but I'm not gonna worry too much about it here.

Basically, I want a simple method of presentation that can be fit into whatever specific mechanic is used in a game's official or house rules.  So, when it comes to skills, I'm going to worry about three levels of competence for now:  Skill, Expertise, and Mastery.  And as far as Dogwood City goes, I'm only going to focus on the biggest one, Mastery.  (For a Batman-type character, I honestly don't want to take a the time to worry about everything he might be Skilled or an Expert in...)

For d6-based skill systems, each level of skill can be treated as one point's worth of ability.  For d20-based, they probably have a value of about +4 apiece, and with percentile systems, around 20% each.  So, for example, if a character is attempting to...oh, let's say pick someone's pocket...and an average character has a 1 in 6 shot, Expertise as a pickpocket will bump those chances to 3 in 6.

And so on.

Okay, this is all turning out much more rambling than I had hoped.  I should be altering the GRIND to reflect this soon.  For now, here's the Inner Circle!  Not much variety here, but I'm happy to finally be in the skills game, at least a little bit...

Major Garrett Ramsay
Level 4
4 Hit Dice
Defense 13

Attack +4 (by weapon)

Mastery:  Military Science



Colonel Arthur Ewan
Level 5
5 Hit Dice
Defense 13

Attack +5 (by weapon)

Mastery:  Military Science


Captain Ian Ahern
Level 4
4 Hit Dice
Defense 13

Attack +4 (by weapon)

Mastery:  Military Science


Lieutenant Michel Dupre
Level 5
5 Hit Dice
Defense 13

Attack +5 (by weapon)

Mastery:  Military Science


Rolfe Gunderson
Level 3
3 Hit Dice
Defense 12

Attack +3 (by weapon)

Mastery:  SCIENCE!!!

John Bain
Level 3
3 Hit Dice
Defense 12

Attack +3 (by weapon)

Mastery:  Engineering


2 comments:

  1. I really like this concept. It's what the Marvel super scientists should be.

    "Dr. Richards, if you just sat down and tried you could fix the world's energy crisis."

    "True, but it would be much more fun to invent a flying car."

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    Replies
    1. Haha! I bet they're limited by the mandates of their funding agencies. Maybe the Marvel version of the National Science Foundation really sees a need for jetpacks, shrink rays, and nano-anything that could threaten to destroy human life.

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