Mega Man Legends RPG

[Ghal Marak]

Hi guys and gals.

Recently as I was moving a stack of old Playstation games I noticed Mega Man Legends 2 buried near the bottom. I dug it out and played it for ten hours straight, falling in love with the Legends series all over again.

After beating the game, I was stricken with sadness. There likely isn't going to be a sequel (at least not any time soon), and the Legends universe deserves way more that three games. That’s when it dawned on me, that the Legends universe is totally perfect for a d&d Esq. game!

But that’s where I hit the wall. I'm no game designer. Heck, I can barely even make a class, much less a whole system. So instead, I figured it would be best to use a system that already exists and save the hassle.

So what game system would work best? Oh, and a google search only revealed poorly named web games, so no luck there.

[Shinizak]

GURPS is a good system for any setting, but if you want my advice, I say find a system you're already using (D&D, mage, etc) and adapt the setting to it instead of creating a railroad adventure. In a DnD world you could have it where the ruins are in fact ancient repositories of magic, and reaver bots are self replicating construct originally built to maintain and protect the dangerous secrets. In mage you could have it so that "The System" was actually an experiment to merge technology with magic without inducing paradox.

Get creative.

[black dragoon]

I've actually mused on this myself. Really you can do it with a few separate systems Gurps and Fudge obviously as well as D20 Modern and D&D. Really it all depends on the focus and presentation as well as party preference. I would love to do a D20 modern form myself but I know that my group has been rather put off by such a setting. Straight up D&D however works just as well really.

[Ghal Marak]

GURPS is a good system for any setting, but if you want my advice, I say find a system you're already using (D&D, mage, etc) and adapt the setting to it instead of creating a railroad adventure. In a DnD world you could have it where the ruins are in fact ancient repositories of magic, and reaver bots are self replicating construct originally built to maintain and protect the dangerous secrets. In mage you could have it so that "The System" was actually an experiment to merge technology with magic without inducing paradox.

Get creative.

Hmm... I had kinda wrote off using 3.5 or d20Modern for reasons I can no longer remember. GURPS huh? I've heard little about that game. And do you mean the white wolf Mage? Dang, I haven't cracked open that book in ages.

I've actually mused on this myself. Really you can do it with a few separate systems Gurps and Fudge obviously as well as D20 Modern and D&D. Really it all depends on the focus and presentation as well as party preference. I would love to do a D20 modern form myself but I know that my group has been rather put off by such a setting. Straight up D&D however works just as well really.

Presentation would mostly be light and carefree. I guess you could change it to be GRIMDARK, but thats for a different time.

Well... I guess D20 modern would be the best vehicle for the game. I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before. With no knowledge of gurps or fudge I'll just go with what I know untill I get my hands on a book.

So I'm going to start throwing stuff out as I think of them (starting when I get home). Hopefully there won't be much work involved.

[Kuma Da]

If you'd like to just straight up run it without building it its own system, your best option is almost dead on BESM. It's designed for this sort of thing. It also has a D20 conversion, if that's the sort of system you're more confident with.

If you would like to build it its own system, I recommend browsing a lot of indy RPGs first to get a good idea of what you're looking for in a system. Stuff you might want to glance at includes risus, dread, dogs in the vineyard, and trollbabe. They all take distinctly different approaches to system building than a lot of the mainstream stuff does, and they could be inspirational.

[black dragoon]

I forgot all about BESM. I have been tempted to try it a few times but finding people is always a pain where I am. So the next big question is how are you going to field some of the equipment, such as the Buster Gun?

[Ghal Marak]

I forgot all about BESM. I have been tempted to try it a few times but finding people is always a pain where I am. So the next big question is how are you going to field some of the equipment, such as the Buster Gun?

Well, I would have made it into a pistol version, or only avalible to cyborgs. Ammo would be unlimited so it's damage would have to be taken down a few notches. But there would be buyable upgrades that enhance it for better offence and such.

I'd handle it as such (under d20Modern):
{table=head]Weapon|Damage|Critical|Damage Type|Range Increment|Rate of Fire|Magazine|Size|Weight

Buster Pistol

|

2d4

|

20/x2

|

Energy

|

10ft

|

Single

|

Infinite

|

Medium

|

10lb

[/table]

Upgrades would probably be like in the game. The Range Plus upgrade adds 10 feet to the range; Assault upgrade adds the Automatic RoF, ect. About four upgrades can be added to the Buster Pistol tops. Sounds about right to me.

[hiryuu]

Presentation would mostly be light and carefree. I guess you could change it to be GRIMDARK, but thats for a different time.

It is kinda GRIMDARK already if you think about it... Humans are extinct, replaced by reploids so perfected that they can reproduce on their own, and even implant crudely made parts into themselves. The old mindless hunter and defender machines, with no human voice to tell them to stop, still hunt reploids as irregulars deep in the catacombs of the world, and the carbons have a society that requires them to brave those places just to keep their infrastructure afloat, but diggers still seem to get the worst end of the stick.

I bet it's because they're seen as dangerous eccentrics, that somewhere deep in their subconscious, carbons still fear the threat of irregulars as some sort of racial memory and marginalize their weirdos and lunatics, but keep them around only because they keep society going by forcing them to become diggers.

[Ghal Marak]

It is kinda GRIMDARK already if you think about it... Humans are extinct, replaced by reploids so perfected that they can reproduce on their own, and even implant crudely made parts into themselves. The old mindless hunter and defender machines, with no human voice to tell them to stop, still hunt reploids as irregulars deep in the catacombs of the world, and the carbons have a society that requires them to brave those places just to keep their infrastructure afloat, but diggers still seem to get the worst end of the stick.

I bet it's because they're seen as dangerous eccentrics, that somewhere deep in their subconscious, carbons still fear the threat of irregulars as some sort of racial memory and marginalize their weirdos and lunatics, but keep them around only because they keep society going by forcing them to become diggers.

Hmm... thats an intresting viewpoint. I guess you don't have to do much to make it grimdark. Still, it does put on a happy face to mask it. Heh, Megaman 40k. That would be hilarous.

As a side note, I found a forum type thing all about the Legends universe (called Legends Station). A guy on there wrote this up. It is EPIC. Link Honestly, that could just be the setting for the rpg and we'd be done with it.

[black dragoon]

I love that site. Seriously If capcom did an MML3 using his design concepts I'd be one of the first to buy. Also I enjoy all the little shout outs to the various awesome sci-fi.

The buster gun sounds about right given it's either obscenely large clip or infinite properties it needs to have a weaker damage base otehrwise it just feels broken and silly. The four slots thing sounds right it's been awhile since I've had a chance to play them given the fact my poor PS2 is now dead and buried. (May it rest in peace)

[hiryuu]

Hmm... thats an intresting viewpoint. I guess you don't have to do much to make it grimdark. Still, it does put on a happy face to mask it.

This is actually very Japanese; they just don't talk about the parts of society that they find reprehensible. Take mental illness for example. In Japan, you just don't talk about relatives who have it, and simply pretend that either everything is okay or those relatives simply don't exist. If it becomes known that a family member has a mental illness, other people will either pretend they don't know, or simply ignore the family in general (out of politeness).

It wouldn't surprise me if it worked similarly in the world of Legends: Other members of society are polite to diggers, while in turn, diggers are expected to keep to the edges and the low income areas of the city unless they have business elsewhere, but digger business and news rarely comes up anywhere except places diggers might be found, as the society politely ignores their presence (or job).

[Ghal Marak]

I love that site. Seriously If capcom did an MML3 using his design concepts I'd be one of the first to buy. Also I enjoy all the little shout outs to the various awesome sci-fi.

The buster gun sounds about right given it's either obscenely large clip or infinite properties it needs to have a weaker damage base otehrwise it just feels broken and silly. The four slots thing sounds right it's been awhile since I've had a chance to play them given the fact my poor PS2 is now dead and buried. (May it rest in peace)

My favorite bit of his work is the serv-bot masters. Guts serv-bot in particular.

Damage could be stepped down to 1d6. In-game you could only have two upgrades; three with a special attatchment. I figured one more wouldn't hurt much. Perhaps it could be like in the game. Only two upgrade slots avalible, and the other two have to be added in later by a mechanic. For odles of cash.

EDIT-

This is actually very Japanese; they just don't talk about the parts of society that they find reprehensible. Take mental illness for example. In Japan, you just don't talk about relatives who have it, and simply pretend that either everything is okay or those relatives simply don't exist. If it becomes known that a family member has a mental illness, other people will either pretend they don't know, or simply ignore the family in general (out of politeness).

It wouldn't surprise me if it worked similarly in the world of Legends: Other members of society are polite to diggers, while in turn, diggers are expected to keep to the edges and the low income areas of the city unless they have business elsewhere, but digger business and news rarely comes up anywhere except places diggers might be found, as the society politely ignores their presence (or job).

Wow. I did not know that. It kinda fits, but then you have Prof. Barrel. He teaches other people how to be diggers. And another problem is that you don't really meet many diggers in the game, so you never actualy know what other diggers are like.

[black dragoon]

Yeah sadly there is little info on what Diggers are really like. We know they have an organization that apparently runs most of what is considered legitimate digging. Even then that's pretty sparse though. I would assume they do have a bit of a pariah nature though. I mean from in game reactions they seem to be frowned upon in general and also I would assume most families would not be thrilled to hear little Tommy is going to go into ancient ruins and try to fight robotic monsters.

And yes the servebot masters are awesome lol.

[Ghal Marak]

I've been thinking about Mega Mans armor. He has been shown without it before, so we know it isn't attatched to him. Maybe. But how mechanical is he? I think his arms are removable (to make room for weapon attatchments), but is anything else? Perhaps the armor is actualy a second body, and he just swaps his head from one to the other.

But now that I think about it, you see similar armor on other people in the game (Teisel Bonne, Bola, Glyde, and so on). Something to think about I guess.

[Ezekiel Moon]

As far as the weapons go, I've always had this impression that the Buster was an energy weapon that actually draws on Mega Man's own power supply. The way I figured it was his internal power supply could recharge quickly enough to allow him to perform most tasks without having to worry, but eventually shooting things would drain him enough that he'd have to rest in order to recharge. Other weapons have their own power supply, but they're demonstrably more limited because of that.

[black dragoon]

I always figured the armor was something like a very light version of power armor and that you could change out the gauntlet portion of it for a buster gun. Or in the case for the bigger ones your arm. I can easily imagine that the real guns would be shoulder mounted rather than simply lop off an arm and strap it on.

[Ezekiel Moon]

Even so, the energy has to come from somewhere, and if your power armor is out of juice, it's time to recharge.

[Ghal Marak]

As far as the weapons go, I've always had this impression that the Buster was an energy weapon that actually draws on Mega Man's own power supply. The way I figured it was his internal power supply could recharge quickly enough to allow him to perform most tasks without having to worry, but eventually shooting things would drain him enough that he'd have to rest in order to recharge. Other weapons have their own power supply, but they're demonstrably more limited because of that.

Huh, that’s one way of thinking about it. Yeah, I guess that’s right, because to fuel the buster the power supply would have to be enormous (in the later parts of the game). Hmm... That could be used. Perhaps like: Every 30 shots without a short break makes the user take a Fortitude test. It aught to be small at first, easy to pass, but build up as each test is passed. It could make the user fatigued if the test is failed. Then if they continue and fail a second one its stepped up to exhausted.

I always figured the armor was something like a very light version of power armor and that you could change out the gauntlet portion of it for a buster gun. Or in the case for the bigger ones your arm. I can easily imagine that the real guns would be shoulder mounted rather than simply lop off an arm and strap it on.

Oh, sorry. In my post I had meant the gauntlet part. But yeah, it would have made more sense to put stuff like the Buster Cannon and Hyper Shell on a shoulder mount instead of the forearm.

Power armor always had a nice ring to it. His armor was also modular, so it could swap out pieces for much stronger plates.

EDIT-

Even so, the energy has to come from somewhere, and if your power armor is out of juice, it's time to recharge.

Since it only enhances his strength, and not any energy field stuff I would assume the drain is negligible. The Lifter definately gave hin a lot of strength, lifting those Reaverbots and such.

[black dragoon]

Yeah I can see having a recharge time on the buster. Modular armor would also makes sense given the fact it seems like any digger or pirate with any skill has a set for themselves.

As for the strength boost I can easily see that as well as it being able to power things like the oh so fun roller blades and also maybe being able to soak up a little extra damage from a hit.

[Ghal Marak]

Yeah I can see having a recharge time on the buster. Modular armor would also makes sense given the fact it seems like any digger or pirate with any skill has a set for themselves.

As for the strength boost I can easily see that as well as it being able to power things like the oh so fun roller blades and also maybe being able to soak up a little extra damage from a hit.

Eh, I cooked it up. What do you think?

{table=head]Armor|Type|Equipment Bonus|Nonprof. Bonus|Max. Dex Bonus|Armor Penalty|Speed|Weight

Digger Armor

|

Tactical, Special

|

+3

|

+1

|

+4

|

-3

|

30ft

|

30lb

[/table]

Special: Due to it's modular design, plates in the armor can be removed and switched out for materials of a more (or less) sturdy construction. There are currently three different types of armor plating that can be installed. These are Padded, Link, and Kevlar. Additionaly, Digger Armor of *any* configuration gives a +2 bonus to strength, as well as DR 1/-. Digger Armor is considered Medium Armor with basic configuration.

Padded Plates: These plates increase the Max. Dex Bonus to +6, as well as reduce the Armor Penalty to -1, increasing the speed to 35ft and reducing the weight to 15lb. However, it reduces the Armor Bonus to +1, and the Damage Reduction is lost. Digger Armor is considered Light Armor with these plates instaled.

Link Plates: More sturdy than Padded plates, the Link Plates increase the Equipment Bonus to +4, as well as increasing the Max. Dex bonus to +5 and dropping the weight down to 25lb. The Armor Penalty is reduced to -2, but the speed is unchanged. Damage Reduction is increased to 2/Bludgeoning. Digger Armor is considered Medium armor with the plates installed.

Kevlar Plates: The heaviest plates avalible, it increases the Equipment Bonus to +6 and Nonprof. Bonus to +3. However, it comes at a steep price, as the Max Dex Bonus is reduced to +2, the Armor Penalty is increased to -5, and the Speed drops to 20ft. The weight increases to 50lb, but the Damage Reduction also increases to 3/Piercing. Digger Armor is considered Heavy Armor with these plated installed.

[black dragoon]

I like it. It makes a lot of sense really. Also I never did adress the the power supply issue. Hrm...*thinks*

Refractors seem to be the power source for everything so I would imagine it is likely that megs has one in him or even possible a small one in the buster gun itself.

[Ghal Marak]

I like it. It makes a lot of sense really. Also I never did adress the the power supply issue. Hrm...*thinks*

Refractors seem to be the power source for everything so I would imagine it is likely that megs has one in him or even possible a small one in the buster gun itself.

There is a box thing on Mega mans back in Legends 2. I figured it was the generator. Both

Spoiler

Show

and

Spoiler

Show

show it, though it is kinda hard to see.

Also, I forgot that there are other weapons than busters.

Spoiler

Show

These guys have machine guns. So... I guess regular solid projectile weapons still exist, but buster technology is begining to phase it out. Actualy, as best I can remember, there were only machine guns and missiles. Oh wait, maybe cannons and bombs. But it's not exactly the same thing.

The Mega Buster could opperate on its own refractor. I know the Buster Pistol does.

EDIT- Well, I don't think those pictures work. Just hop over to Mega Man Legends Station and look over the Legends 2 Official Artwork Gallery. Thats where I pulled them from.

[black dragoon]

I can't see the images but I do no they had machine guns in legends two. As for a backpack generator that's not surprising if I designed a suit to be worn and had no real place to store energy I would strap the power supply in a backpack unit and armor the heck out of it.

[Knaight]

That would make sense. The game does gloss over recharging to some extent, so what would probably be easiest is something closer to a hybrid of the psionics system(power points) along with an overheating system(so recharge, but you can fire pre recharge. Its a good way to damage your suit, but sometimes its worth it).

Of course, this assumes your sticking to D20 entirely. If your still up for a system switch, I would throw in Fudge again. I've recently used it for a game involving powered armor (its intentionally ridiculous, basically the technologically advanced humans and the magic using demons are both at war, with limited strikes towards humans from the demons. In addition both of them are seeking El-Dorado and Atlantis, believed to be super weapons with tons of magical energy. The vast majority of humans are not aware of the war, as it is underground. Some of the people actually fighting the demons have powered armor, and Fudge worked beautifully for it.)

[Ghal Marak]

That would make sense. The game does gloss over recharging to some extent, so what would probably be easiest is something closer to a hybrid of the psionics system(power points) along with an overheating system(so recharge, but you can fire pre recharge. Its a good way to damage your suit, but sometimes its worth it).

Of course, this assumes your sticking to D20 entirely. If your still up for a system switch, I would throw in Fudge again. I've recently used it for a game involving powered armor (its intentionally ridiculous, basically the technologically advanced humans and the magic using demons are both at war, with limited strikes towards humans from the demons. In addition both of them are seeking El-Dorado and Atlantis, believed to be super weapons with tons of magical energy. The vast majority of humans are not aware of the war, as it is underground. Some of the people actually fighting the demons have powered armor, and Fudge worked beautifully for it.)

Huh, intresting. Looking over it in wikipedia, it sounds like it would be supremely easy to work with. Which I think somebody already said. *shrug* I'll go ahead and order a book whenever I next stop by the book store. Untill then, I'll just tinker around in d20.

About the buster power supply, that’s a good idea. Link it to the suits power generator. Hmm... pushing the buster past it's recharge levels could force the suit to shut down briefly, lowering speed by -10, dropping the strength bonus, and giving a -5 penalty to reflexes until it's recharged. The power points thing is a good idea. 150 sounds good for now. Okay, so 150 energy points, with a 1/1 ratio for energy used by shots. More powerful shots could use up more energy, but you could install a bigger refractor to get a bigger power pool.

So your shooting and... lets say once you get to 20 points left you get a warning. If you push it to 10 points it shuts down the suit to conserve energy, and if you drain it completely it damages the refractor. Perhaps a 5% accumulative chance of breaking the refractor every time you drain the power supply. So to avoid all that you spend a full round action when you reach 20 points to allow the generator to recharge. I guess you could allow 50 points to recharge for every full round action spent to recharge.

Wow, I kinda took that idea and ran with it.

[black dragoon]

Knaight that setting sounds fairly made of win. I'll have to look at it sometime.

As for the buster power points deal. I like it. It makes things a bit more streamlined and does make a bit of sense that even with ancient tech you are going to have to recharge sooner or later. huh, that means you can swap out generators I would assume to get an extra bit of juice and also obviously extra weight. These suits are sounding very customizable really. Also I will be playing dark heresy soon and will run it against megaman legends to see if it could work.

[Ghal Marak]

Awesome! The dream of Mega Man in 40k! And yes, almost everything in the legends universe seems very customizable.

Anyway, I decided to make a tweak to the Buster Pistol.

{table=head]Weapon|Damage|Critical|Damage Type|Range Increment|Rate of Fire|Magazine|Size|Weight

Buster Pistol

|

2d4

|

20/x2

|

Energy

|

10ft

|

Single

|

Infinite*

|

Medium

|

10lb

[/table]

*: While it may almost never require a reload, the Buster Pistol isn't exactly infinite. It's relatively tiny refractor only affords it 50 energy points to spend. To reduce strain on the refractor, a warning light alerts the user when the points are reduced to 15. If reduced to 0, there is a 5% (non-accumulative) chance of the refractor shattering, as refractors become extremely brittle when devoid of energy. However, spending a full round action to give the refractor time to recharge completely returns any spent energy points.


And then tack on above the Special listing on Digger Armor:

Generator: A small, armored backpack attachment houses a medium sized refractor that is necessary for the armor to operate at peak efficiency. Normally, this is more than enough to power the armor with no noticeable drain on its energy reserves. However, it is possible to affix an energy weapon’s power feed to the generator, greatly expanding the weapons energy supply but introducing the possibility of damaging the generator. If so used, the Generator adds +100 to the weapons power reserve (ex. In the Buster Pistols case, a Power Reserve of 150) and giving the weapon a +1 bonus on damage results.

If this reserve is reduced to 20 points, the weapons low-power warning lights will flash to alert the user. If the power reserve is further reduced to 10 points, the armor will enter Low-Power mode, which modifies speed by -10, no longer supplies the strength bonus, and imposes a -5 penalty to all reflex checks. If the power reserve is reduced to 0, the users speed is modified by another -10 (total of -20), gives a -2 strength penalty, and gives a -10 penalty to reflex checks as the armor completely seizes up. In addition, there is a 5% accumulative chance of the refractor shattering from the strain, leaving the armor completely un-powered until replaced.

However, all of this could be avoided by spending a full round action to give the generator time to recharge. Doing so only restores 50 points to the power reserve.

[Knaight]

Knaight that setting sounds fairly made of win. I'll have to look at it sometime.

Want me to PM whats come up so far in it to you? I'm totally making things up as I go along, but there are a lot of things both stylistically and setting wise that have become fairly concrete. For instance, it is stylistic convention that a jeep will end up destroyed dramatically within 4 sessions. It was 2 until recently, after a custom fire resistant jeep built out of extremely solid materials broke the record. It later went over a mountain, but it was recovered, by getting a demon with a giant hammer to blow the mountain up piece by piece until it was out of the way, in a duel involving that, jet packs, once the jeep was recovered dodging while firing a mortar, and eventually pinning the demon down with mortar fire while it regenerated, and putting jetpack fuel all over the ground when doing so, then lighting it on fire.

I don't actually have anything typed up, but I do need to get around to getting it typed up for future reference, and could send you that once I get it finished(3 days tops), as it is probably my second most successful campaign setting I have run (right after Mod-Bots, a game where you play robots in an era where they are still viewed as stupid machines, despite recently developing actual, human level, AI. With lots of explosions, fancy weapons, etc.)

Back to the main topic. What I meant was overheating would be that weapons could only be fired so often. So the default gun might be fired all the time, but if you try and pull out anything big, fancy, etc, it takes a certain amount of time to recharge. Think a dragons breath weapon.

In emergencies, you would be able to fire when it was recharging. This would not be good for the weapon itself, or your energy supply. Of course, what you have is also awesome.

[Ghal Marak]

So what you mean is... I think I understand.

If I understand right, it would be like thus: a player has a Buster pistol with a super-charger upgrade. She could fire it as many times a she wanted, but if she charged up a shot and fired it, it would require a cool-down/recharge before she can safely fire the buster pistol again. But, if it was dire enough, she could fire the pistol while it is still cooling down/recharging but at the risk of causing a malfunction? I guess just a weapon jam. Maybe add a few more rounds to the recharge, and it can't fire at all until then.

Hmm... a bit simpler that that Power Reserve thing. And simplicity usually wins over complexity.

But then, hooking it up to the generator would have to change too. Perhaps, in the Super-Charger example, the recharge is 1d3 rounds once it's fired. But hooking it up to a generator gives that roll a -1 modifier. But... there wouldn't be a downside then. Oh, maybe roll a d100 every time you roll the max on recharge dice (reguardless of modifiers), and on a 90-100 the generator stutters, giving the Low-Power warning and modifiers until the recharge is complete. Wouldn't happen to often, but it's pretty bad when it does.

Eh, none of this is set in stone, so it's okay to play around with different game mechanics. Oh yeah, I looked into that FUDGE thing. I can't get it. The place I order all my books through couldn't get a hold of it. Apparently, it's only over in UK, so getting my hands on a copy would be too troublesome. I guess I'll just have to go with BESM or Gurps.

[Knaight]

http://www.fudgerpg.com/

Click download now, and you get the full version, but without much in the way of modular add on content. You can get the book in the states(I think its localized there, FATE might not be and its a popular system made with the Fudge rules), from most of the people on the site below.
http://www.fudgerpg.com/retailers.html

I think I got it from Warehouse 23, but I don't remember. I know they have it, and right now its in stock.