The Planet Mercenary RPG -- "Schlock Mercenary, The Roleplaying Game"

[Destro_Yersul]

The only problem is that now you need to come up with something for them to do with the remote T Rex.

[LibraryOgre]

I've downloaded it, but haven't sat down to read it, yet.

[LoneStarNorth]

I loved it LoneStarNorth. That adventure had a great premise that I could see happening to Schlock and friends(At least when they were a little more resource-lite) and a great twist. Thanks for sharing!

All the adventures I've run so far are plot hooks straight out of the book, so naturally they have that authentic Schlock feel. I did add some detail of my own, of course. I'm pretty proud of the hostile boarding action reality show.

The only problem is that now you need to come up with something for them to do with the remote T Rex.

I guarantee if you give your players a remote control t-rex, THEY will come up with things to do with it whether the GM plans it or not. Probably a lot of things. In fact, it will soon become a struggle to come up with situations where they CAN'T use their remote control t-rex.

[Destro_Yersul]

It's not that bad. You just need corridors that are too small for it.

[Max_Killjoy]

All the adventures I've run so far are plot hooks straight out of the book, so naturally they have that authentic Schlock feel. I did add some detail of my own, of course. I'm pretty proud of the hostile boarding action reality show.

Credit where credit is due, I actually went back and tried to find "You Just Got Boarded!" in the PDF...



Also -- The PDF went on sale at RPG Drivethru today.

[Max_Killjoy]

It's not that bad. You just need corridors that are too small for it.

Like... most interior corridors on ships...

[Max_Killjoy]

I don't think anyone mentioned it, so before I let it slip my mind again -- Schlock Mercenary's 17th anniversary was on Monday.

Here's hoping for similar longevity and success for the RPG.

[Destro_Yersul]

Just saw the blogpost myself. Yeah, it's been a long time - no wonder I've forgotten what happened in so many of the comics! I think I've got every volume that's in print, except the newest. Might need to read through those again some time.

[LibraryOgre]

Just saw the blogpost myself. Yeah, it's been a long time - no wonder I've forgotten what happened in so many of the comics! I think I've got every volume that's in print, except the newest. Might need to read through those again some time.

Every so often, I will reread the entire series over the course of a few days.

[Max_Killjoy]

Every so often, I will reread the entire series over the course of a few days.

Same here.

[Destro_Yersul]

Books are finished printing, sounds like. They'll be reaching the Schlock warehouse some time in the next week. Looking foreward to when I hear about my printing going out. I'm commodore level on the kickstarter, so it won't be till after the higher pledge levels and the retailer packages.

[Max_Killjoy]

Books are finished printing, sounds like. They'll be reaching the Schlock warehouse some time in the next week. Looking foreward to when I hear about my printing going out. I'm commodore level on the kickstarter, so it won't be till after the higher pledge levels and the retailer packages.

Same here, plus I set it up to have my Handbrains ship together with the books and accoutrements.

It looks like there were less than 40 of the really big pledges, so it won't take too long for them to get to the Commodore level shipments.

[Destro_Yersul]

I didn't go for the handbrain, since it's the sort of thing where, if I really want one, I could just make my own relatively cheaply. I've got too many DM screens floating around that never get used already.

[Max_Killjoy]

I didn't go for the handbrain, since it's the sort of thing where, if I really want one, I could just make my own relatively cheaply. I've got too many DM screens floating around that never get used already.

I admit to being something of a Schlock enthusiast, and these looked useful beyond just standard GM screens.

[Max_Killjoy]

The design team has asked for our wish lists for the Game Chief Secrets PDF.

If you're not on the Reddit discussion, I can pass along (as yours) some suggestions.

[Max_Killjoy]

Here's the thread so far:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PlanetMerce...he_game_chief/

I posted a lot already, but my intent is as much big-picture as it is just for this one document (the Game Chief's Secrets).

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OK, first, the alternate / optional rules section. I'm trying to be somewhat brief here, so if I'm not clear on anything or suggestions are needed, please let me know.

• Target Numbers - Expand and clarify. Are the 10-15-20-25-etc numbers given in the core book supposed to represent the intended TNs, or just an example scale? That is, was it intended that just those numbers would be used for TNs, or any number between 5 and 35? Also, more examples of TNs for various actions, and modifiers for various complications.
  
• Initiative - Alternatives to "SFGF", as you mentioned. 3d6+perception each round, actions in descending order. Around-the-table. Serpentine (1-4, 4-1, 1-4, etc, to avoid the same person always going first).
  
• Holding Actions - It's not always advantageous, or accurate, for the character who declares first to go first, and players trying to get their actions in at exactly the right moment might just lead to a bunch of people shouting over one another.
  
  
• Actions per Turn - Alternatives to taking both actions at once. How to handle character with more or less than the standard two-per-turn (also useful for major antagonists up against a large seasoned team of PCs).
  
• Ship-to-Ship Combat - Options for allowing players multiple "declares" each for the AI's actions in vessel combat. Example of the problem: a group with 3 players, but with an AI rating of 5, is losing out on two actions that an "NPC" ship would be getting, or that a Company ship for a group with 5 players would be getting.
  
  
• Stun and Non-Lethal Weapons - More detail on the drawbacks of these weapons. Spell out the limitations on their affects based on target Sophont types (hard to drug an AI), what the targets are wearing (hard to "taser" someone wearing the grounding suit for an ion weapon), environmental conditions (hard to gas someone in a hurricane). Given how hard it is to resist these effects "on paper" with the TN of 20 being common (which takes a +9 in the applicable Skill just to have a 50/50 chance to resist), spelling out the drawbacks and limitations might help explain why there aren't more military units operating under the theory of "Goober them all and let Murphy sort them out."
  
  
• Situational Modifiers - One example already in the core book would be the +2 to certain Physical Skills when wearing powered armor (speaking of which, perhaps some clarity on what is and is not "powered armor" ). Others might be slippery, rough, or otherwise bad ground, bad weather, defensive bonuses from concealment, damage reduction from hard cover, darkness, smoke or fog, etc.
  
  
• Melee Combat - How much damage does an unarmed strike do for those without natural weapon attacks (claws, fangs, etc)? Does "powered armor" provide any hit or damage bonuses for melee combat?
  
  
• Explosives and Grenades - Expanded rules for landing locations of missed throws, blast radius, damage falloff with distance, effects of cover, etc.
  
• Equipment for different Sophont types - How does equipment crossover between different Sophont types? Maybe new equipment is assumed to be customized to fit the build, shape, needs, etc of the character buying it, whereas the salvaged or "re-appropriated" gear might not always work depending on who it was made for.
  
  
• Equipment for AI characters - Any special considerations for AI characters in various body types, and their equipment? Is there certain equipment that an AI/Robot character can consider "installed" instead of worn or carried? How does Armor interact with AI/Robot bodies?
  
  
• Costs for Services - How much does it cost to have an NPC expert handle something for you? Sometimes a Company won't have all the necessary skills, or a service will be beyond the capacity of their equipment. How much does it cost to rent a yacht for a week in order to run that sting with your Chaplain posing as a wealthy dilettante? How much does it cost to have a service come in and get the smell of Cheesecutter ammo out of your entire ship after the 20 crates you were hauling were all set off by a stray round? How much to "buy a round" for 1000 people in a megatavern?
  
• (Also, I'm certain there's a pun hiding in there somewhere that conflates rounds of ammo with rounds of drinks...)
  
• Fireteams Differentiation - Optional rules for giving some mechanical differentiation to Fireteams armed with different weapons, using non-lethal weapons, using anti-vehicle weapons, wearing heavier armors, etc. Also for Fireteams made up of different Sophont types (right now there's no difference between a Fireteam of Humans, Kss'thrata, or Amophs). See ideas bounced back and forth between Nerdn1, myself, and others.
  
• Big Companies - Optional rules for running "the rest of the Company" for large units. 3 or 4 PCs and their Fireteams represent a fraction of the firepower of a Company with 10+ Resources. Perhaps something for adding in some of the "NCO lead" Fireteams based on the Mobs and Mooks rules?
  
• Company Size - speaking of the relationship between Resources and Company size... does the number of grunts bounce around every time the company spends or gains resources that takes it into a different bracket on the table showing that relationship?
  
  
• Other sophont species... even if they're not playable options by default, it would be nice to have more "setting" info on more of the species we've repeatedly seen in the comic, to give the GC something to work with when they're encountered. Or even some "guidelines for presenting and balancing playable species" would be useful for players who want to explore more of the setting or create their own Sophont types that are unique to their gaming groups.

I'm sure I'll think of more. If anything in my list appears to "borrow" from someone else's posted idea, it's not an intentional lack of credit, I'm just going through everything I can think of or that's in my notes.

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Setting Material. One of the big draws of the PM RPG is the setting, and I've found that anything that adds to the depth of shared understanding of the setting aids in roleplaying, and in everyone having a closer mental picture of what's going on in the "shared space" they're in.

• History / Timeline. Without spoilers or secrets given away, just the timeline that's publicly available to anyone in-setting with a hypernet connection or a library card... and what's been openly stated in the comic. Going back to what's openly known about the Gatekeepers, the Pa'anuri, when the "big dumb objects" were built... forward through first contact for the various Sophonts / cultures, the events mentioned in the Core PMRPG book, etc.
  
• The H/V Scale - While it doesn't correlate to the AI Rating in the game mechanics, it would very useful to understand a little of what's going on with that scale, what it means, where various types of AIs typically rate, etc.
  
• Galaxy Map - Nothing insanely detailed, just an idea of where the "big name" systems and objects are located.
  

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Design Theory.

• First of all, on the Graded Skill Checks -- I have to reiterate how much I appreciate this being codified in the system, as an alternative to pass-fail or contested rolls. More systems need this as a codified mechanic. Sometimes failure is pointless or boring, or doesn't accurately represent the circumstances at hand, when it's not whether you succeed that matters, but rather how well or how quickly you succeed.
  
• It seems like situational adjudication by the GC, informed by setting details and narrative needs, is supposed to cover a lot of ground -- instead of having detailed rules that spell out situational conditions and considerations. If so, it may be helpful to spell this out and give some guidelines for gamers used to more detailed / crunchy systems -- and I'm not really referring to D&D (one of my, um, "least liked" systems). Systems from HERO to the old World of Darkness games had detailed rules and modifiers for a lot of situational possibilities.
  
• Having the listed Target Numbers spread out 5 apart against a 3d6 roll leaves me feeling a bit short on granularity. For example, a character with a +4 in a Skill has a ~95% chance against a TN 10, a 50% chance against a TN 15, and a ~5% chance against a TN 20. Even an unskilled character making a raw 3d6 roll has a 62.5% chance against a TN 10 (50% would be TN 11). As asked in the "rules" post - was the intent to only use the multiples of 5 as TNs, or was the entire scale of possible integer TNs intended?
  
• Characteristics vs Skills: I'm (genuinely) curious as to the design philosophy underlying the decision to go purely with Skills, and no Characteristics, "talents", or other character "attributes". There doesn't appear to be a way to model a character that's "just plain strong" other than a few extra points in Athletics and a Specialty or two. However, that character has no mechanical advantage over another character with no Athletics at all, when it comes to things like melee/brawling damage, effectiveness in grappling, etc. The most brilliant autodidact or polymath is just a pile of Mental skills -- the Kevyns aren't system-mechanically smarter than any other characters beyond having more points in Skills.
  
• There's really no way I can see to give a character something like eidetic memory, or useful contacts from his past, or any number of other "extra quirks", other than simple agreement between the player and GC, and playing out the effects.
  
• I guess I'm used to more variation, options, and granularity in how characters can be modeled within a system. (Again, not talking about D&D, I don't care much for Class/Level systems, I think they pigeonhole characters and end up forcing the character into the existing "map" rather than effectively "mapping" the character.)
  
• If there's an auto-fail on 3, why no auto-success on 18? I know that 18 is an Upgraded Success. As a house rule, I'd be tempted to say that 18 is an auto-success, but would only be an Upgraded Success if the roll would have succeeded anyway.
  
• There are several instances where it appears characters in the RPG aren't capable of some of the things we see in the comic. We're specifically told that hacking AIs isn't possible, but we've seen Para and Petey (and even "Agent Max", with the right tool in hand) hack AIs in the comic. This is one example of several where it appears the team favored creating a game with a freewheeling and fast feel, over directly recreating what the characters in the comic are capable of.

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The AI/Robot section - overlaps with others, but to be honest this is a bit of a pet topic for me.

• What lead to making AI characters dependent on the group for their Skill points, Health, etc? I'm wondering what game-balance or setting-representation/mapping considerations drove this decision. Reading through this section, it almost appears as if, going all the way back to day 1 of designing the game, the original idea was to have AI PCs function like Ennesby often has, or TAGII/Chinook: tied to the ship/station's capabilities, rather than as fully independent characters who happens to be AI/Robot.
  
• My impression of AIs is that they're "learning machines", yet their ability to advance/acquire Skills is uniquely restricted. For an AI to add as many Skill Points as any other character receives for completing a Job, costs enough Resource to buy someone in the company a Heavy Armor suit or a very serious weapon, or upgrade the company's ship with significant hardware.
  
• A single point of Health for an AI PC costs as much as fitting Medium Armor or a civilian-class Annie Plant to a vessel. This seems like quite a double-whammy, given that they also get no Health from Endurance -- although I can see why, both in setting-flavor terms, and in that one interpretation of the Endurance skill is that none of those rolls with Endurance actually apply to AI / Robot characters (I'd think that an AI/Robot can't drown or suffocate or be poisoned or get winded, or whatever, making Endurance a rather pointless Skill for an AI to take).
  
• As the player of an AI character, I would feel I was seriously imposing on the rest of the players when asking for Resources to upgrade my character that might otherwise go to gear or facilities improvements or vessel upgrades.
  
• Other than backups, what do AI characters get that makes up for the limits on Heath, Skill advancement, etc? Are any special immunities or resistances spelled out anywhere, or assumed to be QC purview? Are AI characters assumed to be immune to broad categories of poison, chemicals, disease, vacuum, stuns, etc?
  
• What if a new AI character joins an existing campaign as a "new hire"? In terms of story and character, how might players make sense of tying the character's starting Skills to the Company's current AI rating?
  
• Equipment (overlaps with previous post). Are AI characters able to upgrade their chassis with installed equipment, as opposed to other characters who can only "wear or carry"? Can weapons be "installed" instead of carried? Would Armor be made to fit the different AI chassis the way it appears to fit other sophont types by default?
  
• Would really like to see the aforementioned "3P" AI/Robot chassis (Chinook's physical avatar/node being the easiest example to point to).
  
• Speaking of nodes -- rules for additional active nodes for AIs, even if it's mainly as an expansion for NPCs, such as ships, the "sheriff" AI on Ghanj Rho, Petey, Ennesby driving multiple tanks in combat, etc.

[Max_Killjoy]

Latest update on the physical book: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects.../posts/1918262

[Destro_Yersul]

Somewhat earlier than I expected, given that I think they said mid july for shipping. I'm ok with that, though.

[Max_Killjoy]

New review of Planet Mercenary:

https://bira.github.io/octopus-carni...ry-review.html

[Destro_Yersul]

Cool. Though, I get the feeling the author and I disagree on the 40k RPGs. I rather like the percentile system.

Also, got an email the other day. I think my books might be shipping soon.

[Techhead]

Spoiler: Game design musings on Autosuccess.

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If there's an auto-fail on 3, why no auto-success on 18? I know that 18 is an Upgraded Success. As a house rule, I'd be tempted to say that 18 is an auto-success, but would only be an Upgraded Success if the roll would have succeeded anyway.

I know in at least one system (GURPS), if the number you'd need in order succeed is better than the best possible roll, you're explicitly not allowed to roll. And I've heard plenty of anecdotes from systems with auto-successes where you have:

PC: I roll to do [ridiculous thing].
GM: That's ridiculous.
PC: Woo! Nat 20!
GM: *sigh*

So I think not having an auto-success rule can be healthy for some games. Here, instead of an explicit "don't bother rolling", you just implicitly fail if you do try. That's my thoughts.

Back on the main topic, I backed the KS and am eager to get my hard copies in the mail. But the temptation to check out the PDFs ahead of time is definitely there.

[Max_Killjoy]

Spoiler: Game design musings on Autosuccess.

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I know in at least one system (GURPS), if the number you'd need in order succeed is better than the best possible roll, you're explicitly not allowed to roll. And I've heard plenty of anecdotes from systems with auto-successes where you have:

PC: I roll to do [ridiculous thing].
GM: That's ridiculous.
PC: Woo! Nat 20!
GM: *sigh*

So I think not having an auto-success rule can be healthy for some games. Here, instead of an explicit "don't bother rolling", you just implicitly fail if you do try. That's my thoughts.

I'd probably dump auto-fail then, too.

[keybounce]

Yea, if the GM says that your difficulty is your stealth plus 21, then you are not going to be undetected :-)

[Max_Killjoy]

Yea, if the GM says that your difficulty is your stealth plus 21, then you are not going to be undetected :-)

True, but "this task is too difficult" isn't the same thing as "no matter how skilled you are and how simple the task is, a roll of X is always a failure". With auto-fail, you could have a high enough skill that you don't even need to roll to succeed (difficulty is 10, you have a skill of 11), and you'd still fail on a roll of 3.

[keybounce]

I'm sorry, but if you mean something like this :
http://www.darthsanddroids.net/moonshots/0050.html

then I respond with "Trivial challenges only fail when the plot calls for it". i.e. -- if you only fail on a "1", you only fail if the plot calls for it. Even a reroll isn't enough.

Consider an airplane takeoff. Do you really think that 1 in 400 takeoffs are a disaster? That's two "1"'s in a row. Driving across town?

Sorry. "1 is an auto-fail" is a fail.

[Max_Killjoy]

I'm sorry, but if you mean something like this :
http://www.darthsanddroids.net/moonshots/0050.html

then I respond with "Trivial challenges only fail when the plot calls for it". i.e. -- if you only fail on a "1", you only fail if the plot calls for it. Even a reroll isn't enough.

Consider an airplane takeoff. Do you really think that 1 in 400 takeoffs are a disaster? That's two "1"'s in a row. Driving across town?

Sorry. "1 is an auto-fail" is a fail.

Maybe I didn't understand your original intention in pointing out that the GM can introduce a situation in which success is impossible...

...but I'm not defending auto-fail.


Especially when it's over-applied as not just automatic, but catastrophic. The teraport cages in the PMRPG have a rule that they fail and kill/destroy anything in transit on an auto-fail... I doubt anyone would actually use the cages if they were lethal 1 in every 216 times they were used.

[keybounce]

The idea that success can be impossible is to counter the whole 5% chance of doing the impossible. I don't like either auto-success or auto-fail. Both give unrealistic results that don't even make cinematic sense.

Especially when it's over-applied as not just automatic, but catastrophic. The teraport cages in the PMRPG have a rule that they fail and kill/destroy anything in transit on an auto-fail... I doubt anyone would actually use the cages if they were lethal 1 in every 216 times they were used.

Wh ... wha ... what?!?

A non trivial chance of dying each and every time you use it? Of your entire party being wiped out?

I would not use it.

[Max_Killjoy]

So -- has anyone who backed the game on Kickstarter received their copy yet? I know some on the KS page and the Reddit have received theirs.

I'm in hardcopy purgatory, since I bundled the shipping with the Handbrains from backing that project.

[Destro_Yersul]

Mine's one of the international orders, since I'm in Canada. Still waiting for it, not sure it's gone out yet since the updates have been saying not too many of the international ones are shipped.

[king korath]

Mine showed up today.