Tabitha's Prologue

My early life was one of adventure. You might think it was worthy of a whole series of exciting memoirs, detailing my many, many adventures battling monsters and demons and dark gods, of helping my fellow champions save the universe time and again. But honestly, looking back, it all blurs together for me. Not to say I’ve forgotten the details, or that I confuse events; not at all. Each adventure is as clear to me as if it happened yesterday.

Bird Girl

1

CRACK!

Hmm. Just past second base.

Toss up… wind back… CRACK!

Bounced on the short-stop position.

Toss up… wind back… CRACK!

Past second again. Much farther this time. Still too low.

Toss up… wind back… CRACK!

What the…? Where did it… THUNK!

“Ow!” I said, more startled than hurt as the baseball whacked me squarely on top of my helmet, knocking it a bit askew. How had I even managed that hit? Must have bounced off the very top of the bat, with the right amount of spin to make it arc back.

I adjusted my helmet and sighed a bit, watching the ball roll off. I reached for another from the wire frame basket, only to realize that was my last one anyway. I sighed again and picked up the basket, walking first to the ball that had just beaned me on the head, then doing a zig-zagging loop across the field to fetch the twenty-nine other balls I’d been hitting back and forth for the past hour. I was really off my game today.

Live With It

She glides over the city like an angel, looking benevolently down on her flock. Nothing seems to be going wrong today, so she’s just doing a few lazy circles overhead, reassuring people with her presence. Despite all the warnings, despite what’s happened to so many other costumed heroes lately, she insists on making herself seen.

I would go on a little inner rant about what a stupid, narcissistic bitch she must be, but I know it isn’t true. She thinks she’s helping. She thinks she’s inspiring hope. She saw some show on television, or read a comic book, or one of those insipid hero vlogs, or god forbid, watched one of the old Team’s press releases, and got inspired. She woke up with powers one day, and because she was already a fan girl for the lifestyle, knew how to get one of those crazy outfits, and that put it in her head that this was meant to be.

I did the research. Flight, laser-beams, x-ray vision, can create force fields, but has to concentrate on it. When she puts up the shield, it creates opaque fields of hard light. That’s how I know she has her guard down right now.

Stupid kid.

Pretend

Ryoko sat calmly, listening to the rhythmic, muffled clack of the rails. Her eyes skimmed across the page of her book, but she had more attention on the peripherals of her vision than the words on the page. She took note as a man with a blue longcoat and black hair entered the car. She glanced up as he passed, noting the grey hue of his eyes, and the light stride of his walk, despite his height.

He wasn’t the oddest person to enter the car, but the way he scanned the room and paused for a moment to think of his choice of seat stood out to her. She was mildly surprised when he sat down on the same bench as her, just within arms reach. She kept “reading” her book, turning the page despite failing to remember half the words she’d seen on the previous one. It was one of those nostalgic romance novels, set in the time before the world went away. She wasn’t really a fan of them, but it had been the only choices on the spin rack at the station. This one, at least, had a shirtless hunk on the cover to appreciate.

“Long trip, this.” The man in blue leaned back, crossed one leg at the knee, and draped his arms on the back of the bench, till his hand was almost touching her shoulder.

The Leaping Warriors Final Duel

Long had they awaited this day, the time of their fated final duel. Across the follicle forests and fleshy plains, the two had battled for the Right to Prime Blood. For days, they leaped and kicked and speared at one another, neither able to pierce the other’s armor and inflict the decisive blow. They would fight until exhausted, retreat, and sup on the blood of their Great Host from less desirable wells.

Today, however, would be their final clash. Already, they felt the age in their joints. Their legs held less spring. Their armor plate felt a bit looser. Their tusks had dulled. Prime Blood thrummed through the Great Host right beneath their feet, the most delicious well to be had, stirring their hunger to near madness. But they were not the type to share. Only one could claim this well, and only might could determine that right. And their might was already failing in their age.

Even if neither could strike a true killing blow, they would strike and strike and strike, until one or both could no longer move, their life burned away in one last push to prove their dominance. Whoever could still move enough to pierce the skin of the well could die knowing they were the strongest.

If neither could manage the feat, they could be satisfied knowing that there was only one other who could be their equal. In a way, there would be a comfort in that, a companionship. If only such companionship could have been enjoyed in the sharing of a meal, rather than needing to deprive the other of one. If only they had met before finding this most cherished well, perhaps they could have…

But no. Such was not their way. Such was not their fate. They were what they were, and in the end, only the truly strongest deserved the Right. They tensed their legs, ready to spring. They rasped their claws along their great tusks, preparing the dull blades for a final stabbing. They gave one another a final bow of respect, and then—

And then, the Great Host dragged its claws through the patch. Neither warrior was fast enough to evade their Host’s wrath. This, too, was the risk of their way of life. To eek out a living on a world that by its very nature tried daily to destroy them.

The warriors tried to flee, but they were not fast enough. They leaped, but the Great Host’s claw caught them in the air, slashing with such speed and strength as the dash them clear away. The impact rattled and broke their insides, and they were tossed to the alien landscape of false follicles, too far away to see where each other landed.

A final duel, cut short before they could determine who was strongest. As the life fled from their bodies, they contented themselves with the idea that perhaps this was a sign. That the duel had been unnecessary, for they had proved time and again to be one another’s equal. Perhaps, then, this was a lesson. They should have put aside their pride and split the feed. Surely, the well held enough Prime Blood for them both to have enjoyed.

Ah, well. Perhaps, some day, their children, or their children’s children, would overcome the foolishness of their elders. Provided, of course, that the Great Host did not manage to scour them off itself.

The Great Host, meanwhile, shook itself after its vigorous scratching, and went to pester its own Great Hosts for a walk.

Rust City, a One-Page RPG

A post-apocalyptic setting where humanity burned itself to ashes with nuclear fire centuries ago. Most of the world has been scorched of life, and the oceans rendered nearly barren, leaving only small pockets of habitable zones left for the remaining species of earth.

The year, if the human calendar had kept going, is 3576 A.D. The nuclear fallout has wreaked havoc upon the environment, but life, as ever, finds ways to adapt. The heartiest of species survived, and the radioactivity pushed evolution into unexpected paths, perhaps aided as well by the remnants of humanity’s last biological experimentation. Now, four species vie for control over the last sustainable regions: the Kokrouch, the Pejin, and the Rhat tribes have only recently called a tenuous ceasefire as they are beset by a recently encountered species: the Auktoupous. These amphibious horrors crawl from the ocean depths to claim the resources of the land and drag them back into the briny deep.

The elders of each tribe have opted to send some of their champions to quest once more through the ancient ruins of the lost Homahn civilization. The nearest city, infested with terrible beasts and defective automatons, is said to still hold secrets not yet plumbed by earlier explorers. An expedition has been sent to retrieve something, anything, that can halt the threat of the Auktoupous race.

Welcome to Rust City. Try to survive, and don’t you dare leave empty-handed.

CHARACTER SHEET

Might –

Athletics –

Wits –

Spirit –

-

Health –

Magic –

Movement –

Combat –

-

Race:

Class:

Skills:

INITIAL POINTS

You start with 12 points to distribute across your four Basic Stats. Each stat begins with 2 points before point distribution, and all stats cap at 10.

Next, determine your Derived Stats:

Health – (Might + Spirit) x 5

Magic – (Wits + Spirit) x 5

Movement – 1 + Athletics

Combat – 12 – [(Might + Wits + Athletics) ÷ 3, rounded up]

Next, choose your Race, Profession, and Mutation.

CHOOSE A RACE

You may pick one of three races. Picking a race nets you a starting stat bonus, and a racial ability.

RHAT – Intelligent rats, you begin with a +1 in Wits, Might, and Athletics.

https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/000/730/847/large/andrey-seleznev-rat-soldier-by-dron111-d4fahz5.jpg?1431706078

KOKROUCH – Intelligent, bipedal cockroaches, you begin with a +1 in Might and an extra 20 HP.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1b/c4/2c/1bc42cbecae45d8ea57f702b999bdb83--fantasy-monster-monster-art.jpg

PEJIN – Intelligent pigeons, you begin with a +1 in Athletics and the ability to Fly for short bursts.

https://78.media.tumblr.com/7fc982290bab416115c1cbc422fd610b/tumblr_out8vasVsK1vs633po1_500.png

CHOOSE A PROFESSION

You may pick one of five Classes. These determine your starting equipment and grant your class-specific special abilities.

COMMANDO – You are a gifted soldier. You start with a needle-shot rifle that has 30 shots (15 damage, 10 range) and a knife (5 damage, 1 range melee, 3 range thrown). You suffer no penalties when performing Ranged Attacks and the CR of your opponent raises by 2 in melee.

TRAPPER – You are a master of traps. You start with a set of caltrops, a 10’ twine rope and grappling hook, and 2 smoke bombs. You gain a +2 to any attempt to notice and disarm traps or dangerous terrain (Wits).

CHEMIST – You know how to mix chemicals for both healing and destructive effects. You begin with a medical spray with 20 shots (neutralizes poisons and recovers 10 health) and 3 nitroglycerin capsules (15 damage, 3 range thrown, 1 range spread) which function as grenades. You gain a +2 on any attempt to identify strange chemicals.

SCANNER – You are skilled in figuring out the functions of old technology and identifying functioning equipment in the wreckage. You have a knife (5 damage, 1 range melee, 3 range thrown), a spike-ball slingshot with 10 shots (7 damage, 5 range), and a hand-held metal detector.

CHOOSE A MUTATION

RADIANT – You possess the freakish ability to channel the radioactive energy that permeates the land into beams of destructive force. You can fire a beam of energy from your hands or eyes up to 20 times a day. 25 damage, 6 range.

PLANTKIN – You possess the freakish ability to influence the growth of plants via radiation influxes. This enables you to create tangler traps that ensnare enemies or create vines that be used to assist in climbing, up to 20 times a day.

VISIONARY – You possess the freakish ability to see beyond the normal visible spectrum. You can see to a limited capacity in total darkness and see the aura’s of living beings through walls in a manner similar to thermographic vision, as long there is not too much material between you. You can shift your vision to this at any time, but this causes your other senses to dull and gives you a headache which can prove prohibitively distracting in some situations.

SAVAGER – You possess the freakish ability to achieve a monstrous form. In this form, you can double your HP and Might for up to ten rounds. You can only do this 5 times per day, and when you shift back, your HP is halved from the transformed stat.

OBSTACLES

Obstacles will revolve around traversing the broken city’s dangerous landscape, attempting to break into sealed areas, and battling wild animals and dangerous machines. You may also encounter some of the dreaded Auktoupous.

Tripher RPG System

Tripher is a stripped down fusion of the Tri-Stat and Cypher systems, with an emphasis on quick character creation, simple roll resolution, and leeway in player actions and the description of resolutions.

INSPIRATIONS

From both Tri-Stat and Cypher, there is the use of a limited Stat pool upon which to base player actions. This keeps the mechanics focused and hopefully helps keep things from being too bogged down in tedious math, lessening the need to look things up mid-session. This also allows for a lot of leeway in how something is described as happening, while still giving a definitive win-lose result. This does also mean more work for the GM in the sense that they are going to have to make judgment calls where rule might be ambiguous and adapt to players doing things that aren’t spelled out in the book.

From Tri-Stat, I take the idea of rolling against your own stats, which represent the Target Number, as well as the mechanic of hitting the target number or lower. The higher your stats become, the higher the chance of succeeding in your tasks.

In my interpretation, raising your stats in this game is not necessarily a literal raising of your character’s “power level” in that area, but a way of raising the character’s chance to succeed due to practice increasing their skills. Characters in this system tend to be mostly formed at the time of creation, becoming more skillful in their current set-up, instead of steadily power leveling into godhood. Characters can still gain new skills and powers, of course, but these are ideally given to the players in a story-relevant context.

From Cypher, I crib the idea of building characters based on a descriptive system. Cypher uses the phrase, “I am an adjective noun who verbs.” The Adjective, Noun, and Verb each lend not only flavor to the character, but also determines which skills they possess. Likewise, leveling up in these skills grants characters access to all abilities within that level, though this is also usually just a handful per aspect.

I like this concept as it is a more flavorful way of doing a Class/Race system and helping keep some level of focus on the character type. You can allow for a wide variety of mix-and-match concepts that don’t have to be restricted to a certain alignment, and at the same time, better customize the archetypes you are using to a given world.

CHARACTER SHEET

BASIC STATS

Might: 0

Athletics: 0

Wits: 0

Spirit: 0

-

Health Points: 0

Magic Points: 0

Movement: 1

Combat Rank: 12

ATTRIBUTES

Type ___ / Level ___

Skill ___ / Level ___

Power ___ / Level ___