Character March 2025: Lethal Companions

Time to get spooky with my final 200-word game made as part of the 2023 monthly challenge!

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

Lethal Companions

Hide-behind is a deadly monster and certainly not a rip-off of the brackern. Its specialty is being subtle and killing fast. Its skin has a dark shade so that it can hide in the darkness easily, and it has a mixture of canine and feline features. Its stats are as follows:

• Hide d20
• Sway d4
• Kill d12
• Track d8
• Resist d10
• Steal d6

Ratings

3/5 RPG. It has the potential to be something.

3/5 Soup Stone. Plenty of space to develop it, but I think it feels less soup stone-y than most of my other games. I guess because it allows you to generate your facility and gives you the stats that serve as prompts for formulating how your creature works.

2/5 Would I Play. Maybe once or twice for fun, if I had the time and the energy.

2/5 Would I Write. It's based on a franchise I don't own, so I'm not sure if I'd want to. If I did, it would be something with a similar premise but without referencing the video game.

10/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: Rolling with It

I guess I could say I'm on a roll. I'm skipping Watch Your Time because it doesn't even have character creation rules.

On an unrelated note, guess who figured out after 8 years of running a blog how to schedule their posts for the future?

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

Rolling with It

Magister Kyrillos Stauffheimer (don't consider this kind of name canonical for the setting yet) was a respected member of the orb programming community. He was about to present his grandest invention yet to the world, a vehicle that would run on four bowling-ball-sized orbs (or perhaps larger). Things went wrong when he got murdered while programming the wheels, resulting in his consciousness now being trapped inside one of them. Now he has to find out who murdered him while he's stuck in this orb body.

His orb's size is d12, which means he could be fairly strong, but he'd also have a harder time acting and reacting quickly. It also means he has the capacity for 12 units of alcohol, which would allow him to roll around for 48 hours at most, assuming he wouldn't be heating up his surface or creating matter around him. Who knows how far Magister Kyrillos will go... or should I say, roll?

Ratings

4/5 RPG. It has rules for how to play an orb, not much else. That being said, I think it's got potential to work as a TTRPG.

2/5 Soup Stone. At least the game tells you what are the limitations and capabilities of being an orb.

2/5 Would I Play. I feel more drawn to this than to most of my 200-word TTRPG experiments. That being said, I have games I wrote that I'd prefer a lot more.

5/5 Would I Write. For now, this is one of those ideas waiting in my brain cabinet to be uncovered when the need for it arises. Until then, I don't really feel a need to work on it.

13/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: Bars on Mars

It's that time of day again. Let's go to Mars and see what's up there. Since this would require another coplayer to give downsides to my narc and weaknesses to the alien species, I'll just do that myself.

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

Bars on Mars

Miles Kite is a drug salesman in the Mars colony Redhill, populated by the aliens and humans alike. He's a human. He sells drugs out of necessity. His Number (the only stat in the game) is 7 because he's quite cautious and speedy and not that good at selling his drugs or lying. His weapon of choice is a pocket pistol, and the one thing that he loves the most in the world (other than money, of course) is his copy of the extended cut trilogy of The Lord of the Wings movies. An epic fantasy tale that he loves to experience time and time again, each time under the influence of a different drug. He starts with 19 megacredits.

The narcs he specializes in are IS10B and some other narc that would be described by another player. Since I get to describe this one, let's just say it's a chemical compound that makes you "high as ten bees", which is why it's got that name. Its primary downside is that it will make your sight blurry for a time.

Ratings

5/5 RPG. It's a bit of a stretch, but you know what? It feels like a TTRPG more than my other 200-worders so far, or even when compared to some of my one-pagers.

2/5 Soup Stone. At least this game gives you decent starting points for what to make.

1/5 Would I Play. If I feel like it, I might give it a go.

0/5 Would I Write. I'm rather uninterested in the project. It was made as part of a challenge, it is what it is.

8/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: Intercosmic Bonds

This one would be way more interesting with other players. I'll see what I can do on my own.

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

Intercosmic Bonds

Flora Watt has the fastest reaction time you've ever seen. You toss a tennis ball her way, and she can catch it. You try to shoot her, and she could likely dodge it. You ask her something, and she'll speak before her answer is completely ready.

The world Flora is tied to intrinsically is the Wild West. Many cowboys and cowgirls wander this world seeking fame, justice, riches, or entertainment.

As for what her stats would be like, it's hard to tell. Other than the Reaction Speed, the remaining stats would depend on what other players would come up with. I know that Flora would have 

Ratings

4/5 RPG. It certainly feels like a TTRPG to me.

2/5 Soup Stone. You'll have to make up a lot of stuff to make this work. There are very few mechanics, but that's all part of the 200-word format, I suppose.

1/5 Would I Play. Maybe one day.

1/5 Would I Write. Unmotivated to do so.

8/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: The Heaviest Metal

Not sure if this one gets to be posted, but I'll do it anyway. Despite the fact it's less about the pilot and more about the preparation for his next tournament.

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

The Heaviest Metal

Lotta Pi is getting ready for the next tournament by fixing her mech, E.14.

• (2) At first, she goes through a breakdown. Her machine is not at all ready, and finding spare parts for it is hard.
• (5) But then she finds a secret, some kind of device that should aid her in the tournament.
• (4) Upon doing some more research, she learns that this device is a secret government experiment meant for the protection of the Earth. It's damaged, obviously, they wanted to get rid of it, but why? And why is it abandoned in the junkyard, though?
• (6) She overhears an explosion; someone else is having bad luck preparing their mech. (At this point, I would twist another player's cube twice.)
• (4) She learns that the device was in the junkyard on purpose. Someone was meant to find it.
• (2) Someone comes looking for the device, giving Lotta a hard time.
• (1) On the next day though, she finds something that could fit the secret invention into her mech.
• (1) A friend of hers gives up on the tournament participation this time, and offers her an arm of his own mech suit. She gladly accepts it.
• (1) Her father sees the determination she has for this tournament, so he chips in too with some finances. Just what she needed.
• (6) A strong competitor of hers has an accident. (Twist another player's cube twice again).
• (1) Lotta receives a mysterious gift. Yet more parts that she needed
• (3) She finds out that all competitors received mysterious gifts. How strange.
• (4) There's a secret saboteur among the competitors looking for parts, trying to make people hate each other.
• (4) After some time spent searching, the pilots have identified the mole, a government agent who was meant to disrupt this tournament from ever happening.
• (4) The secret plan that the government has for these competitors is to give them deadly parts that they could use to actually kill each other so that the tournament doesn't happen.
• (6) I guess it worked on someone. Their mech went boom.
• (3) ... unless it was an accident?
• (3) Lotta finds love, I guess? Love in the junkyard.
• (1) With the help of her partner, she gets just the part she needs.
• (1) Her rival tossed away a part that he couldn't fit into his machine, so Lotta snatched it for her own.
• (1) And then she found another one of those government experiments. How strange.
• (9) To her shock, combining the force of two of these devices leads to exponential growth in destructive force. The time is up, though. The tournament day has come.

That was more tiring than it looked. But hey, now we know that Lotta has a couple of friends, rivals, a supportive father, and even a romantic partner.

Ratings

4/5 RPG. I'll be a bit more lenient; at least there's something to roleplay here.

1/5 Soup Stone. Here are the rules for how the mechs can fight. As for anything else, including everything I said in the previous section, I had to make that up myself. I was getting quite tired of it, honestly, since the only prompts I had to work with were Another Man's Treasure, Secret, Explosion, Breakdown, and Revelation.

1/5 Would I Play. I don't feel the draw to do it. Maybe as an experiment one time.

2/5 Would I Write. It's got potential. It would certainly benefit from a bunch of roll tables or more things to use.

8/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: Hacks of One Trade

Another short system is coming right up. I'll aim to make this one short.

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

Hacks of One Trade

Benedict Tryce is one of a group of tailors. Whenever someone needs an article of clothing done from scratch as quickly as possible, these guys will have your back, provided they're not already working on something that day. Mr. Tryce is a brisk worker, which allows him to add +1 to any increases of Progress. That's how they can get their work done so quickly. Their goal is to become the best tailor troupe in town and the most stylish one day, too.

Ratings

1/5 RPG. Like most of my 200-word experiments, this one is more of a system test than a roleplaying game with options outside of a minigame.

1/5 Soup Stone. Crafting is done, but what about the rest of it?

1/5 Would I Play. Maybe? I'm not particularly motivated to play it, seeing how it's just a crafting minigame with some player options slapped on. But if I actually needed it, it's nice to have this system around.

1/5 Would I Write. For now, this is one of those ideas waiting in my brain cabinet to be uncovered when the need for it arises. Until then, I don't really feel a need to work on it.

4/20 Total Rating

Characters March 2025: Play It by Cheer!

Those of you who know where to see my releases might be wondering why I skipped Gon' Click. Well, in retrospect, you can't really make a character for that game. Sure, I could write up a description and all that, but at the end of the day, there's no mechanical substance that would make them different from other characters. This might complicate my challenge a little, seeing how I have roughly 30 TTRPGs out there, and not all of them might include some character creation rules. I'll worry about resolving that at the end of the month.

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

Play It by Cheer!

Scarlet Matters is a guitarist in the girl pop band called Peak Chic and the Babes. Let's first talk about her qualities and what they represent.

• Tempo 13. She can act really fast, but she has a hard time being careful.
• Intensity 12. She can be quite forceful and loud, but she has a hard time being subtle or unseen.
• Authenticity 7. She can raise people's spirits easily, but she has a harder time being empathetic to their troubles.
• Creativity 6. Her methods are simple and straightforward instead of unconventional.

She has good relationships with her band members. The keyboard player could be way more creative, the drummer could be even more intense, and the singer could be quite authentic, though all this depends on the other players.

Ratings

2/5 RPG. There was a music band system. It worked, kind of. Not sure if I'd say it was good, or much of an RPG on its own.

1/5 Soup Stone. It doesn't even have a core resolution mechanic written beyond the words "Use common sense". It's been almost two years, and I forgot what I meant - was the core resolution the same as rolling for the musical performance? Perhaps it was. At least the music playing was sorted out already.

0/5 Would I Play. Did you see that dice-rolling mechanic?? Roll d6+d12 and d8+d10, and keep the sum further from 10. That alone feels like it would take forever to get used to, and you'd have to do that a lot.

0/5 Would I Write. I already did. This system has been reworked and included in the Runehack RPG as the Seeker minigame. This was a fine start and an introduction of a cool probability curve I had never thought possible, but at the same time, that dice-rolling mechanic was really impractical, and the Qualities took me some time to fix. Not sure if I'll ever publish the newer music game as a standalone.

3/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: Double the Zombies

Another day, another game to make a character for. This time, it's time to Double the Zombies.

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

Double the Zombies

My character for this game used to be a criminal before the society's collapse. That's why he's got a gun on him, along with ten bullets for it, and a sizeable pocket knife. His final mundane item is his Swiss army knife that he got from his father. His stats would be like this:

• forcefully +3
• subtly +4
• quickly +2
• carefully +1
• boldly +0
• cleverly +0

His goal is to survive. Hopefully, nobody will ever learns about his criminal past, especially once he starts caring about the people around him.

Ratings

4/5 RPG. I haven't played it yet, but I feel like the doubling of zombies gimmick might lead to some fights that would keep dragging on and on. That's why I give it a rating of 4.

1/5 Soup Stone. You'll need to make up the vast majority of stuff for this game to work.

2/5 Would I Play. I could imagine giving it a try one day if I expanded the rules.

1/5 Would I Write. Maybe? But right now I'm not feeling it at all.

8/20 Total Rating