Weapons and Armor (Again)

After sleeping on yesterday's post, I find that I don't think I really like the way the Aspect approach changes the game of Five By Five. What I really want is a way to make the different categories of weapons and armor equally viable options, without really changing anything else.

 

 

Here is an idea that replaces the default descriptions for each category of weapon and armor without changing Five By Five's base rules too much. It doesn't add new Aspects or increase the complexity of character creation. It does add "counter attacks" to combat, but that might be a good thing. (By default Five By Five combat is really basic.)

Weapon Options:

Light Weapons

• Weapon Bonus +1
• Penetrating (Armor Bonus of target is always 0)

Medium Weapons

• Weapon Bonus +3

Heavy Weapons

• Weapon Bonus +1
• Deadly (roll H5 for damage twice and keep the better roll)
• Two-Handed (cannot equip an off-hand weapon or shield)
  
  

Off-Hand Options:

Off-Hand Weapon

• Dual Wield (if initial attack roll is doubles, make a free attack using off-hand weapon)

Off-Hand Shield

• Parry (gain an additional Dodge roll each round)
  
  

Armor Options:

Light Armor

• Armor Bonus +0
• Improved Counter Attack (free attack following any successful Dodge roll*)

Medium Armor

• Armor Bonus +2
• Counter Attack (free attack if Dodge roll is doubles*)
  

Heavy Armor

• Armor Bonus +4
• Diminished Counter Attack (free attack if Dodge roll is double zeroes (box cars)*)
  

*A counter attack is a free attack taken during the enemy turn that must target the enemy who triggered the dodge roll.

Close Vs. Distant Targets

By default a weapon is assumed to be designed for close combat. In order to target enemies at a distance, a weapon or attack must be Ranged.

Ranged Weapons

A weapon with the Ranged keyword can target both close targets as well as distant targets, but when used against a close target the attack suffers a -2 rank shift penalty to the trait used to make the attack.

Why Use These Rules?

These weapon and armor descriptions include new combat options that make every type of weapon or armor a viable choice. Players just choose which type of weapon (light, medium, or heavy) and which type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) that their character has equipped during character creation and each choice carries with it different strengths and weaknesses.

  

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FIVE BY FIVE OG (2024) OPTIONAL RULE: WEAPONS AND ARMOR AS ASPECTS

The weapons and armor listed on page 13 of the Five By Five core rules don't include pricing or guidance with regard to their distribution. The examples were included so that a GM could substitute these values when using an established setting. Such settings usually contain lists of weapons and armor and provide relative pricing.

 

This approach is fine in the hands of an experienced GM and if the game being played is patterned after popular fantasy RPGs. However, this accumulation of gear is generally a trope exclusive to those settings. Five by Five is meant to be more freeform. Below is a method for assigning Weapons and Armor values that is better suited to the spirit of Five by Five.

COMBAT STYLE

Using this method every player starts with a Weapon Value and Armor Value that is equal to their Level. Then, each player chooses from one of three combat styles:

• Barbarian - Your character's style focuses on dealing damage. +2 Weapon Value

• Knight - Your character's style focuses on resisting damage. +2 Armor Value

• Adventurer - Your character's style favors a balanced approach. +1 Weapon Value, +1 Armor Value

SIGNATURE WEAPON

Players should choose a signature weapon. This is the weapon that your character is always assumed to carry with them into combat. All signature weapons have two keywords.

• MELEE OR RANGED

Weapons with the MELEE keyword have no special bonus or penalty, but they are limited in the narrative to melee targets.

Weapons with the RANGED keyword suffer a -1 to Weapon Value but can be used without restriction in both melee combat and ranged combat.

• LIGHT OR HEAVY

LIGHT weapons allow the player to either use a defensive weapon or shield in their off-hand, (page 13 of the Five By Five core rules) or grant a +1 bonus the player's Armor Value. To represent this choice the player should record either: "Light: Extra Dodge" or "Light: +1 AV" on their character sheet. (If the player chooses the "Extra Dodge" option they should describe their off-hand weapon or shield along with their signature weapon.)

HEAVY Weapons provide an additional +1 to the Player's Weapon Value.

With these rules, weapons and armor are defined as "Aspects" (page 10 of the Five By Five core rules) of each character and will level up as the character grows in experience just like any other Aspect.

WHY USE THESE RULES?

While these optional rules may be less desirable in a traditional high fantasy "treasure for treasure's sake" sort of campaign, these rules work much better in science fiction and superhero themed games. (In a superhero themed game consider changing SIGNATURE WEAPON to SIGNATURE ATTACK to better represent the inherent nature of super-powered attacks.)

What do you think of these optional rules for the OG (2024) version of Five By Five? Have you read Five By Five? You can download it here.

  

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What IP Would You Make Into An RPG

I know of two relatively obscure Science Fiction IP's that are becoming RPGs, and I love it. 

I can get lost in the fervor of anti-Hasbro sentiment as I lament the stranglehold that D&D has on the RPG industry, and I forget sometimes just how diverse and healthy this hobby is. 

Besides, if Elon Musk is going to jump on the Hasbro hate bandwagon, then I need to reconsider the messages that I'm sending here.*

The most important message is that I love RPGs, and if the market can offer us two super niche fandom driven projects as top tier professionally produced tabletop RPGs within a few months of each other, then I think my hobby is doing something right.

The two new Sci-Fi RPG products based on unlikely intellectual properties that I currently have my eye on are: the Space 1999 RPG from Modiphius Entertainment, and the Phantasy Star RPG from Skydawn Game Studios. 

The new Phantasy Star RPG is based on another sci-fi RPG called ESPer Genesis which is itself based on 5th Edition D&D. So, if you are looking for a scifi RPG with familiar mechanics, this one looks like a winner. 

The game is available for pre-order and based on what I've been able to find out, it's based more on the original 4 Sega Phantasy Star video games and only incorporates a little from the latter Phantasy Star Online. 

My experience with the Phantasy Star universe is from Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II for the GameCube. I loved the game and played for many hours. 

Although, I have never played the earlier video games that this upcoming RPG is based on, I'm super excited to give this new tabletop game a try. 

Space 1999 was a Sci-Fi TV series from the 70's that sadly only lasted 2 seasons. The series was by Gerry Anderson who is best known for puppet animated adventure shows like the Thunderbirds. 

Original episodes of Space 1999 can be streamed on Peacock. I've been watching them. Some episodes are pretty good. Some not so much. 

This one is being published by Modiphius and uses their "house system" 2d20. I like the idea of Moonbase Alpha careening through space as a setting for an RPG. I'm pretty excited about this one. Clearly, the game's designer is too. 

I watched some interviews with the designers of both the Phantasy Star and the Space 1999 RPGs, and it's very clear that these are passion projects that would never exist without the love and determination of these creators. 

What about you? Is there some obscure book, movie or television show that you think would make a great RPG?  For me, the proof can be found right here in my blog. 

Prometheus Blade is inspired by the Highlander TV series, and I wrote my own Phantasy Star RPG based on Phantasy Star Online. I'm honestly not sure these are very good, but they are over in my side menu along with all my other RPG offerings if you want to give them a look. 

If I were going to pick a project today, I have already mentioned Godzilla, but I also think the TV series, "The Good Place" would make a really interesting RPG. 

* Elon Musk shared some hate against Hasbro in a comment to a post condemning the company for (among other things) their publication of inclusivity guidelines in the 2024 D&D Players Handbook. 

But, to be realistic, Elon doesn't care at all about D&D or the RPG hobby. This maneuver creates a bit of controversy and that drives traffic to X (Twitter) which he owns.

Game Design Update

Five by Five is my most played game. I mean that it is the game that I personally get to the table the most often when I want to play one of my games. I'm not sure which games of my design are still being played by the community at large. I have been contacted by various people over the years about certain games. 

Game designer and owner of Grey Gnome Games, Jason Glover once contacted me with kind words about A+ Fantasy. At one time Hi/Lo Heroes had two different fan web pages and Keeton Harrington the owner of 1KM1KT posted it as 1KM1KT's first commercial RPG product. (Sadly, it didn't sell.) Hi/Lo was even translated into French!

Five By Five itself has been reviewed several times. Sadly, it's revision history is a mess. Back in February I decided to go back to the original version of Five By Five and escape the "bloat" of later experimentation with the system. I recreated the OG version of Five By Five with a few minor tweaks in an 8.5" x 5.5" 16 page zine format. It was good, but it wasn't perfect.

One big change to Five By Five that didn't exist in the original version was the removal of "doubles" as part of the roll results matrix. Removing doubles (by making them an exception) cleaned up the array of possible roll results, smoothing out the number ranges and the probability of specific roll results. I have decided to implement that change into the recent "OG Zine" edition of Five By Five.

 

The OG version of Five By Five now establishes all trait values as even numbers in increments of 2. This makes applying modifiers to the Traits to move probability up or down super easy. That's important as I want the game to be scalable, something that I am leveraging in the Five By Five "Monsters" book that I am currently working on. Other than changing a bit of the math, the game is the same as the original version, which is how I want it.

One major weakness apparent in Five By Five and in probably all of the games that I have worked on is the absence of GM advice. My games are more "Players' Guides" than core rules. It's because I write what I need to write to allow my players to make characters and understand the game mechanics, and I do everything else myself based on experience and instinct. I know what I want, so I have never bothered to write it down.

With that in mind, I plan to make the upcoming Monsters book a sort of GM's guide for Five By Five. It's going to be presented in the same zine format as the current OG core book and both will be available here in my side menu for free. 

I also plan to create a page on itch.io. I'd like to expand my visibility in the free RPG community at large. It's been awhile since I have been active. I think both 10 Cubed and Little Colony are good offerings that might appeal to others out there, but I don't think anyone will ever see them if things remain the way they are now.

  

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Duel Blade

Recently, I was contacted by someone about my RPG Duel Blade. I wrote Duel Blade back in 2007 after reading a review of a fighting game for the original Playstation called Bushido Blade. The review talked about Bushido Blade's "Body Damage System" which sounded very interesting to me, and I tried to create an RPG based on the idea, even though I had never actually played the video game.

 

 

The person who contacted me wanted permission to release his own version of Duel Blade which I very happily gave. Many of my works were produced before Creative Commons was a thing, but I consider everything that I write to be Creative Commons - Attribution - Share Alike. Just give me credit and don't be stingy with the stuff you make based on what I make. That's all I want. (I've added a note to that effect at the top of my blog page.)

I looked back at Duel Blade for the first time in years. It's not bad, but there's also not a lot to it. I did use it as the basis for Prometheus Blade, Powers Brawl, and Xceptional. So, I must have thought there was something to it back in the day. Looking now, I am actually pretty interested in revisiting the system especially how it manifested in Powers Brawl.

There are some clunky bits that need to be filed down, but I think that may be worth doing, and I enjoy having a project to work on. The person who contacted me also mentioned that they were very happy that they still had their PDF of Duel Blade. This made me aware that I wasn't offering a link to the game in my side-menu.

I had Prometheus Blade and Powers Brawl in the side-menu, so I just assumed that the lesser Duel Blade wasn't needed. My recent experience with Bigfoot should have taught me better. (Recent ... Heh. Back in February.) The point is: sometimes an improvement isn't an improvement, and I never know what bit of my work might appeal to someone. So, I have decided to make sure that all of my various works are available all of the time.

If you glance over at the side-menu on the right, everything is there now. I'm not sure how to get at this if you are on your phone. The menu doesn't seem to be accessible from the mobile version of the blog page. (But, you can choose "web version" in your browser to see it.) I consider some of these good, and some not so good, and sometimes I surprise myself when I look back at an idea that was forgotten -- like Duel Blade.

Who knows, maybe you'll find an interesting idea for your next RPG among my many experiments? I have certainly shared more than a few wacky ideas over the years.

  

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