Category Archives: Games

Go Ape, Young Mutant

Wherein your humble scribe presents the original version of an idea he had for using Mutant Future to play Planet of the Apes.

Introducing The Apen

For those looking to add a “Planet of the Apes” feel to Mutant Future, I humbly present a new Character Race, the Apen.

Apen are divided into three distinct sub-races: Chimpanzees, Orangutans and Gorillas. Apen society follows a strict caste system, outlined below:

* Gorillas serve as the military, police, and hunters
* Orangutans serve as the politicians, leaders, and philosophers
* Chimpanzees serve as the scientists and intellectuals

When choosing to play an Apen, players should specify which sub-race their character will be.

The Apen are most like MF’s Pure Human race, in that they have evolved to have an immunity against radiation-based mutations and possess a d8 as their hit die rather than the d6 found in other races. Apen, like their Pure Human counterparts, also receive ability bonuses to offset the edge lost to being mutation-free. These ability bonuses vary by sub-race, as outlined below:

* Gorillas receive +3 to STR, CON, DEX
* Orangutans receive +3 to WIL, CON, CHA
* Chimpanzees receive +3 to INT, CON, DEX

As with Pure Humans, all modified attributes may be elevated to 21 except for CON, which is capped at 18.

Apen and mutants don’t get along terribly well (+3/+3/+3 for all mutant types on the Charisma & Racial Modified table) and are often suspicious of and cool towards Pure Humans (+2/+2/+2 to Pure Humans on same table).

Although Apen communities are not typically treasure troves of technological items, they do tend to have a fair number of primitive firearms (rifles and carbines, mostly) at their disposal. Additionally, Gorilla militias and armies are often supplemented with war horses to speed their travel and increase their range.

Apen society is known for its well-definied set of laws that guide their communities. Though the implementation of these may vary – typically the level of tolerance afforded to humans and mutants varies most wildly – the one constant tenet of Apen culture is that “Ape Shall Never Kill Ape.” This law, if broken, will result in harsh punishment for the offending Apen.

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Scaling TriStat dX

Wherein, tired of seeing a blank blog, your humble scribe posts some old work he did back when TriStat dX and Guardians of Order were going concerns. dX is still a pretty tasty little game, though I’m not sure I’d use it for anything these days.

dX Scaled Modifiers

Sometimes it feels like dX doesn’t scale quite right. The combat modifiers all appear to be based on the d10 level of dX, which is great. But if you’re of the opinion that difficulty should be relative and that two gods should have the same relative penalties for hitting one another in total darkness that two bunnies should have, then this is the option for you.

To find the appropriate modifier value for your dX level, simply find the “official” modifier number in the d10 column and read left or right to find the equivalent modifier for the dX type in question.

Example: The official (d10) penalty for attacking the same target with two weapons is -8. If you’re playing a “post-human” (d8) game, you would look at the -8 modifier in the d10 column and read left one column to the d8 column and see that you should be using a -7 modifier instead of -8 to reflect the relative difficulty of the task.

d4 d6 d8 d10 d12 d20
-1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1
-1 -1 -2 -2 -3 -4
-1 -2 -2 -3 -4 -6
-2 -2 -3 -4 -5 -8
-2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -10
-3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -11
-3 -4 -6 -7 -9 -14
-3 -5 -7 -8 -10 -15
-4 -6 -7 -9 -11 -17
-4 -6 -8 -10 -12 -19
-5 -7 -9 -11 -13 -21
-6 -8 -10 -12 -14 -23

Additional Scaling Efforts

To take full advantage of the X factor, consider the following adjustments to flat numbers in the rules. Note that the current flat numbers are effectively determined by applying these options to an X of 10.

  1. Special Attack does 2X damage per level. (2d4 gives 8 damage per level, while 2d12 gives 24 damage per level)
  2. Superstrength and Massive Damage add +X damage per level. (2d6 adds +6 damage per level, while 2d20 adds +20 damage per level)
  3. Armor reduces X damage per level, while Force Field reduces 2X damage per level. (2d8 reduces 8 damage per Armor level, while 2d10 reduces 20 damage per Force Field level)
  4. Toughness adds +2X Health Points per level. (2d4 adds +8 Health Points per level, while 2d12 adds +24 Health Points per level)
  5. Health Points are now calculated with the following formula: (Body + Soul) * 1/2 X.
  6. Energy Points are now calculated with the following formula: (Mind + Soul) * 1/2 X.

Mods 1-3 should be used together to balance out the damage dealt and recieved. Using some, but not all may make the game much more lethal or much less lethal out of proportion.

Mods 4 and 5 should be used together to balance things out. Calculating Health Points using a variable multiplier is up to GM preference, as some GMs do not see a need for recalculating Health Points in order to scale the system. Using Mods 4 and 5 will probably make combat deadlier, which may not be appropriate for some campaigns.

Full dX Graduated Stat Cost

Unlike the original authors of TriStat dX, I feel that each dX level should accept the full range of stat values (from 1 – 2X), so here is my revised Graduated Stat Cost chart for d10 and d12. I have also provided the errata from GoO for the d20 graduated stat cost column.

Example: Purchasing a stat of 19 in a d12 game would cost 48 points (1 each for stat values 1-4, 2 each for stat values 5-9, 3 each for stat values 10-15, and 4 each for values 16-19).

Cost d10 d12 d20
1 1-3 1-4 1-5
2 4-8 5-9 6-11
3 9-13 10-15 12-18
4 14-17 16-20 19-30
5 18-20 21-24 31-40
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