For the past couple of odd weekends, or about two months, I have been running a quick and easy game called: RECON.
RECON has a lot of benefits to it; it's quick to learn and easy to play and character creation can be summed up onto 1 page, with an accompanying 15-20 pages of skills.
I did a lot to make the game run smoother; I made cheat sheets for myself, totally re-worked weapon stats and produced character creation and skill list handouts. As RECON has some skills work TOTALLY different from others, multiple copies are essential.
The result is that my neat little 4-man team is ready for the big leagues and transfer out of the 26th "Americal" Division to a more elite outfit as part of a trade by their boss.
But why i am writing is to talk about a neat aspect of the skill and attribute mechanics.
RECON is a percentile-based system (my preference) and both attributes (there are only 3) and skills are determined by rolling a D100 of any form (most role-playing is actually directed by your chosen aligment, not your stats).
The crux of the matter is that this means you can roll a starting character with a 100 or a 01 in something.
Now in attributes, if your character rolls any one stat below a 30 or has a sum total of all three stats adding up to 100 or less; you can *Choose* to roll a new character. I allowed re-rolls of individual stats before 30 or you can keep them.
This results in Characters who can begin play as immensely capable, but adds a safety net to prevent everything but a sort of incompetence-by-choice. I actually get why someone would keep a 4-F character, as one of my NPCs naturally rolled up 100s in two stats.
Then he rolled a 01 for airborne.
Oh yes. No safety net for jumping from planes.
Skills are determined the same way. Except for a few that you either have or don't (like suppressors) or that are determined by your stats, most skills have a minimum competancy; meaning if you roll below that, then you get bumped up to that level. Say it's 35 and you roll a 28? Bump it to a 35.
Improvement of stats and skills is both possible and reasonable. Some skills even have a familiarity mechanic; such as with firearms: where you have a fixed base-skill and your upgrades only kick into a specific model of some type of firearm you are familiar with. So Billy Jack rolled a 63 in Assault Rifle; he has a 63 with all unfamiliar assault rifles. He has three ranks (5% each improvments) in M16 and One in AK-47. So his skill with an M16 is a culmative 78, but drops to 68 with that AK he picked up escaping from the VC prison camp. But, he's Billy Jack; so he has great unarmed.
I have gradually come to the realization that this might be an excellant mechanic upon which to base a battletech RPG.
Now, previously; I have made and run a simplified version of MechWarrior 1st Edition I called MW:EZ, but it suffered from much the same handicap many RPGs do, especially ones which are attached to fluff universes; the game rarely matches the experience as advertised in the fiction.
"Advertised in the fiction?" You say. "But the fiction is not intended as an accurate advertisement for gameplay."
Then, IMHO; you need to adjust one of those things. I know, I know; we have this whole Art > Fluff > Rules thing. Well I have my issues with that; I think that the rules should be informed by the fluff and the art because the background works in-practice as a kind of long-sell ad for the game itself. How do this affect BT RPGs? I was struck how at least as far back as MW3E, it was possible to easily generate characters (and easier with NPCs) who would have no trouble moving in the rarefied circles the novels presented; minor and major nobles and the like. This gave the PCs the capacity to influence events on the strategic scale with their actions and I have known many players for whom the maximum level of influence onthe highest levels of the world they play in is their goal. MW3E, at the least delivered this and maybe it was more accessible in MW2E, as well. I found in MW1E, that the rules were there, but it actually made more sense to play and try and gain landholdings and get into the upper classes that way, than do it in character creation.
What they didn't deliver was the staple of the fluff; reasonably to highly-competant characters right out of the CC process. I found that any characters would need A LOT of work and experience before they compared with even a Rando Cardrissian from the novels. Starting skill caps were tough to meet and even attempting to create a character with the kind of range of skills a MechWarrior would need to have outside the cockpit rapidly resulting in some falling-down-stupid character builds which were either marginal in a few key disciplines, but couldn't be trusted with the simplest tasks outside of their assigned combat role or useless jacks-of-no-trades with a wider range, but no depth in any given skill.
Now, looking back to RECON; I see a lot of paralelles to what the Fluff promised and a lot of what I want to see right out of the gate.
First of all; a quick to learn, easy to play system where a new guy dropping in to try it out is not buffaloed by the daunting prospect of either the mechanics or CC.
Secondly; rolling for attributes and skills and providing a minimum threshold easily provides characters who are naturally great in certain, fundamental ways. The costly buy-off and complex mechanics of the natural apptitude and improved attribute traits are eliminated. Now the trope of the character who really is naturally good at something right out of the gate is in reach.
Thirdly; the awkward connection between attributes and stats is gone. Since you don't invest in one attribute at the cost of another; no-one is cutting their throat with the skills later. In RECON; the "GOD ATTRIBUTE" is strength, where in high-RP games it is normally Intelligence or Charisma and in most shooting games it is Agility. RECON has strength play into a wide variety of secondary, derived stats; including your health, speed (oddly) and carrying capacity. I never liked games where you needed; for instance a high charisma to intimidate people.
Fourth, and something dearly missing from the game is a mechanic like RECON uses for weapons, applied to Mechs. I think it makes sense that a MechWarrior would be used to or have a preference for a given ride. I loved that in MW3E where they broke piloting into bipeds and quads.
Fifth and for the meat of a real RPG: Combat. Combat's basic mechanic in RECON is easy to work with; it hits the right balance between sufficiently deadly to be meaningful (especially because of how injuries handicap you), reasonable enough to keep any player from feeling futile in a firefight and with enough slack for a player to learn a lesson, without loosing a character from it.
But, and to be very clear here; this would TOTALLY change the BT: RPG experience. You could easily wind up with a Character who is very, very good at something (Like firing a 'Mech's weapons) right out of the gate. It stretches probability to imagine someone making a character as good a pilot *and* gunner as Kai was at his best right out of the gate, but you could always wind up with someone nearly as good in one of those things right of the bat.
A lot of what we're used to in a BT: RPG is unnecessary or counterproductive here; no need to manage age so closely for instance. You can handily make a character who is an old pirate right off the bat as easily as an 18-year old hayseed fresh of the AgroMech. A lot of what we are used to having rules for would be reduced to roleplaying.
I'm interested to hear what people think.
Thanks for your time.
