Rockets Away!

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Welcome back! This time around we are going to look at one of the most difficult parts of the adaptation process, namely those technological wonders that put the science in sci-fi. I know vehicles was supposed to be next, but before we could get into rocket ships and armored cars we should look at technology in general. We wanted to make technology, even the weird science-fantasy technology of the Rocket Age, fit into a system that was designed for sword and sorcery. On the surface this would not be a great idea, I certainly played many d20 boom era games where the technology of a setting was poorly shoehorned into the system. Adding to this, one of our design parameters was that everything in Rocket Age 5e be broadly compatible with the wider range of 5e products. This meant we had to keep the bizarre mix of deflection, dexterity, and toughness that is armor class. We had to keep hit points as is, no wound ranks or stamina points, or any of those other options. Those parameters limit how much you can do to simulate something more advanced than a sword and bow.

Given that, we just jumped in and started coming up with stats and started using RAY guns and hand grenades in our regular Dungeons and Dragons games. This may not have been the most scientific method, but it gave us some useful data right off the bat while more nuanced rules were being developed. One of the things we learned was that developing new damage types was not a great idea. All too often a creature was defeated far too easily because they had immunities or vulnerabilities that were now meaningless. If the only creatures with some sort of defense against our new weapons were those we developed than the goal of broad compatibility was lost.

One of the issues was the amount of damage weapons do. There is this idea in the mind of the gaming zeitgeist that a bullet is automatically more lethal than a sword. Then again, 5e treats some weapons as more lethal than others for reasons that seem rather arbitrary. Being stabbed with a knife does less damage than a sword, assuming all other things being equal and the dice come up where they are expected to. However, the amount of damage a weapon does to living tissue depends a lot more on the force behind the weapon than the length of the blade. The same goes for bullets, muzzle velocity, the shape of the bullet, its mass, and so forth. Of course the part of the body struck is the major factor, which is based on skill and luck. Honestly, lots of luck.

Why then do the damage ratings of various weapons range from 1d4 to 2d6? Could there be something else at work here rather than sheer simulation of putting three feet of steel into another living creature (or construct, we won't judge)? Of course there is, the damage ratings in 5e are based more on game balance and coolness factor than anything else. Two-handed swords are cool looking and thus do a lot more damage, plus they are restricted to certain classes. Daggers are open to anyone to use and thus do very little damage. Yes, a good strike from a two-handed sword will inflict a horrible looking wound, but that's just as lethal as a shiv in the kidney.

This leaves us with what to do about the damage ratings of our firearms, RAY guns, and disintegrators. While performing long and intricate tests, conducting extensive research, and using the resulting data to determine these would be fun and result in the invention of beam weapons, it was sadly not within our budget. Plus, we would have had to rewrite the already abstract weapons from other 5e sources. Kind of breaks down the whole broadly compatible thing, doesn't it?

Instead we started by looking at the damage ratings, and even the ranges, of the medieval weapons already part of 5e. We know these stats work, so it was a small matter adapting different technology to the rules that we had. A long sword and a handcannon (a very large pistol in Rocket Age) do about the same amount of damage, though the handcannon has a longer range and no option to wield it two handed, though you probably should in order to avoid breaking your wrist. Naturally the ranges of firearms and beam weapons are greater than bows or crossbows, which means Rocket Age 5e encounters can take place at longer ranges (though they rarely seem to). Honestly, the close confines of an Ancient Martian ruin or in the corridors of a rocket ship negate most of the advantage of range.

There are still simple and martial weapon categories, no need to invent firearms or beam weapon proficiencies. First, if we invented new categories for weapons proficiencies we would be straying from some of the core assumptions of 5e, not to mention making it difficult for people to bring our classes, species, and backgrounds into other settings. Then there is the issue of what the proficiency classes already cover. Simple weapons proficiency gives you skill at shooting a bow and wielding a spear. Having done both, I can tell you they are very different skills. Thus, why would shooting a RAY pistol and wielding a Venusian speaker's staff be all that different? Character classes that have broader weapons proficiencies gain these in lieu of special powers that other classes have. Martial weapons proficiency should make your character more effective in combat, the weapons you have access to should reflect this. The Soldier should be a better combatant than the scientist, though the scientist might choose class features that make her effective in certain situations or to a limited extent.

Armor was another issue. In Vortex powered Rocket Age armor subtracts from damage taken, and is fairly rare. Getting out of the way of RAY beams is the main defense. In 5e armor is fairly common, most classes have access to at least a leather jerkin or coat. We wanted to carry that over into the Rocket Age 5e adaptation. It would have been easy to develop some form of system that made dodging more valuable, but such would make any Rocket Age 5e character markedly different from other 5e characters, and would carry over into the design of villains, alien beasts, and other foes. Broadly compatible is a design goal. Towards this end we added more types of armor, especially lighter armor, and ignored the ability of certain weapons to penetrate armor. If there is no difference between a broad head and a bodkin on the end of an arrow we see no reason to differentiate between a bullet and an arrow. The system does not have that level of granularity and we saw no reason to add it.

We did add new weapon and armor properties. This is where the distinctiveness of the tech in comes out. Some were obvious translations from one system to another; Vortex makes much use of equipment special traits and we kept the names and mostly the effects. Some, such as the psychic trait had to be heavily reworked in order to make the fluff fit the mechanics. Others such as Extra-fingers (Europans have seven fingers and two thumbs per hand and their equipment reflects this) were relatively easy to adapt. In Vortex, beam weapons are more difficult to dodge, but we decided to drop this in 5e as it made beam weapons far too overpowered. We tried it, but it didn't work.

One of the most difficult mechanics to develop were how to handle explosives and weapons with high rates of fire. Explosives and other area effect weapons (flamethrowers and some beam weapons) have a set AOE. All creatures in that AOE must make a Dexterity save (for half damage) with a DC equal to 8 + the wielder's proficiency bonus + the wielder's Dexterity modifier. We went with this formula, which should look familiar as it is the standard 5e formula for resisting spells. It allows the attacker to have some control over their attack (much as someone shooting a bow can increase their Dex or level) yet give some dramatic moments as people dive out of the way. Not terribly granular, but it fits the design themes of 5e and plays very well.

Technology is more than just the ability to hurt things or avoid being hurt. Technology in Rocket Age is undergoing a major revolution. The base is the real world technology of the 1930's, but with rocket ships and the required secondary technologies to make them work (such as improved computing and materials science). Adding to this are the discoveries made by Earthlings on Mars. Ancient Mars had a highly advanced level of technology; modern Mars operates at a ghost of that height. Earthlings have delved into the ruins of Ancient Mars and looted the treasures found within including technologies that have been reverse engineered. This makes the general technological level highly variable, and the rules have been made to represent this.

Thus you will find a reporter taking pictures with a bulky film camera and flash, taking notes on a refurbished Ancient Martian datapad, and riding a bahmoot across the desert. The story will be sent back to Earth via RADIO transmission at the next rocket port. During his adventures he might find a digital camera in the ruins, or a helmet that grants psychic powers. For armor he might wear a synthetic fiber RADIO suit with built in life support and a short range RADIO with a detachable bubble helmet, or a sturdy leather vest and a hat with a press card shoved in the hatband. When trouble brews he draws his trusty .45, RAY pistol, or that Europan disintegrator he 'liberated'.

One of the longest parts of the equipment chapter is the lists of tools, high-tech items, and general purpose gear. We introduce the concept of charges to track the use of electronic equipment. All such items use a number of charges, often per use or hour. Batteries can be recharged on rocket ships or at rocket ports, but recharging your RAY pistol or RADIO in the jungles of Venus might be a problem. Thankfully there are artifact portable power sources and batteries to help. The charge system is worked into other parts of the mechanics we have developed, such as robomen being able to act as mobile recharging ports (and needing charges themselves to stay in peak condition) and psychics having access to powers that let them recharge devices.

We also added psychic crystals to the setting, or more accurately, enhanced their role and capabilities. Since psychic powers are a bigger part of Rocket Age 5e than Rocket Age Vortex we felt some psychic equipment would be in order. These crystals act as batteries for psychic energy, but also have a broad range of uses. In design the psychic crystals act somewhat like cantrips in 5e, minor supernatural effects that are highly repeatable.

Although they will be covered in a later column, a major part of the technology of Rocket Age are the wondrous items found in ancient ruins. These might be on Venus, Mars, or Earth's moon, and come from extinct Erisian, Martain, or Lunarian cultures. Some artifacts are so common that they are available in refurbished forms on the open market (i.e. in the tables of equipment you can purchase). Others are so rare or poorly understood that they require sharp minds and a bit of luck to figure out. These later are Artifacts and have their own set of rules to examine and analyze. In short you need to figure out how to use them, and if you roll well enough you can discover additional features.

Money is not an issue in the Vortex system. Character equipment is a rather vague, "reasonable to own", or with the most iconic (and thus the most powerful) pieces of equipment you permanently spend Story Points to purchase them, essentially moving some of your character's narrative control from them to their equipment, and thus limiting how you use Story Points. 5e uses gold pieces and has a full formed monetary system. We went with the easy route; everything costs dollars (the United States is the major nation of the setting). This required some fiddling and a bit of research into historical prices. Wecould have gone with an abstract wealth level system, wealth checks, and such, but those tend to be fiddly and overly complex. A simple one is possible, but it just adds another layer to play that can be easily replaced with cold hard currency.

Next time we will look at the most difficult part of this design, the vehicular and space combat system.

Rocket Age in the Vortex system is available from Drive-Thru RPG, and from our website Why Not Games, as well as your friendly local game store. We are looking for playtesters for Rocket Age (5e), drop me a line at ken@whynotgames.com.