Way back in college I had a copy of the first Mechanoid Invasion book. I tried to run it but it was pretty fatal to characters. I recently bought the reprint and may even try to run a game sometime this year for that. And it will still be pretty fatal for the characters I believe...
Characters have 8 stats rolled by 3d6. and Kevin Siembieda plays the way I like to play: straight as rolled an in order. Though like most of the time I allow one extra roll to be used wherever you like. Though if you roll lower than the other rolls, then fate has spoken.
IQ 10. Simply indicates the intelligence the character has. Which can be a very loaded term - what sort of intelligence as there are all sorts of intelligences that we humans have.
ME 10 Mental endurance indicates how much mental and emotional stress the character can take before succumbing to madness.
MA 12 Mental affinity is the character's magnetism or charisma. Ris as that is apparently a word now. The sign of a natural leader.
PS 9 Physical strength. The raw physical strength of the character.
PP 15 Physical prowess is the manual dexterity and agility of the character.
PE 16 Physical endurance. The strength of the character's physical constitution and resistance to fatigue, disease and poison.
PB 12 Physical beauty. The physical attractiveness of the character. Hmm, another loaded term and relative to so many things!
Spd 14 Speed, how fast the character is strictly in terms of running the mile. PP (physical prowess) is how fast they are with weapons and the like.
Hit points are the PE, with 1d6 added per level. 16 HP. Armor and vehicles are damage soakers and have S.D.C., structural damage capacity,
I did not roll any 17 or 18s, so no bonuses. They do have a height and weight table, so rolling on that I get a 1.95m tall person weighing 86.18kg (almost 6'4" and 190 pounds. So a tall, relatively thing person, and rolling my traditional roll, a woman).
Next is what does our character do? There are 7 OCC (Occupational Character Classes) to choose from, along with an optional one, the native Rovers. OCCs have skills, and the player picks the percentages. Looking at her stats, she can pick just about any of those roles. Seeing as I like flying characters, I choose P.A.V.M. - Pilot Air Vehicle Mechanic. Yes, the book is almost ALL acronyms!
At level 1, Marissa Key, has for her major area of expertise:
- P.A.V. 46% general familiarity with all air vehicles and the likelihood of comprehending their operations. It also indicates the probability of executing complex maneuvers successfully.
- R.A.V. 30% of repairing air vehicles
- O.R.C.E. 25% to operate and repair communications equipment, This does NOT include sensory equipment such as radar.
- W.P. Handgun Lvl 9 - weapon proficiency with a handgun giving her an 88% chance to hit with a +3 to hit bonus. I'll have to read on how the bonus interplays with the percentage. Ahh - the hit is based on the regular armor class, so that is where the +3 comes from. The 88% is the chance of using any handgun. Similar to Traveller's later systems of skills.
- Medical Lvl 6 40% for simple field combat first aid
- P.G.V. Lvl 3 40% piloting ground vehicles
- Repair Electronics Lvl 3 35% to repair all electronic equipment, including radar.
 |
| https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ZkO38 |
 |
| and clothing for any occasion! |
The story of the Mechanoid Invasion‚® is a tragic one that spans the galaxy and generations of people. The Mechanoid Invasion‚® starts on a distant planet being colonized by humans, until the Mechanoids arrive. The seemingly alien mechanized monsters intend to strip the planet of all its resources and literally carve it up into pieces and haul it away. The loss of human lives mean nothing to them. Indeed, the Mechanoids seem to delight in capturing, torturing and slaughtering what humans they can find. Can nothing stop the destruction?
Marissa is a captain of the small military forces, happily flying her Hover Jet Fighter to mostly transport passengers and high value cargo between the various colonies. Carrying her IB-10 sidearm when her craft was shot down by a Wasp, she managed a few shots against the fearsome target before ejecting from the failing craft. She got back to the colony to find it in ruins, and has been fighting ever since.
Tall and somewhat gangly, her red hair is usually in a ponytail. An expert shot with handguns, she smiles a lot but talks very little. Few know much about her past as she rarely talks about that, but she has had a few light romantic attachments while being stationed at the colony. She loves slow-burn practical jokes. She managed to let the major believe she was an Esper by her friendship with his aid, who kept her well-supplied in various things about the man.
I also found this site that links to a form-fillable character sheet. Which is what is showing below. Until I filled that out, I had not realized that the humans AC is pretty bad: cloth armor is an AC of 2 meaning that they only get missed if a 1 or 2 is rolled. Most games have base humans at 50% chance or so (AC 10 on the ascending scale). Sadly that is where the light battle armor (LBA) starts and that is only available to those in that service. Think that is why it was pretty fatal: regular people could not be missed when shot at.
And thinking the Iroquois from 0-Hr may be a good hover jet!
No comments:
Post a Comment