Blackmoor Vituperative

I intend to have very little “setting” information in Bulletproof Blues. I want the base book to be small, inexpensive, and easily read in one sitting. However, to some degree the setting affects how we present the rules. So it’s a balancing act to provide enough setting information so that players understand the context of the game system, but not so much that they are swamped by backstory and discouraged from making the game their own, or perhaps even put off even trying the game at all.

Here is a section from the Introduction chapter which gives a brief introduction to the setting. What do you think? Too much? Too little? Does it spark your interest?

The Kalos Universe

Bulletproof Blues takes place in the world-famous universe of Kalos Comics, creators of Paragon (who first appeared in Amazing Adventure Magazine in 1938), Rook (who first appeared in Tales Of Mystery in 1939), Antiope, Doctor Arcane, and the rest of the Justifiers, as well as sinister organizations like Aegis and GORGON, and mysterious entities like The Bride. From the ancient ruins of Lemuria to the far reaches of the Hausdorff Dimension, the Kalos Universe is now yours to explore.

On the surface, the Kalos Universe closely resembles our own. The outlines of the continents are the same, and the names of the nations that humans have created within those borders are familiar. The names of the leaders are similar, and the organizations used by those leaders to exert power are largely the same as in our world. Much as in our own world, extremes of good and evil exist, but the gulf between them is a murky area where those of good will can and do disagree not only on the means but on the ultimate ends they seek in pursuit of a better world. However, those of good will are in the minority. Most people are morally ambiguous: they want the best for their friends and family, but are ambivalent, at best, about what that may cost others. Those who seek power may start with good intentions, or at least a benign desire for their own betterment, but power swiftly becomes its own reward. The ultimate goal of the powerful is to retain and expand that power.

In the Kalos Universe, much like in our own world, sometimes things don’t work out the way we’d like them to. Life is neither fair nor unfair, and the universe is indifferent to human suffering.

The struggle, then, is to make the best possible world with the tools at our command. Your character has great power. How will they use it?

Posthumans

The first half-dozen posthumans who made their presence widely known appeared during World War 2, as part of the Red Army fighting the invading forces of Nazi Germany. Soon after, similar groups of posthumans appeared, fighting for the Axis in Europe and Africa and for the Allies in Europe and the Pacific.

Today there are fewer than 800 posthumans worldwide. Approximately 200 of these are in North America, roughly 100 of which are in the United States. Posthumans, particularly those who originate in the Americas, have a slightly greater than average tendency to migrate to the United States.

Despite their incredible powers, posthumans have had a subdued effect on world affairs. Posthuman geniuses have made extraordinary scientific and medical discoveries, but these advances have been kept from the public until the powerful have deemed society “ready”. In some cases, a posthuman invention has been reverse engineered so that less powerful versions of the device may be gradually introduced over the course of several decades. This was the case for lasers and nanotechnology, for example. The primary beneficiaries of these scientific breakthroughs have been the governments and corporations who rule the world, and the powerful people who secretly control them.

Similarly, at the insistence of conventional authorities, posthumans have generally refrained from involvement in everyday politics and diplomacy. The exceptions to this rule have been condemned as terrorists and threats to all of humanity. This phenomenon was most evident during the McCarthy era, when a small handful of politically active posthumans calling themselves the Committee For The Advancement Of Mankind were convicted in absentia of violating the Smith Act.

The Fall Of Paragon

Bulletproof Blues is set shortly after the “Fall Of Paragon” crossover event, during which the Justifiers were killed by their former teammate, Paragon. The city of Atlanta, Georgia has been demolished, Singapore rests beneath the sea, and both the Keystone Pipeline System and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System have been destroyed. It is a difficult time for posthumans. Posthumans have never been completely trusted by humanity, and Paragon confirmed everyone’s worst fears. Although Paragon was ultimately defeated and killed by a small team of posthumans at the Justifiers’ headquarters in Antarctica, his actions have changed forever the relationship between humanity and posthumans.

If you are unfamiliar with the Kalos Universe, you will find more information in the World chapter.

More from Bulletproof Blues: Combination. This power was invented by my old friend Phill Ash, back in the mid-to-late 1980s when we used to play Champions. He called it “Gestalt”, but I like the name “Combination” better.

Combination

Activation: Activated
Task roll: —
Target: Personal
Range: Touch
Cost: 1 character point per rank

Combination permits several characters to merge into a single larger and more powerful character. Every character wishing to combine must have the Combination power, and the maximum number of characters who may combine is equal to the lowest rank of Combination among them. Activating Combination takes one standard action, and requires the characters to all be touching each other. In addition to being more massive, the combined character has Brawn, Prowess, and Invulnerability (if any) equal to the highest rank of any of the combined characters, plus one rank for every combined character after the first.

Example:

Moe, Larry, and Curly each have rank 3 Combination. Moe has Brawn 3 and Prowess 2. Larry has Brawn 2 and Prowess 4. Curly has Brawn 2, Prowess 1, and rank 2 Invulnerability. When Moe, Larry, and Curly combine, they form the mighty Stoopendigous, who has Brawn 5 (Moe’s rank 3, plus 2 more for Larry and Curly), Prowess 6 (Larry’s rank 4, plus 2 more for Moe and Curly), and rank 4 Invulnerability (Curly’s rank 2, plus 2 more for Moe and Larry).

More from Bulletproof Blues: Barrier. As Hedwig says, ain’t much of a difference between a bridge and a wall.

Barrier

Activation: Attack
Task roll: Power
Target: Radius
Range: Ranged
Cost: 1 character point per rank

Barrier permits the character to create walls and simple geometric shapes made of a particular force or substance. The specific type of force or substance must be chosen when this power is purchased. Some typical examples are air, earth, fire, water, light, darkness, force fields, electricity, magnetism, gravity, cloth, and plants. The player can pick any force or substance they like, subject to the GM’s approval.

Creating a simple shape with Barrier (a wall, dome, cube, and so on) requires a challenging Barrier task roll (task difficulty 12). Creating more complex shapes requires a more difficult task roll, with the task difficulty set by the GM based on the complexity of the desired shape. For example, a “T” or “W” or other angular shape would require a demanding Barrier task roll (task difficulty 15), while an intricate labyrinth would require a frustrating Barrier task roll (task difficulty 18).

The maximum length or circumference of the barrier is based on the rank of the power. Find the rank of the power in the Benchmarks table, and look up the value in the “Affects” column. This is the maximum length or circumference of the barrier the character may create.

The Barrier has Endurance and protection value (PV) equal to the rank of the power. If the character has expertise with the power and rolls an extreme success, then the Barrier created is significantly tougher (+3 Endurance). If the damage rating of an attack is less than or equal to the protection value of the Barrier, the attack bounces off harmlessly and the Barrier is undamaged. If damage from an attack exceeds the Barrier’s protection value, the remaining damage is subtracted from the Barrier’s Endurance, and the attack makes a hole in the barrier large enough for a normal person to walk through. If the Endurance of the Barrier is reduced to zero, the Barrier is destroyed: it crumbles, dissolves, or fades away, as appropriate.

A Barrier may also be used to support weight, as a bridge, support column, or other such structure. Find the rank of the power in the Benchmarks table, and look up the value in the “Lifts” column. This is the maximum weight which the Barrier can support. If the load on the Barrier exceeds this weight, the Barrier loses 1 Endurance each round that the weight on it exceeds its lifting capacity.

If a Barrier is not attacked or damaged, it will normally remain in place until the end of the scene, after which it crumbles, dissolves, or fades away, as appropriate.

Enhancements

Permanent: The Barrier is relatively permanent. It does not dissolve at the end of the scene, and will remain in place until destroyed. +1 character point

Another random bit. This time it’s Absorption, which is probably one of the more complicated powers in the game:

Absorption

Activation: Always On

Task roll: —

Target: Personal

Range: —

Cost: 1 character point per rank

Absorption permits the character to absorb damage from a force or substance and use that energy in specific ways. The character can heal themselves, or they can temporarily gain the power that attacked them, or they can boost one of their existing powers. The specific type of force or substance that can be absorbed must be chosen when this power is purchased. Some typical examples are air, earth, fire, water, light, darkness, force fields, electricity, magnetism, gravity, cloth, and plants. You can pick any force or substance you like, subject to the GM’s approval.

The amount of energy which can be absorbed from a single attack is equal to the rank in the Absorption power. For example, if a character has rank 3 Force Field and rank 2 Absorption (electricity) and is struck by a rank 7 electrical attack, the damage rating of the attack reduced the character’s Endurance by 4 (7 – 3 = 4), and the character absorbs 2 ranks of energy. These two ranks are added to a pool of absorbed energy which depletes at the rate of one rank per round, starting the round after the energy was absorbed.

The ranks of energy absorbed by the character may be used in one of three ways, which may be chosen by the character on a case-by-case basis.

• Healing – The character restores an amount of lost Endurance (or other damaged attribute) up to the rank of energy in the pool. Each rank of restored Endurance requires the expenditure of one rank of absorbed energy. Healing themselves in this fashion requires a free action.
• Power – The character gains the power that inflicted the damage, and can use this power to attack others. Each rank of the gained power requires the expenditure of one rank of absorbed energy, and the power lasts for only one round. Gaining the power requires a free action, but using it requires a task action.
• Boost – The character may Boost either one of their attributes or one of their powers. Each rank in Boost requires the expenditure of one rank of absorbed energy, and the Boost lasts for only one round. Boosting an attribute or power requires a free action, but using the attribute or power usually requires a task action.

Absorption does not provide protection against an attack: the damage rating of attacks is not reduced by the rank of the Absorption power. If the damage of the attack knocks the character unconscious or kills them, the character automatically uses their absorbed energy to heal themselves as much as possible.

Enhancements

Delayed Depletion: The absorbed energy depletes at a rate of one rank per minute rather than one rank per round. +1 character point

A random bit, just for fun. This is an Advantage, which are small not-quite-powers that characters can have:

Headquarters

The character has one or more bases of operation, equipped with supplies and equipment reasonable for the character’s background and skills. If the character is a member of a team, the base(s) might be shared with the other team members, at the player’s discretion. A headquarters is primarily a convenience for the GM and a fun asset for the character. It is not generally useful in combat, and is mainly used for flavor and a setting for roleplaying. For example, a high-tech base might have an air-tight security system, complete with laser turrets and knockout gas, but this won’t keep the base from being broken into by villains or taken over by an evil computer virus.

A couple of months ago I was interviewed on the BAMF Podcast about Bulletproof Blues. The podcast itself is located at “Bulletproof Blues – new Supers RPG”. Transcripts of the podcast took a while to obtain, but those are below.

BAMF_Podcast_-_Bulletproof_Blues_2012-02-08 (DOC, 51 KB)
BAMF_Podcast_-_Bulletproof_Blues_2012-02-08 (HTML, 67 KB)
BAMF_Podcast_-_Bulletproof_Blues_2012-02-08 (ODT, 36 KB)
BAMF_Podcast_-_Bulletproof_Blues_2012-02-08 (PDF, 67 KB)
BAMF_Podcast_-_Bulletproof_Blues_2012-02-08 (RTF, 51 KB)
BAMF_Podcast_-_Bulletproof_Blues_2012-02-08 (TXT, 52 KB)

Minor hiccup in the remodeling. The contractors were putting in the floor this week, and after a day it became clear that although the color was what we wanted, the finish was much too rustic (“imperial handscraped maple“), with an uneven surface and dark lines around each piece of wood. I am sure it would have been lovely in a farmhouse or log cabin, but Castle Blackmoor is not rustic. So I stopped them, and they had to tear up what they’d put down. Some calm but firm conversations followed, and I gave the contractors more specific instructions on what I wanted (which I should have done to begin with).

Here is a photo of what I want.

I don’t know if this is the sort of thing that will interest people, but here is a section from the Character Creation chapter: “Archetypes”.

Archetypes

When writing up a character, it can be useful to have an archetype in mind for inspiration. An archetype is a brief description of the powers and modus operandi of the character, and their role in the group dynamic. Many popular comic book characters actually combine two or more of these archetypes. You aren’t limited to these archetypes, of course. These common archetypes are just here to offer you a jumping-off point for your character.

The Beanstalk

The Beanstalk can dramatically change their size. They might be able to grow to massive heights, or shrink down to the size of a dust mote. A Beanstalk who can do both can solve a number of difficult problems all by themselves.

Examples: Atom, Atlas, Mighty Man

Common powers: Growth, Shrinking

The Calculator

The Calculator knows the variables and takes all of them into account. The Calculator might be a chess master, a scientific genius, a brilliant military strategist, or a robot that can think millions of times faster than a human being. When there are questions, the Calculator is the one who comes up with the answers.

Examples: Mister Terrific, Henry Pym, Henry Bendix

Common powers: high Reason, Danger Sense, Immortality, Mind Shield

The Cannon

The Cannon is the proverbial big gun, capable of firing blasts of astonishing power. Since they focus on ranged combat, many Cannons have an alternate form of movement, such as Flight or Teleportation. Most Cannons are capable of dishing out far more than they can take, which is why they are sometimes called “Glass Cannons”.

Examples: Starfire, Cyclops, Apollo

Common powers: Blast, Flight, Force Field, Teleportation

The Clay

The Clay can change their physical form in some way. The Clay might be able to change their appearance to mimic other people, or perhaps they can take the form of animals or inanimate objects. Alternately, the Clay might not be able to take on other shapes, but might instead be able to stretch and twist their body in amazing and unsettling ways, or take on the physical attributes of various substances.

Examples: Plastic Man, Copycat, Menagerie

Common powers: (Element) Form, Shapeshifting, Stretching

The Dolphin

The Dolphin is at home in the sea. The Dolphin may be a ruler of an undersea kingdom (Atlantis, for example), an aquatic visitor from another world, or a freak of nature. Some Dolphins can control sea creatures, while others can command the sea itself. Regardless of their origins, a Dolphin in their element is a force to be reckoned with.

Examples: Aquaman, Namor, Fathom

Common powers: Animal Control, (Element) Mastery, Life Support, Super-swimming

The Elemental

The Elemental is the living embodiment of a force, substance, or idea. Some Elementals can physically transform into the appropriate material. Others can create limitless amounts of their chosen element, or mentally manipulate it. Some Elementals can do all three.

Examples: Red Tornado, Human Torch, Jenny Sparks

Common powers: Blast, (Element) Form, (Element) Mastery

The Gadget

The Gadget isn’t the strongest or fastest character around, but they always seem to have a gizmo or incantation on hand to make up for it. The Gadget might have a utility belt filled with clever devices, or they might be a magician with a spell for every occasion. With the Gadget on the team, you’ll probably have the right tool for the job.

Examples: Zatanna, Iron Man, The Engineer

Common powers: Force Field, Super-senses, (Ultra-power)

The Hammer

The Hammer is the heaviest hitter in the neighborhood, and perhaps one of the heaviest hitters in the entire world. The Hammer is usually super-strong, but they might have a mighty weapon instead of great strength (or in addition to it).

Examples: Superman, Thor, Mister Majestic

Common powers: high Brawn, Invulnerability, Strike

The Mirror

The Mirror wields forces beyond the material world. The Mirror might be a sorcerer, a psychic, or a mathematician who has unlocked the secret equation that controls the universe. When the paranormal knocks, the Mirror is the character who answers the door.

Examples: Doctor Fate, Professor X, The Doctor

Common powers: Amazing Movement, Mind Shield, Telepathy, (Ultra-power)

The Rocket

The Rocket is fast — super fast. The Rocket might be born to move with preternatural quickness, their speed might come from years of training, or they may just wear a jet pack. The Rocket may be a runner or a flyer (or, rarely, a swimmer), but whether it’s by land, by air, or by sea, few vehicles and fewer characters can keep up with the Rocket.

Examples: Flash, Quicksilver, Swift

Common powers: high Agility, high Prowess, Haste, Multiple Attacks, Super-Running, Flight

The Shadow

The Shadow can go where no one else can go, and can appear and disappear without a trace. The Shadow might be a super-spy, a ninja, or even a ghost. However they do it, the Shadow makes being spooky look easy.

Examples: Batman, Black Widow, Spawn

Common powers: Flight, Intangibility, Invisibility, Swinging, Teleportation

The Sword

The Sword is a fighter, through and through. They may hail from an ancient warrior tradition, they may be a genetically modified super-soldier, or they may be a serene kung-fu master. Regardless of where they came from, the Sword can be found on the front lines trading blow for blow with the enemy.

Examples: Hawkgirl, Iron Fist, Midnighter

Common powers: high Prowess, Danger Sense, Multiple Attacks, Strike

The Tank

The Tank is an immovable object in a world of irresistible forces. The Tank may be inherently super-tough, they might wear high-tech armor, or they may be able to project an impenetrable force field. The Tank can take any damage the world can dish out, and then some.

Examples: Black Adam, Invisible Woman, Caitlin Fairchild

Common powers: high Brawn, high Willpower, Barrier, Force Field, Invulnerability

Van Dykes are not goatees. Goatees are not Van Dykes. For pete’s sake, use the right term. Calling a Van Dyke a “goatee” is like calling your beard your “eyebrows”.

What do you call a project management tool that doesn’t have any way to set task status, doesn’t have any way to set task prerequisites or dependencies, doesn’t have any form of time tracking, doesn’t have a way to set task priority, doesn’t have a way to move a task from one category to another, doesn’t have Gantt charts, and quite simply doesn’t have any of the fundamentally essential features of a project management system?

It’s called Basecamp. And they charge money for this garbage, believe it or not. Even more astonishing, people actually pay for it.