This one will be short and sweet, since it's not a huge, vastly-thought out change.

Here's the deal: right now, Dex, particularly in Cinematic Unisystem, is the king of stats.  Far and away, Dex is worth more than any other stat (With the exception of Willpower if you're a Witch.  Then it's just far more valuable).  Dex gives you your dodge, your to-hit, your number of attacks, and adds to your damage in the form of extra Success Levels (and extra attacks).

This is somewhat emulative of Buffy (and Angel to a lesser extent) and it's a handy way to keep the Slayer from needing a 9 STR to be as cool as Buffy.  But it has some drawbacks.  When your Slayer does get that 9 STR, on top of her 7 or better DEX, she's nigh-unstoppable.  And she can get there while largely ignoring two of her physical attributes.  Also, it's really hard to build a big, strong guy who's effective without being hyper-fast.  By the time he's strong enough to make up for his lack of speed, the "glass ninja" effect really kicks in, and people start going splat and looking like wall-art.

So I suggest a minor change: make STR and DEX interchangable for Melee attacks.  Dex still wins on Initiative, number of actions, and defense, but now a big, strong, slow guy can hit by plowing through defenses with brute force.  This only works on attacks where pure strength matters.  Mostly, that'll be hand-to-hand or melee weapon attacks.  I'm not even sure I'd apply it to thrown weapons, and for sure it wouldn't apply to launched ones like bows or crossbows.

I might also suggest a new Defensive Maneuver called "Just Take it" which is Kung-fu or Getting Medieval + CON.  It works just like Dodge, but the idea is that you parry, shield your vitals with your arms, or whatever, and... well... just take it.  I'd only allow it to apply to Bashing damage unless the defender has natural armor or something - in which case he probably doesn't care as much.  I haven't thought that one out yet.  It just occured to me while I was typing this post.

That's the kind of cutting-edge, up-to-the-minute, heavily-hyphenated game design you get around here.

We return, dear readers, to the Unisystem.  (Have we ever really left?)  I've been thinking about a lot of things lately about how I like games to run.  Eventually, I might undertake to design a game completely around the principals I'm mulling over, but for now I want to see if I can implement the concepts in an existing game.

Unisystem is a great one for this purpose, since the system is so easy to tinker with in general.  For these articles, I'm focusing on the Cinematic rules, but they'll adapt to Classic Unisystem almost effortlessly.

First up is the dreaded topic of Social Skill Use on PCs.

Any time an NPC does something to a PC, it has the potential to be un-fun for the player.  Getting stabbed, ensorcelled, or snuck past is no fun, but the results can be fun and the absence of the possibility makes the whole game kind of boring.  Social skills are even worse than physical ones, though.  The results of a physical action will tell a player what happens to his character: You're hurt; You don't notice X; You're turned into a frog.  Social skills, in theory, tell a player how he has to play his character: You're in love with the evil princess; You're scared of the bully and have to run away; You believe the war in Iraq is completely just and logical.

That can suck.  Not always, of course.  Sometimes it's a lot of fun to play the besotted victim of a seductress, or the enraged guy who goes after his own friends because he's been fooled or magically charmed.  But some players really hate it.  Some are terrifically bad at it.  And sometimes, even for the folks who normally like it, it's just not their thing that night.

Worse yet, basically social skills come down to GM Fiat.  The rules tell you what happens in a concrete way when you get stabbed, and exactly how to overcome the wounds.  All the rules usually tell you about being conned, seduced, or intimidated is to roleplay it.

So I wanted to come up with a system that would be more concrete, without adding too much complexity or weight to the game.  "Social hit points" might be really interesting, but honestly they don't quite work like physical hit points anyway, and I'd have to add new stats and stuff to the game.

Instead, I'm building off the Success Level system and the system that allows complementary skill use to give you bonuses or hit the other guy with penalties.  It works like this:

When an NPC uses a social skill on a PC, the GM states a goal like "he wants to get in your pants," or "she wants to fool you into believing X."  He doesn't necessarily have to tell the player the goal, because sometimes that would ruin the interaction, but he needs a baseline.

With the goal in mind, the GM sets a difficulty, taking into account things like the PC's Drawbacks and Qualities and situational modifiers.  For example, if a she-vampire is trying to seduce a PC and drag him off for dinner, and the PC has Lecherous -1, the PC is going to take his lecherous penalty.  But if he also has Honorable 3 and leaving right now would violate his code, the vamp might get a penalty to her roll, too.

The test is Opposed, generally using Willpower for the "defender" and Intelligence or Perception for the "attacker," but there are other ways to stack it out.  Influence is usually the relevant skill unless you got all fancy with Wild Card skills.  (For you Classic users, there's Orate, Seduction, Haggling, and whatnot.)

If the attacker wins, the defender has a choice.  Option A is to do whatever the GM says he's been convinced to do, within reason.  Some goals might take multiple tests.  A vampire trying to seduce a victim might need to get his attention, get him to dance with her, then convince him to go off alone with her.  Option B is to accept a penalty to all "mental" tests equal to the margin of success.  So if the vampire netted 3 SL, the victim would be at a -3 to things like perception tests (he can't stop looking at her), social tests (he's hung up on her and says stupid stuff or whatever), and intelligence tests (he can't stop thinking about her).  Physical skills are only affected conditionally.  Most of the time, they won't be.  The only major exception you might want to consider is combat.  I'd impose the penalty to Initiative and the first roll the PC makes in combat.  After that, fear for your life has a remarkably focusing quality, and you ditch the penalty.

Keep in mind that the skill penalty is a "metagame" thing.  In some cases, it doesn't make much sense, but it's still there to provide a mechanical consequence to failed Social tests.

The penalty generally only hangs around for a scene or so, or until something happens to nullify it.  In our running vampire/victim example, the victim might shake off the penalty by spending a DP, or by getting counter-seduced by one of his friends who he has a crush on.  And, of course, all bets are off when the vamp bites him, unless he's in to that kind of thing.

The penalties also don't stack up.  Only the highest result ever applies.  Even so, repeated attempts can wear down a PC's resistance, so I might cap the penalty at -5 or -7.  To keep the "dog pile effect" to a minimum, I'd also limit how many social rolls you can make in a given time frame; say one every 10 minutes or half-hour for extended things.

If the player chooses option A, he should almost always earn a Drama Point, and maybe a bonus XP if he plays it really well.

This system would also work on PC vs. PC social tests, but I generally try to avoid those in my game.  I'd rather have the players agree on those.  There's a difference in social perception between the GM/NPCs and another Player/PC that makes things more personal.

I suppose it'd also work for NPCs, but I would generally choose to have my NPCs choose Option A rather than juggling penalties and stuff.

Okay, now it's time for those long-awaited Supernatural Packages

 

The Gargoyles universe is home to several unusual creatures and to humans who have traded (willingly or not) their humanity for something else.  Gargoyles are relatively easy, but some of the others are a lot more fluid.

 

Gargoyles - the Gargoyle package will appear below.  Basically, Gargoyles are strong, can fly, can regenerate when they turn to stone, and have nasty claws.

 

Cyborgs - Cyborgs can have just about anything that can be mechanically grafted onto them.  Gargoyles-verse prosthetics can run the gamut from being indistinguishable from human parts without close examination to being large and obvious.  It is not at all uncommon for cyborgs to be able to pass for human so long as they don't use their more obvious powers and avoid metal detectors.

 

Cyborgs have the disadvantage that some portion of their Life Points are tied to their cybernetic parts.  For every 5 points of Cybernetic Qualities a character has, 25% of his LP no longer heal normally.  Instead, he either needs a specific Regeneration power, or requires the services of someone with a cybernetics lab and the Mr. Fix-it skill.  Additionally, Directors can rule that some powers can be temporarily lost due to damage.  The Target Limb maneuver is particularly good for this.

 

Demifey - Human (or possibly Gargoyle or something)/ Faerie hybrids are viable life forms.  The Third Race's genetics are remarkably adaptable.  Faerie blood carries faerie magic.  Demifey characters often have Sorcery, Supernatural Senses, and the like.  These powers take practice to develop, so demifey who are unaware of their heritage or reject it might have very little power.  Demifey generally look like normal members of their other race, with modest if any unusual features.  They are generally quite attractive and fit specimens, so adding modest stat boosts to a demifey package is completely appropriate.

 

Mutates - Techniques pioneered by Dr. Anton Sevarious allow human/animal DNA grafts that produce viable life-forms.  Mutates generally have powers that can be traced to real animals.  A little Natural Armor is fine.  Being bullet-proof would be kind of odd.  Distance attacks are somewhat rare (but then again, electric eels.)

 

Hybrids - All of the above are at least somewhat compatible.  Coldstone was a cyborg/gargoyle.  There's nothing but the fact that you'll run out of points to stop you from making a cybernetic demifey gargoyle with a suit of battle armor.

 

Packages

To get you started, here are a few more obvious packages

 

Cyborg (20-point Quality)

Cyborgs have a lot of variation.  This one is designed for straight-up combat with gargoyles.

+2 Str, Dex, Con (6)
Night Vision (1)
Natural Armor 10 (10)
Natural Weapons (wrist blades) Str x3 (2)
Supernatural Attack (Optical Laser) 20 (8)
Flight (Shoulder & boot Jets.  Boot jets can also be used for Supernatural Attack) (5)
Combat Computer (Situational Awareness, Fast Reaction Time) (7)
Beholden (secret masters) (5)
Cruel 2 (disassociative disorder)
Appearance -2

 

 

Demifey (18-pont Quality)

Keep in mind that the Demifey are as varied as their Faerie parents, but here's a fairly typical one.

Dex +3, Per, Will +2 (7)
Appearance +5 (5)
Immortal (0)
Hypnosis (What do you See) (10)
Supernatural Senses (Basic, the Sight) (4)
Vulnerability (Can be bound by magic, iron does x3 damage) (5)
Honorable 3 (bound by Faerie Law)

The demifey probably also has Sorcery, but it's not part of this Quality.  It might be fun to play him or her without it instead, perhaps replacing some of Hypnosis with Emotion Control to represent a less developed ability.  The poor character might not know why iron is uncomfortable or why he can't seem to lie or break a deal.

Gargoyle (19-point Quality)

Gargoyles are stronger, faster, and tougher than humans, with sharp senses  They get +4 Strength, +2 to Dexterity, +2 Constitution, and +2 Perception, and Natural Toughness.  They get 3 levels of Hard to Kill, and can buy up to 5 more  They also have razor-sharp claws (Strx3 armor-piercing), gliding wings, and prehensile tails.  When in stone sleep, they regenerate Con/Minute, which also removes any poisons, but doesn't cure diseases.  They also have very sharp hearing, sense of smell, and night-vision.

On the other hand they are ugly to human eyes, with Appearance -3.  Gargoyles don't have human psychology, either.  They feel a deep need to protect.  This translates to the Driving Goal flaw at -2.  A gargoyle's worst weakness, however, is their vulnerability to sunlight.  Being exposed to sunlight turns a gargoyle to stone.  On the up-side, stone is fairly tough, but modern man has plenty of ways to damage it.  Staying indoors is no defense, either.  Once the sun is fully in the sky (say, an ten minutes or so after sunrise) the transformation occurs regardless of whether the gargoyle can see the sun or not - and gargoyles need exposure to the sun.  Without it, they gradually become sickly and infertile.

Gargoyles are currently 2-point Minorities with no legal rights, but that's not figured in to the cost of the Quality.

Gargoyles frequently have the Honorable Drawback, but this is not a requirement.  Those who don't have Honorable often replace it with Cruel, but this, too, is a matter of choice.

Neo-gargoyle (27-point Quality)

Neo-gargoyles are Mutates built to have traits similar to gargoyles.  They were created for David Xanatos by Dr. Sevarious, but he ultimately lost control of them.  Sevarious may have created more than the initial group.

Neo-gargoyles combine the traits of big cats and bats or raptors, along with those of electric eels.  They get +3 Strength, +2 Dexterity and Constitution, and +2 Perception.  They also get +3 levels of Hard to Kill and can by up to five more.  They have Str x3 claws, but theirs are not armor-piercing as a gargoyle's are.  Most impressively, they can throw blasts of electricity doing 20 points of damage.  These have limited use.  After a number of blasts equal to the Neo-Gargoyle's CON score, he needs an hour or so to recharge.  They have gliding wings, but not prehensile tails.  They have no stone sleep, but regenerate at con/hr.  Like Gargoyles, they have acute hearing and smell, and night-vision.

Neo-gargoyles have hair-trigger tempers, giving them one level of Antisocial Impulses: Violence.  They also look frightening to human eyes, with appearance -3.

(Note: I really wish I could make htis one come in for 20 points or less, but supernatural attacks are VERY expensive)

Neo-Werewolf (14-point Quality)

One of Sevarious' most popular conversions is to simply graft some predator's DNA to a human's.  The result is a  stronger, faster, meaner creature.

A new-werewolf is a mutate with (generally) wolf DNA.  This conveys Str + 2, Dex +2, Con +2, Per +2 (with a minimum of 5), Acute Hearing and Acute Smell, as well as Enhanced Smell, meaning the neo-werewolf can track by scent.  Neo-werewolves are tough with 3 levels of Hard to Kill and an option on 5 more.  They also have Strength x2 claws and fangs.  The wolf's hardy constitution provides Con/hr regeneration.

Wolf DNA produces severe problems in humans.  The neo-werewolf has -2 appearance and Antisocial Impulses: Violence at 2, as well as one level of Cruelty (and individuals can take more separately).  Neo-werewolves have no vulnerability to silver beyond what one would expect.

And, with that, you should have enough to play a Gargoyles game, or add Gargoyles and their associated hangers-on to your Angel and Buffy games.  Enjoy.

At least at the moment, I'm not going to bother to write a lot of setting exposition, so we'll start roughly in what would be Chapter 2 of a normal Eden RPG book.  Here, we'll take a brief run-through of attributes, skills, and existing Qualities and Drawbacks.  New Qualities and Drawbacks will be in part 3.  (Yes, Virginia, there is a Gargoyles Quality.  There's probably a Santa Claus, too, but we'll talk about him under the Fey later on.)
 
Attributes - nothing much needs to change about Attributes.
 
Skills - the standard Cinematic Unisystem skill list works just fine for the Gargoyles world.  Occultism clues you in on the secret history of the world, and lets you know about magic and the faeries.
 
Qualities - ah yes, here's the meat of the thing.
 
Attractiveness - The current system, elegant in its simplicity, lumps all matters of personal appearance into the Attractiveness Quality.  So a Gargoyle might start off with -3 Attractiveness to represent his inhuman appearance, but could then buy it up as far as he wanted.  Goliath, who's got a way with the ladies, might have spent 5 points or so to get an effective Attractiveness of 2.
 
I don't really like that.  It's okay in Buffy or Angel, where most of the characters are human, but in a Gargoyles game, it's very possible that all the PCs will be Gargoyles, so it's a little wonky.  I'm seriously considering splitting Attractiveness into two Qualities/Drawbacks.  One would measure your aesthetic Attractiveness, and the other would measure your deviation from human norms.  "Fearsomeness" would be a Drawback that makes your basic form scary/ugly to humans.  It'd give you a negative modifier to Influence tests not based on fear, no matter how high your Attractiveness is - except for dealing with people who are used to your unusual form in some way.  For them, your Attractiveness kicks in.  Possibly rather than all or nothing, the two add/subtract from one another, so a Gargoyle with -3 Fearsomeness and +1 Attractiveness is only two points scary on first impressions.
 
When I get to the point of writing up characters, I'll decide whether to adopt this or not, but I think it makes a neat alternate rule.
 
Enchanted/Superscience item - The relatively high tech level of the Gargoyles setting means that 1-2 point items are frequently not worth paying for with Quality points.  They can just be purchased with sufficient wealth or obtained through Organizations.  Higher-level items should still be bought for 2 points per PL.
 
Optionally, something that would be incredibly expensive like a battlesuit (Which is really several PL 4-ish items all mushed together) can be purchased as a Supernatural package Quality.  The Dual Form Drawback is appropriate to represent the fact that you can't walk around in your battlesuit all the time.

As I've mentioned, I think there's an Eden-approved method for this in All Tomorrow's Zombies.  It involves buying the Robot Quality and whatever add-ons you'd like.  That seems workable to me.  
 
Enchanting/Superscience - Enchanting is completely gone.  Mortal magicians can create potions and charms through a variety of spells, through the Sorcery quality.  More powerful items are purely the purview of the Third Race.
 
Superscience is easier than it is in Buffy.  Superscience devices no longer require special ingredients.  Money works.  This will be discussed more completely later on.  Your Superscience Quality can never be a higher level than your Science skill, and you should probably really have Science of at least 4 before you pick up Superscience.  6 would be better.  We're probably going to talk about new uses of Superscience to cover metagenetics and cybernetics.
 
Occult Library - I think Occult Library works just fine as-is.
 
Rank - Rank now explicitly buys up your standing in an Organization, granting you more autonomy (but also more responsibility).  We'll talk more about Organizations when I get into new Qualities/Drawbacks.  You can have Rank in several groups.  For instance, an undercover police investigator might have rank in the Police and in an organized crime ring.  Almost all Illuminati members also have Rank in some other group.  In fact, that's frequently why they were recruited into the Illuminati.
 
Robot - The Robot Quality from Buffy is a decent starting point for any robotic characters, but there's no reason to limit yourself so.  Instead, build Robots like Demons and Supernatural characters from Angel.  Robots can have Drawbacks like Beholden from Armageddon (which I might list down in the next part, for simplicity sake).  They could also have variations of Antisocial Tendencies, Mental Problems, Emotional Problems and the like to represent programming imperatives.
 
Cyborgs work pretty much the same way, except they can recover (depending on how many cybernetic parts they have) 75%, 50%, or 25% of their Life Points without a Mr. Fix-it test.  Cyborgs who are nothing but a brain in a robot body work just like normal robots.  Drawbacks like Cruel are appropriate to represent the dehumanizing effect of losing so much of your essential humanity.  (Then again, Jackal and Hyena were already pretty twisted)
 
Sorcery - Sorcery works as-is, except that I'd drop it to 3-points per level and remove the TK.  Pretty much only Faeries have Sorcery, and some of them might instead have 2-point per level Magic Domains, which are pretty much Invocations as per the conversion rules in the Magic Box.
 
Vampire - no Vampires have shown up in Gargoyles, thus far.  If they do, the existing Vampire Quality probably won't really work for them, but do whatever you want with your own game.
 
Wealth - Wealth, at high levels, gives you free levels of the Organization Quality.  At level 4, you get 5 Organization points.  At level 5, you get 10.  Beyond level 5, Wealth would start to describe the resources of nations.  Characters might actually be that rich (like David Xanatos), but level 5 represents the limit of their liquid assets, so this Quality is capped at 5.  (To keep the Director sane, really)
 
Supernatural Qualities - Note that many Supernatural Qualities are appropriate for Demifey, Mutates, and Cyborgs.
 
Natural Attack - New to this Quality is an Armor-Piercing kicker for 2 points.  It'll probably work with Supernatural Attack, too, but I'd be more hesitant to apply it.
 
Supernatural Senses - New to this Quality is night-vision, costing 1 point.
 
Okay, so I think that does it for existing Qualities.  Next up are the new ones.
 
Magical Conduit (2-point per level Quality)
A Magical Conduit is a mystical artifact that allows a human to freely work magic.  Each level of Focus allows a non-Sorcerer to Quick-Cast spells of a power level up to the level of the Quality.  A would-be magician can only control a Conduit of a strength equal to or less than his Occultism level.  Otherwise, his spells have the chance to go seriously awry - using the miscast rules in Buffy.  A Magical Conduit is essentially an enchanted item, and can be lost.  
 
Magery (1-point per level Quality)
Magery provides bonus points on Sorcery checks.  The maximum rating of this Quality is 5 levels.
 
Organization (Variable Quality)
The Organization Quality provides a character (or characters, it is possible to pool levels) additional Organization points.
 
Supernatural Qualities - Supernatural Qualities are possessed by such creatures as Gargoyles, Demifey, Mutates, and Cyborgs.  To create such a character, you build a package Quality by picking the positive and negative traits you want to be intrinsic to your character's "race."  (In the case of a cyborg or mutate, it might be a race consisting of a single creature, of course.  Each demifey might be unique, as well)
 
Extra Limb - Variable Quality
You have one or more extra prehensile limbs.  Extra feet don't really cost you anything.  This Quality doesn't grant you any additional actions, but it can allow your actions to affect more people.  If you had, say, ten tentacles, you might be able to grab ten people a few at a time and hold/crush them all.
 
One limb costs you 1 point.  2 to 4 additional limbs cost 2 points.  5 or more cost 5 points.  In practical terms, 10 limbs is probably a good limit to this Quality.  Extensible limbs that significantly increase your reach add a 1-point kicker if you can reach about 10 feet (3 meters or so), and 2 points if you want to be able to reach even further.  And at some point you're just getting silly.  Particularly at the higher levels, your limbs don't have to be static limbs.  An amorphous mass that can extend multiple tendrils might vary from no limbs up to ten, depending on his mood.
 
Magical Affinity (2-point per level Quality)
Each level of Magical Affinity gives you a +1 bonus on Sorcery tests, up to a maximum of 5.  Unlike Buffy Sorcery, there is no progressive spell-casting penalty, so there is no point in taking this Quality beyond 5 levels.  The prerequisite for this Quality is Sorcery.
 
Special Movement (Variable Quality)
This Quality imparts more freedom of movement.  Characters can have more than one type.  For instance, Gargoyles have the first level of Climbing, and Gliding, for 3 total points and pretty much as much freedom of movement as someone who can just fly.
Climbing: 1 point for climbing with claws/special gear.  2 points for spider-like wall-crawling that lets you hang from the ceilings as well as scaling the walls and climb smooth surfaces easily.
Flight 3: points for flight that can be easily disrupted (like with wings), 5 points for freeier flight.
Gliding/swinging: 2 points.  It's pretty much just the lower level of Flight.
Leaping: the ability to make prodigious vertical or horizontal leaps.  2 points.
 
Superspeed (2-point per level Quality)
Superspeed lets a character move really quickly.  It's generally tied to a single type of movement, like running, swimming, or flying, depending on the character.  Each level of Superspeed more or less doubles the character's maximum speed.  At level 3, the character can move as fast as a car in the city.  At 4, he's approaching race-car speeds, and at 5, he's... well, really fast.  Superspeed doesn't allow any extra attacks.  For that, you're going to want obnoxiously high Dexterity.

I think that covers new Qualities.  I was planning to do Packages as part of this post, but it's getting late tonight and I still have some work to do on them.  I'll do them next.  Really, you don't HAVE to have package qualities to start using this stuff, so I don't feel too bad about leaving you waiting.

I figured I'd start with the hardest part first.  Well, that's not strictly true.  I have most of the other parts worked out already, but magic is a toughie, and some of the other stuff hinges on how it works.

Buffy magic is a very robust system, but it doesn't fit the Gargoyles flavor.  Buffy Sorcerers have an entirely diferent set of problems than Gargoyles ones.  The high probability of spells going awry doesn't really fit, and the progressive -2 per turn seems a little off, too.

All we know about magic comes from Demona, the Magus, the Archmage, and various faeries.  And really, there's not a lot.  Normal humans hardly ever cast spells (compared to the amount of time they spend doing other stuff).  Faeries, on the other hand, sling magic around all the time, although it does seem to wear them out after a while.

For humans and gargoyles, the rule seems to be that it's very hard to cast spells spontaneously.  The Magus only ever does it once, and he dies from it.  I think the Archemage throws around some nasty spells, but it's been a while since I've watched it.  I'm going to go with the assumption that for the most part, magic in Gargoyles is through rituals, or through using magical devices.  For instance, it was likely a property of Titania's Mirror that Demona could use a simple ritual to summon Puck - rather than a "spell" of Demona's.

EDIT:  Something else I've thought of

One thing I might change, although I'd do so with some trepidation, is to make spell formulas a little more flexible.  Spell R&D is pretty hard.  If your books don't have a spell for turning people into statues, you're probably never going to be able to turn people into statues.  But if your books DO have a spell for turning people into statues, you can probably turn one person into a statue, or a dozen, or a million if you're good enough to marshal the magical energies.  And you can do so under different circumstances, like "the next person I touch" or "everyone in the sound of my voice."

What this means is that the spells you know are listed with their minimal effect and starting PL, and you can pick and choose modifiers.  Make the spell work longer or faster or bigger, and the PL goes up.  Make it take rare ingredients or year-long rituals, and it goes down.

That's a scary level of freedom, though.  I've already learned that WitchCraft style Invocations are frighteningly poweful, and those just let a magician do one kind of effect.  So I'll have to think about it.  Sometimes play balance has to win over simulation of the source material.

So anyway, the Sorcery quality is really, really rare.  Human magicians learn rote spells and need either elaborate rituals or a magical conduit to work their mojo.  A magical conduit is an Enchanted Item that - just to keep things simple - provides the holder with the ability to Quick Cast spells up to its Power Level.  It doesn't provide the bonus points.  Instead, that's going to be a Quality called - because I like GURPS - Magery.  Levels of Magery up to 5 add to your Occultism skill to cast spells.  Since I'm already dinging you at roughly 2 points per level for Quick Casting, I'll just make that Quality a 1-point per level Quality.  And if you want Telekinesis, you have to pay for it the old-fashioned way.

I think I'll leave Sorcery in, but make the prerequisite for learning it be something like Occultism greater than 10.  And I might turn it into a sort of "Wild Card Skill" so it advances a lot more slowly.

On the other hand, Gargoyles magicians don't seem to have too much trouble with spells going awry.  A spell can fail if you're not talented enough to cast it, and what it's supposed to do might not actually be what you think it does, but it's not going to do something radically different.  Magic seems very legalistic.  A spell to make you as enduring as the mountain stones may just turn you to stone.

(Although I have a private theory that if Xanatos had immersed himself in the cauldron, it would have made him immortal - he would have shed his stone skin like a Gargoyle.  I think Puck didn't want Xanatos to be immortal because then  he'd be stuck as Owen for all eternity, so he did something to scare Xanatos off.  Greg Wiesman doesn't actually agree with me, but what does he know?)

Faeries have it different.  They seem to be able to just whip out with spells that do just about anything at the drop of a hat.  They also DO seem to suffer from some degradation of their powers.  Puck says he'll need a long nap after The Mirror.

Ergo, Faeries DO have Sorcery, which costs 5 points per level and lets them Quick Cast spells.  I'll keep the Quality at 5 points per level even though it doesn't include telekinesis because it will include the ability to improvise spells.  Faeries just whip out with the magic whenever they want.

I'm also making one other major change - Magic can kill you.  If you throw a Quick Cast spell of a higher PL than your Sorcery or available conduit, you take physical damage from it.  I think I'll make it five times the PL of the spell.  That'll REALLY limit what magicians can do without their tools.

Faeries can also have other powers.  In fact, not all faeries or demifey need to have Sorcery.  They might rely on innate powers that are more reliable, if less versatile.  For those, the Angel supernatural Qualities will do most of the job.

So then there's Enchanting and Superscience.

Magic items are really rare in the Gargoyles-verse, and most of the ones I can think of are actually Faerie creations: the Eye of Odin, Titania's Mirror, the Phoenix Gate, and probably Excalibur.  The Grimorium is something of an unknown, as is the Gae Bolga.  I think I might limit Enchanting either to just level 1 for humans, or entirely to Faeries.  Or maybe not.  There's a dearth of evidence on the subject.

Superscience, on the other hand, should be easier than it is in the Buffyverse.  Robots, blasters, floating factories, and whatnot are all common enough not to raise eyebrows, even if they're not ubiquitous.  So Superscience works as written - you have to have a high Science skill to have it, and it costs 5 points per level.  The only difference is that Superscience gadgets no longer require a special ingredient.  Instead, rare ingredients can lower the effective Power Level like they do for Sorcery spells.

And I think that covers everything magic-related.  We're going to discuss a slightly different way to approach the Enchanted Item Quality a little later on.  It works okay for some devices, but is really bad for things like exo-armor.

If I get my hands on All Tomorrow's Zombies before I write the next segment, I'll see what Eden did for battle suits there.  I think they went with a variation of the Robot Quality, which probably works pretty well.

One thousand years ago, Superstition and the sword ruled...

I am a raving Gargoyles fanboy.  I loved the cartoon, enjoyed the Gargoyles Saga fan-fiction project (which I should probably look in on again one of these days.  I'm a fickle raving fanboy), and am really enjoying the new comic.  Freed from the bounds of a kid's show, Gargoyles is really coming into its own.

I am also a raving Unisystem fanboy.

I think you see where this is going.

Tweaking the Unisystem rules so they'll work for the Gargoyles universe isn't going to be all that big a job, but it'll give me something to post about for a few weeks.  I'm going to do it piecemeal here, and maybe at the end I'll write it all up nice and put it in a PDF.

First off, let's look at what we're doing.  While you /could/ just write up a Gargoyle Quality and call it good, you wouldn't really have done everything right.  Sorcery needs some work, as does Superscience, and the Gargoyels setting has some slightly different underpinnings than the Buffyverse.  Getting that extra bit of harmony is what will make this take longer than a few paragraphs.

Here's what I have in mind:

Magic - Magicians in the Gargoyles universe need spellbooks - not just for learning spells, but for casting them.  On the other hand, they can improvise spells very rapidly.  The Occult Library Quality and the Sorcery rules are in for a change.  Beyond that, there are some rules about magic in Gargoyles that I want to get right.

Enchanting - Nobody in the Gargoyles universe seems to produce magic items except the Faeries.  Assemblages seem to be okay, though.  So Enchanting is probably going to be limited to 1 level - or perhaps just folded into whatever Sorcery turns into.

Superscience - Giant floating factories, robots, battle armor, black-market blasters... the Gargoyles universe has a lot of high technology that people don't really bat an eye at.  It's going to take some work to get all that right.

Organizations - Private armies and secret societies are a big part of the Gargoyles setting.  The Organization rules in Angel are an okay start, but they don't really make any provision for characters like Xanatos or the higher-ups in the Illuminati (whoever they are).  I'll probably do something with the Rank and Wealth Qualities, and possibly build a new Organization Quality that will let characters buy Organization points.

New Qualities - Obviously, there's going to be a Gargoyle racial package.  Cyborgs, Mutates, and other strangeness will also make appearances.  An outright Faerie is possibly too powerful for a PC, but half-fey like Fox will be within reasonable limits.  And I'll give lesser Faeries a try, too.  But no player is going to get to play Thor.  Just don't ask.

Archetypes - Particularly if I decide to wrap this all up in a shiny PDF wrapper, I'll want to do some archetypes.  Gargoyles is a setting that runs to Champions more than Investigators.  The less competent characters are generally bit players.  That doesn't mean you have to play your game that way, though, so I may throw in some lower-end characters, too.

I'm trying to do one Blog post per week, more or less, so you'll see something here soon.

The time has come.  I've waited on Eden for a long time, but they've had some severe logjam issues for the past year or so, and with the end of the Buffy/Angel license, it's unlikely that this will ever be published in its current form anyway.

(That said, if the Eden guys read it and they really like it, I'm totally open to publishing it or reworking the rules into another product)

I'm a big Ghostbusters fan.  I loved the first movie, really liked the second movie, and loved both iterations of the cartoon.  I played the hell out of the old WEG version of Ghostbusters and GBI.  I wore the pips off two ghost dice and repainted both of them, twice.

I'm also a big fan of the Cinematic Unisystem, which should be news to nobody.  And, while I liked the original Ghostbusters RPG, I don't think it's the only possible take on the material.  WEG Ghostbusters played up the slapstick elements of the setting for a game that's a really humorous romp.  But the movies, and particularly the cartoons, remind me more of the light-hearted side of Buffy and Angel.  Danger is a little more serioius, and the world is a little less comedic, while still being witty.

So, back in July of 2006, I wrote a conversion of Ghostbusters to Buffy/Angel.  "Spook Stopers Inc" is pretty much GBI, dropped into the Buffyverse, which isn't a perfect fit, but it gets by.  If I were really going to run a Spook Stoppers game, I'd probably remove all the Buffyverse-specific stuff and just use the rules for a more ghost-heavy, Champion-light setting.

I, not having Acrobat, had no easy way to set this up as a PDF, so my friend, Lisa Hartjes did the honors.  I actually DO have a way to do PDFs now, so I might do a slightly spiffier one with graphics and stuff somewhere down the line, but for now this one will get the point across.

spookstoppers.pdf (333.63 KB)

Here's another new section I'll update from time to time as the mood strikes me, collecting spells I've created for the Buffy Sorcery system.

Protective Bio-Coating

PL: 4
Quick Cast: No
Requirements: A blend of various chemiclals that are frighteningly easy to find, refined through a process that takes several hours.  The budding mad scientist doesn't have to be present for the whole brewing time, but what he does have to do takes about an hour.

Effect: The end result of this process is a lab that smells vaguely of sulpher and blueberries and a half-liter of blue goop with a texture not unlike runny geletin.  If you pour the goop onto an organic object, it will ooze forward and cover the entire object, up to something about person-sized.  Then, in about thirty very itchy seconds, it will "set" into a flexible coating like thick body-paint.  The person inside can move, speak, and breathe normally.  He just looks like a member of the Blue Man Group.  But it's probably worth it.  For 1 hour per SL on the Occultism test (or Science, if you swing that way), he has an armor value of 10 and a "buffer" of 100 Life Points.  Any damage he takes comes from these life points before it reaches him.  Once they're all gone, the blue coating dries up and flakes off.

The Protective Bio-Coating isn't going to turn you into superman.  It only protects against physical damage.  Fire, electricity, and psychic mind bolts will all still hurt someone wearing one.  It also gives some people hives, and extensive use has been linked to cancer in laboratory animals.

Breakdown
Casting Time: Lengthy -1
Scope: Noticable 1
Duration: Long (1 hr/SL) 1
Effect: Major 3

This spell is tailor-made for a budding Superscientist to make Assemblages out of.  I would be slightly hesitant to use it because there's nothing stopping him from brewing up enough for the whole group.  A pretty easy modification is to make the spell take Way Rare Ingredients, requiring some item of which the group has only one.  That'll keep him in line, most likely.  That drops the PL way down, too, which is good since Superscientists don't get a Sorcery bonus to their spellcasting tests.

Firespeaking

PL: 3
Quick Cast: yes
Scope: Noticeable
Duration: Long (1 hr/SL)

Requirements: Both the caster and the recipient(s) must be near a flame. If the caster is a Sorcerer, he just needs to concentrate on the people (up to 5 or so) he wishes to speak with. Normal casters need to chant and trace mystical symbols over the flame for a few minutes.

Effect: Firespeaking is a simple communication spell. When successfully cast, it creates a mystical connection between two (or more) flames. The caster can see and hear the person or persons he wishes to speak with, so long as they're close enough to a flame that he could hear them whisper. (Think of the flame as being the handset of a phone). The recipient can also see and hear the caster. If the caster chooses multiple recipients, they cannot see and hear each other unless they are using the same flame.

The spell lasts for several hours, or until the caster dismisses it (by putting out the flame, or just by concentrating if he's a Sorcerer).

This spell is useful, but limited. You can only Firespeak with people you have personally met well enough to remember. The image is limited to the flames. A candle doesn't leave much room for detail. Also, only the original recipients can see the image. Others just see shadowy shapes in the flames and hear murmering. Also, you can only have one Firespeaking going on at a time. If a second caster tries to contact you, he displaces the first one in a shower of sparks and a flare of light.

Despite its limitations, this remains a popular spell. Young enchanters make decent money preparing torches so that non-magicians can easily activate the spell to talk to distant friends, business partners, or relations.

Acherix (Aka Hive Demons)

 

The Acherix demons are not native to Earth and never arrive on their own.  Instead, they must be summoned here.  This, unfortunately, is something that all to many sorcerers are willing to do, as having control over an Acherix colony gives one vast power.  This is a dangerous path to power, however.  A hive is a hungry thing, and more than one occultist with more knowledge than wisdom has found himself in the feeding pits of his own colony.

 

Short of a nuclear strike, an Acherix colony is difficult to remove.  A group of dedicated hunters might kill scores, or even hundreds, of workers and slaves, but still might never reach the queen or her drones.  As long she survives, she can breed up a new colony.

 

The infestation begins when someone summons the queen, using the ritual of Belial’s Wine and inducing a chosen victim to drink the bitter draught.  Within a few days, she will be transformed into a queen, and will start picking drones.  The summoner would be wise to protect himself from the queen’s wiles, as she can be most persuasive.

 

Thereafter, the queen and her drones retreat to a place of safety and begin to breed.  Their complete transformation takes one full moon, during which time they will acquire a few initial hosts for workers and warriors.  The hive will be established somewhere safe, often isolated or well hidden.  Acherix are far from mindless.  Their hives will be defended as well as humans could defend them, and will always have some kind of cover that explains their isolation and behavior.  Doomsday cults were popular in past centuries, as were isolated villages, although these could run short of humans before the hive grew very big.  Today, cults are still popular, but so are survivalist communities and subterranean homeless “cities.”  And those are fairly limited possibilities.  A queen with the proper resources at her disposal, or with a wise “handler” could set up a popular religious movement, a housing subdivision, or perhaps even a corporation.  The colony might have interests all over the world, although it will always have a central hive where all members spend at least some of their time.  Extensive seperation from the hive weakens a lone member.  After about a week, they start losing one point off each of their attributes per day until Strength and Constitution both reach zero, at which point the acherix dies.

 

Types of Acherix

 

The Queen

The queen always requires a female host, and prefers an attractive one.  (If the initial offering isn't attractive enough, the Queen will emerge very angry and nearly uncontrollable, and will, after likely killing the summoner, magically transform the host to be pretty enough.)  Somewhat like a vampire, the Acherix queen demon overwhelms the human soul while maintaining the body and mind.  And very similar to a vampire, the queen has new goals.  She wants drones, and she wants sex.  Then she wants a safe place to breed.  She may pursue these goals in different orders.

 

 

 

Name: Acherix Queen (Stage 1)

Motivation: "Do me, baby."

Critter Type: Demon

Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 7, Constitution 3, Intelligence 3, Perception 3, Willpower 5

Ability Scores: Combat 20, Muscles 12, Smarts 12

Life Points: 99

Drama Points: 5

Special Abilities: Emotion Control: Lust (-3 to resist), Infection, Increased Life Points, Hard to Kill 5, Hypnosis 3, Natural Weapon (Str x2 shashing + paralytic venom), Regeneration (Con/hour), Supernatural Senses (Basic, Night vision)

 

Combat Maneuvers

Maneuver	Bonus	Base Damage	Notes
Dodge	20	None	Defensive Action
Grapple	22	None	Resisted by Dodge
Kick	19	4 Bash
Punch	20	3 Bash
Stinger	20	12 Slashing	+ Venom

 

Description

At this stage, the Queen looks pretty much like a normal person, most of the time.  There's a stinger in her throat that can extend like a whip, about three feet long.  It's razor sharp, and delivers a paralizing poison (Roll Constitution to resist.  Each SL on the hit roll adds a progressive -1 penalty).  Further doses of the venom can turn a male victim into an Acherix Drone (see below)  She wants sex, lots of sex.  And fairly soon she'll start producing eggs, which must be implanted in hosts (either male or female).

 

Name: Acherix Queen (Stage 2)

Motivation: "All will love me."

Critter Type: Demon

Attributes: Strength 3, Dex 7, Con 8, Intelligence 3, Perception 3, Willpower 9

Ability Scores: Combat 20, Muscles 12, Smarts 12

Life Points: 134

Drama Points: 5

Special Abilities: Armor 10, Emotion Control: Lust or Worship (-5 to resist), Infection, Increased Life Points, Hard to Kill 10, Hypnosis 3, Natural Weapon (Str x4 slashing + paralytic venom), Regeneration (Con/minute), Supernatural Senses (Basic, Night vision, Telepathic link to all "children"), Telepathy.

 

Special Drawbacks: Limited mobility.  The Queen can't move on her own at more than about a foot per combat turn.  She is easily outmaneuvered, and could well be too large to ever leave her nest.  Antisocial Impulses (Anger and Greed)

 

Combat Maneuvers

Maneuver	Bonus	Base Damage	Notes
Dodge	10	None	Defensive Action.  Mobility Penalty.
Grapple	22	None	Resisted by Dodge
Stinger	20	12 Slashing	+ Venom

 

Description

A fully evolved Acherix Queen is barely recognizable as human.  Her limbs atrophy and her belly swells to monstrous proportions to support almost daily multiple births.  Plates of chiton cover her body in places, and her face is stretched by mandibles and antennae.  She can no longer speak, as her mouth-stinger is now much larger and longer.  She can hardly move on her own, and is constantly tended by dedicated workers and drones.

 

Her lust is unabaited, and her mindcontrolled drones are only too happy to service her.  However, her temper is very short.  If her "children" fail to please her, she kills them.  Drones are particularly vulnerable.

 

 

Drones

The Queen's first few victims will be males, generally attractive males.  One by one, She'll seduce them, magically or otherwise, and have sex with them.  Then she'll sting them into oblivion.  When the unfortunate guy wakes up from "getting lucky" in about twelve hours, he will be an Acherix Drone.

 

Drones are completely devoted to the Queen.  They'll do whatever she needs them to do.  Initially, there are two things: Keep the Queen happy and bring her hosts for her first eggs.

 

Drones look pretty human, though as they get older, their insect-like features become more prominent.  By the time the Queen is in stage 2, most of her initial drones now have compound eyes and stubby antennae, and have lost the ability to speak.

 

Name: Acherix Drone

Motivation: "We love you, mummie."

Critter Type: Demon

Attributes: Strength 3, Dex 3, Con 3, Intelligence 2, Perception 2, Willpower 2

Ability Scores: Combat 12, Muscles 12, Smarts 10

Life Points: 54

Drama Points: 1

Special Abilities: Armor 5, Increased Life Points, Natural We