Old School Palladium RPG

[albatross]

Lament for the lack of interesting settings in most online rpgs

[albatross]

Most online rpgs opt for simple storylines and settings because its hard to coordinate otherwise. Military settings are probably the easiest, because there are clear orders to tell the characters where to go and a whole structure of rules which require no explaination. There is even standard equipment and equipment for special missions all spelled out. Robotech and the Coalition in Rifts are great examples.

More complex settings are seldom attempted. While the concept of Rifts is awesome, few online games are set in Atlantis, etc because anything could happen and its very likely that all the characters will quickly end up seperated and swallowed up by the setting. It takes excellent planning, writing and buy-in from the players to keep a complicated setting moving in the right direction.

One complicated setting that I like is the old Palladium Fantasy rpg (er, first edition, SDC and PPE add needless detail). The second book: Old Ones is probably one of the best palladium sourcebooks of all time as far as well-defined settings and interesting adventures. There are details about every town in the whole kingdom, but they are short and well organized so it isn't overkill.

But thats not even the best Palladium setting, which in my opinion is the Great Northern Wilderness - which has monsters without being hellish, has a harsh environment without being bleak, and has complex military and political action with the Wolfen and the Eastern Territory, Wolfen and giants, etc. (the wolfen take the "place" of orcs and ogres, but they are bringing civilization and republic to the humans of the Eastern Territory, rather than the reverse).

I've come up with some fun Palladium characters and adventures over the years, sometimes adding elements from other palladium games, yet most fantasy setting games online are complete garbage. Ususually, anything outside the cookie cutter/D&D box is completely discouraged, and if palladium elements are allowed the game is usually ill-defined enough that the characters mill around talking... The few Palladium settings I've found are usually "roll" playing with more dice rolls than dialogue.

Getting to the point, I'm curious to find out if anyone has run across a good Palladium world game? And I'm also curious if there are any other settings that you feel could be really great but are not typically to be found.

-Albatross

[logan]

I'm in a game on yahoo groups right now called Nafalan that is based in the Palladium setting. It's been running non stop for the past two and a half years. The GM is exceptional though and this group has been together for the better part of 5 years. It's almost like having a regular table game to go to.

[albatross]

This is my Rifts rant. I include potential solutions for all my complaints, and I'm sure there can be good Rifts games, these are just what I see as the potential drawbacks. They don't just apply to Rifts, I see this kind of stuff lots of places.

A.) Lack of Cargo Space, Vehicles or Pack animals.
In Rifts, nearly every cargo space is 2ftx2ftx2ft. Tiny. In Robotech cargo space is available in shuttle craft, haulers, spare seats, cyclone storage bays, and cargo compartments. When Robotech characters find food, protoculture cells, e-cells, missiles, civilian friends, blankets, etc they put it into a proper place. Such characters tend to be generous with others and excited about such finds. Ever found twenty missiles while piloting a SAMAS, Terrain Hopper Power Armor, etc? You leave it behind. No room. The Glitter Boy has one of the largest cargo capacities of Rifts robots and its one of the smallest vehicles available. Sure, a Spider Skull Walker or Death’s Head Transport is decent, but they are incredibly rare and expensive- not good transport vehicles unless you have the resources of a small country. The Behemoth Explorer is the most worthless robot ever, and the Mountaineer ATV and few European hovercraft are the only reasonable choices. Solution: Add vehicles to the world (import the hovercraft from Europe and drastically lower the price, etc). In an alternative setting, give the characters a pack horse in addition to their regular mount, or a horse drawn chariot or cart. Porter’s as non-player characters (recruiting them and paying them can be its own adventure) can also be fun. If they find 3,000,000 in gold bricks, figuring out how to haul it away can be a good challenge. Cargo vehicles are normally useless in a fight, and they will help add to the non-combat aspects of a campaign. Make them cheaply and widely available, in many various kinds.

B.) The “Laser Pistol.” When there is only one kind, then everyone wants it. If the Wilk’s 457 Laser Rifle is the clearly the best, why would anyone want anything else. This happens a lot in Robotech- where there aren’t private suppliers. Solution: Make more high-quality items and technology available. A calvary crossbow with a shorter range and a hefty punch, or a longbow with incredible range. A laser pistol with a few powerful, inaccurate blasts or a super long range single shot laser rifle, with average damage. If you have trouble, just make a system for players to design their own weapons (custom, decorated, or personal weapons are awesome even if they have normal stats):
Range A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. (lowest to highest)
Damage A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. (lowest to highest)
Rate A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. (lowest to highest)
Payload A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. (lowest to highest)
Price A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. (HIGHEST TO LOWEST)
Weight A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. (HIGHEST TO LOWEST)
Bonus/Penalties A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. (Penalties to Bonuses)
Tell the players they can only choose only one A, only one B, only one C, only one D, etc. and make them write a cool description of the item and the company, person that made it and background (previous owner’s etc).


C.) Poverty, or bad economics. Don’t laugh- this is the biggest problem with the world of Rifts, and many other campaigns and systems. This is a prime example of when the real world needs to be the bare minimum threshold to avoid a cramped little world. A Rifts character makes less than 3,000 credits per month , about 36,000cr per year. I’ve seen Super Hero campaigns where secret agents get less than $30,000 US dollars (less than the current national median!).
At the same time, an energy rifle costs 18,000cr, often double or triple for a good one (or more). An E-Clip costs 8,000cr plus 2,000cr for a recharge. Thus one weapon and one re-charged clip cost 28,000, nearly the character’s entire salary. A firefight might cost upwards of 50,000. Hope that character doesn’t need any money for food, clothing, or transportation. Armor might be 50,000 or more.
The most basic power armor suit (Terrain Hopper) is 500,000cr. A really good suit is more than 20 million. Ammunition, power plant refits, repairs, etc. can run millions more. Selling power armor to the black market only nets the character 35-45% tops, so they have to capture THREE undamaged suits and sell them in order to be able to afford a new suit of their own. All of this information is ridiculous. If someone owns a suit worth 20 million: Assume they need a new one every four years, maybe eight years if they are careful. Then the COST of the suit is between 210,000 and 470,000 per month just to break even. If they want a profit, the services of an expensive robot could cost 1,000,000 per month or more (probably more like 2-4 million every month). Even a foot soldier with body armor, energy rifle and six e-clips is worth 116,000 without any other equipment, food, etc. And the foot soldier will probably go through more than 50,000cr per month just in target practice. It will COST at least 80,000cr to hire a foot soldier for a month, and to make a profit the soldier will need more than 100,000 (probably 250,000 to 800,000 depending on other abilities- a psi-stalker or borg might get two to three times that much).
Does this make sense? Sure. In the world of Rifts, a few guys in body armor with decent weapons might rule a kingdom. It will take lots of farmers and other workers to support them (at least seven for every soldier, probably more like 50 or 100). Each citizen will need to contribute taxes, bribes, protection fees, or mercenary fees of about 40% (maybe 50% at need) of their income. Thus the high end of the pay scale for a non-combatant (think a scholar or a mechanic) is about 430,000cr per month. While most people make more like 30,000cr each month– farming would make good money too, especially if food were scarce. So a community of 100 people could afford to retain the services of one (1) power armor pilot and his machine (fully armed and maintained at his cost), or they could have five or six (6) well equipped foot soldiers. A larger community, with much wealthier inhabitants (more skilled workers, salespeople, etc) could afford lot more.
Solution: If the world is poor raise everyone’s money and salaries- its easier than changing all the prices and you can adjust it later if its too low or too high by renegotiating a contract or when they take a new job it just pays differently. In general, characters (not ordinary people) should make enough to pay for high end equipment after a reasonable number of years. In addition, think about having someone loan the characters money for extremely large purchases (like a warhorse) and then have the character pay them back a certain amount plus a fee each month or year. Trade in values for black market items are also a good idea. To figure out what the character’s should make, take an expensive item or vehicle they have (or commodity, like missiles). Estimate how long the item will last (vehicle=5 years, horse=5 years, ammunition=1 week or 1 month if it’s missiles… maybe). So five years is 60 months. Divide the cost by the number of months and you get the cost per month. The characters are going to need a lot more than that. Doubling it is reasonable. So a Glitter Boy at 25 million, divided by 60 months is 417,000 per month for five years. Double that and you get 832,000. So a GB pilot makes 832,000 a month. Super heroes and agents should make a similar amount. They can do something no one else can do, so they have a valuable skill. If the character has a cover, look up the pay for that field. The numbers may surprise you. And remember, characters make more than the typical person (even when they are in their secret identity they will stand out as people). On a similar note: dish out experience points in large hefty sums. Playing for a year and going up one level is silly. Be sure to give out large awards for performing skills, negotiating, finding out secrets, etc.

D.) Live in the Suit (M.D.C.) for those of you unfamiliar with the Palladium system you might not know about M.D.C., however any time the weapons in a world do so much damage only power armor or supernatural creatures can withstand them, there is a tendency for characters not to want to leave the safety of their armor or machines. Even in ancient times, Knights in full-plate were more likely to die of a heart attack from killing so many people or suffocate under the weight of the soldiers they killed than to have someone pierce their armor. This limits the world in many ways. No one cares how anyone dresses, no one cooks anything (MREs at the controls) and everyone starts to identify with their armor rather than other people. There are normally penalties for living in any kind of armor long term- but that isn’t the solution.
The Solution: Make sure the characters have some chance of survival outside their armor or vehicles. The Plain Clothes Triax armor is great. Clothes that can stop a tank round. Magic armor is also wonderful, often coming in capes, etc. Martial arts powers can sometimes offer a limited amount of protection (enough so the character doesn’t worry a single hit will vaporize them). Giving the characters fair warning (full plate and power armor are noisy- armored opponents should be heard a good long way off, so characters have a chance to get into their own suit. Having them get out to heal someone or talk with someone face to face can also work well.

E.) Lack of Common Goals: Goals make or break a group or world. Money, fame, adventure, women, knowledge, helping others, military service, duty, honor, etc. If everyone has different main goals- the world will pull everyone in different directions. Different sub goals are actually good. Solution: Make each player pick from a main goal list and add it into their character’s background. Choose or have them create sub goals. Review everyone’s goals to make sure they are compatible- the main goals anyway. This will be what will bind the group together at first. Can be as simple as “Get to the capital” or as complex and “love & peace.”

[Renekin Skywalker]

[PLUG]Well, if you want an interesting setting, that isn't Rifts, isn't PFRPG and is unique, check out Golthreia.[/PLUG]

[dakota]

renegade said:

[PLUG]Well, if you want an interesting setting, that isn't Rifts, isn't PFRPG and is unique, check out Golthreia.[/PLUG]

Oh come on, have you no shame?

But I'll vouch that it is unique, and thats a good thing

[Renekin Skywalker]

Just because it's shameless doesn't make it wrong.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Also, Golthreia's world data is up for those that are interested but wanting some idea about the setting.