Ref: RuleSystems & DaveF

The 'Chop Chop' Role Playing Game

by DaveF

A Quick Game System

Game Measures

When it is needed a character's stats can be measured with the following values. Nominal vales are marked in red.

           SKILL             HEALTH       SANITY       WEALTH
           Not Possible       Dead         Catatonic    Bankrupt
           Unskilled            Injured       Shocked      Poor
           Trained            Normal         Stable       Average
           Master             Protected    Stoic        Rich
           Superhero          Invulnerable Unshakable   Billionaire

Character Creation

A standard Character has 4 build points to spend:

Specific Skill

• 1 point: buys you a very specific skill or improves a stat.

ie sword fighting, climbing, swimming; these count as Trained.

• 2 points: If you have a Trained or Professional Skill then the skill is Mastered.

• 4 points: If you have a Mastered skill it is upgraded to Superhero.

Profession

• 2 points: buys you a professional area

ie soldier (weapons), athlete (pick a game or sport), clergy (theology), criminal (select one from things like pick pocket, safe cracking,intimidate etc), detective (select something like Streetwise, contacts or perception), dilettante (wealth is Rich and all other skills are Trained but the character may never master a skill), doctor (first aid), executive, journalist (select something like Streetwise, contacts or language skills), performer (select a performance type), professor (select a subject) etc

Note: generally the primary skill for the profession is counted as mastered any other skill that are relevant count as trained.

Hero Points

• 2 point: buys you a once per adventure hero point.

A character can have a max of one hero point per 4 build points. (ie 16 build point characters can have upto 4 hero points)

Special Abilities or Powers

Ability = things that you should be able to do assume x is possible; ie hear or see outside the normal or jump better than normal

Power = things that are impossible without magic, divine help or a great leap in technology; ie throw a fireball, put some to sleep, see through time, read minds

• 1 point: buys the character a one use per adventure ability - Example: "See and Hear Ghosts" (Once per Adventure Ability)

• 3 points: buys the character a one use per encounter ability or a one use helpful power - Example: "See and Hear Ghosts" (Encounter Ability), "Summon Spirit Aid" (Once per Adventure Power)

• (9 points: buys the character an always active ability or a one use problem overriding power - Example: "See and Hear Ghosts All The Time" (Free Use Ability) or "Teleport" (Once per Adventure Power))

Possessions

All characters have items, and homes appropriate for their profession but the referee may declare that they are not available. For example: soldiers may have an Assault rifle but you can't just carry it about off duty, but it is possible for you to have one stored away somewhere where you can get to it. Those character with no profession are assumed to be living in a student digs, at there parents or in a flop house with very limited cash and possessions.

Task Resolution

All tasks are resolved as the referee sees fit. With one or all of the following methods used:

Referee Fiat - I think about it, take into account your profession or skill and then just say 'yes', 'no', 'it take times' or 'you need tools' - for example.

Ability Karma - I will roll a dice 3dF (that is one with -1,0,+1 on there sides) using lowest roll for unskilled; middle roll for trained or some ability; highest roll for mastered. -1 will be fail, 0 is success and +1 is good success. For Example - A Priest would have Mastered Theology but only be Skilled at Historical Knowledge but completely Unskilled at Sneaking.

Resource Spend: To do it costs a hero point, you take damage, gain insanity, use your an ability, spend cash etc.

Life, Madness and Money

Damage

If a character is injured, mentally attacked or spends outside there ability then their stat will be reduced by one.

For example:

a character buys a car but can't get credit as they fail to make a Wealth Task. Then its wealth stats is reduced by one, no one can spend more than one level at a time.

a character sees a monster and is shocked then there sanity is reduced by one or more.

a character is hit by a weapon then there health is reduced by one or more.

Recovery

A character Wealth stat recovers at 1 level per year up to their original max. Billionaire stat characters only need to go to a bank and they auto recover all Wealth level.

A character Health stat recovers from Injured to Normal in one month with complete rest. A character can only recover from Dead if either they are healed before the end of the encounter and spend 6 months in hospital and recovering or they start with a stat of Invulnerable when they will have recovered a stat level before the next encounter.

Stanity can only be recovered by spending 1 year and 1 level of Wealth stat on a Psychologist. Unless they start with a stat of Unshakable when they will have recovered a stat level before the next encounter.