Attribute Checks

A player over on the AtB message boards asked about how people go about resolving attribute checks. Here are a few suggestions I have:

Option 1) Have the player multiply their attribute(s) by 3 and the result as a percentage to roll against. I cut off attributes at 30, so if you have an attribute high than that this probably won't work.

Example: Rocky is a bear with a PS of 21 and is trying to tear a door off its hinges. Multiplied by 3 you get 63. Rocky now has a base chance of 63% to tear the door off.

Option 2) Give the task a difficulty target and have your character add their attribute score to a 1D20. If the roll exceeds the target, they succeed.

Example: Rocky is trying to rip another door from its hinges. The GM assigns the task a difficulty of 30. Rocky needs to roll a 9 or better to successfully tear down the door.

Option 3) Use the character's attribute scores as a points pool to perform actions that you feel would otherwise strain them. These points would heal back at the same per-day rate as SDC. This would add a sense of stamina to all stats - Mental and Physical.

Example: Rocky isn't all that smart (IQ 9), but he is really straining to figure out the answer to a riddle. The GM might offer to charge the character 1 IQ for a small hint, or 3 IQ for a bigger hint.

Birnbaum asked:
A character (size level 2) was riding a mutant grasshopper (size level 15), when the grasshopper does one of his enormous leaps, there might be a P.S check (or P.P check) to see if the pc gets bucked off or not.

Option 1) Take the character's PS (or average the characters strength and prowess (i.e. PS+PP/2)) and multiply it by 3. Use that # as the target of a % roll, just like checking a skill. You might also want to penalize the character for the size difference; say -1% per size level.

Option 2) That's a really big grasshopper compared to the character. I'd probably give the task a base difficulty of at least 25 or 30 (that's what I figure a character of that size would need to stay on such a large mount). Again you could average the character's strength and prowess.

Option 3) It's going to take a lot of effort for such a small character to stay on the back of the grass hopper. Let's say we charge the character 1-3 PS for every minute he rides the "hopping" grasshopper. Riding a walking grasshopper won't cost him anything, only when it starts hopping. Depending on the character's PS, they will tire out pretty quickly.

Of course you could also combine any of these methods as you like as well.

Mountain of the Dead

I found an article today, while checking out Reddit, about the Dyatlov Pass Accident that happened in the USSR back in 1959. This got me to thinking that it would make an interesting adventure for a Palladium game.

For some time I've been trying to come up with a story for a mystery genre adventure for AtB, and I think this might just be the one. Actually, it would work for just about any Palladium setting.

For setting this in AtB the group of ski hikers could be either Cardanian scouts looking for a pass, or a Philly Trade Caravan moving west, through the Appalachian Mountains. Reports come back a week later that the bodies of the scouts or caravan have been found dead in a remote portion of their route.

The player characters are then sent to investigate the scene and find out what happened.

Several skills would be required by members of the group (medical, tracking, survival, wilderness survival, chemistry, etc. ) to examine the scene and/or discover evidence. People skills would be required to interrogate/question locals of the last town visited.

Several red herrings would be tossed in to prevent the mystery from being too easy to solve. Of course the adventure could be designed so that there would be multiple endings for the GM to choose from like in the movie Clue.

I'll try to create something from this story and post it in a future article.

[IN THE NEWS] Scientists Create Transparent Fish

Roger Highfield, Science Editor for the Telegraph (UK) writes: [link]

Scientists have created ghostly transparent fish to make human biology clearer. The feat has been achieved with zebrafish are genetically similar to humans and are already in widespread use as models for human biology and disease.

[snip]

The classic method for studying human diseases in animals is to allow the animal to get the disease, kill and dissect the animal, then ask, "what happened?" But in cancer and other fast-changing processes that traverse the body, this method is bound to miss something. "It's like taking a photograph when you need a video," says White.

[snip]

White named the new breed "casper", after the ghost.

Wouldn't that gene be pretty freaky to find passed down in some mutants in AtB? Actually this gives me a great idea for a Mad Scientist villain. Someone like a Splicer from Rifts who's messing with mutants and then tossing them back in the wild to see how they react or how the environment reacts to them.

I'll have to work on that.

Rifter #41: The City of Philly

After the Bomb received some attention in The Rifter #41 thanks to Erin (OmegaGirl) Lindsey.

This 24 page article brings the city of Philly to life with descriptions of the city, it's wards, history, and the Rodent Cartel and it's Families. Also included are NPC's, new mutant animals, apprenticeships, and beasts. Including the fearsome Jersey Devil!!!

And if that weren't enough, the article contains great illustrations and a full page map of the area!

If you love AtB, you've got to get this issue!

[IN THE NEWS] UK Allows Human-Animal Embryos

AFP wrote:[link]

Britain's fertility regulator said Thursday it would allow scientists to create human-animal hybrid embryos for research.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) approved applications from two universities to create "cytoplasmic" embryos, which merge human cells with eggs from animals such as cattle or rabbits.

Scientists argue the research could pave the way for therapies for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's...

[snip]

Researchers want to produce hybrids that are 99.9 percent human and 0.1 percent animal.

[snip]

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, head of stem cell biology at the Medical Research Council's national institute for medical research, said: "The HFEA's decision is excellent as it adds to the arsenal of techniques UK scientists can use to provide understanding and eventually develop therapies for a wide range of devastating genetic diseases."

Of course there are those who are crying fowl:

John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), said the decision was a "disastrous setback for human dignity", creating sub-human "slaves" used as raw materials.

"Of those embryos with a smaller proportion of human material, greater uncertainty arises... as to whether such an embryo is a human being with due rights," he said.

Only time will tell if we can use this knowledge responsibly and ethically.