Post by Jo Ann Montgomery on May 20, 2008 9:41:16 GMT -5
Corpse Bride RPG 1. This will come to about 4 pages. As this is my first attempt, I need to test it to see if I need to add anything.
From the original Star Cadets RPG:
This game is free! Really! Give copies to your friends! (Written: Apr-17-1998)
Printing Instructions: Use no top/bottom margins, sides use 1/2 inch. (1 page)
Needed materials: 6-sided dice, paper, writing tools, and 2 or more players.
RPG Basic Rules
Originally, Star Cadets
A One-Page Role-Playing Game by Donald Hosford (Hosford.Donald@ACD.net)
Filename: SCADETS.HTM With comments by Edward Golupski.
Star Cadets: drakadracula.proboards102.com/index.cgi?board=dprpg2&action=display&thread=43
Original: www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/archive/freerpgs/starcadets/starcadets.htm
Basic Rules: drakadracula.proboards102.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=dprpg2&thread=45
Game Rules
CREATING CHARACTERS: Think of a name. Roll 2d6 of each attribute (STrength and BRains) Hits=Strength. Move is ½ Strength, (round up). Choose a number of skills, no more than Brains score. Make one skill level 3, the rest are level 1. Has 70 credits to buy stuff
SKILLS: Driver, Fight, Medic, Repair, Science, Shot, Sailing,
SKILL DIFFICULTIES: Easy things: +2, Average things: +0, Hard things: -2
SKILL ROLLS: Roll 2d6, add skill level, subtract difficulty. If the total is 8 or more, skill attempt was successful. Rolls of 7 or less are failures.
COMBAT: All characters get a chance to do something each turn. Attacks are at Average difficulty. Characters may move up to ½ move, and shoot at -2 to skill roll.
DAMAGE: Subtract armor defense, apply remainder to character’s hits. Any character with zero hits has died.
NPC’s:: Basics: ST: 7, BR: 7. Has only needed skills (level 2), and stuff. Experts: Worked out like characters.
EXPERIENCE: All characters get 1 point per adventure. Give 2 points for good role playing. 5 points may be spent to increase a skill by 1 level.
Equipment:
Item Cost Notes
Backpack 10 10 small items.
Hotel Room 25 per day.
Rations 6 Food for 1 man
Toolkit 18 +2 on skill rolls
Ship passage 15 per day
Luxury passage 40 per day
Weapon Damage Shots Range
Cannon 300 5d6 1 150m
Rifle 60 3d6 10 80m
Pistol 30 2d6 6 40m
Knife 5 1d6 --- ---
Sword 20 1d6+3 --- ---
Spear 15 2d6 1 20m
Land of the Dead
For a place that’s supposed to be dead, the Land of the Dead is very lively. It’s colorful, too. In the movie, this was in contrast to the dullness of the Land of the Living, which was in the Victorian Era. While the Land of the Living Victorian Era was restrictive and cold, the Land of the Dead was a place where one could let go their inhibitions. The Land of the Dead does have some basic rules, mostly pertaining to how the Land of the Dead (or “Downstairs”, as it’s sometimes called) works, but for the most part, it is freer than the Land of the Living (or “Upstairs”).
While class distinctions may exist in the Land of the Living, not so in the Land of the Dead. Everyone is the same, and everyone parties most of the time.
Levels of Unlife:
There are three basic levels of unlife in the Land of the Dead: Newly Dead, Decaying, and Skeletal. Each level has its own attributes for players.
Newly Dead: These are the recently deceased. Upon arrival in the Land of the Dead, a new corpse will look like he or she did in life, but with blue skin. Hair and eye color remain the same, although hair sometimes turns a dark blue.
Decaying: These are dead who have been in the Land of the Dead for quite awhile, and their flesh as begun to rot and fall away, leaving patches that reveal the skeleton underneath. Parts of the skeleton that have been revealed can come apart at the joints, and can be replaced very easily.
Skeletal: These are dead who have lost all of their flesh, leaving nothing but the skeleton. The skeleton may or may not have eyeballs, but even those without eyes seem to see quite clearly. As per the Decaying Dead, skeletons can come apart at the joints, and be reassembled as just as easily.
Abilities of the Dead.
Upon arrival in the Land of the Dead, the newly deceased will find that they can not be harmed. This has lead to the habit of consuming food and drink that would make a living person sick, or even kill them.
Other abilities are derived from the manner in which a person died. If, for instance, a man was beheaded, then the corpse might carry about the head in his arms, or be able to remove his head and replace it on his body at will, even though he may be in the Newly Dead state, and would not have that ability normally.
Players start out as Newly Dead, and gradually advance to Decaying, then Skeletal. An optional rule might allow a player to start off at one of the other stages. Other rule may be simply not to go through the stages at all (i.e., A Newly Dead remains Newly Dead; Decaying remains Decaying; and Skeletal remains Skeletal). This would simplify the game further for the novice player.
Magic in the Land of the Dead.
This is a rare thing in the Land of the Dead. In fact, the only being that can work magic is Elder Gutknecht, the elderly skeleton that is the leader in the Land of the Dead. It is he that uses the Ukrainian Haunting Spell to send Victor and Emily back to the Land of the Living. The only way to return is to say the word, “hopscotch”.
Another notable item, accessible by Elder Gutknecht only, is the Wine of Ages. This is a powerful poison (works in only 6 seconds), used mostly in the wedding ceremony between a dead person and a living person. The two speak their vows (living first), then the living person drinks the poison. When he (or she) dies, the wedding can be concluded.
While vows vary, the most used is the following, complete with the items involved:
“With this hand, I will lift your sorrows,
Your cup never empty, for I will be your wine.
With this candle, I will light your way in darkness…
With this ring, I ask you to be mine.”
The vows would go as follows, with the actions included: (Note: The movie did not end like this. I’m just using Victor and Emily as examples.)
Victor: (Takes Emily by the hand.) With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. (Lifts cup to Emily.) Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine.
Emily: (Her hand still in Victor’s) With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. (Lifts bottle of poison and fills the cup.) Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine.
(Victor drinks the Wine of Ages, and after six seconds, he dies. The ceremony continues.)
Victor: (Takes lighted candle.) With this candle, I will light your way in darkness.
Emily: (Holds unlighted candle. Victor lights the candle.)
Victor: (Holds the ring up.) With this ring, I ask you to be mine. (Slips ring onto Emily’s finger.)
The ceremony would then finish up.
It is possible that a living person who wants to come and “live” in the Land of the Dead could drink the Wine of Ages without a wedding ceremony, but such a thing would be rare.
The Ball ‘N’ Socket Pub:
This is where the corpses go to have fun in the Land of the Dead. It is owned by a Skeleton named Bonejangles, and is where he and his band plays. His cook is Mrs. Plum, who is always the first to greet the “New Arrival” (the Newly Dead when they first come to the Land of the Dead.). She is quite motherly, once one gets past the fact that she’s a corpse. Her assistant cooks include a man with several cooking implements sticking out of his back.
While Bonejangles likes to take the stage, he and his band are not the only musicians in his pub. His piano player is a skeleton wearing sunglasses, and generally acts like Ray Charles.
Paul, the Head Waiter, is a decapitated head with a French accent, being carried around by thingyroaches. He will offer the New Arrival a drink, usually of a bright –almost neon—yellow liquid, which would probably be quite poisonous to anyone living, but act like alcohol to Corpses.
The pub is alerted to New Arrivals by a bell that rings. When it does so, the pub will quickly fill with Corpses, all eager to greet the newest inhabitant of the Land of the Dead.
List of Characters from The Corpse Bride
Living:
Victor Van Dort; The nervous young man who is betrothed to Victoria Everglot.
Victoria Everglot: Victor’s wife-to-be in an arranged marriage.
Nell Van Dort, Victor’s mother. Fat, and snobbish.
Hildegarde, the Everglot’s elderly maid.
William Van Dort, Victor’s father. Thin and kindly. A fishmonger.
Maudeline Everglot, Victoria’s mother. Tall, skinny, and domineering.
Finis Everglot, Victoria’s father. Short, fat, and snarling.
Pastor Galswells, the Village priest. Scary.
Town Crier, newscaster for the village. Shaped like a hand-held bell.
Emil, snooty butler of the Everglots.
Solemn Village Boy
Gertrude, elderly widow of Alfred.
Onion-Headed Green grocer
Dead:
Emily, the Corpse Bride
Mayhew, the Van Dort’s carriage driver, dies in the movie, falling from his seat on the carriage.
Paul the Head Waiter, a French-accented male head, carried by thingyroaches.
Barkis Bittern, evil murderer of brides, whom he kills for their money. Drinks poison and dies at the end of the movie.
Elder Gutknecht, oldest and wisest skeleton in the Land of the Dead. Leader of the dead.
General Bonesapart, very short skeleton with a sword in his chest.
Bonejangles, the Skeleton Band Leader. Owner of the Ball and Socket Pub.
Mrs. Plum, head cook at the Ball and Socket Pub. As motherly as a corpse can get.
General Wellington, Skeleton with cannonball hole in torso.
Alfred, Gertrude’s husband, dead 15 years at the time of the movie.
Skeleton Boy & Girl
Scraps, Victor’s dog, now a skeleton dog.
Other, non-dead citizens of the Land of the Dead
Black Widow
Maggot, talks like Peter Lorne. Lives in Emily’s head.
From the original Star Cadets RPG:
This game is free! Really! Give copies to your friends! (Written: Apr-17-1998)
Printing Instructions: Use no top/bottom margins, sides use 1/2 inch. (1 page)
Needed materials: 6-sided dice, paper, writing tools, and 2 or more players.
RPG Basic Rules
Originally, Star Cadets
A One-Page Role-Playing Game by Donald Hosford (Hosford.Donald@ACD.net)
Filename: SCADETS.HTM With comments by Edward Golupski.
Star Cadets: drakadracula.proboards102.com/index.cgi?board=dprpg2&action=display&thread=43
Original: www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/archive/freerpgs/starcadets/starcadets.htm
Basic Rules: drakadracula.proboards102.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=dprpg2&thread=45
Game Rules
CREATING CHARACTERS: Think of a name. Roll 2d6 of each attribute (STrength and BRains) Hits=Strength. Move is ½ Strength, (round up). Choose a number of skills, no more than Brains score. Make one skill level 3, the rest are level 1. Has 70 credits to buy stuff
SKILLS: Driver, Fight, Medic, Repair, Science, Shot, Sailing,
SKILL DIFFICULTIES: Easy things: +2, Average things: +0, Hard things: -2
SKILL ROLLS: Roll 2d6, add skill level, subtract difficulty. If the total is 8 or more, skill attempt was successful. Rolls of 7 or less are failures.
COMBAT: All characters get a chance to do something each turn. Attacks are at Average difficulty. Characters may move up to ½ move, and shoot at -2 to skill roll.
DAMAGE: Subtract armor defense, apply remainder to character’s hits. Any character with zero hits has died.
NPC’s:: Basics: ST: 7, BR: 7. Has only needed skills (level 2), and stuff. Experts: Worked out like characters.
EXPERIENCE: All characters get 1 point per adventure. Give 2 points for good role playing. 5 points may be spent to increase a skill by 1 level.
Equipment:
Item Cost Notes
Backpack 10 10 small items.
Hotel Room 25 per day.
Rations 6 Food for 1 man
Toolkit 18 +2 on skill rolls
Ship passage 15 per day
Luxury passage 40 per day
Weapon Damage Shots Range
Cannon 300 5d6 1 150m
Rifle 60 3d6 10 80m
Pistol 30 2d6 6 40m
Knife 5 1d6 --- ---
Sword 20 1d6+3 --- ---
Spear 15 2d6 1 20m
Land of the Dead
For a place that’s supposed to be dead, the Land of the Dead is very lively. It’s colorful, too. In the movie, this was in contrast to the dullness of the Land of the Living, which was in the Victorian Era. While the Land of the Living Victorian Era was restrictive and cold, the Land of the Dead was a place where one could let go their inhibitions. The Land of the Dead does have some basic rules, mostly pertaining to how the Land of the Dead (or “Downstairs”, as it’s sometimes called) works, but for the most part, it is freer than the Land of the Living (or “Upstairs”).
While class distinctions may exist in the Land of the Living, not so in the Land of the Dead. Everyone is the same, and everyone parties most of the time.
Levels of Unlife:
There are three basic levels of unlife in the Land of the Dead: Newly Dead, Decaying, and Skeletal. Each level has its own attributes for players.
Newly Dead: These are the recently deceased. Upon arrival in the Land of the Dead, a new corpse will look like he or she did in life, but with blue skin. Hair and eye color remain the same, although hair sometimes turns a dark blue.
Decaying: These are dead who have been in the Land of the Dead for quite awhile, and their flesh as begun to rot and fall away, leaving patches that reveal the skeleton underneath. Parts of the skeleton that have been revealed can come apart at the joints, and can be replaced very easily.
Skeletal: These are dead who have lost all of their flesh, leaving nothing but the skeleton. The skeleton may or may not have eyeballs, but even those without eyes seem to see quite clearly. As per the Decaying Dead, skeletons can come apart at the joints, and be reassembled as just as easily.
Abilities of the Dead.
Upon arrival in the Land of the Dead, the newly deceased will find that they can not be harmed. This has lead to the habit of consuming food and drink that would make a living person sick, or even kill them.
Other abilities are derived from the manner in which a person died. If, for instance, a man was beheaded, then the corpse might carry about the head in his arms, or be able to remove his head and replace it on his body at will, even though he may be in the Newly Dead state, and would not have that ability normally.
Players start out as Newly Dead, and gradually advance to Decaying, then Skeletal. An optional rule might allow a player to start off at one of the other stages. Other rule may be simply not to go through the stages at all (i.e., A Newly Dead remains Newly Dead; Decaying remains Decaying; and Skeletal remains Skeletal). This would simplify the game further for the novice player.
Magic in the Land of the Dead.
This is a rare thing in the Land of the Dead. In fact, the only being that can work magic is Elder Gutknecht, the elderly skeleton that is the leader in the Land of the Dead. It is he that uses the Ukrainian Haunting Spell to send Victor and Emily back to the Land of the Living. The only way to return is to say the word, “hopscotch”.
Another notable item, accessible by Elder Gutknecht only, is the Wine of Ages. This is a powerful poison (works in only 6 seconds), used mostly in the wedding ceremony between a dead person and a living person. The two speak their vows (living first), then the living person drinks the poison. When he (or she) dies, the wedding can be concluded.
While vows vary, the most used is the following, complete with the items involved:
“With this hand, I will lift your sorrows,
Your cup never empty, for I will be your wine.
With this candle, I will light your way in darkness…
With this ring, I ask you to be mine.”
The vows would go as follows, with the actions included: (Note: The movie did not end like this. I’m just using Victor and Emily as examples.)
Victor: (Takes Emily by the hand.) With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. (Lifts cup to Emily.) Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine.
Emily: (Her hand still in Victor’s) With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. (Lifts bottle of poison and fills the cup.) Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine.
(Victor drinks the Wine of Ages, and after six seconds, he dies. The ceremony continues.)
Victor: (Takes lighted candle.) With this candle, I will light your way in darkness.
Emily: (Holds unlighted candle. Victor lights the candle.)
Victor: (Holds the ring up.) With this ring, I ask you to be mine. (Slips ring onto Emily’s finger.)
The ceremony would then finish up.
It is possible that a living person who wants to come and “live” in the Land of the Dead could drink the Wine of Ages without a wedding ceremony, but such a thing would be rare.
The Ball ‘N’ Socket Pub:
This is where the corpses go to have fun in the Land of the Dead. It is owned by a Skeleton named Bonejangles, and is where he and his band plays. His cook is Mrs. Plum, who is always the first to greet the “New Arrival” (the Newly Dead when they first come to the Land of the Dead.). She is quite motherly, once one gets past the fact that she’s a corpse. Her assistant cooks include a man with several cooking implements sticking out of his back.
While Bonejangles likes to take the stage, he and his band are not the only musicians in his pub. His piano player is a skeleton wearing sunglasses, and generally acts like Ray Charles.
Paul, the Head Waiter, is a decapitated head with a French accent, being carried around by thingyroaches. He will offer the New Arrival a drink, usually of a bright –almost neon—yellow liquid, which would probably be quite poisonous to anyone living, but act like alcohol to Corpses.
The pub is alerted to New Arrivals by a bell that rings. When it does so, the pub will quickly fill with Corpses, all eager to greet the newest inhabitant of the Land of the Dead.
List of Characters from The Corpse Bride
Living:
Victor Van Dort; The nervous young man who is betrothed to Victoria Everglot.
Victoria Everglot: Victor’s wife-to-be in an arranged marriage.
Nell Van Dort, Victor’s mother. Fat, and snobbish.
Hildegarde, the Everglot’s elderly maid.
William Van Dort, Victor’s father. Thin and kindly. A fishmonger.
Maudeline Everglot, Victoria’s mother. Tall, skinny, and domineering.
Finis Everglot, Victoria’s father. Short, fat, and snarling.
Pastor Galswells, the Village priest. Scary.
Town Crier, newscaster for the village. Shaped like a hand-held bell.
Emil, snooty butler of the Everglots.
Solemn Village Boy
Gertrude, elderly widow of Alfred.
Onion-Headed Green grocer
Dead:
Emily, the Corpse Bride
Mayhew, the Van Dort’s carriage driver, dies in the movie, falling from his seat on the carriage.
Paul the Head Waiter, a French-accented male head, carried by thingyroaches.
Barkis Bittern, evil murderer of brides, whom he kills for their money. Drinks poison and dies at the end of the movie.
Elder Gutknecht, oldest and wisest skeleton in the Land of the Dead. Leader of the dead.
General Bonesapart, very short skeleton with a sword in his chest.
Bonejangles, the Skeleton Band Leader. Owner of the Ball and Socket Pub.
Mrs. Plum, head cook at the Ball and Socket Pub. As motherly as a corpse can get.
General Wellington, Skeleton with cannonball hole in torso.
Alfred, Gertrude’s husband, dead 15 years at the time of the movie.
Skeleton Boy & Girl
Scraps, Victor’s dog, now a skeleton dog.
Other, non-dead citizens of the Land of the Dead
Black Widow
Maggot, talks like Peter Lorne. Lives in Emily’s head.