XCOM d20

[STIM]

SWEET!

 

While I'm not a very good artist.

 

*Cut to a 2nd grader showings his artwork off to his mom*

"Look mommy I can draw better then this High School Senior"

 

*Cut to see High School Senior crying*

"It's just not fair"

 

 

But with writing, ahh now there's something I can do, and do it well. At least, I think so...

Expect me to have some stuff going, but if you see nothing then expect the worst. I got lazy.

But if you want some of my writing samples I'd galdy had some over.

 

 

But I got one question.

1. These quotes, are these on anything in general? Or just like.

"This weapon that makes things go boom, etc."

Or like "This alien is funny looking."

or what?

 

 

Anyways, school starting, bye.

[Bastiaan]

Ok, STIM, now you are complicating it again , but I should figure it out when I have the manual. And for questions I can ask you. And don't bump your head too much to the monitor.

[Slaughter]

Here's another attempt to explain it Bastiaan. First out, everybody except the GM makes characters. That's a piece of paper with stats, gear and skills (like the soldiers in the X-Com games, but more detailed). You get your stats etc. by rolling dice. Say that maximum for a stat is 18. You roll 3 D6 dice, and can get very good (18) or VERY bad (3).

 

Then, when everyone has their characters ready, the game starts. The GM(GameMaster) tells you the following: "You're a squad of X-Com soldiers trained at the Central European Base (CEB) in Norway . You've been put is a squad together, and have just been called out to your first mission."

 

Then the GM takes on the role of your commander:

"It's a downed UFO in Sweden. I know you all feel that the Swedes aren't worth saving, but since it's a small UFO, and you need experience, we'll go anyway. The UFO crash landed in a small village, and therefore we will have to be careful. That means don't shoot everything that moves! Bastiaan , you're in charge of team ALPHA, and STIM, you're in charge of team BRAVO. NOW GET YOUR ASS MOVING"

 

Then your response may be as follows: "Yes SIR! Slaughter, Fugue, Fox, you follow me! Move!!"

 

Then the GM takes over again: "You pick up your weapons and gear and run to the craft. 5 minutes later all 9 soldiers are in, along with a weapons platform for your protection. The craft leaves base, and the tension inside is almost unbearable."

 

Then the GM continues (Now as the commander again): "Be prepared maggots! We'll be on the ground in 5. Here's what we do: Bastiaan, you take your team out after the weapons platform. As soon as you're out, make a stance to the left of the craft. STIM, your team do the same at the right. God speed"

 

The GM then tell you that the craft is landing, and the doors open. You can see woodland outside. The weapons platform moves out in a straight forward line.

 

You say for instance: "Okay men, follow me"

 

You then move out of the craft. You can smell a mixture of fresh air and something burning. You're so tense you're afraid you'll snap. Sweat is running down your forehead.

 

You settle on the ground in a crouched position. The rest of the team do the same besides you. You look around, and suddenly it happens. You find yourself staring into a pair of large, black eyes!

 

After describing this, the GM does a few things. First he's going to roll a D20 dice versus your bravery stat. If you're lucky, he'll make a good roll for you, and if your bravery stat is high, that helps allot. If you don't panic, he'll asks you what you want to do. In this case you'll probably say: "Fire!". So will probably your team mates.

 

The GM then asks you to make a initiative roll. This roll determines who fires first. You are now in "turn-based mode". That mean combat turns, just like in the computer game. Each turn is a fixed number of seconds. Anyway, you and the others (including the alien(s), played by the GM) make initiative rolls. The roll is for instance a D20 roll plus your initiative rating. With luck, you'll fire first. If not, pray!

 

This time you're lucky. You roll 20, and adding your initiative rating, you go first. You lift your rifle to your shoulder, and fire. This is done by another roll. Again you roll the D20 dice, and add your attack rating with rifle. This time you're not so lucky. You roll a 1! That means failure!

 

The GM then makes some calculations, and tell you that your rifle malfunctions. He then tell you: "You fumble with your rifle as crazy, but realize you're in serious trouble. The Sectoid has its weapon pointed at you! You make a silent prayer, and hear the sound of a gunshot. Next thing the Sectoids head explodes! As you turn, you see Slaughter grinning beside you, smoke coming from his weapon."

 

As it turns out, I had a better initiative than the Sectoid as well. And my weapon did not malfunction. So the GM went through the same process with me as with you. I rolled initiative, I rolled the attack, he added my attack roll to my attack bonus, and determined that I hit. He then calculated damage, and described the rather brutal result to the group.

 

This is more or less how P&P RPG works. As for the book Fugue and the rest of the team is making, it contains rules for making a character, stats on gear and aliens, rules for how the combat works, how skills work and so on. Everything you need to play except for the dice and photocopies of the character sheet.

 

Other books may describe a campaign. A campaign is a story for the GM to read, and then use later in a RPG session. It may detail the aliens homeworld, who they are allied with, some of their bases, and a suggestion as to what will happen on the players (you and the others) way to the ultimate goal. To rid the earth of the alien scum! The GM has to improvise a lot of it, as do you as players, but the main guidelines are described in these books.

 

Does this clear things up? And feel free to detail what you will do in your next turn, and I'll play the part of the GM.

[STIM]

Geez Slaughter, that is one of the BEST examples I've ever seen anyone type up.

 

BTW, how long DID it take you to type that thing up?

At least an hour by the looks of it! GEEZBES.

[Slaughter]

Thank you STIM Didn't take me that long... Seriously though, when I start writing about something I find interesting, it takes very little effort. Not often that happens though

 

How long have you been playing P&P RPG?

[STIM]

Well I only started AD&D about a month ago, I started my own version of P&P X-Com back in Oct.

 

But before that I knew about P&P just never could get anyone to play with, nor did I want to buy anything besides the dice.

[Wormfist]

Though it shouldn't really be a significant part of it because it's all in the head, I think the monster works of art of the D&D collections (the Monster Manuals in particular) are superb, that always inspired me to evolve some nice D&D plots.

 

I'm looking forward to the eventual XCom variant this thread is about. Hopefully, my friends want to come along in this one...

 

[Edit]

 

Come to think about it... D&D is being played over email as well... Maybe X-com.co.uk can host a the XCom P&P (email) RPG game in the future or something like that? I think that would be cool.

[Bastiaan]

WAIT!!!!

Slaughter, now I get it, I saw a episode of Dexter's lab once and they were playing such type of game only they did it with dragons and knights and stuff.

So you make up the story, but the events are decided by roling the dice like a hit or miss, aha, CENTRAL European Base in Norway, right , are you a Norwegian Slaughter?

[usmarox]

Fugue, I'm curious about this whole writing thing as well. You say it's pretty open-ended, but I could do with a little more guidance than you've provided....

[Slaughter]

Am I a Norwegian....? NOOOOOOO

 

Though I guess Viking isn't the first association you'd get looking at me, I'm Norwegian alright. And how about you Bastiaan?

 

And you're right, the GM make up the story for a large part, as do the players. Say that you're in the base, and I (as a GM) had planned for you to go on a mission. I tell you to ready yourself. But you've gone crazy in the meantime, because you couldn't handle meeting the aliens . Then you can tell me you decide to set of a grenade in the craft, possibly killing all your team mates, as well as yourself.

 

Now this is a VERY radical event, but the point is that the players control the story more than the GM does in many cases. The GM just describe what happens based on the players actions.

 

In fact, let me give you an example. We were playing AD&D once (one of the games with dragons and stuff ). I was playing a Invoker, which is a magician with a lot of offensive spells (as in attack spells, not the other type of offensive ). Anyway, we were all good, no evil characters amongst us.

 

We were hunting down a evil goblin shaman at the time. And of all places we found him in disguise in a large city. But as we spotted him, he spotted us, and the hunt was on. We chased him down to the docs, and got a clear sight of him fleeing.

 

At this point I decided I'd use my spells to stop him. And I had this spell I really wanted to try. "Ice Storm" was it's name. I cast it, and as was intended, a Ice Storm appeared over him..... and about thirty other people at the peer! I didn't kill him, but 30 sailors and sinking a ship I did!

 

As can be expected this was rather traumatic to my poor invoker. And the other adventurers in my group thought I had gone mad. And they were right. At that moment I did go crazy. I couldn't handle the fact that I had killed all those innocent people, and went as crazy as is possible. So I summoned a phantom steed (ghost horse more or less) and escaped.

 

This gave my fellow adventurers another assignment..... To hunt ME down. And guess who I teamed up with....

 

Anyway, point is that players are the ones that affect the story the most. That's how it's supposed to be if the GM knows what he's doing at least.

 

So my advice to you Bastiaan is to try to join a P&P RPG group if you get the chance. It's a very rewarding experience, and exceptional at that if you have a lively imagination.

 

Oh, one more thing. Have you read "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien? If you have, you'll know who Smaug is, and then you might find this campaign I once GMed interesting. There's a lot of good RPG moments at this site, which is also the homepage of my favorite P&P RPG, Rolemaster.

[Bastiaan]

I am Dutch....I think, I spent so much time in Norway the last few years .

 

And for the people whose fantasy isn't as developed as yours can play scenario's which the GM can read from this book or expansions for it, right?

[Slaughter]

Sure thing, no problem playing a book quest. Need some improvising there as well, but most people can handle it.

 

Why have you been spending time in Norway then?

[Bastiaan]

But if Fuque his organisation is bringing it out they have to ask Firaxis for permission or something like that, whit all the negative developments the last few years it would be a complete breakthrough for X-COM! Maybe if this project is succesfull we might see more X-COM in the future.

 

And I have been 4 times in Norway the past 2 years for military exercises, we participated in exercise joint winter a few weeks ago. In total I have been more than 6 months there.

[Slaughter]

Yes, they need permission to do this. They are currently in negations to get just that. Let's cross our fingers!

 

Joint Winter you say? Been there once myself. Winter of 2000. I resided in one of the coldest camps in Norway called Skjold, and had the pleasure of attending the exercise. Since I was at a Mortar beltwagon (modified BV206), that was yet a boring exercise for me. Standing 3 kilometers behind the front isn't too interesting. And the one time we were going to get some action, coming of one of those boats that set you ashore, we found no enemies! Dammit! It was in the middle of enemy territory, but even then we managed to avoid them. That is a good thing for a mortar unit, but OH SO BORING!!!

 

So, you're getting quite a skier now then? Watching the Dutch learn skiing was A PLEASURE!

 

I take it you're a professional soldier then. What's your rank and function then?

[Fugue]

Hi again everyone.

 

I've had 3 points come to my attention so far.

 

First, about adventures. if all goes as we hope there will be a CD with the book, which may have tilesets for combat (print and set as you like, just like the game). The other thing we hope to include is 2 adventures. So you will have atleast 2 premade adventurers to help you get in the mood if you aren't familiar with what an adventure is supposed to look like. Who knows we may have a Cydonia expansion or something like that in the future, or perhaps we will have web enhancement adventures, things you can download from our website (but this is all still on the drawing board, so if you have any suggestions please tell).

 

Second, about the contest. I have noticed that the creative writting contest is absurdly open ended, sorry about that! We need to give you guys a bit more guidance. Anyways, I would like to point out that in both art and writting you can send as many entries as you like, there is no limit of 1 per person. We will probably move the deadline for submissions too, so you may have an extra week or two.

 

Third, X-com's future and license. We do hope that the release of our game will catalyze the production of more X-com games. We are working on the license, but as you can expect it isn't easy. Maybe we should start a signature campaign, so they can see that people are interested in the project. It would make things quicker. I am planning on visiting the offices in Japan this month.

[Bastiaan]

You mean we can print out a board on paper from the CD? Great! I like some visual stuff as my fantasy is poor. , don't forget models of units we can print out. Or a boxed set with plastic models, that would be extremely cool.

This game is getting more and more interesting every day.

Maybe Andre Galvao can write something, his Unknown Menace story is great so far, I am still reading.

 

 

Ha, I am still a poor skier, There is nothing as controversial as Dutch people on skies, we don't have mountains and seldom snow. I am a Marine, 22 infantrycompany. I am the radio operator. And I have seen those mortar BV's, after a demonstration our command has decided to buy them too.

We had some cool missions, we did heliops with Bell 412's, and we worked with those fast patrol/combat boats for landings on the shore. Where you a soldier or are you still in the Army/ Marines?

[Slaughter]

A CD sounds good Fugue. And shouldn't that CD contain a character generator as well? You see, some friends and me are having a school project soon, and we were thinking about making a D&D chargen. We were thinking one web-based and one application. But we could make one for the X-Com game instead, if the rules etc. are close enough to completion to use....

 

As for my army status, I was like most other Norwegian men having my duty year in the army 1999-2000, so I'm not a soldier anymore. But it was a nice experience that year. You learn to know yourself in new ways in the Army, and you see routines and resource use so idiotic you don't believe your eyes! Not that the army in itself is a bad thing, but the Norwegian version is not lead in a good way. They have ways to do some things that have been the same since the second world war, and they refuse to change...

[STIM]

Ya I've actully deceided to not be lazy tomarrow and write some stuff up for X-Com.

[Slaughter]

Good boy STIM Think I may do that if I find the time too. Would like some more guidelines from Fugue first though...

[STIM]

Well, he has put down some very easy things we could do. Like quotes.

"Them sectoids are tricky SOB's!'

 

Weaponary descrpitsion.

"See this rocket lanucher? This is my BOOM STICK."

 

And other such things.

[STIM]

Well after only working for about 10minutes. I've came up with One of the alien descriptions! And a quote for them too!.

 

I'm planning on writeing one description for each race and with one or more quotes.

 

Then I'll move onto weapons and armor, then UFO's, then X-Com Craft.

 

Maybe I'll do other descriptions, I don't know.

If Fugue wants me to write some short storys or something akin to that as well. I can do that too.

 

Anyways, if you guys want to see what I've written, here ya go.

 

Sectoid

A Sectoid is a one of the smallest aliens humanity has contacted so far. They look and act physically weak, which they are, and only standing to around normal chest height, or shorter, to a human. They have a small body, but with large eyes and a much larger head then humans. But that doesn't mean that they are not capable of harmful action.

Sectoids use powerful psionic powers to demoralize soldiers into a panicked state or even take over other soldier's minds, turning them on their fellow soldiers. Besides their mind powers, sectoids also use their plasma weaponry to get affect. Often killing soldiers in one shot before they even know they are there.

The Sectoid Hierarchy ranges from soldiers, medics, and leaders in their hive-like society. While Sectoids cannot reproduce, they have developed cloning to replace their numbers lost in battle scientists have found they most likely are a genetically engineered species. Sectoids tend to indulge in abduction's of unaware humans and mutilating cattle. For proposes that scientists have only recently have begun to understand. The abductions are used to extract genetic material from humans to produce a Sectoid/Human cross breeding and developing clones for infiltrating human society. The cattle provide both nutrition and genetic material for them.

 

"Their size makes them hard to spot, they can hide almost anywhere they want to and with a ability to psionicly control our people from other rooms or across whole fields, they can almost always get the first strike in. And if that fails their weapons can certainly make you think twice about openly attacking them. They make for a cunning foe."

Sergeant Harris Schultz -1999

MIA - 2000

[Vikernes]

I have a sugestion!

 

Fugue should adapt the SectoidX web-page forum so people could have most of the conversations people have been having here, there!

A nice thread for the Art Competition, another for the Writing Competition. The admins would create all the topics necessary, and registred users would be allowed to post there their creations.

 

 

Also, something that could really incentivate people to go there is a big thread for fan fiction only. Serious fan fiction preferably (but knowing the net the way I do, some comic fiction too). Everyone could post one after another, making stories up as the days go along. : )

 

I'll take this chance and advertise the free form internet roleplaying sessions hosted by the X-com Alliance Sim at https://www.x-com.co.uk/xcas/

 

I was part of it for a little while, and I can tell your for sure, it is extremely fun and involving. Being freeform, there aren't any rules, but thanks to the GM, there were some stories that kept me laughing for days: )

I believe they always need more players, so if you're interested in X-com roleplaying and really can't wait until Fugue's SectoidX comes out, then visit the website and talk to Mouse.

 

 

But seriously, about moving all of this to the forum, it would certainly cause more and more people to go there and become interested. There'd have to be much more content on the actual site too, although much could be only on the forum.

 

Just my two cents, hope I didn't bore anyone to death: )

[Slaughter]

Sounds like a plan to me. Best way to create interest around the game.

[Pendragon]

First of all I'd like to say that, the despite the fact that I'm both a big fan of the X-Com games and RPG's in general, I'm skeptical.

Being a fan of X-Com means that I dont want it to be turned into a RPG. I want to see it as a great RPG. I'm not sure Fugue and his colleagues can live up to those expectations.

 

So far, judging from the website and the post here, the would-be authors lack a good enough grasp of the english language to write a good game (I might be wrong, but this is the impression I get, and until I'm proven wrong, I'll stick to that). Also, the artwork is... well, lets just say, not good enough. Luckily, they seem to have realized this and asked for help, at least with the art.

I do get intrigued when they present themselves as a company and that their RPG writing experience limits itself the d20. No offense, but it comes across to me like a bunch of X-Com fanboys who wants to merge their favourite computergame with the only RPG they know. Dungeons and Dragons.

 

Wich brings me to my next point. Dungeons and Dragons. Or d20 games in general. I regard it as one of the absolute worst RPG systems available today. The fact that it's the biggest around only makes it worse, since a lot of people seem to think RPG's = d20.

Now, I might be biased against d20 games, and some might argue that they have a lot of fun with them and that it works for them. Well thats good for them, to each their own, but what I'm worried about in this case is not that d20 is a bad system as much it is inappropriate for X-Com.

 

X-Com (1-3) felt pretty realistic, at least in the lethality department where even your toughest operatives went down pretty easily when hit, especially without their armour. Dungeons and Dragons might be a lot of things, like fast-paced and fun, but realistic it is not. Not by a long shot.

 

There are tonnes of gamesystems that would be more suitable, in fact, most of them would. I would advise the Fugue boys to look through the following systems before proceeding:

 

Twilight/Merc 2000 (Loren K. Wiseman, GDW, Out of print, but scheduled to be re-released)

GURPS (Steve Jackson games)

FUDGE (Steffan O'Sullivan, available for free)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (C.J. Carella, Eden Studios)

Heavy Gear (Dream Pod 9, seamless integration between tactical combat game and RPG)

 

I doubt anyone who's tried them will disagree on their greater suitability to bring X-Com to the RPG scene.

[STIM]

Ah a new member, welcome to the X-com Fourms, I see you found your way in here quickly enough.

Well, let me get cracking.

 

X-Com (1-3) felt pretty realistic, at least in the lethality department where even your toughest operatives went down pretty easily when hit, especially without their armour. Dungeons and Dragons might be a lot of things, like fast-paced and fun, but realistic it is not. Not by a long shot.

-Pendragon

 

And that's your problem right there.

X-Com is going to be realistic. (At least, I sure hope so. )

Dungeons and Dragons is NOT realistic, It was never ment to be realistic. So don't compare X-Com to Dungeons and Dragons? Mmmmkay?

Just because they are going to be using a D20 system, DOES NOT MEAN they will be ripping everything off Dungeons and Dragons. :hmmm:

 

Have you ever tryed to make your own D- system? It is superbly hard.

It took me 2 months to get a basic idea down JUST for a System that used only 2 D6 dice for X-Com, and let me tell you it is nothing NEAR being complete or in most cases even workable, but the my group and I manage to fill in the blanks with our imaginations but still keeping it as realistic. (And in alot of case's very graphic deaths. )

 

Also, you have to remember a simple yet one of the most important rules to have ever of been said. KISS.

Or "Keep It Simple Silly"

If you make the game too complex that only players who have weeks to learn the rules, no one will play it. But on the other hand if it is TOO simple there's usally nothing in-depth about it, and makes it uninteresting to play.

 

I've never played any of those systems you have mentioned, but I do know for a fact that for brand new players. D&D is very easy to get into, while still retaining enough depth to make it fun and enjoyable. I think thats the main reason why D&D is so popular.

 

Yup let me get off my soap box now.