Let's talk about mechanics.

No, not game mechanics, robot mechanics in Encounter Critical or the weird science/fantasy game of your choice. I think every adventure that I have designed for E.C. has had a robot combatant in it. If all the robots in an rpg were exactly alike it would become predictable and boring so I came up with some quirks for my latest robot design.

Imagine, your players unwittingly stumble into a robot workshop. A super, fighter 'bot is being repaired here but it still has a programing issue or two. The helpless human technicians need the broken 'bot too defend them against the player characters. Will their attempt at mechanized self defense work?

Roll d100 once per round to determine movement  of any robot in ill repair:

01 – 25  The 'bot is malfunctioning and moving slowly; no attack.

26 – 50  'Bot is able to manage one clumsy attack this round.

51 – 75  'Bot musters two erratic but very fast attacks this round.

76 -- 00  Programming works fluidly for two consecutive rounds producing fluid attacks.

I have some other ideas but I believe this enough information for now.

I am A.D.D.

You will never hear me say the previous phrase. I have never been diagnosed with A.D.D. but I do have many interests. Our 21st Century life style creates situations which resemble A.D.D. We have to; go to work, get the kids, cook dinner, do the laundry and we call this multitasking. That's my evidence that I do not have A.D.D., I have limited time to dedicate to my personal interests.

I should be working on issue five of Phasic but can't quit thinking about running an E.C. campaign, there are so many unexplored areas in E.C. The whole array of rules and the game mechanics are uncharted territory for gaming.

 For example:

The Warlock: There is no traditional, sprawling list of spells in E.C. and spells are not level specific.

Weapons of Power: With the hit bonuses provided in E.C. there's going to have to be an array of power weapons and armor to fight the increasingly powerful player characters.

My intention is to attempt to play E.C. as written. We all acknowledge that no one played AD&D "by the book." We were all playing Basic D&D with the AD&D elements plugged in where we liked. I am afraid I will bring the same approach to playing multiple secessions of E.C. I already have some preconceived ideas about how the game mechanics will progress. Combat saves will slow down progress but will provide a chance that n.p.c.s will survive the combat bonus happy player characters. I also can't agree with, "Attacks go in the same order, melee first, then missile." (p. 22) That ain't gonna happen, it's just illogical.

So, here's an updated list of elements I intend to use in Assignment: Outpost 6986:
1. Encounter Critical, Second Corrected Edition rule book
2. Time Echo by Lionel Fanthrope (very pulp Sci-Fi)
3. Epic Illustrated magazine
4. Adventure Time, season 1
5. A Trio of New Encounter Critical Races

As for the content from Time Echo, the antagonist in Time Echo is named Rajak the Magnificent. He's an evil dictator, like Darth Viraxis, I'll be using this name for the Warlock boss in the campaign plot.

So, enough of this nonsense for now. It has been suggested that I'm O.C.D. and I think that might be a bit more on the mark.

Malevolent & Benign; Phasic Tumblr Archives

I was looking at my blog roll this weekend and discovered that, last October, Max of the Malevolent and Benign blog had posted a message about his new Tumblr account dedicated to Encounter Critical. He calls it the Phasic Archives and he's still updating it, almost daily. Malevolent & Benign is one of the oldest rpg blogs to mention E.C. and certainly out dates my sophomoric synopsizes.

I had to take a stroll through these pics and found this Walking Eye. I will definitely be using these in the E.C. campaign which I'm brewing up.

It also occurred to me today that it would make much more sense if the scale for the map of the Might Land, from the E.C. rule book, was 500 miles per inch, rather than, 50 miles per inch. I'm not advocating that the scale of the map be officially changed, this is just  food for thought during my design process.

I might as well throw in a few design notes; the theme of the campaign is, Assignment: Outpost 6986.
-- Outpost 6986 is an abandoned and forgotten Vulkin installation from before the Fall of the Sky Gods.
-- P.C.s are recruited to locate the outpost and recover any lost tech. it may hold.
-- Campaign will included at least one random element from; Adventure Time: Season 1, Epic Illustrated
     and  the Lionel Fanthorpe novel Time Echo.

So, stay out of the heat ya street urchins and I'll try to do the same.