Reading through the book on the section HANDICAPS, I know they are optional, but I noticed the section suggested using random ones for fabricated characters. SO I made a simple d100 chart for quick handicap rolls if anyone wants to enforce this in their games. After all, flaws do give characters a real level of dynamic personality:

d100 compatible RANDOM HANDICAP CHART!

01-05 - addiction, mild/serious (second roll: 1-75=mild // 76-100 serious)
06-10 - allergies airborne
11-15 - allergies food/drug
16-20 - allergies severe)
21-25 - asthma
26-30 - cannot drive stick
31-35 - climate shock (random or character apropriate)
36-40 - computer illiterate
41-45 - claustrophobic
56-50 - clumbsy
51-55 - dietary specifcity
56-60 - dour
61-65 - gun shy (optional re-roll if job or charater inapropriate)
66-70 - hemophiliac
71-75 - high strung
76-80 - low blood tolerance
81-85 - low needle tolerance
86-90 - nearsighted/farsighted (second roll: 1-50=near // 51-100 far)
91-95 - pacifist
96-100 - rare blood type


the only real change I made for the list was combining addictions mild and serious into one choice and making it a 50/50 reroll. Hope this helps save anyone starting a game a few min they could be playing.

Looks great! But I'd actually skew the Mild to Serious addiction thing in favor of mild (maybe 75% mild, 25% serious). Serious addictions (as far as it is reflected in game terms) are particularly extreme cases whereas indulging a mild addiction is something many people do.

noted and changed. I didn't even think about that, lul. A forgiving GM might want to do a %? roll to figure out if a player needs to use the chart. But honestly, I don't think I've ever met a person without flaw. So I know I will definitely be allowing my players to choose or using above chart. *shrug*

I have an alternate version of the character sheets that I made, its in a landscape format and has some extra things thrown in (like a gridded skill list section) of any one is interested in it

I'm actually interested in seeing that.

I can e-mail it to you if your want, I'm not sure of any other way to send it to you though, Its still a rough draft but me and my players have used it and it seems to work pretty well

Oh do share. Sounds really nice.

I would also be quite interested in seeing your character sheets.

Is there a way you can post your character sheets to this site?

Anybody interested in a reference pack for firearms in the US, or a realism armory expansion?

I would love it if you want to send it my way

John_234 said:

Anybody interested in a reference pack for firearms in the US, or a realism armory expansion?

Post a link or something I am interested.

Hey, it's a huge document so it's a W-I-P. Right now, I've just got the basic stuff up for weapons specialties and the realism package. I can release that early if you guys like.

That would be great.

Just a small preview of what's to come.

User
These traits are dependent on the user. For example, a gun may work optimally in the hands of someone with Firearms Proficiency, whereas some simpler designs will be fairly rudimentary for even a novice to make use of. Such a trait will primary effect accuracy and frequency of jams.

[Expert] - A complex design makes this weapon difficult to use without some practice. This requires 2 firearms related skills OR 3 levels of Weapon Familiarity, or an accuracy and FC penalty is received.

[Recoil] - Similar to "Recoil" in Chapter 8. For every ten points of lethality at close range, 5 strength is required. If this is not met, the chance of jams is increased by 33%. Revolvers and manually operated weapons (bolt, pump, lever) are excluded from this rule. Also negated by 2 or more firearms skills.

[Natural Fit] - Whenever a character finds a new weapon, roll percentage dice. Up to 15% is a success roll. Penalties caused by inexperience are negated and the weapon receives a permanent +5 range bonus at all increments, as well as a +1 increase to FC.

There's differing parts for the weapons variety, gunsmithing as well as objects found in the in-game world. Does this sample seem too complex, too harsh, etc?

Extensive rules like this would make weapons and combat so much more dynamic!

Sorry to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it does not seem as flushed out as it could be (i.e. it seems penalties should be on a continuum; "Weapon Proficiency" gradually increases, so penalties should gradually decrease), but this could be due to the abbreviated nature of the sample.

I say make it as complicated and as harsh as reality demands (but no more). As a GM, it is a lot easier to make a rule more lenient than more strict and more simple than more complicated.

I've actually seen a lot of what John_234 has written and trust me, this is just a sample. The community has a lot of good things to look forward to.

In regards to making rules more simple, John, similar to domine's notes make the numbers as small as possible. For instance, in Recoil, if a person is way under Strength, say the threshold for a 'catastrophe' (which usually are Jam results) is decreased by 1 from 5 DoF to 4 DoF. For ease of gameplay, that's a lot easier than adding or subtracting 33 to something.

As a general development rule, we allow the detailed percentage modifiers during character creation and similar slow paced events, but modifiers that are done during gameplay benefit greatly by simply adding numbers in multiples of 5 or 10, increasing or decreasing difficulty or just adding or subtracting degrees of success or failure.

If anyone is interested I'm working on an island survival campaign setting, its not quite finished yet though

Last HotH I ran for the sake of immersion took place on the actual island of St. Lucia.