Barbarians of Heavy Metal: The Dedites...

At this point, I've finished with the rules for character creation and the use of music in the game and have started working on the vehicle and Titan rules. Another thing I'm doing as I go along is filling out the details on the various schools of rock.

Now, you may wonder why I haven't finished that before moving on to another part of the rules-set and the reason is simple: basically there are a metric butt-tonne of ability lists to fill out. I have to define 11 levels for each Style's Sonic Wzardry Effects, which means 88 separate Effects spread between 8 schools of rock.And then I also have to fill out the various Licks available to specific schools, and those add another 40 sub-effects that may or may not be based on the Sonic Wizardry Effects.

That takes time and you should never try to tackle a job like that all at once. Best to come back to it a bit at a time as you are inspired and in between working on all the other stuff that needs doing as well. Not only is it less maddening, but working on other rules can often inspire an idea that will grow the lists as you go while still maintaining forward momentum in other areas, and all while keeping the thematic and mechanical elements holistically connected. This is a much more effective use of time than simply staring at a screen and straining your brain for ideas to finish lists in one go while other bits of mechanics need finishing.

All that said, I have completed one of the schools and thought I'd post it up today to give folks a look at how a fleshed out section of the Rocktagon looks, mechanically speaking. There will be additional verbiage, thematic information and so on, added later as the book is finished, but for now, here are the rules for the Dedite School of Rock and their favored sonic style: Fire... 

DEDITE
Characteristic Bonus: Fire +1
Special Career: Sonic Slayer

HARMONICS
Harmonic Number - 4

Domination: The current roll is pushed up one Level of Success.

Killing is My Business (and Business is Good): Double the total damage caused by the current roll OR ignore the target's armor.

The Four Horsemen: The Dedite and up to 3 Band-Mates gain a Bonus Die on all actions related to Combat (including strategy and tactics) and intimidation for the rest of the Scene.


DISCORDS
Discord Number - 8

RagNaRok: For the rest of this scene, any benefit the Dedite gains from striking a Harmonic is also given to one of their enemies for their next roll.

War Nerve: If the Dedite is in combat when this Discord is struck, the pressures of combat trips their bloodlust into overdrive and they attack with nor regard to their own safety. Their Defend Score is reduced to -2 for the rest of the Scene.

Ride The Lightning: The Dedite pours too much power into their instrument and reaps a vicious energy backlash from the feedback. If using a Sonic Weapon with the Safeties Off, the Dedite takes D6+3 damage.


LICKS
Axe - Rapid Fire: The guitarist may use their sonic amplifier to shoot a hail of flaming bolts at the enemy. This gives them a Rapid Fire rating equal to their Rank in Dedite.

Bass - The Fallen Angel: When used by the Frontman to create the Heat Shield Effect, it will last a number of Rounds equal to 3x the Decay rating after the bassist ceases to maintain it.

Percussion - Hot and Heavy: When used by the Frontman, any Sonic wizardry Effects gain one free bump in Intensity, Damage or Area of Effect.

Vocal - Tears of Fire: When used by the Frontman to create The Sky is On Fire Effect, tiny drops of flame start to rain down from the sky, affecting a number of Titan Hexes equal to the singer's Dedite Rank. Everything within those hexes takes a hit from an Intensity 1 flame each turn. Cover may negate this effect, so long as the cover itself doesn't catch on fire...

Other - All Guns Blazing: When using the Fire of Unknown Origin Effect, all ballistic weapons within D6 Personal Hexes of the player gain a +1 flame damage and all Flame weapons roll a Bonus Die for damage.


FIRE EFFECTS
Fire in BoHM is measured in Area of Effect and Intensity (see pg.xx). Enhancing Fire Effects doubles the Radius and adds +1 to the Intensity or Damage for each Rank added to the Effect.

0 - Turn Up the Heat
The headbanger can raise the surrounding temperature (a number of Personal Hexes equal to the roll total) to an extremely uncomfortable level, enough to melt ice quickly and cause extreme dehydration and fatigue (see pg.xx), but not enough to boil liquids or to start fires.

1 - Flames Rising
The headbanger can increase the power of existing flame. Each successful use of this Effect doubles the Area of Effect or Intensity of the fire.

2 - Fight Fire with Fire
The previous level of Fire Mastery can only grow or maintain flames. At Rank 2, the heabanger learns to reduce or eliminate them. They may reduce any fire in Intensity or Area of Effect by 1 using this Effect.

3 - Bat Out of Hell
The headbanger can now exert fine control over existing flames, shaping them into animated avatars of flame that move and dance around at their whim as long as they continue to maintain the Effect. The flames may move a number of Personal Hexes per Round equal to the headbanger's base Dedite Style Rating.

4 - Fire of Unknown Origin
The player may now ignite flammable materials spontaneously, creating a fire of Intensity 1 with a Radius of 1 Personal Hex. The fire will burn as long as it has fuel or for D6 x Decay in Rounds after the player has ceased maintaining it.

If used to light a close combat weapon on fire, add a damage modifier to any attacks using it equal to the Intensity of the flame. You can also do this with feet and fists, but combustible weapons and body parts will take damage every round this Effect is in action. In these cases it's best to combine it with Hellion, below.

5 -Hellion
The headbanger hardens a single target's resistance to flame, lowering the Intensity of any fire attacks by 1 for damage purposes. This Effect lasts for D6 x Decay in Rounds after the player stops maintaining it.

6 - Heat Shield
A wall of pure unadulterated heat rises up to melt and diffuse incoming attacks. This Effect will protect one Personal Hex along one side from attacks. this provides a +6 Cover bonus to DEF against all personal attacks that pass through the shielded hexside.

7 - Great Balls of Fire
The headbanger can use the Sonic Amplifier on their instrument to shoot balls of exploding flame at their enemies.

The player fires a number of balls equal to the their Ranks in Dedite, each of which may be aimed at a separate target hex. Each ball has a range in Personal Hexes equal to the player's Ranks in Dedite x5 and causes D6+5 damage to everything in the target Hex. Individual victims may reduce the damage they suffer by their Defense (including cover).

8 - Firehouse
This Effect can be used to set an entire Titan Hex aflame with temperatures hot enough to melt iron. Just being in the area causes 2D6+6 damage to unprotected living creatures each round.
Any enclosed vehicle that traverses the terrain, like a tank or Titan, gains D6 points of Heat.

9 - Quest for Fire
A giant pillar of flame erupts from a Personal Hex of the player's choice and shoots 1km up into the night sky. This acts as a beacon and all who see it must pass a Saavy + Nazarite or Ledite roll to avoid being drawn towards it by a long forgotten  primal attraction to flame.
Those drawn in this manner will immediately break free of the spell once they are within 10 Personal Hexes of the Effect, or if they are attacked before they get that far.

10 -  Heavy Metal Fire
The band sets an entire Titan Hex on fire and the flames created are hot enough to melt the armor of Titans and pretty much vaporize any living being. Titans and vehicles passing through this hex takes D6 hits to each location and 2D6 Heat. Titans and vehicles in the surrounding hexes take D6 Heat.

11 - The Sky is on Fire
The band sets a thin layer of atmosphere above the battlefield, an entire Aerospace Hex worth, on fire. This blocks visibility to the ground and forces and vehicles in that hex or passing through it immediately take D6 hits to each location. Any ordinance travelling through the flame is automatically detonated.

Temperatures under this umbrella of flame soar, causing the same effects as Turn Up the Heat above, and it is impossible to see through it from above or below. Titans and other vehicles gain 1 additional point of heat each turn they are in the hex.

Verboten Role-Playing...

One of the more interesting things you can do with role-playing games is to fully explore alternate timelines in which history took a decidedly different turn. It is true that many novels do this as well, Harry Harrison's Stars & Stripes Forever series being one superlative example and the book Fatherland, by Robert Harris, being another, but what role-playing games allow you to do that novels cannot, is to explore the world on your own terms and, through your actions, experience the ramifications on a personal level.

One such game that has relatively disappeared from gaming history was Reichstar, by Creative Encounters.

I believe the reason the game is almost unknown is that it allows you to take pretty much any side in the conflict, including the Nazis or Imperial Japan, in a dystopian future run by the same. Many people find that idea to be too horrible to contemplate and feel to do so would forever mark you as a sympathizer for the Nazi cause.

I find this fascinating, because playing a bloodthirsty murder-hobo in D&D, an immensely depraved Sabbat vampire in V:tM (don't make me describe the horrors from that book), or an evil human sacrificing sorcerer in any number of games, never seems to phase those very same folks, but the idea of pretending to join up with the SS makes them feel all dirty inside.

I understand the argument that one is fantasy and the other is history, but is there really a difference  when you are pretending to participate in the very same atrocities in your mind? Just because magic missiles don't exist and bullets do, does that make the act of killing any more acceptable? Is the raiding of a humanoid cavern to slay everything within and take their stuff based on the idea that they are 'sub-human' any different form the raids on Jewish homes to steal their hard-earned possessions and kill off their entire family?

Let me be very clear at this point: I do not take gaming nearly so seriously as all that. I really don't find it all that useful to navel gaze that deeply into what is, in essence, an adult game of make-believe. In fact, if I were to get even the slightest bit over-analytical on the subject, I'd say that playing a Nazi in the game could be helpful for exploring the historic forces and mindsets that led the Nationalist Socialist Party from a movement to recover German pride and independence, to a nationalist government driven to become a superpower, to one of the blackest, most vile political movements in (recent) recorded history.
 
At what point did it start to turn nominally sane people into monsters? What could generate so much fear and intimidation that an entire populace would rather turn a blind eye to the atrocities all around them rather than cry out for justice? And how much of that was actual fear or the selfish sense of superiority that we all know resides deep in the heart of every last person on this planet and led to an entire country basically saying ''the Jews deserve it' even though they personally would never lift a hand to harm anyone?

Learn from history or repeat it, as they say. See the slippery slope in action and learn to recognize its effect on humans in every culture in every era, including our own. And what better way to do that than to play a soldier in the Third Reich from the beginning, as an idealistic soldier in the SS with dreams of national unity and a proud Germany, to the end, when as a highly placed officer, your declaration of 'I was just following orders' does nothing to save you from the hangman's noose.

From a marketing perspective, however, games like Reichstar seem doomed from the outset because, even with all the disclaimers in large bold letters that proclaim the writers intent to educate not support, the whole idea of playing a Nazi is verboten. It's simply not PC in either use of that acronym: politically correct or player character.

Me personally, I thought Reichstar was a great game in concept and an interesting take on what life in the future would have been like if things had turned out differently in WWII. The mechanics were a bit all over the place, light in some areas and entirely too crunchy in others, but I'd say that if I could find the guys with the rights to the concept and get their permission, I'd be more than willing to remake it with a new system. Especially since it seems that, as we get further and further out from the events of WWII, as the last veterans of that war die out, people seem to throw about the term Nazi with way too much abandon and with too little concept of just how insulting that word really is. And all, ironically, while ignoring, or actually participating in, the attacks on religion, free speech, gun rights and personal liberty that were the historic markers of the growth of that very same movement over 70 years ago...