Character Creation Challenge - Day 14 Open Basic

Today I will create a character for Open Basic: Retro d100 Roleplaying.  This is a free
game based on a certain family of games from the late 70s/early 80s and is only 10 pages long.  It's focused on medieval type characters because that's what the weapons' list and skills are focused on and it has a supplement that adds in fantasy.  You can find Open Basic here.

To generate characteristics you roll 3d6 for Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence and Charisma.  And 2d6+6 for Intelligence and Size.

Then you calculate five derived Attributes.  Damage Modifier, Hit Points, Movement Rate, Lucky! and Smart!

Then Skills, which have a base value determined by your Characteristics and then you have points to distribute amongst them. 

And then finally equipment.  I rolled 70 silver pieces to spend and I start with leather armor and the weapon of my choice.

So here's my character.

Scribblenauts and Cthulhu

My boys enjoy a Nintendo DS game called Scribblenauts. Well, my son would correct me. He actually plays Super Scribblenauts, the second game in the series. Well, this is a puzzle type game where you can write the name of an object or person and it will appear in the game. Then your little character can interact with it. I haven't played it but it seems like a fun little game that poses challenges for the young lads' imagination.

Much to my surprise my oldest told me that he had summoned this creature called Cthulhu. What? I described Cthulhu and he said that it was indeed the creature he had in the game. He then showed me and sure enough there was a little cartoon Cthulhu. He also mentioned the Necronomicon being in the game.

Once again I was astounded. Talk about video games warping the minds of our youths. That, however, is a post for another time.

He asked me how I knew about Cthulhu. I explained what little I know about H. P. Lovecraft, his stories and the Mythos in general. I'm not a huge fan of Lovecraft so the discussion was pretty limited. I did mention, almost as an afterthought, that there is a roleplaying game called Call of Cthulhu. He immediately decided he wanted to play CoC. I don't have CoC let alone any BRP materials other than the free quick start rules. So I printed out the CoC quick start rules and had him read them. So we are going to play at least one session of Call of Cthulhu. I never imagined I would. I have come up with an age appropriate scenario so away we go.

I hope we both keep our sanity!

Reading in Public

I read RPGs in public twice this week. Both times in restaurants.

The first occasion was on Monday. I was reading a printout of the rules for Mini-Six. The little silhouettes for the sample characters, creatures and vehicles caught a lady’s attention. She asked what I was reading and I replied that it was the rules to a game. She asked what kind of game and I replied a role-playing game.
“Like Dungeons and Dragons?”
“Yes. But you can use the rules for any setting you want.”
She smiled and nodded and that was the end of the conversation.

On Thursday I was reading the quick-start rules for Basic Role-Playing. Nobody noticed except for one of the people I supervise. He noticed the cover as I walked out and chuckled.

I chose these two specifically because they were printouts. If someone would’ve shown enough interest I would’ve just gave it to them to keep.