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 What is Polaris? Polaris is a Roleplaying Game set in the far future where Humanity has totally hosed up the surface world and now lives under the sea. It came out earlier this year. It is published by the folks at Paizo, and developed by a French Company called Black Book Editions. I saw it at the Paizo booth at Gen Con this year, and a friend and I ended up demoing it. The setting was interesting enough that I dropped the money and bought it. I haven't read through all the rules yet (months later), but I figured maybe if I put up a Trad Game thread, and if enough folks show interest, then maybe I would read the rules more, and maybe even run a PBP game. To play you need the Two Core rulebooks. That is right, it is so volumous they have two rulebooks. The official site is right here. If you instead would like to give it a go and use some of the pre-made characters, a quick-stat guide is free from Drivethrurpg. What is the Setting? The game world is rather grim dark, giving some of 40k a run for the money. Life is hard, piracy is rampant, and most of humanity is sterile. Depending on where you are from, as a sterile person you could be treated like royalty, sold as property, or even entered into a government breeding program where you're jacked up with chemicals to increase your fertility/birthrate at the expense of a shorter life. This also doesn't factor in the fact that the surface is totally unlivable. The only things up there are some totally automated factories and a couple of space ship launching platforms. The atmosphere is toxic. If you can somehow survive it, the creatures up there will kill you. From swarms of insects that will shred you to the bone to killer trees, it makes a Death World look like a Vacation Spot. The surface is a massive shithole. Living undergorund ain't much better. There is a hostile race of sentient creatures called Burrowers, who well, burrow, and mess everything up. Look, the game is about being underwater, so they didn't really fluff up the surface or the underground. So yes, in this setting, you play someone who is sterile stuck in a station or a sub trying to eek out existence. Assuming you're not a mutant. Oh yeah, you can be a merman-like abomination that people hate, but you can swim underwater without a diving suit. Which is important since the game goes into detail about diving depths as well as time to acclimate to pressure. It gets very science heavy at times. What about the crunch stuff? Character Creation So character creation is a point buy system where you use points to purchase your attributes, your prior years of experience, and advantages and disadvantages. The character creation system is very reminiscent of what little Shadowrun and Conspiracy X i have played; down to disadvantages giving you more points to spend on advantages, attributes, or experience. Attributes are much like any other game, they are your base physical abilities. Where your skills come into play is your years of experience. Depending on how many years you have, you work your way through various careers that determine what skills you have and how much you get paid. These are everything from bartenders and longshoremen up to surgeons and commandos. Basically you get so many points per year to spend on skills, and depending on your current profession that year, you can spend points cheaper. Most professions require you to have so many years in prior ones to switch to them. For example, the assassin requires at least three years as a bounty hunter, spy, merc, soldier, or thief. Other professions, such as a Military officer require either education from your background, or 12-15 years experience in other military careers. Thankfully, if you don't want to do all of that, the book comes with 16 pre-generated characters with a wide range of skills and flavors. The skill test: Okay, so Polaris primarily uses the D20 for skill tests, but not in the way you think. A skill test is the product of your base attribute for the skill plus your mastery (ranks). Let us say you're looking at athletics. Athletics is governed by two physical attributes, Strength and Coordination. So first you need to figure out your base level. First you need to figure out your Natural Ability for strength and coordination. This works similar to attribute mods from Dungeons and Dragons. The book has a chart. an 8-9 is a 0 in the Natural Ability for that stat. It then goes up and down from there. So say you have a 10 in Strength, and a 16 in Coordination. According to the chart in the book that gives you a 1 and a 3 respectively, so your Base skill level for athletics in this example is 4. Did that confuse you? It confused me just writing it. So then you would add to that base level skill mastery ranks you put in there so say you got seven ranks during creation, your total skill level is 11. Once you have the number figured out, the skill test from there is easy. Say the GM tells you you need to test Athletics for something, and your skill level is 11. Then you roll a D20, and if you roll equal to or below your number, you succeed. In sum, the bigger your number, the better. Now there are difficulty modifiers as well, but that is the basic skill test. Things do get a little more complex in figuring out degrees of success or failure. These can have positive impacts, such as impacting how quickly you succeed on the your test. Combat and Damage Coming soon!(?) The Polaris Effect The Polaris Effect is this game's version of magic powers. The character creation says you should usually not let players use this stuff unless an advanced group, so I have yet to read it. In my short skimming of it, you can basically release the Polaris Effect with no test to try and master it; if you fail, you get to roll on a lovely table similar to the 40k FFG Perils of the Warp Table. So if you want to be a wizard who dicks over his team mates, they have you covered. Equipment and Gear Also coming soon. What Now? Well, I could probably go on, but first I thought I would gauge interest before I spend hours and hours going into detail on the game. My goals are to at least Combat, equipment, and the Polaris effect sections and update above. Second post below is reserved more for fluff related stuff.
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Dec 12, 2016 05:24
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Reserved
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Dec 12, 2016 05:24
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I reserve the right to shitpost a character in this thread
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Dec 12, 2016 05:37
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I will try to beat you to it and post a sample character tonight so folks can see what they look like. When you look at the pre-generated characters it looks simple, but a lot of math goes under the hood for the skills, as demonstrated above. The rule book goes as far as telling you to only to the math for skills you have trained, since there are a lot of them.
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Dec 12, 2016 15:45
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Have a forums formatting compatible char sheet(work in progress, hence the annotations)pre:Polaris RPG character sheet voor werix ===Category with no name=== Name: Archetype: //used by one of the chargen methods, never anywhere else, reccomend replacing this with a place to put character concepts Genetic Type: Age: //stat penalties associated with this, don't skip Gender: Fertility: //this could be over at disadvantages, reccomend merging it into that Geographic Origin: Social Origin: Initial Training: Higher Education: //this need to be multiple lines, you can do community college classes for literally every single underwater job ===Physical description=== Height: Weight: Complexion: Corpulence: Hair: Eyes: Handedness: Distinctive signs: ===Atributes=== Atribute STR CON COO ADA PER INT WILL PRE LUCK Base Level 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 n/a //the answer to everything on this row is 7, no idea why it's even here, reccomend replacing it with a line for xp expenditure increases Genetic Type Modifier Creation Points Modifier Current Level Natural Ability ===Skills=== Skill Attri. Base Mastery Global //time for the big wall of numbers COMBAT (MELEE) //sorting these by category Armed combat STR/COO Hand-to-hand combat STR/COO Heavy weapons (melee) STR/STR Martial Arts [...] * COO/ADA //a subcategory skill and also a limiting skill, expand this with more lines as needed Special weapons (melee) [...] varies COMBAT (SHOOTING) Bows, spearguns, crossbows COO/PER Handguns COO/PER Heavy weapons COO/PER -3 //some skills start off with a negative mastery unless leveled Sharpshooting * PER/WIL -3 Shoulder-fired weapons/rifles COO/PER Special weapons (shooting) [...] varies Throwing weapons COO/PER -3 COMMUNICATION/SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS Artistic expression [...] varies Eloquence/persuasion + INT/PRE //a skill with prerequisites Empathic analysis INT/PRE -3 Intimidation WIL/PRE Leadership WIL/PRE Socializing/Seduction PRE/PRE KNOWLEDGE Bureaucracy + INT/INT Business/trafficking [...] + INT/PRE Cartography + INT/INT X //exclusive skill, will turn into -3 when leveled up once Cryptography + INT/INT X Education/general knowledge INT/INT -3 Finding information INT/INT -3 Gambling INT/WIL Knowledge of nations/organisations [...] * (NP) INT/INT //a naturally progressing skill Navigation + INT/INT X Science/specialized knowledge [...] INT/INT Strategy + INT/INT -3 Tactics [...] INT/ADA LANGUAGE/DIALECTS Ancient language [...] INT/INT Foreign languages [...] (NP) INT/INT Sign language [...] COO/PER X Specialized languages [...] (NP) INT/INT PHYSICAL ABILITIES Acrobatics/balance * COO/COO Athletics STR/COO Climbing STR/COO Endurance * CON/WIL FOF breathing CON/WIL -3 Underwater Maneuvering * STR/COO Zero-g maneuvering * COO/ADA PILOTING Armor maneuvering [...] * COO/ADA Piloting [...] varies Remote piloting INT/ADA -3 SPECIAL SKILLS Absence ADA/WIL X Body control CON/WIL X Control of Mutations [...] varies X Hybrid (Hybrids only) CON/COO Hypnosis WIL/PRE X Mastery of the Polaris Echo INT/WIL X Mastery of the Polaris Effect WIL/WIL X Meditation WIL/WIL X Mental Shield WIL/WIL X Polaris Powers INT/WIL X STEALTH/SUBTERFUGE Camouflage/concealment PER/ADA -3 Discretion/shadowing PER/ADA Disguise/deception ADA/PRE Escape COO/WIL X Pickpocket COO/ADA -3 Stealth/silent movement * PER/ADA SURVIVAL/OUTSIDE Hunting/tracking PER/ADA X Knowledge of an environment [...] * (NP) INT/ADA Observation PER/WIL Orientation PER/ADA Survival ADA/WIL X TECHNIQUES Aquaculture/livestock farming INT/INT Armory INT/INT X Art/craftsmanship [...] INT/PER X Computer hacking + INT/INT X Computing + INT/INT -3 Electronics + INT/INT X Explosives INT/WIL X First aid INT/ADA -3 Forgery + INT/PER X Mechanics [...] INT/INT Onboard weapons/aryillery INT/INT X Security systems INT/INT X Soundscan analysis INT/ADA X Spying/surveillance INT/INT X Surgery + INT/INT X Technical engineering [...] + INT/INT X Training WIL/PRE -3 Traps UNT/PER -3 ===Initiative track=== 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 //put markers here for when your actions are on a per turn basis, the gm will then compile everybody's into the real turn order 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ===Secondary attributes=== Shock * Stun threshold: //if one of these has no formula given, it means there's a chart for it in the book * Knockout threshold: Melee damage modifier: Reaction (ADA+PER)/2: Damage resistance Natural Resistance * Drugs (CON/WIL)/2: * Poisions, diseases & radiation (CON): Apnea (CON/WIL)/2: ===Movement=== slow speed moderate speed fast speed maximum speed on the ground underwater ===Weapons (melee)=== Dam, PEN Shock STR Ini. Reach ITG Barehanded 1d6+ ===Weapons (ranged)=== Dam PEN Shock Range(+0/-5/-10/-15) STR Ini. Rate of Fire Ammo (cost) Notes ITG ===Advantages/disadvantages, mutations and polaris=== //this category will get huge very quick, might have to do some subdivisions here later ===Gear and notes=== //same as above ===Wounds=== ===States of health and protection=== Wounds Head Body R. Arm L. Arm R. Leg L. Leg Penalties Localisation (melee) 1-4 5-10 11-13 14-16 17-18 19-20 //A somewhat confusingly named hit locations chart, useful but all characers all have the same hit table so somehwhat superfluous on a character sheet Localisation (ranged) 1-2 3-8 9-11 12-14 15-17 18-20 Light(5) OOO OOOO OOO OOO OOO OOO -1 Moderate(10) OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO -3 Serious(15) OO -5 OOO +0 OO OO OO OO -5 //the number behind the tickboxes is the shock test penalty(no number means no test), the number at the end is the general penalty om everything(including the shock test) Critical(20) OO -10 OO -5 OO +0 OO +0 OO +0 OO +0 -10 Mortal(25) O -15 OO -10 OO -5 O -5 O -5 O -5 Impossible action -15 //Yes the right arm is slightly more resilient than other limbs, this is not an error on my part Death/Limb lost(30) Death Death O -10 O -10 O -10 O -10 Impossible action -30 ===Protections=== Protections Protection Shock Location Cat./Penalty ===Success and failure margin table=== //incomplete version of the roll table is reproduced here for reasons unknown, reccomend scrapping this Margin 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 10-12 13-14 15-19 20-24 25-34 35+ Modifier +/-0 +/-1 +/-2 +/-3 +/-4 +/-5 +/-6 +/-7 +/-8 +/-9
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Dec 13, 2016 03:19
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