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AA SSLICK AND SEXY ACTION-ADVENTURE SOURCEBOOK FOR FOR BESM ª This is the ideal supplement for running Big Eyes, Small Mouth™ campaign adventures within the “guys-with-cars and girls-with-guns” genre! This popular anime genre features character types such as police officers, army personnel, bounty hunters, drivers, pilots, government agents, hackers, private detectives, thieves, hitmen, and many others. Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies™ presents a new and innovative Skill System for the Tri-Stat System™, which helps players design distinctive low- to mid-powered anime characters. HRGB also includes flexible vehicle and weapon templates, which makes it easy for GMs and players alike to equip their characters with the tools of their trade. A truly valuable resource for any anime-based “cops and robbers” campaign.
Sample file
Written by: Jim Crocker and David L. Pulver Additional Writing by: Jeff Mackintosh Edited by: Mark C. MacKinnon and Jeff Mackintosh Graphic Design by: Jeff Mackintosh Artwork by: Aaron Jenkinson, Locke, David Okum, Francis Tsai, and Long Vo ª
A SLICK AND SEXY ACTION-ADVENTURE SOURCEBOOK FOR BESMª WRITTEN BY Jim Crocker, David L. Pulver ADDITIONAL WRITING BY Jeff Mackintosh TRI-STAT SYSTEM DESIGNED BY Mark C. MacKinnon EDITED BY Mark C. MacKinnon, Jeff Mackintosh GRAPHIC DESIGN BY Jeff Mackintosh COVER BY Long Vo (front cover), Francis Tsai (back cover) INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS BY Aaron Jenkinson, Locke, David Okum, Francis Tsai, Long Vo PLAYTEST BY Jake Ellis, Michael Everett, John Fiala, Andrew Jensen, John Karakash, J. Males, Brian Martinez, Kurt McMahon, Peter Mikelsons, Vitas Mockaitis, John W. Nowak, Michael Phillips, Jasmine Shope, Sonia Shope, Derry Simmel, Rich SpainhourSample file SPECIAL THANKS Thanks to Mark MacKinnon, first and foremost, who enthusiastically insisted that my cool idea for a title should be expanded into a whole book, and then waited more patiently than any human should while it happened. To David Pulver, for knowing what he was doing, and therefore making it look like I did. To my new bride, Shannon, for giving me up to the computer, conventions, and way too much anime watching. Finally, to Lindsey Ginou for her help with playtesting and an idea or two. Copyright © 2003 by Guardians Of Order. Hot Rods & Gun Bunnies, Tri-Stat System, Big Robots, Cool Starships, and Big Eyes, Small Mouth are trademarks of GUARDIANS OF ORDER. All rights reserved. Version 1.0 All rights reserved under international law. No part of this book may be reproduced in part or whole in any form or by any means, without permission from the publisher, except for personal copies of the character sheet, or brief quotes for use in reviews. Printed in Canada.
GUARDIANS OF ORDER P.O. Box 25016 370 Stone Road Guelph, Ontario CANADA N1G 4T4 Phone: (519) 821-7174 Fax: (519) 821-7635 ISBN 1-894525-07-8 [email protected] Product Number 02-003 http://www.guardiansorder.com HOT RODS AND GUN BUNNIES FOREWARD
“Now that the Sailor Moon RPG is coming out,” I told Jim Crocker one day at the Underworld, “I’ll be working full-time with the company. David and I really have to start getting some supplements published for Big Eyes, Small Mouth. First up: Big Robots, Cool Starships.” “What then?” Jim asked. “Not sure, really. Something action oriented, I think.” “You should come up with some rules for the genre of my favourite show, Gun Smith Cats. And Riding Bean. You know…something with lots of hot rods and gun bunnies.” “Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies, eh? That’s an excellent title, Jim.” I paused for a moment before continuing. “How about writing it for me?”
These books just keep getting bigger and bigger. The original BESM was intended to be a lean, mean, no-frills multi-genre game engine; it was under 20,000 words in 96 pages. Big Robots, Cool Starships was significantly larger at 29K in 112 pages. Now HRGB weighs in at a hefty 49K in 128 pages. Believe me when I say that I had no intention of publishing a supplement for BESM that was more than twice the length of the original book, but cutting this book any smaller would not do the genre justice. It’s our first book of the new millennium (unfortunately a little late), and I’m sure that you will agree that it is also one of our best. “A Slick and Sexy Action-Adventure Sourcebook for BESM” — or the definitive anime RPG book for the “guys-with-cars” and “chicks-with-guns” genre. This supplement features new methods for creating character outlines, suggestions concerning the appropriateness of particular Attributes and Defects (including newSample listings), rules file for skill use within BESM’s Tri-Stat System™, a point-based template system for customizing weapons and vehicles, expanded genre-specific combat rules, campaign suggestions for theme/rating/sex intensity, alternative campaign settings for atypical games, a US-Canada border smuggling operation adventure (“Dangerous Toys”), and an appendix detailing the laws and regulations for firearms and motor vehicles in Japan, America, and Canada. Kudos to Jim Crocker and David Pulver for capturing the atmosphere of this action genre with their sharp writing, beneficial rule amendments, and exhaustive research. Thanks to all those who waited anxiously for this book. Keep an eye on our website for updates regarding our publication schedule for the year 2000 and beyond (http://www.guardiansorder.on.ca). Don’t forget to join our Tri-Stat™ electronic mailing list: send an e-mail message to [email protected] to sign up. We have some great things planned for the BESM line this summer, and would like you to be a part of it!
Mark C. MacKinnon January 2000
2 HOT RODS AND GUN BUNNIES HOT RODS AND GUN BUNNIES TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Chapter 1: Introduction 87 CHAPTER 5: DANGEROUS TOYS 5 Introduction 88 Setting 6 Using Hot Rods & Gun Bunnies 89 Story Background 90 Characters 7CHAPTER 2: CHARACTER CREATION 90 Important NPCs 8 Character Creation Chart 93 Character Goals 9 Step 1: GM Discussion 93 Plot Elements 9 Step 2: Character Outline 99 Campaign Expansion 12 Step 3: Assign Stats 13 Step 4: Character Attributes 100 APPENDIX 1: SKILL CHECKS 18 Step 4A: Select Personal Gear 101 Skill Checks 19 Step 5: Character Defects 102 Weapon Combat Skills 24 Step 5A: Skill System 103 APPENDIX 2: LAWS AND 35 Step 6: Derived Values REGULATIONS 35 Step 7: Background Points 104 Firearm Laws 36 Peneekie’s Character Sheet 109 Motor Vehicle Laws 37 CHAPTER 3: BOOM AND VROOM 111 Bounty Hunting and Bail 38 Guns 112 The Miranda Warning 42 Gun Templates 112 Law and Order in Japan 55 Vehicle Templates 64 Other Items Sample11 file4 Method of Operation and Profile Sheet 66 Vehicle and Character Movement 115 Index 70 Genre Combat 120 Biographies 74 Dramatic Ammunition
75 CHAPTER 4: HOT RODS & GUN BUNNIES CAMPAIGNS 76 Good Guys or Bad Guys? 76 Ratings: Cute and Fluffy or Adult? 77 Rating Themes 77 Categories: Drama, Comedy, Action 78 Campaign Style 78 Sex as a Tool 80 Running Mysteries 82 Modern Day Game Seeds 83 Alternate Campaign Settings
HOT RODS AND GUN BUNNIES 3 CCHAPTERHAPTER 11 IINTRODUCTIONNTRODUCTION
Sample file CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Hot Rod is the term coined by American car aficionados to describe the heavily-modified cars favoured by amateur racers. Gun Bunnies is the fanciful nickname for attractive young women who, despite their cute appearance, are extremely dangerous with a firearm. In the last few decades, an entire sub-genre of modern action-adventure anime has been built around cool action heroes whose stories are driven by hot wheels and punctuated by hot lead. This book is designed to help Big Eyes, Small Mouth™ players and GMs run such modern action anime campaigns using the Tri-Stat System™. Japanese animators have never made any secret about their own fascination with America’s twin icons, the gun and the automobile. Tatsuo Yoshida, the creator of the 1966 heroes-in-a-race car drama Mach Go Go Go (translated as Speed Racer) remarked that the series was: “... based strictly on our all-out adoration of America. A defeated people witnessed American GI’s riding around comfortably in their jeeps. American movies showed a life of abundance in the average household... It was absolutely unbelievable, like in the Superman comics.” Speed Racer empowered the viewer on a more reality-based level, taking the excitement and high technology of robot anime but bringing it to a contemporary setting. Its legacy is shown in many other more recent series. The most successful has been City Hunter, which chronicles the adventures of “sweeper” (gun for hire) Ryo Saeba and his female partner Kaori Makimura in Tokyo’s mean streets. City Hunter has spanned near-endless manga volumes (1985-1991), a long-running anime series (1987-1991), and a number of movies and specials, including a live action version starring Jackie Chan. City Hunter helped set the tone for modern action anime with its blend of equal parts gritty realism, over-the-top gunplay, and outrageous physical comedy. The main character spends as much time chasing skirts as he does the bad guys, despite beings regularly punished by his partner Kaori’s trademark 100-tonne hyper-dimensional hammers. The Burn-Up series (1991) and its sequels are a typical example of the girls-with-guns element in this genre. They present a mostly-female team of beautiful and lethal police officers who act as a crack SWAT unit. As with City Hunter, their adventures range from comic to deadly serious. In contrast, vehicular action takes centre stage in You’re Under Arrest (1994), a largely non-violent buddy-cop series starring two young female traffic cops with a shared love ofSample souped-up mini-cars file and hot bikes. Biker gangs are another part of this genre, for just as the United States has its outlaw motorcyclists, Japan has its own wild bunch: the bosuzoku (wild-running tribes). The adventures of “honorable” bosuzoku and their nastier rivals are chronicled in a couple of anime shows, such as the Bomber Bikers of Shonan (1986), while Wild 7 (1994) follows the adventurers of a crooks-turned-motorcycle-cops. Biker gangs also figure prominently in some science fiction anime, notably Akira (1988), Bubblegum Crisis (1987) and Megazone 23 (1985). The ultimate cars-and-guns action emerges in Kenichi Sonada’s work. His anime OAV Riding Bean (1989) is a fast-paced tale of an invincible Chicago outlaw getaway driver named Bean Bandit, as he battles ruthless kidnappers and clueless cops. Sonada spun off the characters and situations into a lengthy manga and anime series. Gunsmith Cats (1991) starred Rally Vincent, a bounty hunter, gun shop owner, and weapons expert and her pal, Minnie May, the cutest explosives expert on the planet. They battle gun- runners, drug smugglers and Russian assassins while trying to avoid trouble with the law. While it has its share of humour, Gun Smith Cats is played mostly straight, with obsessive attention to the real-life details of the cars and guns the characters use.
HOT RODS AND GUN BUNNIES 5