Measure of a Badass Public Beta Edition February 2016
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a roleplaying game by Jim Dagg PUBLIC BETA COPY REPRODUCE FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY Measure of a Badass Public Beta edition February 2016 © MMXV Jim Dagg and Saddle Shaped Games All rights reserved Jim Dagg, designer Rachel Armstrong, art and logo This work is an open beta test – please give it a shot, rules as written. When you’re finished, please fill out the playtest questionnaire (which can be found at bit.ly/moabpq). If you have any questions or comments, let us know on the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/measure.of.a.badass or email [email protected]. Fight the good fight! Dedication To Heather Brooks, my love and compatriot, for listening to my rambling, adulation, obsession, doubt, and finally pride in my work. Thank you for listening to all of my crap, and sticking with me all this time. Without you, none of this would be possible. To Jenn Meyer, who broke the mold of everything I expected this game to be about, and helped me realize its true potential as more than just a red-blooded gun-fest. Every slinky red dress, unexpected jump and dodge, and every maneuver in the shadows made it deeper, broader, more exciting than ever. And thank you for sitting through revision after revision of OneShot, PSICOM, and everything that came before, and everything that is to come. To Dan Baizel, probably the best damn devil’s advocate there ever was for rules and mechanics. I often disagreed with you, fought hard to keep my precious jewels of ideas as they were, and then, weeks, months, sometimes years later, came around to realize you were right all along. My thanks, and my apologies. To my father, who exposed me to action cinema – to a place where, some way, somehow, the actions of a few good people could make everything right in the world, if only for a little while. I wish you could have played this with me. To Zac Reed, Rachel Armstrong, Erik Carter, and the rest of the University of Dayton Fantasy and Science Fiction Appreciation Club, for providing me a forum to test, refine, and promote this game and my other works over the course of years. And finally, to Avalanche Studios and Eidos Interactive, for Just Cause 2, the high-octane open-world action shooter whose flirtation with the very edge of the laws of reality and physics spawned the idea for an action-inspired RPG. Thirty minutes of play on an old, broken laptop inspired four years of hard work, and I couldn’t be happier about it. To be a Badass Does anyone remember the days when heroes were good, bad guys were bad, and we celebrated unrestrained, simple badassery? These days, the rules are more like guidelines. The line between good and bad is blurred, and heroes who try to act the part get fired, arrested, or worse. “Don’t be a hero” is a line ingrained into everyone who walks into police and military training. The enemy has no face; they’re just people, with scattered, erratic agendas and unclear leadership. One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. The difference between action stories of the 1980s and 1990s, and those of today, is that writers and audiences were willing to suspend their disbelief and buy into the black and white depictions. Guys like Rambo or the forces of G.I. Joe could show up and gun down the obviously evil villains, save the hostages, and win the day, to the elation of their superiors back home. What if we could transport the freewheeling, unabashed badassery of those old yarns into the modern day? In Measure of a Badass, the protagonists are part of a defined body – whether government, private, or even freelance – who stand as the sworn enemies of criminal or terrorist organizations. These organizations have a face, and a name, and their personnel and assets are expendable. When the villains of the week show up to cause havoc and chaos (whether for their gain or its own perverse sake), the heroes unite to take them down a peg, guns blazing the whole while. The villains are known. They’re members of an evil organization with its own ideology. This organization could be the same from mission to mission, or the protagonists could take down multiple factions of bad guys as they defend those they have sworn to protect – a nation, the world, or otherwise. The player characters, Badasses, are pinnacles, falling into one of the twelve heroic Archetypes. Badasses are uniquely capable people, able of attempting any task in front of them, but a member of an appropriate archetype is the best at what they do. Anyone can wield a machine gun, but the Soldier can stand toe to toe against a dozen armed assailants and survive without a scratch. Others can be sexy, audacious, and glib, but no one turns heads like the Smooth Operator. You get the idea. No two player characters can be members the same archetype – versatility is key to the success of your team. Don’t forget to cross train! Nothing is worse than finding the computer data you were supposed to alter, but being unable to do it because your 1337 H4x0r took a grievous hit two scenes back. And since your enemy will stop at nothing to see you dead or captured – make sure you have some capability in a fight. Be prepared for your enemy to bring some serious firepower – waves of infantry, cars, planes, tanks, sneaks, subtlety, hostages, anything. The Badass’s one true calling is to shine in the face of overwhelming odds, and to look awesome doing it. In a world of gray, a hero is a bright white beacon of hope. When there’s no one else to turn to, the last bastion is a hero. A Badass. You. Do you have what it takes? Contents About the Game ....................................................................... 6 Greenlighting (Game and Setting Creation) ........................... 10 Constructing a Badass ............................................................ 13 Taking Action (Rolling the Dice) ............................................. 16 Health, Conditions, and Injury ............................................... 24 Conflicts ................................................................................. 28 Combat ................................................................................... 30 Badass Points ......................................................................... 36 Archetypes ............................................................................. 39 The Gunslinger ................................................................ 40 The Soldier ...................................................................... 41 The Eagle Eye .................................................................. 42 The Shadow .................................................................... 43 The Wheelman ................................................................ 45 The Iron Hand ................................................................. 47 The Weapon Master ....................................................... 48 The Field Medic ............................................................... 50 The Sapper ...................................................................... 52 T3h 1337 h4x0r ............................................................... 54 The Smooth Operator ..................................................... 56 The Tactical Commander ................................................ 59 Combined Boosts List ............................................................. 61 Mission Procedure ................................................................. 63 Gearing Up ............................................................................. 64 Advancement and Evolution .................................................. 75 Planning Episodes and Overarching Plot ................................ 77 Planning Missions .................................................................. 79 Playing the Mission ................................................................ 89 Threat Points ........................................................................ 100 Designing and Using Enemies .............................................. 101 Improvisational Mission Planning ........................................ 109 Troupe Play and Grunts ........................................................ 111 One-on-one Play .................................................................. 112 Going Full Custom ................................................................ 113 Final Thoughts ...................................................................... 119 Acknowledgements .............................................................. 120 Character Playbook .............................................................. 121 GM Quick Reference ............................................................ 123 Measure of a Badass About the Game Measure of a Badass is a tabletop roleplaying game. What we’re here to do is to tell a story reminiscent of the best action movies and television shows. Everyone at the table acts out, via dialogue and description, characters in an action story; saying what they say, describing what they do. When a character attempts to do something where the outcome is important and uncertain, the rules of the game (and the roll of the dice) step in to determine what happens. Missions are set before the heroes; the heroes’ (and therefore the players’) ultimate goal is to accomplish their mission and save the day from certain peril, in the most awesome way possible. There are two jobs to do. One person is designated the Game Master (GM). The GM serves three roles: the director, the cameraman, and the