Going to start posting some ideas I have.

[kato13]

I just discovered that my forum is 2nd or 3rd (depending on country of origin) when searching for "Morrow Project Forum" on Google. I have had some click-thrus and I am assuming that the people were disappointed when they found nothing here. I am still not pushing the site until I move to a new box, but I will use this as a place holder for my ideas and hopefully there will be some discussion.

If there are no responses I will just edit the original posts as I think of new stuff.

I should point out that I use a floating project Phoenix timeline so my idea might not match canon Morrow games.

[bigehauser]

Project Phoenix? The Phoenix Project ran by the CIA to help destroy the core of the Viet Cong during Vietnam?

[kato13]

It is also the name of a free RPG which is pretty much a morrow project clone. You can find a download of the pdf in the files section of my gaming site. http://games.juhlin.com

Sorry but it requires forum registration to download (to keep my bandwidth usage down).

[Moonsaber]

Never heard of project phoenix, but I own pretty much all the MP stuff, if it is close enough to the same?

[kato13]

It is basically a fans reinterpretation of the game. It has a slightly more military flavor (as there is military and government involvement in the project), but in the end the two are very similar and ideas could certainly cross pollinate.

I received the PDF, from a friend, as the author encourages people to distribute it. I had never heard of morrow project at the time but the basic premise got me hooked.

[Moonsaber]

Doesn't sound as much my cup of tea. Project teams are more indepentantly minded but if you set that all up.. then have the whole thing go haywire. Still the same effect right? Otherwise you are playing Jericho the RPG, but the idea of most RPGs is to have the group as individuals, instead of constantly involved in mass combat and the such?

[kato13]

I think you are misunderstanding you can put the teams anywhere and anytime. They can still have full backup or absolutely nothing. The teams themselves are Military trained and equipped, but they can still be alone in the wilderness. Think of them as snake eaters in terms of a morrow game.

[kato13]

Another interesting thing I like about Phoenix Project, is that they encourage you to change the "end of the world" scenario. It can keep the players on their toes.

Asteroid impact, Nearby supernova, Nuke attack, Alien attack or even the transition to a 1984 style government. I am also thinking of running a short term game where the time displacement equipment sends them back in time by mistake. It would be interesting to see how long it takes them to figure out they are in 1720s Virginia and not the KFS

[Moonsaber]

I think you are misunderstanding you can put the teams anywhere and anytime. They can still have full backup or absolutely nothing. The teams themselves are Military trained and equipped, but they can still be alone in the wilderness. Think of them as snake eaters in terms of a morrow game.


Interestingly enough, canon-wise, one of the best successes of rebuilding was accomplished by a Snake Eater team in the module "Ruins of Chicago".

Actually, and honestly, Special Forces mission is to contact and train native troops, including teaching better agriculture and such so they can field a larger force.

The Snake Eaters in that module often succeed better than any PC team.

I can see where your idea could work very, very, well.

How is the combat and skills handled, still percentile?

[kato13]

I'll be totally honest with you I don't know how Project Phoenix or even Morrow Project handles skills. I have used a heavily modified form of the Timelord/CORPS gaming system for all my non DnD games (Twilight/Dark Conspiracy/Morrow/Phoenix) for the last 15 years or so. I only use the source books for plot lines.

[Moonsaber]

Does that system use levels?

That is my major concern with all d20 systems are the rank unreality of level based RPGs.

It was one of the things we adored about Morrow Project, then Runequest, the more realistic character sheets. For instance, in D&D, a say.. 20th level character attacked by 100 level 1 opponents would simply wade through them like destruction itself. In Runequest or Morrow Project in a similar situation, you'd run for your life! Cause if 100 anythings catch you, you are dead.

[kato13]

Absolutely no levels.

My system has the following high points:

A semi bell curve percentage system for task resolution.

Think of it as a D19 but based on percentile.
You only get a 1 or 19 (really really bad or really really good) 1% of the time for each. While a 9, 10 or 11 (pretty average) occur a total 28% of the time. To me this is much more realistic than straight D20 with everything having a 5% chance.

Skill acquisition cost increases at higher skill levels.

A skill level of one costs 1 point. But a skill level of 4 costs 10 points in total (4+3+2+1). To move from that 4 to a 5 costs 5 but to move from 5 to 7 costs 13 (6+7). Overall in my system this increases the number of low level skills and severely reduces high level skills. Just like in real like you can either be a jack of all trades or a master of one.

Skill learning can be enhanced or degraded by aptitude.

Attributes go from 1-10 and are connected to skills. If you have a 5 or 6 attribute it will not effect your skill learning. If you have a 1 attribute the connected skill is 3 times as hard to lean. If you have a 10 it is only 1/3 as expensive.

This still allows for a "natural" to have a very high skill level.

Very little enhancement of player durability
No massive hit point increases. You can enhance your ability to take damage slightly via exercise, training and conditioning. Drugs can also give a temporary boost as can adrenalin. But it is difficult to count on that.

I am still trying to tweak the rules to allow for those amazing wartime stories you hear about someone having 6 ribs sliced open yet still carries their buddy 3 miles to safety. It would require some sort of amazing role, but it should still be a possibility.

[Marc]

Bona nit!!!

I suppose that you know it, but you can also use Traveller: The New Era rulebook. Same Twilight:2000 / Dark Conspiracy set of rules and good suggestions about futuristic weapons, starships etc. And with interesting supplements, if you like the "hard" science fiction.

Ah! And this weekend I've played D&D d20. The d20 system seemed to me totally antinatural! Powers, feats, levels, AC, Hit points... :vor_wut_p Uf!! I've made my choice as GM. T2K/Traveller:TNE/Dark Conspiracy for modern/military/sci-fi environment and GURPS 3ed. for ancient/medieval/fantasy environment.

I'm taking a look to the Project Phoenix. Seems interesting. I know for sure that one of my rpg groups woyld enjoy this kind of setting.

[kato13]

For real world games I want realism. Sci fi is perfectly ok with me as long as there is some internal logic.

For some reason I don't mind the levels in DnD maybe because it is totally fantasy. I always liked playing spell casters as I felt choosing spells was like a chess game. Even when I played other types of characters I was never really into hack and slash. I preferred battle management like using spells to move the enemy in a certain direction so they would be easier to kill.

A was a little bit munchkin in counting treasure though. I would always go out of my way to take everything that was not nailed down. (Within encumbrance limits of course). But in the end My wizard had a tower pretty much furnished with "acquired" goods. Maybe not a munchkin but more of a miser ;)

Also when I was DMing a dungeon had an internal logic as well (unless the builder was insane). Creatures always had a place to go to the bathroom, a food source etc.

[headquarters]

I dont regularily dabble in other systems then T2k - hard to get enough time to do that even - but googling I came upon this if it is of any help .

http://www.paforge.com/

check the menu for morrow project material.

[kato13]

paforge is pretty cool.

I also suggest http://www.thesupplybunker.net/morrow.htm

there are quite a few useful files for T2k. The horse rule breakdown is one in particular that I remember using in a T2k game.

http://www.thesupplybunker.net/Morrow/horses.txt