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Bioshock Alternate Ruleset
Topic Started: Nov 23 2014, 06:38 AM (293 Views)
Robot
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Giant Mecha Enthusiast
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I do a fair amount of homebrew in my spare time, just figured I'd leave this here. Pondering doing some kind of setting design blog on the side. I have another friend assisting him in adjusting the PTU rules for the Elder Scrolls setting as we speak. I'm greatly excited to see how any of it pans out.

Anyway, Bioshock! For those of you who aren't familiar with the franchise, it's set in the 1940s with a little super science thrown in. Around the time of the war, Andrew Ryan, great businessman and forward thinker, created a society at the bottom of the ocean free from any government's laws. A place where a man was entitled to the sweat of his brow. A place without moral constraints to hold back the boundless potential of science. The creation of 'Adam' allowed for mankind to begin to take on superhuman traits, but also began the downfall of rapture. Ryan's greatest rival, Frank Fontaine, waged a war from a prison deep beneath the city. Falling into disrepair, this is where you now find yourself.

Pokeshock
Bioshock-Pokemon Setting

Core Mechanics Changes
1. No Pokeballs. "Tired of struggling to keep up with the children? Need a little home security? Try Beast Bond Today!"
-Team Limit begins at 3. Additional Control can be bought with Gene Tonics, to a maximum of 6.
-Beast Bond is permanent until Control Limit is exceeded. At which point it wears off in 10 minutes and the pokemon goes berserk. Berserk pokemon will primarily attack the person who enslaved it, and function as though Enraged, with +2 CS in Attack and Special Attack.
-The newest pokemon hypnotized with Beast Bond is the first one to be lost. During the period when Control Limit is exceeded, Player must make Command Checks as though their other Pokemon were Loyalty 1 in order to control them.
-Additional Pokemon past the first that exceeds Control Limit reduces the time remaining till the control breaks by 3/4ths, and Command Checks are made to maintain remaining pokemon as if they were Loyalty 0.
-Once Control is fully lost of a hypnotized pokemon, it cannot be re-hypnotized by the same player or another player.
-Beast Bond is free at character creation.

2. Pokemon Storage
-Each major building in Rapture contains a massive pneumotube built for delivering pokemon to Menagerie, a storage facility at the bottom of the ocean.
-The location of this pneumotube is exceptionally important, particularly where Control has limits. Make a point to draw the player's attention to it, and only put it out of immediate notice if it's relevant to the plot.

3. Plasmids
-Players begin with two available Plasmid Slots. Plasmid slots may be filled by a single TM, and additional slots may be purchased up to a maximum of 6.
-Can exceed these slot caps at the risk of Splicer Mutation (Below).
-Attacks gained by Features must share a type with one of your active Plasmids. As an example a player with 'Flamethrower' as a Plasmid could go into the Firestarter Elementalist Class, and learn any of the moves available from it as normal. However, a player without the proper type-aligned Plasmid no longer qualifies for these classes.
-The exception to this rule is Normal and Fighting type Plasmids and Features, which a character could concievably manage through feats of human strength and ingenuity.

4. Gene Tonics
-Come in three varieties, Combat, Engineering, and Physical.
-Begins with 2 Slots open in each Variety, to a maximum of 6 slots in each Variety.
-Can exceed this amount, at the risk of Splicer Mutation (Below).

5. Splicer Mutation
-All plasmids and gene tonics leave a notable change on the body. This is everything from biolumanescence to a hardening of the skin.
-Forcing more plasmids into yourself, then your body is capeable of handling causes much more profound and debilitating effects.
-When your Slot cap for Plasmids or Gene Tonics is exceeded, roll 1d100, on a 1-80 a permanent physical mutation occurs based on the plasmid that exceeded that cap. The effects of this are up to DM discretion. On an 81+ the body remains normal, but the mind begins to come unhinged. DM will choose from Phobias for the first time unhinged, Neurosis for the second, and Psychosis for the third and following.

6. ADAM
-There are two forms of currency in Rapture, PokeDollars and ADAM. ADAM is spent on Plasmids, Gene Tonics, and upgrades to these, while PokeDollars are spent on everything else. ADAM is the lifeblood of Rapture, and difficult to come by without collecting it directly from a Little Sister. This process of course is met with heavy opposition in the form of the Big Daddy, though some exceptions do occur.

7. EVE
-EVE is an added resource to the player's sheet. EVE begins at a static amount of 100, and may be upgraded to a maximum of 200.
-Moves with a Damage Base cost 2xDB in EVE.
-Self-Target Status Moves cost 10 EVE. If they raise Combat Stages by more than one, this number is 20 EVE instead.
-Moves that lower a target's CS by 1 cost 10 EVE. Moves that lower a target's CS by 2 cost 25 EVE. Moves that inflict Volatile Status cost 20 EVE. Finally, Moves that inflict Persistant Status cost 30 EVE.
-Beast Bond costs 30 EVE. Upgrades to this may be purchased that adjust the cost and effective capture rate.

8. Recovery and Items
-First Aid kits come in varying sizes, stocked with ADAM they provide an instantaneous regenerative effect.
-First Aid kits in addition to healing the amount listed, recover 1 injury for every 20 Hp they restore.
-May be cannibalized for the ADAM they contain, which is always equal to 1/2 the amount of Hp they would have restored.
-Replace all trainer and pokemon healing items with First Aid kits.

9. Pokemon and EVE
-Pokemon do not use EVE, they are naturally the source of genes that created Plasmids in the first place. Their attacks do not suffer from the additional costs that Players have.

10. Pokemon Habitats in Rapture
-Arcadia is effectively Rapture's 'Safari Zone', every other location in Rapture will possess parks, or other locales where Pokemon can be discovered.
-Thanks to Beast Bond, feral Pokemon now wander even the most industrial of Raptures locales, scavenging snack cakes, eating bodies or just sunning themselves.

11. Pokemon as Weapons
-Due to the potency of Rapture's pet population, guns were never required as a development tool.
-Awkward as it can be to hold one of these, a player may use their standard action to initiate an attack from a Pokemon that is Small or smaller, that they hold in their hands.
-Attacks selected when using this Feature cannot have the Melee, Dash, or Pass tags.
-Using a pokemon in this way, when it does not have the Living Weapon Capability reduces it's loyalty over time. It will eventually turn on you if care and tenderness aren't taken with it.

12. Pokemon in the World beyond Rapture
-Scattered to the far corners of the world, these creatures are the strange and exotic. The rare and beautiful. Tucked away in lush rainforest grottos and deepsea trenches that human hands so rarely touch. Rapture truely is special in it's collection.

13. Hacking
Hacking a Machine requires a minimum Tech:Edu of 1 Rank for every 10 Levels of the Machine. The DC is similarly based on this level. A failed hack forces a loss of hp as the machine shorts and emits a loud noise. Hacking takes an extended action, with a base time of 10 minutes.


Plasmids
ADAM Prices
Catfight - 100 ADAM - Primary: False Swipe (8 EVE), Secondary: Growl (10 EVE)
Catfight 2 - 100 ADAM - Primary: Scratch (8 EVE), Secondary: Hone Claws (20 EVE)
Catfight 3 - 200 ADAM - Primary: Dragon Claw (16 EVE), Secondary: Dragon Rage Trap (12 EVE)

Mind Over Matter - 100 ADAM - Primary: Kinesis (10 EVE), Secondary: Telekinesis (15 EVE)
Mind Over Matter 2 - 200 ADAM - Primary: Confusion (10 EVE), Secondary: Calm Mind (20 EVE)
Mind Over Matter 3 - 300 ADAM - Primary: Teleport (10 EVE + 5 EVE/Meter Teleported), Secondary: Teleport Trap (30 EVE + 5 EVE/Meter Teleported)

It could be expanded on, and I'm still not sure on the 'using pokemon as guns' thing, but I really like Magneton and Octillery. Pew pew pew.
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