Domino Writing Games - Custom-made games and more

USR Wednesdays: More Magic

We first looked at classic magic about a year ago: discrete spells with specific results, as opposed to the game master- and player-interpreted rules that most of USR uses. Fantasy gaming has been using huge spell lists for decades; there’s no reason to stop doing it now. I created just a handful of spells in that first post. This time around, we’ll make the list bigger. Our guidelines are simple:

Any spellcaster can use any spell — there’s no divine vs. arcane magic, for example.
There’s no “spell level,” so even an apprentice can summon a mighty elemental force… or at least he can try. A high Target Number is probably in order in that case. Also, spells are measured by the number of hit points they cost the spellcaster whenever the spell is cast. A wizard can have a few very powerful spells, but he won’t be able to cast them often!
You can cast spells as often as you like, but you have to spend the listed hit point(s) first. Casting a spell counts as your action for a turn, or is considered part of your attack action — for example, Magical Missile is an attack by itself, but casting Entangling Vines adds to an attack roll using the Wits stat. Don’t forget that Specialisms (like Wizard or Fire Magic) apply to these Wits and other stat rolls also, above and beyond what a spell offers.
A spellcaster at level 1 starts with two spells, and adds one more at each level. Domino Writing-style USR goes to level 5, so a fifth-level sorcerer can cast six spells — enough for variety, not enough to require you to spend a half-hour writing spell text on your character sheet.

To create a new spell, just decide on its hit point cost: a good measure is a cost of 3 hit points per die of effect. The exact details of the spell are up to the player and the game master to work out, provided it helps tell a better story.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice: the best Mickey cartoon? — Summoning isn’t always about combat.

As with all USR rules, it’s easy to add options to make the game the way you want it. Maybe each spellcaster has a signature spell that doesn’t cost as many hit points, spellcasters have a “mana pool” to cast spells from instead, or spells need to have subtle effects, and loud, flashy spells attract unwanted attention.

So, let’s mix all our spells together (the old and the new), grouped by Hit Point cost.

1 Hit Point cost

Detect Magic: All magical objects and creatures in an area the size of an average room glow a faint light blue for the next few moments, long enough for you to discern where they are.

Enhance: This spell boosts other die rolls. It costs 1 hit point to cast. Each additional hit point spent on the spell provides +1 to any one die roll, for the spellcaster or anyone else he chooses.

Light: The spellcaster touches an object and for the next hour, the object glows like a lantern. It can only be “turned off” by the spellcaster.

Magic Blast: Choose one enemy and make a Wits roll, opposed by an Action roll; on a successful attack, the enemy suffers 1d3 damage.

Prestidigitation: A small, harmless, obviously magical effect takes place, like flowers appearing from nowhere, or a room tidying itself up.

2 Hit Point cost

Charm: For the next hour, the spellcaster or one ally adds +1d6 to all Ego rolls when positively interacting with others (when trying to request help, or to calm them down, but not to intimidate or confuse them, for example).

Confusion: Make a Wits +2 roll, opposed by your target’s Wits roll; on a success, your target loses his or her next turn, trying to figure out what’s happening to him or her. He or she can still make rolls to defend against attacks, but can’t apply Specialisms (armor bonuses will still apply).

Magical Missile: 1 automatic damage to an enemy you can see. This damage cannot be avoided in any way, except by a more powerful magical defense.

3 Hit Point cost

Cure Light Wounds: +1d6 hit points to yourself or another individual.

Entangling Vines: Choose one enemy and make a Wits +2 roll, opposed by the enemy’s Action roll; on a successful attack, that enemy cannot move for the rest of the combat encounter, unless it uses its entire movement and action on a turn to free itself.

Shape Change: You magically shift your body, clothing, and possessions to appear like someone else of roughly the same shape and size. You add +3 to any Wits roll if you need to convince someone else you are who you are pretending to be. The basic spell lets a human change into an elf or halfling. For 4 hit points, you can look like a specific individual whose appearance you are familiar with, like a famous person. For 6 hit points, you can look like a creature of a different size or shape, from a mosquito to a dragon.

4 Hit Point cost

Lightning Bolt: Choose one enemy and make a Wits +1 roll, opposed by an Action roll; on a successful attack, the enemy suffers 1d6 damage.

Magical Sheld: For the remainder of the current combat encounter, add +1d6 to your defensive rolls (roll this die along with the stat die you roll to defend against the attack). On a die result of 6, the shield instantly fades and does not provide any more defensive bonus.

5 Hit Point cost

Summon Creature: Make a Wits roll, with a Target Number depending on the type of creature you want to summon (a wolf is 4, a barbarian warrior is 7, a demon is 14). It is called to you and will help you however it can for the next hour/combat encounter.

Teleport: One creature or object is instantly moved from its current location to somewhere else within eyesight of the spellcaster.

6 Hit Point cost

Cure Heavy Wounds: +2d6 hit points to yourself or another individual.

Fireball: Choose one enemy and make a Wits +3 roll, opposed by an Action roll; on a successful attack, the enemy suffers 2d6 damage.

USR Wednesdays: DC Superheroes

We’ve touched on Marvel’s heroes before, but what about DC’s? These versions are, like most traditional superheroes, at Tier 3, and blend the best of each version of the character (comics, movies, animation, and so on).

Superman, Level 4, 15 Experience Points, Tier 4
Action D12, Wits D10, Ego D8
Specialisms: Super-Strength +4, Journalist +2, Role Model To All +3
Hit Points: 37
Equipment: Invulnerable +3 (not equipment, but used in combat)
Narrative Points: 6

Batman, Level 3, 10 Experience Points, Tier 3
Action D10, Wits D12, Ego D8
Specialisms: World’s Greatest Detective +2, Wealthy Sponsor Of Gotham City And Superheroes +2, Obsessive Hunter +2, Bat-Gadgets (Free-Form Specialism) +2
Hit Points: 32
Equipment: Martial Arts Expert +2, Batarangs +1, Grappling Hook
Narrative Points: 3

Robin, Level 1, 0 Experience Points, Tier 1
Action D12, Wits D10, Ego D8
Specialisms: Detective In Training +2, Friend To Other Superheroes +2, Teetering On The Dark Side +2
Hit Points: 22
Equipment: Martial Arts +2, Staff +1
Narrative Points: 8

Wonder Woman, Level 2, 5 Experience Points, Tier 3
Action D12, Wits D8, Ego D10
Specialisms: Princess Of Themyscira +2, Representing The Power Of Women +2, Always Does The Right Thing +3
Hit Points: 25
Equipment: Sword +2, Deflecting Bracelets +2
Narrative Points: 3

USR Wednesdays: Motivation

What drives your hero to do what he or she does? For many RPG characters, the answer is simple: to collect the treasure, to stop evil from destroying the world, or even because it’s just the right thing to do. Of course, the quest-giver in step 1 of the six-step adventure design can also provide motivation for a specific adventure.

But sometimes you need to give the heroes a “kick in the pants” to get started. Though you can do anything in a role playing game ― that’s probably the best part of playing them ― some guidelines need to be in place. A hero can’t be good at everything, which is why stats have different ratings, and Specialisms only apply in some cases.

A character needs to get along with the other characters in the party, too. A lone wolf is a cool concept, but it doesn’t work in a typical adventuring group, where everyone contributes something unique to every adventure. And in most games, the player characters need to be heroes, doing something that helps themselves and society as a whole. A thief may steal, but not from his buddies. Heroes carry swords and guns, and know how to use them, but the weapons are specifically meant for orcs, Nazis, and evil minions, not anyone and everyone.

If your players need a push in the right direction, supported by game mechanics, try giving them a motivation. This is their particular reason for doing “hero stuff.” It may relate to their Specialisms, but it doesn’t provide a bonus to die rolls itself. Instead, whenever a character does something that relates to his or her motivation, award the hero a Narrative Point (probably about once per game session). A motivation is a tool to get characters (and players) moving, and to help give characters more well-rounded personalities. You can even take a Narrative Point away if a player doesn’t play the character according to the motivation that’s been selected, though if you’re using motivation in your game, your players probably are embracing the characters they’ve created.

What are good character motivations? The model for this is the classic Ghostbusters RPG from West End Games, way back in 1986. It had five Goals for characters, which are just as relevant for modern-day heroes:

I don't have an actual Ghost Die, though. — Still fun after all these years.

Fame: You want to live forever, you want to learn how to fly. No, actually, a fame-seeker wants to be known by everyone. You achieve this motivation when you get outsized attention: you’re on TV, bards compose a song about you, or crime lords summon you by name, because they’ve heard of your badass reputation.

Money: Every RPG character has this as a motivation at some level. But you’re especially interested in wealth and the possessions it brings. The abstract nature of USR means you don’t need to keep track of cash (unless you want to). But you can also achieve this motivation by talking the hotel owner into paying the heroes double their normal rate to bust ghosts, or by acquiring a rival company, whether that’s by making a deal or threatening to take proof of the CEO’s dirty deal to the feds.

Serving Humanity: Humanity, or whatever species you are, benefits when you’re around. This is the motivation of the classic paladin or good cop, to protect the innocent and be a shining light of goodness in the world. But don’t forget that slaying demons and keeping eldritch horrors at bay is just as helpful to humanity.

Sex: This means what you think it means, if you want it to (think of the classic Dead Alewives skit: “If there’s any girls there, I want to do them!”). It can also mean charming people who don’t want to be charmed. It can have nothing to do with wanting to have an intimate relationship with another person ― this motivation can be achieved by convincing the king that you’re the right man for the job on your charm alone.

Soulless Science: The advancement of knowledge (even magical knowledge) is what matters. You don’t want people to suffer as a direct result of what you’re doing ― switching the brains of two living organisms without their permission is the work of evil ― but a house can move into another dimension while you study the effects of the transport, as long as it gets put back at the end of the day. You like taking things apart… putting them back together isn’t always as interesting.

USR Wednesdays: Solitaire Role Playing ― Part 3

Way back in the early 2000s, when D&D 3.0 variants ruled the hobby shop shelves, there was a tabletop version of the computer game Rune. The PCs were slaughter-happy Viking types, pretty standard for D&D. But what made the game stand out what that you could score points for playing a role playing game.

Scoring points in a tabletop RPG isn’t new; I think the early tournament modules for D&D were similar, or at least rewarded you for getting farther than other groups before dying in a dungeon designed to kill characters. But Rune had an entire scoring system.

Roll to win. — Definitely a competitive GM.

Competitive Role Playing

Players and a game master who are comfortable with one another’s style and okay with the idea of inter-party conflict may want to try competitive gaming. Each character gains 1 Victory Point each time he or she accomplishes one of the following tasks. The character or characters with the most Victory Points at the end of the game session wins. If a character is killed, the player loses all the Victory Points earned by that character.

Note that the characters still must accomplish the goals of the adventure as a group, and no character receives Victory Points for something that the entire party does together (like discover a treasure). Characters also earn no Victory Points for attacking, stealing from, or otherwise harming one another.

Optionally, a game master can complete too, earning 2 Victory Points per task marked with an asterisk (*) that the enemies of the adventure accomplish; the other tasks are PC-only. Use the list below to create other tasks worth Victory Points.

Be the character who makes the action that defeats 2 opponents that are weaker than the characters in a single combat encounter (every 2 opponents defeated equals 1 Victory Point)
Be the character who makes the action that defeats a single opponent with a power level equivalent to the characters (a more powerful opponent may be worth 2 or more Victory Points) *

Cause maximum possible damage on a dice roll, not counting “open ended” dice rolled again *
Do something appropriate to the character’s personality that greatly helps the party
Do something appropriate to the character’s personality that greatly hinders the party
Do something that makes the GM and/or players laugh out loud *
Roll a critical failure or critical miss *
Roll a critical success or critical hit *
Survive attacks by 2 or more opponents in the same turn without suffering any damage *
Use a power or ability intended for combat to accomplish a non-combat activity
Use a power or ability not intended for combat to make a successful attack

USR Wednesdays: Solitaire Role Playing ― Part 2

When I buy board games, I look for ones that can be played solo, as most of my gaming is done that way. There’s a few games that are designed for a single player, mostly variants of traditional games like… Solitaire (with a deck of playing cards), or Yahtzee.

But more often, and more thematically, there’s co-operative games, where two to five players can take part, working as a team to defeat the game itself. Usually it’s a puzzle that needs to be solved in a limited amount of time, or there’s a set of instructions for monsters and obstacles that the players follow to simulate the opposition. If every player has one character on the same team, it’s easy enough to have one player as all the characters on the team, as long as you keep track of who’s doing what. That’s what I’m trying to add to Domino Writing-style USR here.

These two options build on the solitaire rules introduced last week, and expand them so you can play USR, or any tabletop RPG, without using a game master.

Co-Operative Play (no Game Master)

The rule for solitaire role playing (do what makes sense for whomever you’re playing as at that moment) can also be used for co-op role playing, where all players are taking the role of adventurers, and there is no game master.

If an adventure or monster description doesn’t provide an enemy’s combat tactics, assume its tactic is, “Move into position to make the most effective attack and fight until death.” The most effective attack is usually the one that does the most damage against the greatest immediate threat, though some enemies will take a few turns to enhance their abilities with spells or other powers before attacking.

This will require a high Wits roll. — The recovery action at work with a +2 for the professional medical assist.

The Recovery Action

To make an adventure more of a challenge, the player or players may want to limit the amount of healing available during the adventure. In combat (which starts when the first Initiative roll is made and ends when the last enemy is defeated), characters can use healing spells, medical kits and other healing available to them as described in the game’s normal rules.

However, characters cannot heal outside of combat, except for a Recovery action: The character instantly regains half his or her total Hit Points, round up. Recovery can be done only once per character per game session. For an adventure that lasts several days of game time, a character also regains all health each morning when he or she wakes up.

The Recovery action means characters can’t expect to eventually fully heal from even the worst combats, and means the player or players may even fail to finish adventure successfully, and lose the game.

USR Wednesdays: Solitaire Role Playing ― Part 1

Playing a tabletop pencil-and-paper RPG is always more fun with a group of people, but sometimes schedules don’t work out, or you just want to test a new rule or adventure you’ve written. There’s only one Rule Of Solitaire Role Playing:

Do what makes sense for whomever you’re playing as at that moment.

When you’re playing by yourself, you have to play each PC, all the NPCs and all the monsters. Obviously, since you’re both GM and players, you can’t really keep secrets — but you can do what makes sense to the characters.

For example, a fantasy adventure may indicate a secret door in the wall of the dungeon room the heroes have just entered. As GM, you know the door is there, but as the PCs, you have no idea. So, make “search” rolls, just as other players would if they were taking part in the game. Another example: you roll initiative for each side in a conflict. When the villains are taking action, they’re trying to defeat the heroes just as much as the heroes are trying to defeat them. You can even “fudge” dice rolls, if you like, but usually that’s done to keep a PC alive or keep the story on track, and when you’re GM and players, you don’t necessarily have to worry about that!

Dialogue with NPCs, developing relationships with other player characters, and investigation scenarios don’t really work in solitaire role playing, since they’re so dependent on interaction with other players in the game, at least not how they’re traditionally done. However, you can write out a sample interaction, as if you were composing a bit of game fiction, based on the personalities you’ve developed for each hero.

Combat in Solitaire Role Playing

Solitaire role playing is best-suited for detailed combat encounters, making it almost like a board game. Many games have tactics for monsters (like “use magic to enhance the villain’s defenses, then move into combat,” or “fight until slain”), but leave the combat tactics for PCs up to the players, as they should. However, when you’re both GM and players, you’ll need to have a tactic for each PC, too.

Take action! — They probably all have different tactics. At least they would in an RPG party.

Choose one combat tactic from the list for each PC in the party, or roll 1d6 two times (you’ll see what I mean below) for each when creating the characters. That tactic is the PC’s default action in combat — obviously, a “Selective” character that prefers to hang back and fire arrows at enemies from a distance won’t keep firing if there’s an orc right in his face. But at the beginning of the battle, he’ll stay toward the back of the room, instead of charging in like another hero might.

Feel free to let the tactic reflect the PC’s personality, too; an “Opportunistic” hero who hunts for treasure before fighting will probably be hard to keep in line in an open-air market.

Two characters with the same tactic might have different approaches to combat. A “Controlling” wizard who likes to cause area of effect damage might summon lightning in every battle, while a “Controlling” barbarian could cause area effect damage by moving into the middle of a horde of enemies, then swinging his sword in a circle to slay a half-dozen foes at once.

Character motivations may be different, too: two heroes may both be “Vengeful,” in an enemy’s face when delivering the final bit of damage. But one does it because he’s an assassin who needs to know his target is down, and another does it because her god calls his servants to prove their worth in warfare.

First Roll: 1 or 2

Second Roll:

Ambitious: Eliminates the greatest threat first
Cautious: Stays in the back of the battle and aids allies, only fighting if he must
Commanding: Gives orders (which may or may not be listened to) then follows his own orders to the letter
Controlling: Prefers area of effect attacks, trying to defeat as many foes as possible at one time
Curious: Wants to know how things work (technology, unusual creatures, magic, etc.) and spends time investigating them for a possible advantage instead of simply taking them out of action and moving on
Determined: One-on-one duelist — finishes off one enemy before moving to the next

First Roll: 3 or 4

Second Roll:

Dramatic: Flashy, prefers making unique stunts to simple attacks — he might have a pile of unique gadgets he wants to try out, or likes playing pranks on his foes
Efficient: Eliminates the easiest threat first
Negotiating: Tries to neutralize threats without bloodshed (“talks down” foes, intimidates them, etc.)
Opportunistic: Makes sure he knows where the treasure (or the door to the next room) is before getting into the fight
Partnership: Finds a combat partner (animal companion, another PC, etc.) and performs a reliable, effective attack
Pragmatic: Uses the environment (furniture, the natural world, vehicles, etc.) as his preferred weapons, often strikes from behind cover

First Roll: 5 or 6

Second Roll:

Quick: Hit and run strikes, constantly moving and making attacks from different directions and/or against different enemies
Reckless: Charges in, regardless of consequences, sometimes even before the party has made a plan
Selective: Prefers to attack from a distance
Slaying: Moves into the thick of battle and attacks anyone and everyone who comes near
Unexpected: Does something different each time — roll once on this table before each encounter; if you roll “Unexpected” before an encounter, the character has the same combat tactic as he did in the last encounter
Vengeful: Gets up close and personal with enemies to deliver a killing blow

P.S. This blog post is late because WordPress switched to a new text editor that took a while to figure out. Back on track next week.

USR Wednesdays: After-Apocalypse Auto Action

That alliterative name is probably all you need to picture this otherwise unexplored Domino Writing-style USR setting. Thank “California Love,” “Car Wars,” the opening of the trailer for “The Lego Movie 2”… oh, and the Mad Max films. So there’s one thing this setting can’t go without: vehicles.

Scott Malthouse’s “Somnium Void” rules are great for the more complex vehicles rules we want in a 4A setting (I just came up with that name!). But we’ll tweak them a bit to bring them in line with the rest of the Domino Writing-style rules. Here are their stats.

Maneuver: The target number needed to successfully perform a stunt that’s above and beyond the regular driving or flying needed to get from place to place. In a 4A setting, water is very rare; there probably aren’t any boats to pilot, and getting into space… forget it. Specialisms like Driver and Cool Under Fire are helpful here, along with the Action die.

2 Easy (dodging debris on a smooth road)
4 Medium (changing direction on a rough road)
7 Hard (pushing your car past its speed maximum without losing control)
10 Very Hard (driving smoothly through a crowded city street)
14 Nearly Impossible (jumping over a canyon)

In combat, vehicles are monsters ― literally. We’ll use the same guidelines we used for monsters to generate generic cars, trucks, and bikes.

Type	Armor	Hit Points	Examples
Bike	+1	10	Motorcycle, Urban Mini Car
Small Car	+2	15	Commuter Car
Large Car	+3	20	Luxury Car, Pickup Truck
Small Truck	+4	25	Sport Utility Vehicle
Large Truck	+5	30	Semi-truck, RV

Armor: This is the vehicle’s own armor combat bonus, added to the hero’s Action die roll if they’re hiding behind the vehicle, or driving it as they’re being shot at.

Hit Points: When a vehicle loses all its Hit Points, it’s no longer drivable. A vehicle can regain Hit Points with a successful Wits roll and time ― usually 1d6 per hour in the auto repair shop; 1 point per successful Wits roll when in the middle of a battle. Vehicles can have extra armor bolted on, but something with too many Hit Points takes a frustratingly long time to defeat: no fun in the world of the story, or in the real world.

We don't need another hero... — In the heat of the action. (*image: informationweek.com*)

Chases were described in an earlier post, and they’re a key part of the 4A genre. Essential, even. Grab some toy cars and stick spikes and guns and mohawks all over ’em. The chase rules are written for two “markers” to represent a Pursuer and a Target, but for this setting, don’t just use the simple straight line to show the chase. Add broken-down vehicles as obstacles, and the harsh desert sands. Let the vehicles swerve and skid, barreling toward one another on a last-chance power drive. That’s what the 4A setting is all about!

Last but not least, the best part of all, weapons. A vehicle can carry weapons with bonuses equal to the vehicle’s Armor bonus before it’s too heavy and unwieldy to move. A Small Car (+3 Armor) can have:
A roof-mounted machine gun in a turret +2 and a crossbow +1
A flamethrower +3
A spiked front bumper +1, a shotgun on the door frame +1, and a net that can deploy from the rear bumper +1
Don’t forget about gimmicky weapons like tire-puncturing blades, oil slicks, and the roof-mounted heavy metal guitar player on a bungee cord (not a weapon himself, but definitely a Specialism used in combat!)

USR Wednesdays: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Leonardo (Turtle-Folk), Level 1, 0 Experience Points
Action D10, Wits D8, Ego D6
Specialisms: Turtle Leader +2, Spirit Of The Samurai +2, Swimming And Breathing Underwater +2
Hit Points: 18
Equipment: Pair of Katana +2, Shuriken +1, Shell +1
Narrative Points: 3

Donatello (Turtle-Folk), Level 1, 0 Experience Points
Action D8, Wits D10, Ego D6
Specialisms: Does Machines +2, Computer Nerd +2, Swimming And Breathing Underwater +2
Hit Points: 18
Equipment: Bo Staff +2, Shuriken +1, Shell +1
Narrative Points: 3

Raphael (Turtle-Folk), Level 1, 0 Experience Points
Action D8, Wits D6, Ego D10
Specialisms: “Cool But Crude” Moody Loner +2, Aggressive +2, Swimming And Breathing Underwater +2
Hit Points: 14
Equipment: Pair of Sai +2, Shuriken +1, Shell +1
Narrative Points: 3

Michaelangelo (Turtle-Folk), Level 1, 0 Experience Points
Action D10, Wits D6, Ego D8
Specialisms: Party Dude +2, Friend To Everyone +2, Swimming And Breathing Underwater +2
Hit Points: 16
Equipment: Pair of Nunchaku +2, Shuriken +1, Shell +1
Narrative Points: 3

They're never out of style. — The classic team ready for action. (*image: StalePretzels on DeviantArt*)

As brothers, the Turtles are excellent at working as a team. They can select team benefits, including the following that are more closely linked to how they operate in the comics and on screen.

Turtle Power: +1 to melee attacks and +1 to defense rolls for the rest of the combat encounter.

Silent Strike: +3 to initiative rolls for one encounter, as long as each turtle is able to approach the enemy without being seen or heard

I Love Being A Turtle: +3 to any die roll to befriend, intimidate, or research, usable on one die roll.

USR Wednesdays: Vampires

Creatures of the night are, of course, one of the most popular character choices in role playing, thanks to a slew of White Wolf games created in the 1990s and beyond. It inspired dozens of similar games, like “Nightlife,” and is still pretty popular; a new edition was released only a few weeks ago.

White Wolf-style vampires are very distinct from traditional RPG characters, with an emphasis on mood and personality, versus an emphasis on killing monsters and taking their stuff. But that’s not the only way to play a vampire game — a vampire can just as easily be a superhero, a character with abilities far beyond those of an ordinary person. There’s Marvel’s Morbius and Blade (a half-vampire, technically). Angel from the old “Buffy” TV show has the advantages but not many of the drawbacks that bedevil Dracula. There’s a vampire protagonist in at least a few of the “Castlevania” video games.

Here’s a few vampire-related personality Specialisms that make for heroes, or at least antiheroes:

Hideous Fiend
Mysterious Noble
Refined Artiste
Savage Killer
Tortured Hunter Of His Own Kind

You can hear that accent now. — Classic Dracula is best Dracula. (*image: Universal*)

The word “vampire” usually conjures thoughts of a tuxedo and a cape (Bela Lugosi in the 1931 “Dracula”) or a leather jacket (Edward Cullen in the “Twilight” movies). The looks may change but the powers remain fairly stable. Being fictional, there’s no hard and fast rules about what vampires are capable of, but here’s a few traditional abilities that can make for good Specialisms:

Animal Control
Animal Summoning — specifically, bats, rats, or wolves
Flight
Rapid Healing
Shapeshifting — specifically into bats, rats, wolves, or mist
Super-Speed
Super-Strength
Walk On Walls

And, of course, the one thing that makes a vampire a vampire: the ability to stay in “un-life” by drinking the blood of the living. In some fiction, the reverse, where a living creature drinks the vampire’s blood, turns it into the vampire. In others, a single vampire bite will do the trick. Sometimes, especially in stories where vampires are essentially dark superheroes, using supernatural abilities “costs” blood. In game terms, it reduces the vampire’s Hit Points. In fiction, a vampire can only use powers a few times before it’s too weak to go on — it needs to drink or sleep to recover.

Bloodsucking is a melee/hand-to-hand attack, made without any bonuses from weapons. If the victim isn’t willing, the vampire must succeed at an Action roll to hold the victim in place long enough to drink blood (which takes a single action — unless you want it to take longer for dramatic effect). Each Hit Point that’s drained from a victim is restored to the vampire, like any other healing.

USR Wednesdays: Simple Dice

If you’re like me, you have a pile of miniature figures and battle maps that don’t get nearly the amount of time on the tabletop as you’d like. And you have dice… so many dice, of different shapes and colors. Some unique dice with unusual faces — but most of them are the types seen in so many role playing games: d4 through d20. In USR, only the d6, d8, and d10 are used (also the d12 in a Domino Writing-style superhero game). But what if you don’t have those dice at hand?

Unlikely, since if you’re reading this you undoubtedly have gaming dice, or at least access to a free die-rolling app. But I’ve roleplayed on a backpacking trip, and when on a trip away from home in the pre-cell phone days, when the only gaming material on hand was a deck of playing cards and a partial Monopoly game. Monopoly has tokens you can use as miniatures, and more importantly for our purposes it has two six-sided dice, or 2d6.

Steal 'em from Monopoly, of course. — These dice, specifically.

You can use 2d6 to simulate the die results for the typical USR game:

Die Size	D6s to roll	Range of Results
d6	1d6	1 to 6
d8	1d6+2	3 to 8
d10	2d6	2 to 12
d12	2d6+2	4 to 14

As you can see, you’re more likely to see higher results than with ordinary USR dice, especially after adding in Specialisms, weapons and armor. It also doesn’t work if you need to roll a critical success (highest result on the die) or critical failure (lowest result on the die), as the odds of rolling each are very skewed. This option isn’t really meant to replace the standard rules, but instead fill in when needed.