KILLSPLOSION: THE PVP RPG Ross Payton A Role Playing Public Radio Production Playtesters: Aaron Carsten, Andrew Grattendick, Arthur Challenger Oemke, Caleb Stokes, Charles “Sly” Johnson, Christopher Kowalski, Edward Boyter, Evan G. Colon, Jayson French, Loretta Din- widdie, Michael Graziano, Michael S. Pardue II, Mike Ranalli,, Patrick French, Preston Simmons, Riley Crowder, Robert Dinwiddie, Steve Palleschi and Tom Church. A very special thanks to the Kickstarter Contributors: Abdulrahman mathkor, Adam Harrison, Alex Strang, Alex Wolf, Alexander Conklin, Allen Bartley, Andrew, Anthony Hansen, Arthur Challenger Oemke, Beej, Ben Hesketh, blueeyedsoulsister, Bradley Crum, Brandon , Breon Halling, Brian Holm- berg, Carl Ross, Chris Hagensick, Chris Hamann, Christopher Farmer , Crosswise, Cruxisv, Dan- iel Heinrichs, Danielle, Ed Possing, Eduardo Chaves, Evan G. Colon, Ian Walker, IcecreamJones, J. Strainic, James Anderson, Jamie Denholm, Jason De Luna, Jason Kingery, Jesse Thacker, Johan Livbom, John, Jon P Nilson, Justin Hall , Keith Rovelstad, Kevin Rank, Kyle Moss, LbSand Produc- tions, lucas schreiber, Malcolm, Mason McDaniel, unboundsheep , Matt Campen , Max Z, Maxwell Kielt, Michael Hutton, Michael Ostrokol, Michael Pardue, Mike Ranalli,,, Owlglass, Patrick, Sam Condon, Sam Graebner, Sam Johnson, Sean O'Loughlin, Sebastian, Shen Lin, Sky DeBoever, Steve, Swordthrower, Tadanori, Travis Martin , Viktor Engvall, Will Clark, Will Hayward, Yves Hacault, and Zach P 2 Killsplosion the PvP RPG Version 1.0 Game design and game text by Ross Payton Copyright 2012 Ross Payton Layout by Ross Payton Killsplosion website: http://killsplosion.roleplayingpublicradio.com/ This PDF is freely available on the Killsplosion website. Art by Violet Kirk Copyright 2012 Violet Kirk. Clucking Hell, Texas Clan, Funhouse, For the Kids and Monday Morning Commute by Tom Church. Copyright 2012 Tom Church. Revision History March 2012: First public PDF release of Killsplosion. 3 Contents Character Generation ................... 7 Character Sheet ....................... 13 Cool Skills ............................ 16 Cunning Skills ......................... 23 Common Sense Skills ................... 30 Rules .................................. 37 Combat ................................. 41 Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow ............ 46 Also by the Author of Killsplosion .... 51 4 Cluckin’ Hell Devreux had always considered shopping malls tents onto the carpeted floor. The SAW compo- the cathedrals to disposable materialism. Hid- nents spilled out, as well as a Kevlar tactical den inside the massive monuments to commerce, a vest, and two one hundred round box magazines drooling consumer could find anything he want- of 5.56mm bullets. Devreux had assembled this ed, from an inflatable barbeque set to a fuck- weapon so many times, he could do it by muscle ing blanket with sleeves. And mini-malls were and nerve memory alone. The weapon was in one the larval form of a true shopping mall, a piece in less than thirty seconds. He attached commercial grub that never pupated. But the one of the box magazines to the weapon, threaded one Devreux found himself sprinting for seemed the bullets through the chamber, and locked them like nothing more than a safe haven. It was into place. The SAW was ready for fun. well after midnight, and the shopping center was closed. That was for the best. Less chance As soon as the immediate problem of getting of a goddamn civilian getting in the way. He armed was over, Devreux allowed himself to fi- knew that Dominik’s men were barely twenty yards nally consider other problems. He was inside, behind him. He clutched the heavy black duf- and had probably remained anonymous to any ci- fel bag closely, treating it like a lifeline. vilians. But that couldn’t be guaranteed now. Which, in every way, it was. He knew that there was a bank across the street, which meant ATM cameras. The mini mall prob- He had been lucky to see them coming in the first ably had some cameras he hadn’t seen earlier. place. He was securing a bag of cash into the While he had to survive, he couldn’t allow him- trunk of his Honda Civic when they had come out self to be recorded doing the deed he had to do. of nowhere. A dozen armed thugs, their coming If his face was caught on camera, he would be marked by intermittent gunfire and angry words disavowed. Which meant a bullet to the head by shouted in Czech. Devreux had only a few sec- his own fucking agency. He was putting on his onds to reach into his trunk for a weapon be- Kevlar vest, thinking about possible solutions, fore he had to leap over his car to avoid the when something caught his eye. A dopey chicken bullets. He had wanted to grab the bag that mask, part of a full costume, stared at him from contained his twin .45 automatic pistols. But its perch atop the mask rack. H knew that he he hadn’t had the time to pick or choose. As had only seconds, but an idea hit him. He put luck would have it, the bag he grabbed had his the vest aside for the moment, and a rare grin Squad Automatic Weapon. An effective weapon to lit up his normally somber face. say the least, but it was disassembled. And the dozen gunmen hadn’t given him the courtesy of About a minute later, the gunmen were in the time to put the weapon together. process of checking the stores one by one. They knew that he had to be inside one of them, Devreux reached the back door to one of the and they were searching all of them, trying shops, not even bothering to stop. He threw to find the one door that was loose. They had his shoulder into it, and the dead bolted door so far checked a party supply store, a chinese cracked open. He felt an agonizing pain shoot restaurant, a beauty salon, and an ice cream through his shoulder, a sure sign that damage store. All they had left was a sports memora- had been done. With the ocean of adrenaline fly- bilia store, a shoe store, a costume shop, and ing through him, he barely noticed. He tumbled a nail salon. Two gunmen searched the doors, inside the door, and in one fluid motion whirled while eight more covered the mall itself. Two around to slam the door closed. He realized more had been sent to the front, in case their fate had finally stopped pissing on him when he mark tried to escape that way. The two-man found a full janitor’s cart in the store’s back- search team was about to test the door to the room to brace the door with. It wasn’t much, sports memorabilia store when the back door to but it would at least make the door look like it the costume shop swung open. Then the damnedest was still closed. sight any of them had ever seen came strolling out. It was a guy in a yellow chicken costume, Devreux knew he had a few moments while the with a kevlar vest strapped onto it, and a large gunman started searching the stores. He ran automatic weapon cradled in his arms. The ten into the store itself, and was surprised to find hardened mercenaries could only stare in quiet himself in a costume shop, post-Halloween sales silence at the goofy chicken man that had sud- banners all over the place. From the mask racks denly stepped into the pale yellow streetlight above the counter, werewolves, zombies, skel- of the mini mall’s back drive. etons, and even one of those blue things from that movie last year stared down at him. His Devreux instantly knew that wearing the costume gaze only lingered for a split second. He had out was a good idea. Not only would it keep his much to do, and little time to do it. He un- face hidden from any cameras, but it had also zipped the bag, and roughly emptied the con- distracted the gunmen. They were gawking at 5 Cluckin’ Hell him, rather than shooting. That one second of stillness was all he needed. He raised the SAW up, and sent a 5.56mm blend of herbs and spices right into the largest group of mercs. They had dressed for speed, so none of them wore vests. The bullets chewed them to pieces, the sound of shell casings hitting the pavement drowned out by the roar of the gun. Some of them tried to get a bead on the chicken man, but they still had to aim. Devreux just turned the gun on them, holding down the trigger the whole time. Only now, firing a storm of bullets into a mass of scumbags while wearing a dopey chicken cos- tume, did he realize he truly loved his job. 6 Character Generation Character attributes: All player characters in Killsplosion are given attributes to measure their abilities. Each is rated from 1 to 5. 1 represents the minimum threshold a person can have while still being a functioning member of society while 5 represents the pinnacle of human achievement in that area. • Strength: Raw muscle power. • Reflexes: Speed and agility. • Toughness: Health, endurance and staying power. Your Toughness adds to your Cool skill points. • Intelligence: Brains and learning ability. Your Intelligence adds to your Cunning skill points. • Senses: The perceptive ability of the character. Your Senses add to your Common Sense skill points. Note that you only gain the bonus skill points if you start play with that skill pool. Rolling your attributes: Pick one of the following stat packages or roll a d20 to select a pack- age randomly. Roll Package Description 1-4 Balanced Start with a 2 in each attribute. Character gets 5 points to allocate among the attributes. May not raise an attribute to 5. 5-8 Specialist Pick an attribute and set it to 5. All others start at 1. Allocate 5 points to other attributes. No other attribute may be a 5. 9-13 Brawn Strength and Toughness start at 4. All others start at 1. Allocate 4 points to other attributes. Strength and Toughness may be raised to 5. No other at- tribute can be raised to 4 or higher. 14-17 Brain Intelligence and Senses start 4. All others start at 1. Allocate 4 points to other attributes. Intelligence and Senses may be raised to 5. No other at- tribute can be raised to 4 or higher. 18-20 Average Joe Start with a 2 in all attributes. Character gets 3 points to allocate among the attributes. May not raise an attribute to 4 or higher. Character gains a bonus of +5 Common Sense points. 7 Character Generation Skill points: All skills cost skill points to use. Each activation of a skill costs a certain number of skill points but these points can be refilled under certain circumstances. A character’s starting skill points are also his maximum skill points. If a character would gain skill points that would go over his starting points, then the excess points are wasted. Each character will have three skill point pools: Cool: Skills based on badass stunts and maneuvers. Shoot better, take more damage and move fast- er all while looking cooler than anyone else. Cool points are regained by taking unnecessary risks, saying one-liners at the right time and making insanely dangerous bets with your enemies. Cunning: Being cool is one thing but winning is another. Cunning skills are based on setting up plans and executing them. Traps, ambushes and other plans separate the winners from the losers. Cunning characters regain points when their plans come to fruition and when they make accurate predictions. Common Sense: Not everyone is a wisecracking badass or Machiavellian schemer. Some people just got a good head on their shoulders and that’s enough sometimes, especially when all of these jackasses around you think they can try to get over on you. Common sense skills negate or modify cool and cunning skills Determining Skill points: Pick one of the following packages or roll a d20 to select a package randomly. Roll Package Description 1-4 Balanced Character gets 2 points in each pool. The character may allocate 3 points to any of the skill point pools. 5-7 Specialist The character gets 10 points in a single skill point pool. 8-12 Blue Collar Badass The character gets 5 points in Cool and 5 points in Common Sense. 13-16 Mastermind The character gets 5 points in Cunning and 5 points in Common Sense. 17-20 Suave Killer The character gets 5 points in Cool and 5 points in Cunning. Attribute bonuses: Once you have determined which skill points your character has access to, you may add your primary attribute to those pools: Cool: Add Toughness Cunning: Add Intelligence Common Sense: Add Senses If you did not get a skill point pool from a package, you do NOT get it from the attribute bo- nus. For example, a mastermind does not get access to Cool skills even if his Toughness is 5. 8 Character Generation Skills: Characters must have a skill in order to use their skill points. All characters with at least 1 point in their skill pool can use the common skills listed for that ability. However, each character can also pick a certain number of elite skills or a signature move: Elite Skills: These are demonstrably better than common skills but any number of characters can use them. Signature Moves: A Signature Move is a unique skill in a Killsplosion game. Only 1 Player Char- acter can have any given Signature Move at any time. Once a character picks the Signature Move, he must announce it to the other players and GM. The first person to announce he has a Signature Move lays claims to it. If there is a dispute between players over who gets to use a given Sig- nature Move, then they can resolve by an opposed d20 roll. Taking a Signature Move in play: A Player Character may give a Signature Move to another Player Character. This is a free action but the characters must be able to communicate to each other. Furthermore, a character may take a Signature Move from another by killing him. If you do this, you must remove one of your existing Elite Skills or Signature Move to make room for the new Signature Move. If you do not remove a skill, you do not gain the new Signature Move. Determining Skills: Pick one of the following packages or roll a d20 to select a package ran- domly. A character must have at least 1 point in an ability in order to select a skill from that category. For example, a PC that has 0 points in Common Sense can’t select a Common Sense elite skill or Signature Move. Roll Package Description 1-5 Balanced Select 1 elite skill and 1 Signature Move. 6-10 Versatile Select 3 elite skills. 11-15 Specialist Select 1 Signature Move and gain +2 bonus whenever making a roll us- ing that skill. 16-20 Raw Talent Select 2 elite skills and +1 to an attribute of your choice. This may raise an attribute to 5. An attribute cannot go over 5. Hit points: Characters in Killsplosion have hit points unless they are nameless NPC goons. Player characters start with 100 base hit points. These hit points are divided among the follow- ing hit locations: Head: 10 hit points Chest: 40 hit points Groin: 10 hit points Left arm: 10 hit points Right arm: 10 hit points Left leg: 10 hit points Right leg: 10 hit points Additional hit points: Not all characters are identical in terms of hit points. Each character gains 1d6+3 hit points per point of toughness that can be applied to any hit locations. For ex- ample, a character with a Toughness of 4 rolls 4d6+12 and adds that to whatever hit locations he desires. He may split the points up however he chooses. Normally, when a character takes damage, he is allowed to select which hit location receives the damage. Certain abilities allow the attacker to select the hit location but unless otherwise stated, the defender selects which hit location takes damage. Equipment: All characters receive three common items of their choice. Typically, a character should pick a weapon, a vehicle and a cell phone. Characters with certain elite skills or Signa- ture moves may receive additional items. 9 Weapons and Equipment Starting equipment: All characters start with 3 common items. Typically this is a cell phone, a car and a weapon. Certain skills grant additional equipment. Name Type Special Rules Automatic Pistol Weapon Revolver Weapon Shotgun Weapon Knife Weapon Club Weapon Free - found everywhere Big Club Weapon Sledgehammer Weapon Motorcycle Vehicle Ramming damage 1d6 Compact Car Vehicle Ramming damage 1d6 Sedan Vehicle Ramming damage 2d6 Truck Vehicle Ramming damage 3d6 Cell phone Item First aid kit item Can heal 4d6 damage but is used up by it. Kevlar Vest Armor Blocks 10 points of damage to the chest then is destroyed. Rare items Name Type Special Rules Submachine gun Weapon Assault rifle Weapon Hand Cannon Weapon Sniper Rifle Weapon Heavy machine gun Weapon Rocket Launcher Weapon Sports Car Vehicle +4 on all chase rolls - Ramming damage 2d6 Helicopter Vehicle Devastating explosion on crash or ramming check C4 satchel Weapon Minigun Weapon Flamethrower Weapon Grenade Launcher Weapon Ammo rules: Ammo works differently in Killsplosion than in ‘normal’ RPGs or ‘the real world’. Counting bullets is lame. Reloading is too, unless it’s a dramatic badass thing. Anyway. Here’s how ammo works: Every firearm has enough ammo to last one battle. In other words, as soon as you fight in one battle, your gun is worthless unless you get a new gun or find more ammo. This is because charac- ters in Killsplosion use their guns all the time in a fight. You don’t just shoot when you attack someone. You shoot doors to weaken them so you can dive for cover. You shoot to distract your en- emies, allowing you to dodge. You shoot clip after clip into the bodies of dead enemies to make sure they’re dead. These are the common ways to get more guns and ammo: Loot a weapon or ammo from a dead enemy: If you kill someone in a fight and manage to get to their corpse, you can take their weapon or ammo for your own. All dead characters have loaded weapons and ammo for a variety of firearms. Looting a corpse takes a turn. Borrow, buy or steal weapons: All characters can get firearms from existing characters or sources. There’s nothing stopping a character from stealing a shotgun from a cop car or buying one at the local hunting store for example. However, this depends on the scenario. Your GM should tell you where you can find some more guns. 10