Evokation update 1: Robots and Zombies

Game Name: Pilot (or possibly, Robots and Zombies)

Purpose: Practice self-acceptance (re weaknesses) and continence by playing a person inside a robot, where the robot exterior is semi-autonomous and doesn’t always do what you want.

Self-Mastery issues: each character has at least one of these issues (corrasponding to 1 letter)-

[justice]

a. Inflated sense of entitlement (Mine!)

b. Servility (Your idea is better. I agree. As usual.)

[courage]

c. Inaction (I could never do that.)

d. Something to prove (I will never back down!)

[wisdom]

e. Naiveté (I don’t need the details... Sounds good!)

f. Cynicism (How could anyone believe such nonsense?)

[temperance]

g. Excessiveness (If one is good, I want a thousand.)

h. Severity (If one is good, a tenth is right.)

General Mechanic: skill level classified into four die-type: none (d4 – ie 4 sided die), basic (d6), advanced (d8), expert (d12). On top of skill level, skill roles are modified by bonuses (eg, +1s) from: knacks, training, experience, equipment, and advantageous situation. Performing difficult tasks requires rolling a target number with your skill die type. If a task is very difficult, the target to roll may be 9, meaning that only experts (rolling the d12) have a chance at the task without bonuses.

Primary Skills and abilities: [its sci-fi, so names are to be long but in a regular vocabulary, and inorganic]

Payload: carrying capacity

Grav(ity) Control: governs over agility, balance, jumping and climbing

Locomotion: speed (metres per game round of movement)

Force: strength (minimum rolls are ½ die type. Eg when rolling to check against a targeted outcome such as breaking through wreckage to save a comrade, if you get to roll a d8 a result of less that 4 becomes 4)

Surveillance: Spot things and such (broken down into soft and hard detection. Soft=through software, hard = through regular sense data such as visual)

Mobilization: Quickness to change action type; responsiveness and reflexes

Interpretation: Ability to listen including the detection of underlying motivations of actions and words

Communication: ability to express oneself according to one’s intentions; make an intended impression

Technology: Ability to get technology to do what you want; repair; programming; engineering

Counter-Detection: stealth; broken down into hard (avoiding detection by the senses) and soft (avoiding detection by software, eg signal jamming)

Data-Mining: Finding information on things (broken down into immediate information andprolonged research)

Martial Conflict: protecting/attacking/combat first-aid, fortification, 'sizing up' 'situations'

[Martial situations - hits are avoided by rolls referencing an evasion score; damage may be negated or reduced by armour quality and sci-fi shielding, where armour reduces damage by an absolute amount (eg 5) and shields by a relative amount (eg 5%), and where shields reduce damage before armour; damage that is not evaded or negated is subtracted from ones Hit Point (HP) total and will require repair to regain. 0 hp makes one immediately vulnerable to lethal danger.]

Continence: used for rolling vs self-mastery issues.

Continence rolls – When self-mastery situations arise that deal with one’s self-mastery issue, a continence target must be rolled (ie, if the target is 5 you must roll a 5 or higher) to keep control of one’s actions. A failed continence roll means the semi-autonomous robotic exterior hijacks action, reversing the usual input-output relation (creating situations where comrades will say, “That must be the robot talking again!”)

Support - Care and cajoling by friends may circ**stantially provide a bonus or a re-roll of a failed check. However, when a reroll fails, subsequent re-rolls in the near future become more difficult.

Acclimatization – When a continence roll succeeds three times for the same sort of task in temporal proximity (relative to the micro or macro nature of the task), that specific task no longer requires a check (except very occasionally to reassert vigilance or when a character has recently been subject to a dramatic emotional shift).

Zombies – robots whose inside person has lost all control

Zombification – Whenever a ‘1’ is rolled for a continence check, one’s zombification risk bar is increased by a cell; whenever a continence check beats its target by double or more, the risk bar is decreased by a cell. When The risk bar is full, a character becomes a zombie

Redeeming Zombies – With attention, care, empowerment, and time, characters can make special redemption rolls once per month. Zombie continence skill starts at none (d4) regardless of what a character’s continence score is before zombification. The target for a redemption check is the maximum roll the current level of continence allows (eg if the current level is none [d4], the target is 4). A successful redemption check moves the zombie's continence to the next level, eg from none to basic. A roll of 12 (the max roll for expert continence) redeems; the person inside the robot regains control. Upon redemption, roll continence again and take away that many cells from the character’s zombification risk bar.

That's as far as I've gotten. I imagine my next step will to describe a setting. I believe it will be post apocalyptic, giving the robotic suits a reason - you need them to go outside. If it is post apocalytic there get to be bio-dome cities which are beacons of hope and that would be cool.