Division 4 Life
Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:39 pm
OK, I've been toying with the idea of running an XCrawl campaign for awhile, and I think I'm about to start one. However, I plan on starting the party as freshmen at Quantrill University, and they make it onto the XCrawl team there. Now, for the actual campaign, I want it to be a balance of actual "dungeon crawling," and having to deal with their real lives as well. This, of course, means they have to balance their academic pursuits as they play for their athletic scholarships! Here's the quick-n-dirty rules I came up with (any similarities to Pinnacle's Savage Worlds ruleset is probably not a coincidence, since I virtually stole it):
1. You start with a d8 in both Coursework and Training. You can choose to increase one by a die type (to a max of a d12), but this lowers the other by the same amount (to a min of a d4).
2. For Coursework, you decide how many hours you'll be taking this semester (average is 16). A lighter course load (12 to 14) nets you a +1 on the roll, while a heavier load (17-20) earns a -1 to the roll. Additional modifiers include a +1 for your freshman year (since these tend to be entry-level courses), a -1 for your senior year (as these are specialized courses and involve a great deal of attention), and a +1/-1 for every two points of Intelligence bonus/penalty your character has. Grades for the semester are rolled, and the outcome is found on the chart below:
2 or less: 0
3-4: 1.0
5-6: 2.0
7-8: 3.0
9-10: 4.0
11+: 5.0.
3. Training is the other half of this. There's something called a Mojo Pool in XCrawl, which is sort of like a team benny pool. You roll your Training die, and your contribution to the Mojo pool will be your roll minus 4. The more you put into the Training die, the more likely you will be prepared for the worst the the Crawls can put out.
Graduation takes place at 120 hours, and you must have a GPA of 2.5 or better.
Additionally, to supplement the glossing over of the boring part of college, the player would roll 2d12 (because they should do something but sit in your dicebag and wait for you to use greataxes), and consult a chart. A good roll might be that you made friends with a tutor, and gain a bonus to your Coursework roll next semester. A bad roll might be that you pissed off the prof, and he lowers your grade this semester by 1 point (e.g., 3.0 to 2.0). This doesn't include the actual Crawls themselves (which would be played out, since that's the real meat & potatoes of the game), the fun parts of campus life (parties, dealing with the locals, dorm life), and the strange marriage of fantasy and contemporary reality ("You guys have got to help us, bugbears came up from the steam tunnels and grabbed Dick and Jane!")
Things to develop/explore include Greek life (a -2 to your freshman year Coursework rolls, since you're being hazed, but a +1 to junior and senior year as you enjoy the advantages that a fraternity/sorority has to offer), and so on.
Thoughts? Criticism? Complaints?
1. You start with a d8 in both Coursework and Training. You can choose to increase one by a die type (to a max of a d12), but this lowers the other by the same amount (to a min of a d4).
2. For Coursework, you decide how many hours you'll be taking this semester (average is 16). A lighter course load (12 to 14) nets you a +1 on the roll, while a heavier load (17-20) earns a -1 to the roll. Additional modifiers include a +1 for your freshman year (since these tend to be entry-level courses), a -1 for your senior year (as these are specialized courses and involve a great deal of attention), and a +1/-1 for every two points of Intelligence bonus/penalty your character has. Grades for the semester are rolled, and the outcome is found on the chart below:
2 or less: 0
3-4: 1.0
5-6: 2.0
7-8: 3.0
9-10: 4.0
11+: 5.0.
3. Training is the other half of this. There's something called a Mojo Pool in XCrawl, which is sort of like a team benny pool. You roll your Training die, and your contribution to the Mojo pool will be your roll minus 4. The more you put into the Training die, the more likely you will be prepared for the worst the the Crawls can put out.
Graduation takes place at 120 hours, and you must have a GPA of 2.5 or better.
Additionally, to supplement the glossing over of the boring part of college, the player would roll 2d12 (because they should do something but sit in your dicebag and wait for you to use greataxes), and consult a chart. A good roll might be that you made friends with a tutor, and gain a bonus to your Coursework roll next semester. A bad roll might be that you pissed off the prof, and he lowers your grade this semester by 1 point (e.g., 3.0 to 2.0). This doesn't include the actual Crawls themselves (which would be played out, since that's the real meat & potatoes of the game), the fun parts of campus life (parties, dealing with the locals, dorm life), and the strange marriage of fantasy and contemporary reality ("You guys have got to help us, bugbears came up from the steam tunnels and grabbed Dick and Jane!")
Things to develop/explore include Greek life (a -2 to your freshman year Coursework rolls, since you're being hazed, but a +1 to junior and senior year as you enjoy the advantages that a fraternity/sorority has to offer), and so on.
Thoughts? Criticism? Complaints?