Overlords of Dimension-25 got a good review!

Overlords of Dimension-25 got a good review over at RPG.Net! 

Thanks David Crowe for the heads up!

Thanks Jeremy Buxman for the review.

Don't forget to check out the new Discord server.

Discord Server

I created a Discord server for Overlords of Dimension-25 discussion.

https://discord.gg/bvwRbasc

Please join to ask to any questions about Overlords of Dimension-25, the City at the Edge of the Universe, or Buck Rogers XXVc.

The City at the Edge of the Universe

 The City at the Edge of the Universe, the first campaign adventure for Overlords of Dimension-25, is live and on sale at DrivethruRPG.com for only $9.99! 

On January 7, 2029, the Pennsylvania National Laboratory conducted the first of a series of groundbreaking high energy experiments. In a freak mishap the entire lab along with the nearby towns of Williamsburg and Buck’s Head were thrown out of their universe and hurled into the strange new world of Dimension-25.

Welcome to the City at the Edge of the Universe, an adventure scenario for the Overlords of Dimension-25 RPG.

This is the story of regular people transported through a freak interdimensional incident to the strange and dangerous world of Dimension-25. This adventure scenario is unlike most in that there is no linear narrative and no set end-point. This adventure scenario is designed to serve as an origin story for the player characters - a prologue to the story of the campaign. This is the story of how the player characters found themselves in this weird universe and how they became involved in - well, that’s what this adventure scenario is designed to find out.

This adventure is a “survival hex-crawl”. The information provided in this book is meant to present a situation to the players and a variety of destinations available for them to explore. Where they go and what they do is entirely up to them.

The “End” of this story determines the direction of the rest of the campaign. Will the player characters be heroes of the Earth Resistance? Will they become smugglers with the Trade Confederation? Will they turn to a life of organized crime and perform elaborate heists with the Solar Syndicate? The answers all depend on the choices the players make and the obstacles they overcome.

The City at the Edge of the Universe provides rules for creating characters from our modern world who are transported through a strange dimensional rift to the futuristic world of Dimension-25. 

The City at the Edge of the Universe adds three new classes to Overlords of Dimension-25:

• The Charmer
• The Civilian
• The Expert

The City at the Edge of the Universe also adds modern weapons and equipment as well as vehicles - both modern and futuristic - and vehicle combat rules.

Changes to Overlords of Dimension-25

Changes to Overlords of Dimension-25

Yesterday I uploaded an update to Overlords of Dimension-25. I wanted to go over what changed. Most of these changes were the result of my recently running the City at the Edge of the Universe campaign and noticing places where I could clean up or improve the rules.

New Better Names of Genomorphs

• Aquatics now called Quati
• Battlers now called Makoi
• Brutes now called Zuggs (reference to Buck Rogers movie serial)
• Sauroids now called Saurhi

Classes

Fixed racial prerequisite typo for Engineer.

Added little names to all the class abilities. No rule changes.

Skills

Updated Scientist prerequisite for Gadgeteering on skill table.

Jury Rig

Optional Rule: Improvisational Invention

Gamemasters may wish to allow characters with the Jury Rig skill to improvise new inventions, innovations, or improvements as if the character had temporary access to the Gadgeteering skill. A character using Jury Rig can improvise only one device at a time. The Game Master should roll 1d20 any time the improvised device is used or put to the test. On a roll of 1, the device breaks, shorts, melts, or otherwise ceases to function.

Equipment

Smartsuit Accessories

Added Smartsuit Accessories to equipment lists

Accessory	Cost	Notes
Spacesuit Enhancement	200	24 hours of protection against vaccuum of space
Backup Power Pack	25	additional 24 hours of power to any accessory
Electronic Warfare	50	jam communications, disrupt “smart” ammunition, or invisible to radar and EM sensors
Stealth Enhancement	1500	All Move Silently skill checks are Easy. Masks against IR and night-vision
Security Package	2500	50-foot sensor that tracks all targets
Communication Package	3000	Broadcast range of 20 miles

Rocket Pistol

Changed Rocket Pistol ammunition to make dumb ammo standard and smart ammo give +2 to hit.

Rocket Pistol

A rocket pistol fires a self-propelled explosive projectile which accelerates towards its target like a miniature missile. Rocket pistols can fire unguided ammunition or radar-guided “smart” ammunition that locks onto a target and actively corrects its flight path to correct for any deviation (+2 to hit). Rocket pistols can also be loaded with specialty warheads such as chaff clouds which confuse smart ammunition radar sensors or aerosols which diminish the effectiveness of beam weapons like lasers, disruptors, and heat rays.

Plasma Thrower 

Updated Plasma Thrower description to match original rules

Plasma Thrower

A plasma thrower is a heavy weapon connected to a backpack power source by a heavy cable. The thrower launches a spherical energy projectile which explodes and discharges superheated ionized plasma upon impact, burning and electrocuting anyone caught in the blast radius.

Combat Rules

Movement

Added optional rules for Movement, adapted from AD&D second edition.

Optional Rule - Moving Away from a Opponent

If a character moves more than five feet away from an opponent, the opponent is allowed a free attack - or several attacks if the creature has multiple attacks per round - at the rear of the moving character. This attack is made at the moment the character flees and does not count against the attacker’s action for that round.

Optional Rule - Withdrawing

If, on their turn, a character moves their normal rate and performs no other action, they may move away from an opponent without provoking the free attack.

Non-Lethal Attacks

Added optional rule for non-lethal attacks, adapted from AD&D second edition

Optional Rule - Nonlethal Attacks using Weapons

Attacks made with bludgeoning weapons such as clubs, bats, rifle butts, pistol grips, sword pommels, etc. can be deadly or nonlethal at the attacker’s option. Deadly attacks are made normally and do full damage. Nonlethal attacks are made at a -4 penalty. Damage is applied normally but the opponent must make an immediate d00 roll vs. half the opponent’s System Shock value. If the roll is a failure, i.e. greater than half the opponent’s System Shock value, the opponent is knocked unconscious for 1d10 rounds. If the roll is a success, i.e. equal to or lesser than half the opponent’s System Shock value, the opponent instead has 1 hit point.

Updated  Ranged Weapon Table

Updated Ranged Weapon table with ranges broken out

Weapon	Short Range (-0)	Medium Range (-2)	Maximum Range (-5)	Damage	Rate of Fire	Shots
Needle Gun	0-75ft	76-150ft	151-300 ft	1d3	3	20
Bolt Gun	0-100ft	101-200ft	201-400 ft	1d4	2	10
Laser Gun	0-100ft	201-400ft	401-800 ft	1d8	3/2	7
Rocket pistol	0-100ft	101-200ft	201-400 ft	1d10	2	5
Microwave Gun	0-100ft	101-200ft	201-400 ft	1d10	2	10
Laser Rifle	0-750ft	751-1500ft	1501-3000 ft	1d12	1	14
Heat Gun	0-15ft	16-30ft	31-60 ft	2d6	1	7
Rocket Rifle	0-500ft	501-1000ft	1001-2000 ft	2d8	1	10
Sonic Stunner	0-10ft	11-20ft	21-40 ft	special	1	14
Martian Crossbow	0-50ft	51-100ft	101-200 ft	1d4 or 1d8	1	10
Venusian Battle-Staff	0-100ft	101-200ft	201-400 ft	1d6	1	10

 Firing into Melee

Added optional rules for firing into melee, adapted from AD&D second edition.

Optional Rule - Firing into Melee

Whenever an attacker is firing a ranged weapon at a target that is engaged with one or more other combatants in melee combat, the attack has an equal probability of hitting the intended target or any one of the other opponents. The Game Master rolls randomly to determine which potential target is actually hit.

Careful Aim

Added optional rule for taking careful aim. This one I made up for my campaign.

Optional Rule - Careful Aim

If an attacker with a ranged weapon does not move and spends the entire round taking careful aim at the target, they may make a special “practice” attack roll without actually firing. If the practice attack would have hit, they gain +2 to their actual ranged attack with that weapon in the subsequent round. If the attack is successful, the damage is doubled. Rogues may instead add +4 to their attack roll against that combatant and may triple or quadruple this damage at higher levels.

Grenades

Re-wrote the rules for Grenades to make them more consistent with the rules from AD&D second edition. The original rules were a little too blunt.

Grenades and Explosives

Thrown explosives and hand grenades do not need to make direct contact with their intended target to damage them. Instead explosives are thrown at a stationary point on the ground. The effective Armor Class of the target zone depends on its distance from the thrower.

 

	Short	Medium	Maximum
Distance	0-10 ft	11-20 ft	21-30 ft
AC	10 [10]	8 [12]	6 [14]

 

If the attack misses, the grenade or explosive missed the intended target zone and has rolled or bounced away from the target. The distance is determined by the Deviation result in the table below. Roll 1d4 and consult the table below to determine the direction.

 

	Short	Medium	Maximum
Deviation	1d6 ft	1d10 ft	2d10 ft

 

1d4	Direction
1	in front of target
2	behind target
3	to the left of target
4	to the left of target

 

Grenade	Blast Radius	Save vs	Effect
Explosive Grenade	10 ft	Explosion	4d10 dmg
Stun grenade	15 ft	Paralysis	Stun 1d6 rounds
Dazzle grenade	15 ft	Electrical Shock	Blinded 1d6 rounds
Gas grenade	20 ft	Gas	Unconscious 1d6 rounds
Explosive Rocket	20 ft	Explosion	5d10 dmg
Plasma Thrower	25 ft	Electrical Shock	4d10 dmg

 

Any creature within five feet of the center of the blast radius suffers the full effect, no saving throw is made. Any creature more than five feet away from the center but still within the blast radius may make a saving throw. On a successful saving throw the target suffers only half the effect. The target suffers the full effect on a failed saving throw.

Updated Heavy Weapons Table

Added range categories to the Heavy Weapons table.

Heavy Weapons

Heavy Weapon	Short Range (-0)	Medium Range (-2)	Maximum Range (-4)	Damage	Rate of Fire	Shots
Grenade Launcher	0-50 ft	51-100 ft	101-200 ft	By grenade	1/2	1
Plasma Thrower	0-100 ft	101-200 ft	201-400 ft	4d10	1/2	1
Rocket Launcher	0-250 ft	251-500 ft	501-1000 ft	5d10	1/2	1

 Character Death

Added optional rules for Character Death, adapted from AD&D second edition.

Optional Rule - Death’s Door

Instead of immediate death at zero hit points, the character falls unconscious and loses 1 additional hit point per round. The character can still be saved by first aid, which stops additional hit point loss but does not restore any lost hit points. Once the character’s hit points reach -10, the character is truly dead and can only be resuscitated via life suspension technology, see above.

Spaceship Combat

Rocket Piloting

Added optional rule to make a pilot’s skill more important in spaceship combat.

Optional Rule - Piloting Rolls for Turning

As originally written, the pilot’s skill rating has little effect on the execution of space combat. Game Masters who wish to introduce additional opportunities for the rocket pilot to demonstrate their skill can require a Pilot Rocketship skill check for every hex facing changed. A successful skill check ignores the speed cost for the hex facing change. On a failed check, they pay the normal speed cost. The rocket must move forward a minimum of 1 hex after the skill check.

Maneuver	Difficulty
one hex facing change	Average
two hex facing changes	Difficult
three hex facing changes	Impossible

Hit Point Conversion

Added optional rule for converting spaceship damage to character hit point damage and vice versa.

Optional Rule - Hit Point Conversion

A rocket’s hit points are not measured on the same scale as a player character’s hit points. 1 Rocket Hit Point = 10 Player Character Hit Points. If attacking a rocket with a character-scale weapon, the first 10 points of damage from any single attack are ignored. The rocket takes 1 point of rocket-scale damage for every 10 points of character-scale thereafter.

For example, a player character attacks a rocket with a plasma thrower. The plasma thrower rolls 4d10 and does 25 points of damage. The first 10 are ignored, leaving 15 points of damage. The rocket takes 1 point of rocket-scale damage to its hull.

Likewise, rocket-scale weapons attacking characters multiply their damage by 10. A character hit with a beam laser takes 100 points of damage!