![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Basic Rules
There are only really three things needed to be understood to begin playing the MSHRPG. These are the Universal Table, FASERIP and Feats.
The Universal Table is the big colourful thing below.
It might look a bit complicated, but it’s one of the simplest tabletop systems ever. Ignore the mini-table at the top for now and focus on the main body. Along the horizontal it starts with 0, then along to Feeble, Poor, Typical, Good etc. These are intensity ranks, used to decide something’s power or a task’s difficulty. Every rank contains a small section of numbers within it. Feeble contains 1-2, Poor 3-4, Typical 5-7, Good 8-15, etc. Primarily, we’re interested in the rank and the number is used only in specific circumstances. In most cases, a rank is considered to be the default in its umbrella. Feeble is 2, Poor 4, Typical 6, Good 10 etc. Along the vertical it has numbers split into segments covering from 1-100. These represent a roll of a percentile dice.
The Universal Table resolves all rolls in the entire game (with one exception) by working out which statistic of the character needs to be rolled, then cross referencing the result on the Universal Table to find which colour result is retrieved.
To detract now, I’ll explain the half of the equation that is FASERIP and then you’ll see how it comes together.
Let’s take a look at an example stat sheet of someone most people are familiar with, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. Again, you’re probably pretty lost.
The MSHRPG is sometimes called the FASERIP system (pronounced face rip) because character statistics are split into seven categories. These are called abilities.
F)ighting: Raw combat ability, martial skill.
A)gility: Dexterity and hand eye co-ordination, nimbleness.
S)trength: Physical power, how much force can be used by muscle.
E)ndurance: Toughness, stamina, physical resistance.
R)eason: Intellect and logical thought, knowledge of scientific matters.
I)ntuition: Reflexes, commonsense and wit.
P)syche: Willpower, mental strength.
Each of the FASERIP is given a rank and a number as seen on the Universal Table, usually the default of the rank. We then add up FASE and its numbers become that character’s maximum Hit Points, how much damage they can take before they are knocked out (or dying if they’re unlucky). RIP is added up to make Karma (which I’ll explain in more detail a bit later).
Below those you can see Resources, which determine what a character has access to in terms of money and possessions. Beside that is Pop, short for Popularity, which determines attempts to influence people in general.
Under that is powers, which are given an intensity just like the FASERIP and an explanation of what they do. Equipment gets the same treatment. Then we get to talents, which are slightly different. A talent is something in which a character gains advantages when performing rolls related to those talents. Lastly, there are Contacts. These refer to people or organisations that the character may turn to for help or favours.
Now for how the two intersect, Feats.
Feat rolls are not necessary for everything. Only actions where there is some genuine danger of failure, meaning everyday actions are not rolled for. If the feat is of higher intensity than the ability needed, it needs a red result. If they are equal, it needs a yellow. If it is lower, only a green is needed. Additionally anything with an intensity of three ranks lower than the requisite ability can be made automatically successful with the permission of the judge. Some feats can be impossible for certain characters, at the judge’s discretion.
Let’s use Spider-Man as an example.
Spider-Man must pick up a great weight for what are surely heroic reasons. I, the judge, declare that the weight has an Incredible intensity. Since Spider-Man’s strength is listed as Incredible he needs a yellow result on the Universal Table to succeed. The player of Spider-Man rolls the percentile dice and they get a 75. Checking 75 on the vertical, they then move over to the Incredible column and see it’s a yellow, meaning Spider-Man succeeded.
You may have noticed on Spidey’s sheet that it mentions -1CS and before I mentioned that talents can offer bonuses. These operate the same way, with column shifts. A column shift, or CS means operating a feat roll on a different column of the Universal Table than usual. A –CS means shifting to the left, towards the lower spectrum. A +CS means a shift to the right, towards the upper spectrum. When rolling areas a character has a talent in, it usually means a +CS of one or two. When rolling in areas a character has a limitation in, it means –CS.
Finally, there is Karma. Karma is used in placed of Experience Points in the MSHRPG, and whilst it can be used to advance a character’s abilities I’ll gloss over that for its more common use. Spending it to modifying dice rolls. Before a player rolls, they can declare the use of Karma. Doing so commits them to spend 10 Karma no matter the result. They then roll as normal and can spend any amount of Karma they have to add to the number they get, 1 point of Karma equivalent to 1 higher on the dice roll. Let’s use Spider-Man as an example again.
Say on the above challenge, the Spider-Man player decided that a yellow result might be tricky to get. They declare they will spend Karma before they roll and this time they get a 30, a catastrophic failure. They can then spend the necessary 36 Karma to get their roll to the lowest yellow result of 66. The 10 they had to pay is counted as part of the 36. If they had gotten 66 naturally, they would still have had to pay that 10.
Those are the bare bones of the game and all you need to know to start the game with a judge who knows the rules. You’ll be expected to learn more, both from experience and reading the rule book, as you play but with just this you should be able to rely on your judge for most things. Simply say what you want to do and your judge will tell you what to roll, then what that roll means.
The Universal Table is the big colourful thing below.
It might look a bit complicated, but it’s one of the simplest tabletop systems ever. Ignore the mini-table at the top for now and focus on the main body. Along the horizontal it starts with 0, then along to Feeble, Poor, Typical, Good etc. These are intensity ranks, used to decide something’s power or a task’s difficulty. Every rank contains a small section of numbers within it. Feeble contains 1-2, Poor 3-4, Typical 5-7, Good 8-15, etc. Primarily, we’re interested in the rank and the number is used only in specific circumstances. In most cases, a rank is considered to be the default in its umbrella. Feeble is 2, Poor 4, Typical 6, Good 10 etc. Along the vertical it has numbers split into segments covering from 1-100. These represent a roll of a percentile dice.
The Universal Table resolves all rolls in the entire game (with one exception) by working out which statistic of the character needs to be rolled, then cross referencing the result on the Universal Table to find which colour result is retrieved.
To detract now, I’ll explain the half of the equation that is FASERIP and then you’ll see how it comes together.
Let’s take a look at an example stat sheet of someone most people are familiar with, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. Again, you’re probably pretty lost.
The MSHRPG is sometimes called the FASERIP system (pronounced face rip) because character statistics are split into seven categories. These are called abilities.
F)ighting: Raw combat ability, martial skill.
A)gility: Dexterity and hand eye co-ordination, nimbleness.
S)trength: Physical power, how much force can be used by muscle.
E)ndurance: Toughness, stamina, physical resistance.
R)eason: Intellect and logical thought, knowledge of scientific matters.
I)ntuition: Reflexes, commonsense and wit.
P)syche: Willpower, mental strength.
Each of the FASERIP is given a rank and a number as seen on the Universal Table, usually the default of the rank. We then add up FASE and its numbers become that character’s maximum Hit Points, how much damage they can take before they are knocked out (or dying if they’re unlucky). RIP is added up to make Karma (which I’ll explain in more detail a bit later).
Below those you can see Resources, which determine what a character has access to in terms of money and possessions. Beside that is Pop, short for Popularity, which determines attempts to influence people in general.
Under that is powers, which are given an intensity just like the FASERIP and an explanation of what they do. Equipment gets the same treatment. Then we get to talents, which are slightly different. A talent is something in which a character gains advantages when performing rolls related to those talents. Lastly, there are Contacts. These refer to people or organisations that the character may turn to for help or favours.
Now for how the two intersect, Feats.
Feat rolls are not necessary for everything. Only actions where there is some genuine danger of failure, meaning everyday actions are not rolled for. If the feat is of higher intensity than the ability needed, it needs a red result. If they are equal, it needs a yellow. If it is lower, only a green is needed. Additionally anything with an intensity of three ranks lower than the requisite ability can be made automatically successful with the permission of the judge. Some feats can be impossible for certain characters, at the judge’s discretion.
Let’s use Spider-Man as an example.
Spider-Man must pick up a great weight for what are surely heroic reasons. I, the judge, declare that the weight has an Incredible intensity. Since Spider-Man’s strength is listed as Incredible he needs a yellow result on the Universal Table to succeed. The player of Spider-Man rolls the percentile dice and they get a 75. Checking 75 on the vertical, they then move over to the Incredible column and see it’s a yellow, meaning Spider-Man succeeded.
You may have noticed on Spidey’s sheet that it mentions -1CS and before I mentioned that talents can offer bonuses. These operate the same way, with column shifts. A column shift, or CS means operating a feat roll on a different column of the Universal Table than usual. A –CS means shifting to the left, towards the lower spectrum. A +CS means a shift to the right, towards the upper spectrum. When rolling areas a character has a talent in, it usually means a +CS of one or two. When rolling in areas a character has a limitation in, it means –CS.
Finally, there is Karma. Karma is used in placed of Experience Points in the MSHRPG, and whilst it can be used to advance a character’s abilities I’ll gloss over that for its more common use. Spending it to modifying dice rolls. Before a player rolls, they can declare the use of Karma. Doing so commits them to spend 10 Karma no matter the result. They then roll as normal and can spend any amount of Karma they have to add to the number they get, 1 point of Karma equivalent to 1 higher on the dice roll. Let’s use Spider-Man as an example again.
Say on the above challenge, the Spider-Man player decided that a yellow result might be tricky to get. They declare they will spend Karma before they roll and this time they get a 30, a catastrophic failure. They can then spend the necessary 36 Karma to get their roll to the lowest yellow result of 66. The 10 they had to pay is counted as part of the 36. If they had gotten 66 naturally, they would still have had to pay that 10.
Those are the bare bones of the game and all you need to know to start the game with a judge who knows the rules. You’ll be expected to learn more, both from experience and reading the rule book, as you play but with just this you should be able to rely on your judge for most things. Simply say what you want to do and your judge will tell you what to roll, then what that roll means.