Sunday, July 6, 2008

Penny Arcade "Paint the Line 2" Tabletop RPG Rules

For those of you who have been following the Penny Arcade series involving an 80's Ping Pong tournament determining the fate of the world, I've devised a tabletop RPG as Tycho had wished for. The rules are pasted below, with changes to follow.

Rules for Nathaniel Edwards' Ping Pong tabletop RPG v. 0.5
A1. IntroductionB1. Game System OverviewB2. CardsC1. RPG ElementsC2. Player Experience SystemC3. Decks and Bonus Abilities
=================A1. Introduction==================
This game is a tabletop RPG version of table tennis or ping pong made for Penny Arcade's Paint the Line 2 series of comics. Strategy, player skill, and luck determine the results of ping pong matches. A detailed system of experience and leveling is being developed to facilitate repeat plays and customized player decks based on their skill.
The game relies on a simple system with 30 cards representing stroke possibilities, a d20 to determine stroke success, and a positioning score from 1 to 5. The game effectively resets between each point, with positioning restored and previous rolls playing no effect on the next shot. The system is described in detail below.
================B1. Game System=================
Each player will use their own deck of thirty cards representing their stroke repertoire. Each player will always have a hand of three cards, playing one for every stroke (except the serve) to determine what variety of shot they wish to attempt. The strokes in the current ruleset are speed drive, hook, smash, block, loop, and drop shot, and their effects will be described later. Both players begin every point with a positioning score of 5, which will be taken up and down by the effects of each shot type.
Each shot requires a d20 to determine its quality, using the following formula:
d20 roll X positioning score (1-5) - enemy's previous d20 roll (unmodified)
A combined result of less than 25 results in a miss, giving the point to the opposing player. Any unmodified 20 roll while a player has at least 3 positioning automatically wins the point, without any enemy opportunity to return.
On serves, there is no previous enemy die roll, giving serves a natural advantage, as they do in the real game.
Games are played first to eleven points, but a player must win by two, as the system works in real life since 2000. Serves alternate every two points, then every point once a player reaches eleven points but has yet to clinch the match.
==========B2. Cards===========
The cards' current effects (likely to change with more testing) are:
Speed *common card*: +1 to your positioning (always after the shot for you), -1 to your enemy's modified return attempt, -1 to your opponent's positioning (before their next roll)
Loop *fairly common*: +2 to your positioning, +1 to your enemy's return attempt, +4 to your next hit after this one (if it's in this point)
Hook *fairly common*: +1 to your positioning, -3 to your enemy's return attempt, -2 to your current hit attempt (difficult to hit correctly), -1 to your opponent's positioning
Block *common*: +1 to your positioning, +10 to your current hit attempt, +1 to your opponent's return attempt
Drop Shot *rare*: -3 to your current hit attempt, -3 to your opponent's positioning
Smash (exclamation points encouraged) *rare*: REQUIRES 5 positioning, -1 to your positioning (again, after this shot), -3 to your opponent's positioning (again, before their return), -10 to your opponent's return attempt
More shots may be added and those effects may be changed. A current suggested deck for a quick start is 8 speed, 8 block, 5 loop, 5 hook, 2 smash, and 2 drop shot. Actual player decks will be decided through the RPG system detailed below.
=================C1. RPG Elements==================
The currently unnamed Ping Pong RPG will use a currently untested leveling and experience system for unique games. All players theoretically begin with a deck full of Block cards, but diversify this 30 card deck through player creation and later experience points.
=============================C2. Player Experience System==============================
For now, player experience will be earned at 3 points for each win and 1 point for every loss in tournament games. Every 10 points will earn the player passage to their next level, which is required for some special abilities. Experience points can be redeemed (at no cost to level advancement) in changes to the deck and special abilities.
================================C3. Decks and Special Abilities=================================
Each player upon creation will be given ten experience points to immediately diversify their deck from the theoretical all-Block deck they begin with. The following values represent the EXP necessary to trade out any current deck card for a card with that shot on it.
Block: 0Speed: 1Loop: 2Hook: 3Drop Shot: 4Smash: 5
Thus, upon player creation, a player may trade out for 2 Smash cards or 3 Hooks or 10 Speed Drives or any combination of those shots fitting under ten EXP. Any later EXP can be utilized between matches for deck changes in the same fashion.
As for special abilities, these are costlier and often wackier modifications to a player to give a very special bonus in all matches. These are meant to be earned primarily after a player has solidified their deck how they wish, but can be bought at any time if their level threshold is passed. Special abilities are also automatically put on special characters (i.e. Tycho, Siberian girl) to give them a unique... er... taste. Here are the player-characters' possible abilites (again, subject to change or be added to):
Incredible Quickness (Level 2): This player begins every point with a second layer of five positioning, allowing them to lose one with no effect. - 15 points


Yeah, that looks somewhat retarded right now without new formatting from the notepad version. I'll get to work on it at some point.