Bay 12 Games Forum

He's a 300lb crab, when he's angry he should pulverise a cactus and when he's sad he should try to get drunk.

EDIT: Did he kick the cow carcass off the road with just a single kick? Mention it. "With a flick of his foot, he rolled the carcass of the truck, and with a jerk of his leg sent it flying into the pitch darkness" p.s. i think this is unlikely, and "Terence shuffled the cow off the road using his many legs" is more accurate if anything.

I think it's good if the crabs occasionally make a stop to recover, sit under the stars and have a few crates of beer. I will reward roleplay such as this and you can use it to change your moods for the next scene:
I find something very romantic about street lights and vehicle lights shining in the dead of night in a pitch black desert. Even something as simple as this could make a good scene to show Terence's romance, even if it would make you a little vulnerable to attack by monsters who would surely notice you and take the opportunity to attack if you stop for more than a few minutes.
Who knows? Maybe Terence WANTS to be attacked, and that's why dances on empty roads in the middle of the night. He loves fightin cus it takes his mind off the pain. He finds peace smashing some shit. He feels relieved after smashing up some evil monstrous creatures of the wastes.
He wants to smash SOME SHIT UUUUUUUUUUP! (this kinda rp is also good and I might find some way to reward you)

Lasso (happiness/contentment)
He feels happy with all the love he's known in his life, and nothing can hold him down. This is mostly your default state.

Lasso (guilt)
Better at fleeing sexy females. Distracted when facing sexy opponents. something like that. However he gets automatic dancing dodge (cuz he loves dancing with sexy ladies) when they make close range attacks on him

Lasso (love)
Can be used as an extra powerful whip on evil sexy bitches. It does some kind of magical damage and glows brightly in moonlight and dimly under the sun to symbolise the passionate nights and sweet days of love he shared with Martha. He can dance better (somehow)

Lasso (adoration)
Same as above but more powerful. If Terence wraps this around himself he can enter/leave a berserk state at will and cause serious mayhem and destruction.
He also dances like a motherfucker.

Lasso (weeping crab crying motherfucker)
Terence regresses to a powerful subconscious state of emotional pain and goes into a berserker frenzy, absolutely blind to foes and striking them down one after the other. He cannot dodge, dance or talk. He only clutches the lasso the whole time and doesn't let go. Sometimes he chokes an enemy to death, painful and gut-wrenching sobs come from his beard the whole time.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
All of y'all feel free to change the names and descriptions and suggest details, ideas, bonuses, penalties etc,
Everyone, tell me if anything I said doesn't sound right. Feel free to customise skills to match the character. There will quite a bit of room for character growth later on if this becomes popular (I hope so, only 2 players right now :s)
I am willing to work through this with you guys over and on any points you suggest that sound reasonable. If the entire game falls through (due to lack of interest) it's okay, it's all practice and perfecting my techniques anyway. I don't mind if it takes a long time for players to arrive either.

A music skill.... harmonica work for you? It's quite simple so it's likely to get picked up by Crab truckers. I also play the harmonica a little

Dodging... I can make Steely Nerves make lesser blows bounce off you or it can be a mood... You need to think why he is dodging, maybe he is better at dodging attacks at close quarters, because he's fought in bars often for instance...
Tbh you're better off making the truck dodge most of the time. You're the best and currently lead Driver.
Some kind of escape option works well instead of dodging. Maybe he can jump?
Terence has his lasso and can swing around, for example.

Terence can always drive the long stretches through the desert to give George a rest from his fatiguing steely nerves.
You get no bonuses on the road and are somewhat vulnerable to attack.
The situation of the truck, such as weight, affects speed and likelihood of being stopped.
Precious cargo may see you pursued, so if you're worried, you swap over with the more skilled Driver.
Definitely in the beginning though, it's okay if  you take over driving during the vast, long, flat, plains roads.
You might even get experience in it (+1 to driving on long flat roads for instance) and this applies to everyone who performs skills often
An idea for your lasso, it can charge up depending on Terence's mood. When meeting and fighting sexy women-folk for example, the lasso might be less effective in combat. In these situations he should use regular Fightin' or use lasso to move/escape. If sexy women get in his way and he tries to use the lasso, he falters or is distracted by guilt and suffers a penalty.

High Tier
Drivin': Maneuvers - You no longer have to worry about falling off a mountain and exploding the truck. You can also do truck combat stuff well and position the truck very accurately, for example, entering combat, you could probably block off their routes with fancy maneuvers.
Steely Nerves (gives you a bunch of fucking bonuses to other skills. Lucky you.) Fatigue depends on the mood and how long he does it for. Being Steely Nerves for a day probably tires him out. Half a day at a stretch sounds reasonable and he needs breaks/rest/food/coffee before and after long sessions)

Medium
Fightin': Punchin'
decent but can be powered up through steely nerves moods, alcohol, gasoline and such (each is +1 or about +half a tier)
Normally, he can handle 1-2 opponents at a time in lethal combat and smash a car and send it flying with his punches.
His specialty is punching shit. His style is boxing.... bar-room?
Crab on hot steel tin? - a hotass reaction skill to danger. He moves and reacts fucking fast.

Low
Liftin'
Weak Lift is okay but frankly, let's wait and see if people join the thread and then we can decide roles in more concrete. Either way, you can use Steel Nerves and alcohol to supplement any weak skills.

For your last skill, maybe it can be something George does to relax, let off steam, vent, let go, or alternately it could be something that winds him up and makes him more intense. What does George do for hobbies? I had the idea that he might sing to himself: a lot of truckers do this when they're alone in the cab. He might also have some relation to gasoline and the truck, hence he could use fuel in some way.

Snow Dwarf, I want you to consider a transforming truck. As the driver, the truck should be most fun for you. Anything goes, and we can always limit its effectiveness in some way, such as fuel consumption, balance/weight etc .[spoiler]It can have other functions and George can "drive" in more than 1 way. For example;

Truck : "Flying Jenny"
Cab: Detachable helicopter cab with a mounted gun that has a hook underneath to carry cargo. The truck will be defenseless, but you the driver can  carry away the delivery, or a target, to safety, or drop it in a volcano :p
Sides: Folds out to become a plane (needs cab for this) uses fuel like a motherFUCKER, wings can control stability and self-right the thing.
Back/Top: Turbo jet engine that massively increases speed and blasts enemies behind you. Uses a shitload of fuel and destroys any pursuers
Just the driving cab from this loadout would be a good addition. I was thinking either that, or motorbikes to deploy the crab forces from the moving battleship battletruck!

One advantage of flying is that Terence can lasso on for a ride and engage air foes. Terence can also deal with aerial threats using the lasso, and possibly control the movement of some flyers, or even use them for a ride. He'll probably get a chance to do that anyway though,

Is your character tough/rough/hard? Which describes him well?
Steely Nerves needs some "moods" or "modes" and maybe (probably} it can be a fatiguing skill with limited uses. Alcohol can help a little.
Steadfast Nerves
George McPunch'face doesn't flinch and drives smoothly in a pinch. He has bonuses to evasive maneuvers and recovering from accidents. He is good under duress.
Road Rage!, Don't touch my fucking truck!
The driver gets angry when the truck gets attacked and turns into a steely maniac thirsty to crush foes with his wheels and weapons.
He gets bonuses to any attack maneuvers and Truck-weapon attacks. He becomes steely determined to deal with the threat.
He can also get +1 to Fight! essentially raising it half a tier, but with time, or alcohol, he can raise it a little more.
This would favour assigning Fight! to a lower tier, and it can be powered up situationally.

WHAT KIND OF NERVES?
Decide what kind of nerves best describe George. He sounds like his Steeliness has different facets, such as patience. If you can describe how it helps your crab, you can make it a usage of your skill

Example:
Your crab is so steely, calm, quiet and patient, he can sense his surroundings with heightened accuracy. He can tell when attacks are imminent by the way people move, when people are lying and other stuff. Maybe you can work it in to "Steel Nerves" or make a new skill of the subtype Sense! which is for... well sensory powers. Here you can add other stuff like hearing, or sight, which George uses to absorb the natural beauty of the world whilst he's driving and trucking. It could even give him great personal strength to deal with things (like assailants)
In any case, some sort of sensory power would warn when attacks are imminent, and would grant bonus to Fightin and Drivin actions against attackers
Perhaps this could be a generic mood such as alertness/awareness which fatigues George when it is used.

Watchful
George McPunch'face can sense things a little before this happens like the description above of heightened senses, on the road and off it. It fatigues him a little, and a day's watch will wear him out. He can probably do it for a bunch of hours safely. Maybe coffee helps and you can get it in bars.

Steel Nerves affect team-mates?
How about extensible Nerves? :p he can calm down his team mates with his presence, and his rich, deep, calm voice.
Nearby team mates can get a bonus or shrug penalties based on the situation.
If you like, it can have a similar/same effect to alcohol or better, but because of how reticent George is to speak, he only speak a few words during each encounter and no more. It can be a kind of limited-use thingamajig with fatigue.
Good Nerves
Your calmness reassures others. You speak but a little, yet your words are founded on a demeanour of steel. It fatigues you, but you can do things to other people like convince/persuade them. Alcohol helps.

I think Fighting with fists could be good for George but if you want some kind of temporary invincibility, or some kind of movement or ranged option and maybe we can work in Steely Nerves there as well. Maybe he can use his claws to send supersonic shockwaves over short distances, like a pistol shrimp's punch. It doesn't have to do damage, but it could slow down and push back enemies, disrupt energy or bullet attacks and/or something else. Perhaps he has a lightning punch and can get the drop on enemies when he strikes. Car-blasting power (mid tier) is quite good, but if you have some tactical features, you can play with Boxin' as a low tier yet useful skill.

: If he's still a boxer, he can punch things and turn them into projectiles.
Tier 1 would be small objects like stones, rocks, tyres, furniture, animals
Tier 2 is cars, crabs, cargo. boulders
This would still fall under "Fightin'"
Maybe some part of his nerves gives him an advantage, such as every so often, his steely nerves allow him to stop even a speeding truck or enormous monster with his extreme concentration. He might do this when he's fatigued and enters a trance of super-relaxation

Drive Penalties
The driver can probably access and use all the parts of the truck through the driving cab. It might cause your Drive! skill to be spread thin when doing different truck things at once: handling driving, using truck weapons, operating truck parts all use the Drive! skill, and if you try to do them all at the same time, you will suffer penalties such as -1 to the next actions roll. It's difficult to shoot and drive at the same time, so you might lose your concentration and swerve off the road.
Depends if you choose a drivin' specialty, maybe you have a dream, you can work it out if you have a deep held desire to see the truck performing backflips, in which case you could choose your specialty like so:

Truck Specialty: Truck Backflips / Jumping Truck (hip-hop truck)
Can jump over traffic, do little jumps/hops and can self-right easily. Maybe it dances like Terence. I dunno. Up to you.

The other ones I got are like:
Specialty: Truck Gunner
will make driving and shooting at the same time easier. Probably you will suffer no penalty for doing both at the same time, but if you then attempt, for example, a combat ram with the truck, that will tax your Drive skill as 3 separate actions

Specialty: Steady Driving
If you're worried or concerned about the truck being tipped over, falling off the path etc. that's good and you should be, it often makes your team vulnerable for roaming enemies. With steady driving, you balance the truck much better during driving action.
The truck also moves less during driving combat and driving engagements are easier for Crabs to move around in.
Yet another bonus is that you can stop the truck more quickly, for example, to avoid traps.

The other option (so far, we can develop some more) is
Specialty: Tricky Maneuvering
Lets you take risky roads much more easily.
Risk of bad/difficult falls down a trench, ditch, mountainside etc. can be lethal. Enemies prey on trucks struggling to get back onto the road.
Often risky roads should be travelled slowly and carefully, especially as enemies will often attack you when you are vulnerable. Doing careful navigation on mountain roads will be considered a maneuver. Those dirt roads get thin, and in many places, a truck wasn't meant to pass.
300lb crabs can change a lot of things. If a 300lb crab had a shovel, he could probably dig a path.
Crabs should try to fight off the threats on the trucks during difficult driving sections:
anything like high speed, and combat rams and fighting on/inside trucks are dangerous maneuvers.
Maneuvers also allows you to avoid obstacles, traps and attacks with evasive driving. Just say "George starts driving evasively" or some shit and it'll happen. He gets Steely Nerves +1 most of the time anyway. Figure out what the fuck you want.

Since you have a High tier Drive skill, with Steel Nerves basically give you +1 on the road, and you get +1 depending on your how your nerves are feeling.
Your odds look something like this:
If you attempt fast driving, then using gun, you will add +1 to your roll target, which is not bad, but the +1s are cumulative when you do Drive actions.
Scoring 1 is a critical failure, and can cause crashes, for example. Steely Nerves might give you a bonus to controlling the vehicle in those situations too. It all adds up. I think you George McPunch'Face should change moods depending on his outlook and what he sees around him. Things might make him concentrate a lot more or flip out. That's fine and it can change every few scenes. His specialty is more concrete than his mood, something he's good at or well-practiced in. If you're not sure, I'd recommend taking steady driving OR maneuvers
Think about taking a Drive! specialty, it will help a lot to have some kind of advantage in your pocket, and you can acquire more later.