Continuous Mutations

[Razorwing]

Recently I had an idea that I thought I would share with this forum to see if it is an interesting idea to try.

The premise is quite simple... the mutagen that created the mutant animals of After the Bomb is still active and causing further mutations... thus providing players with a small Bio-E boost per level to further "evolve" their characters over time.

The reasoning behind this is simple... the initial cause of mutation (according to the game) was a simple engineered virus that introduced human DNA into various animals. In real life, viruses mutate and change over time, creating new strains that can be just as debilitating as previous forms yet any vaccine would be nearly useless against. This is also how viruses can jump species as new forms adapt to new hosts.

Now, since nearly all mutant animals have been exposed to the original virus due to their humanoid features, the effects of new forms of the virus usually won't have as dramatic an effect on them... hence the much lower addition of Bio-E per level (5 points per level). Add to this that many PCs will be adventuring into new territories where different strains of the virus are (while carrying the unique strains from their homelands)... and you have the potential to spread further mutation wherever you want to play. Then there is the investigation of various ruins of human cities... where all sorts of chemicals and mutagens could potentially lurk... and the reason for having further mutations keeps increasing.

With this method, you could have a Mutant Alligator start with Light Natural Body Armor, low damage teeth and normal strength that eventually (over time and through adventures) gain Heavy Natural Body Armor, more damaging teeth and Beastly Strength... and maybe even develop some animal psionics too.

I've never been too keen on static characters that are functionally the same at higher levels as they were at lower ones... with the only difference being their skill level (and a few additional minor combat bonuses). People change over time... learning new tricks and abilities. My favorite characters have always been progressive ones who learn new powers as they gain levels... like psychics and men of magic... and even some Super Heroes. Splicers was an amazing game for the simple reason that over time you could customize the characters abilities in a staggering array of ways. So I've been looking for a plausible way of introducing such a concept into other games like After the Bomb where characters remain a lot more static... practically the same at level 15 as they were at level 1. Then the article on updating Transdimensional TMNT reminded me of the "future" of the After the Bomb setting... namely that the initial mutagen continued to mutate life forms... creating a mutagen gone wild planet. This is where the seed of this idea began... a continuous mutation that allows players to further customize their characters... gaining new abilities (and even psionic powers) as they advance in levels.

[Bill]

I think it would be more exciting if you were to grant the players a larger amount of Bio-E less frequently. I'd also prefer to queue it off of triggering events (encountering a new source of radiation, new viral strain, new something or other) rather than experience advancement. Then it becomes a reason to go out and explore rather than an inherent part of the character's growth. You could even leave the Bio-E out of the equation and randomly assign new mutations after the event. Then, if they get something they didn't expect or want, the players have an excuse to try and find a cure or some sort of counter-mutation. Another option would be for some of the mutations to be temporary. There are a lot of ways you can go once you start down this rabbit hole.

[Rali]

I like the idea. Admittedly, at first I though it sounded more like something you'd find in a video game RPG that someone would pound through in 40+ hours, but then as I thought about it it reminded me of some ideas I had for a TMNT eXtreme RPG back when there was still talk of Palladium revamping the TMNTAOS into a 2nd Edition (what eventually became AtB2ed).

Personally, these days I'm the kind of GM who would prefer to give characters Bio-E boosts through story events instead of as "leveling rewards", but I also admit that developing a +X Bio-E/level would streamline things. The question is do you go with a static reward system (+5 Bio-E/level), or a random reward system (2+1D4/level)? Do the rewards stay the same as they level, do they increase or decrease, do you add bonuses at certain levels?

I like this, let's kick it around some more.

[Razorwing]

The thing is that in order to gain experience... one has to do something... namely adventure... which leads to events and places that bring them into contact with new strains of the mutating virus or new mutagens in general. Of course, as their body mutates with these minor infusions of Bio-E... it will take even greater exposure to new sources to gain the same small amounts.

The 5 Bio-E per level is just a game mechanic... much like how one gains a number of percentage points per level to skills and such... with it taking more and more experience points to gain further levels and thus more percentage points for skills.

If I were to tie it to just going to new places... well... then all the players would have to do is go some place they haven't been before to get new Bio-E points... a very exploitable process.

"hey... I need 5 more Bio-E to mutate my armor to the next level... let's head to Australia!"
"why?"
"because we haven't been there and we get 5 Bio-E for each new land we explore!"

Okay... yes, getting to a place like Australia would be quite an adventure in itself... which still plays to the whole granting Bio-E per level... but the motivation... the reason why they are going changes. They are venturing into the unknown not to discover... but as an exploit.

In the end, regardless of whether it is because of an event or not... the end result is more or less the same... they get more Bio-E as the grow... I just gave a base-line example. Sure if they intentionally seek out an old ruin thought to be ground zero for the mutation virus (to prevent the Empire of Humanity from locating the original strain to reverse engineer a new strain that could wipe out all mutants), then it is possible they might be exposed to something that could result in more Bio-E than this base-line amount. Then again, helping out a boarder community with needed infrastructure and meeting refugees from beyond the known nations could also introduce new strains of the virus that could cause new mutations (though not as dramatically, hence no increase in the base-line amount).

Regardless... it still boils down to the same thing. Adventuring leads to more Bio-E to further customize one's character. Whether it is solely event driven, or the result of small adventures rewarded as one levels up... the result is the same. Is there really a difference between getting 5 Bio-E per level and getting 25 Bio-E after a major event that happens every 5 levels?

[Rali]

If I were to tie it to just going to new places... well... then all the players would have to do is go some place they haven't been before to get new Bio-E points... a very exploitable process.

Anytime you have rules and GMs that adhere stringently to those rules you'll always have player who try to exploit them. If you would find yourself with a player trying to exploit the system to soak up as much Bio-E as they can, hit them with "unexpected" consequences (Bio-E poisoning, uncontrolled/vestigial mutations, attribute penalties, etc.).

The 5 Bio-E per level is just a game mechanic

Everything is a game mechanic. You could always try a melding of the level and reward bonus Bio-E; Players receive "X" Bio-E for levels and "Y" Bio-E as story/event/exploration rewards. It will take some play testing to gauge what amount Bio-E to reward your players as your campaign progresses. Too much and they may become ridiculously overpowered (unless that's what you're looking for), too little and your players may feel slighted.

I feel that you (the GM) have to ask yourself, how much change do you expect your players characters to go through per session/story/campaign. Are you okay with a player saving up their character's bonus Bio-E to buy the big 25 Bio-E powers/features/mutations/psionics when they can afford them, or should they buy them in a natural progression (Brute Strength -> Beastly Strength -> Crushing Strength) like a skill tree. Can they become transgenic and grab features from other species?

[Bill]

The thing is that in order to gain experience... one has to do something... namely adventure... which leads to events and places that bring them into contact with new strains of the mutating virus or new mutagens in general.

Technically a character is awarded experience points for attempting a skill check. They could conceivably never leave home and still gain levels. That's not a fun game, but it's possible under the rules. While clarification on how the award is gained may seem redundant, it makes the point of the game more obvious to some players.

If I were to tie it to just going to new places... well... then all the players would have to do is go some place they haven't been before to get new Bio-E points... a very exploitable process.

"hey... I need 5 more Bio-E to mutate my armor to the next level... let's head to Australia!"
"why?"
"because we haven't been there and we get 5 Bio-E for each new land we explore!"

Okay... yes, getting to a place like Australia would be quite an adventure in itself... which still plays to the whole granting Bio-E per level... but the motivation... the reason why they are going changes. They are venturing into the unknown not to discover... but as an exploit.

In my opinion, that's a feature not a flaw. The motivation to gain power makes it a quest of self-discovery. And if it's known that people can gain power that way, it provides a pretty convenient back-story excuse for characters becoming adventurers. It's more or less a prepackaged hero's journey. As an added benefit, it's a great opportunity for the GM to include wildly over-mutated monsters who have gone so far down that path they're no-longer capable of coherent thought. You could even throw in a mechanic that characters take penalties similar to those for larger size categories for every multiple of their Bio-E base they accumulate. That would force them to weigh the risks against the benefits of seeking more mutations.

Is there really a difference between getting 5 Bio-E per level and getting 25 Bio-E after a major event that happens every 5 levels?

The difference is how dramatic the changes appear to be and when they appear, which can have significant in-game effects on the characters' relationships. Just as an example, let's say Jorge the mutant armadillo has been sinking his points (5 per level) into size for the past couple levels of experience. That may take minutes or years of game time because the experience earned is based on his actions, what kind of opposition he's foiled, and how creative the player has been as well as how compressed the GM's story arc has been. Odds are that it's not a sudden change though and the character hasn't transformed from a timid four-foot tall scavenger into an eight-foot tall hulking monster with bullet-proof armored plates overnight. If he gets it all at once though, it's an invitation to a very dramatic story as former friends and allies fail to recognize him and question his motivations after returning from the wasteland transformed.

To put it another way, it's the difference between "hey Jorge, you've gotten pretty big recently" and "holy crap, is THAT Jorge? What the heck happened to him?!"

[Razorwing]

To be honest... there is no reason both can't be used.

The base-line I proposed would be for merely going about normal adventures in known lands (with the occasional securing of known ruins) and interacting with those who come to these places from outside areas. Allowing for a steady, though unimpressive rate of additional mutations appearing in the populace (more so in adventurers who have greater contact with outlaying areas).

Then there are those big events that take characters out beyond the known lands into the unknown and uncharted areas... and into major adventures where the fate of nations can hang in the balance (like preventing the Empire from developing an anti-mutation virus as it tracks down ground zero and the remains of patient X of the original mutant outbreak). These major events could expose the characters to new mutagens that could boost the rate at which they mutate... providing much more Bio-E than they would normally obtain in more standard adventures (depending on the difficulty of the quest and the danger the event presents... it could be anywhere from x2 to x5 the usual bonus for the level).

Of course one also has to be careful with how much Bio-E they hand out... least the players start to be too powerful too quickly. This is one of the reasons why I chose to go with a small bonus given at each level... requiring the Bio-E to be banked for a few levels before players can buy the new ability or upgrade what they have to what they want. Give them too much... and they may run out of powers and abilities they can naturally acquire... or have a large array of psionics to choose from (though the limit of one power active at any time does tend to limit their overall usefulness). It is a tricky balance to maintain.