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[Interlock/Interlock Unlimited] discussion
dj.subversive
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
hey, fellow gamer-geeks. I haven't seen anything about the Interlock system (the Cyberpunk 2020 rules) or its fan-created update, Interlock Unlimited, so I thought I'd start one. Hopefully some of you have some experience with it. I know they have their own forum, but I like following discussions around here.
Here's an explanation of the system and a breakdown of how the rules work, if you're interested and unfamiliar. Numbers and systems and all that crap ahead, so don't say you weren't warned.
My experience with the system comes mainly from Cyberpunk 2020, one of my favorite games, due more to the setting than the rules. When IU came out, I was hooked - they simplified Special Abilities and Roles (making them optional and easy to create), ironed out some of the kinks in the combat rules (and introduced a couple new ones, mainly regarding actions-per-turn), and, perhaps most importantly, made netrunning not a pain in the ass! To be fair, it still might be, but our group tends to simplify netrunning to a couple of rolls, usually made by NPCs.
One of the things IU introduced was the alternate settings - the rules are designed to be as modular as possible to cover everything from prehistoric to "near-future and beyond." And as mentioned above, there are (optional) rules for Psionics, Magic, and Superpowers.
In addition to the Cyberpunk 2020 game that I'm currently running, our local group is using the Interlock Unlimited rules to run an 1890's Pulp Adventure/Steampunk game. We've got a mad scientist (Techie), a Chinese martial artist (Solo), a half-Native daughter of a soldier and widow of another soldier (Solo), an Indiana Jones-type field archaeologist (Scout - gets bonuses to survival and awareness in his chosen environments), an "adventurer-thief" (me, a Sneak/Investigator with a tomb-robbing past), and most recently, a "liason" from our patron, an stenographer/accountant type (Corporate, I believe) who's there to verify the worth of what we find when we're abroad.
We're using the magic and psionics additions, and only one of us has any supernatural ability - the gun-solo has precognitive powers. But, we're picking up information and treasure that's pushing "Philadelphia" Rockwell (the field archaeologist) and Seng (the martial artist) towards learning magic. So far, the game's been really fun - we've had a South America jungle expedition to find some lost treasure, got information (and some treasure) that's pointing us towards Egypt, found a translation of an ancient Babylonian stone tablet that is actually a zombie-creation spell, and are currently in New York planning on stealing a necklace with Babylonian script on it from a husband-murdering wealthy dowager. We know she murdered her husband because Rebecca (our psychic) saw the ghost at a seance at the dowager's dinner party (that I snuck her and I into by lifting an invitation from a drunk party-goer who had to run out to get more cigars). Then, the next day, we went to the psychic and talked to the husband, and we convinced him to help us make her life miserable. We found out from the husband that the dowager keeps a copy of her master key on one of her two little yappy-dogs that are at her side at all times. We're planning on waiting until they're taken out for walkies, kidnapping them, copying the key, and holding the dogs for ransom. So not only will we make the money from the ransom, we'll have a key to get at more of her loot. Our GM is currently unaware of the dog-napping plot, so we're planning on surprising him with it.
relevant linkage:
Interlock Unlimited File Project: the free release of IU, a fan-created update to the notoriously hard-to-follow Interlock system.
Hope this is a competent first thread, and that there are more c-punkers around here. Maybe this can be the Cyberpunk-genre thread, too. I don't mind Shadowrun discussion.
Here's an explanation of the system and a breakdown of how the rules work, if you're interested and unfamiliar. Numbers and systems and all that crap ahead, so don't say you weren't warned.
Stats, or, "How many points did you say we start with?"
Skills, or, "How good am I at shooting that dude in the face?"
Task-resolution, or, "How do I actually go about shooting that dude in the face?"
Improvement, or "Getting better at shooting that poor dude in face."
You have 9 stats: Attractiveness, Body, Cool/Will (Willpower is the less-awesome term more suitable for games not set in concrete jungles with mirrorshades and double-crosses around every corner), Empathy, Intelligence, Reflexes, Tech, Movement Allowance, and Luck, rated from 1-10. Ten is the normal human maximum, although cyberware or magic can raise that cap. For the most part, your stats are going to be the same during the character's life (Attractiveness is an exception: there are rules for raising Attr through plastic surgery, with a cost-per-point-raised. "Want to lower your Attractiveness? A straight razor costs 59 cents.").
You start with a variable number of Character Points (usually between about 60-70, lower for more desparate games, higher for "elite operators") to distribute between the 9 Stats. You also have certain derived stats and Saves. Body determines your Death Save (roll under your Body score to not die), carry weight, and Body Type Modifier (a sort of built-in "damage reduction"). Cool determines your Stun Save (similar to the Death Save, but not as lethal), MA determines, oddly enough, how fast you can run. Humanity is simply your Empathy score times 10 and functions as a limit on how much cyberware you can handle, and also can act as a makeshift "Sanity" mechanic. I'm probably missing something, but it's not all that important.
Oh, yeah, Luck. Luck (along with MA) doesn't have any associated Skills, unlike the rest of the stats. It also doesn't have any use in determining any derived stats. What it does is allows you to use Luck points to either boost a roll (on a one-for-one basis) or negate a critical failure. Since you can't do both in the same roll, most Luck points are saved for emergencies, when crit-failing is going to really hose up the situation (delicate negotiations, surgeries, necessary headshots, that sort of thing).
You start with a variable number of Character Points (usually between about 60-70, lower for more desparate games, higher for "elite operators") to distribute between the 9 Stats. You also have certain derived stats and Saves. Body determines your Death Save (roll under your Body score to not die), carry weight, and Body Type Modifier (a sort of built-in "damage reduction"). Cool determines your Stun Save (similar to the Death Save, but not as lethal), MA determines, oddly enough, how fast you can run. Humanity is simply your Empathy score times 10 and functions as a limit on how much cyberware you can handle, and also can act as a makeshift "Sanity" mechanic. I'm probably missing something, but it's not all that important.
Oh, yeah, Luck. Luck (along with MA) doesn't have any associated Skills, unlike the rest of the stats. It also doesn't have any use in determining any derived stats. What it does is allows you to use Luck points to either boost a roll (on a one-for-one basis) or negate a critical failure. Since you can't do both in the same roll, most Luck points are saved for emergencies, when crit-failing is going to really hose up the situation (delicate negotiations, surgeries, necessary headshots, that sort of thing).
Skills, or, "How good am I at shooting that dude in the face?"
In addition to your (for the most part static) Stats, you also have skills. Skills are the meat and potatoes of the system. Everything is covered by skills, which are rated 1-10 just like stats. Combat skills with various weapons or martial arts, non-combat skills like First Aid or Swimming, even Initiative is its own skill (Solos, the "combat-monster" Role, get a bonus to their Initiative, so they almost always shoot first and don't ask questions because dead people are notoriously hard to get answers from).
In the original Cyberpunk 2020 rules, you start with 40 skill points, to be spent on 10 role-specific skills, plus extra "pick-up skills," the number of points determined by your combined Reflexes and Intelligence. This tended to create lots of characters with abnormally high Reflexes or Intelligence for their concepts, so they could squeeze out a few extra skills. In the IU system, you start with skill points equal to the Character Points you divided among your Stats. So, if you get 60 Character Points, you get 60 skill points, no limit on "role-specific" skills - you could be a Solo with no combat skills whatsoever. You obviously wouldn't be a very GOOD solo, but you're given complete freedom in where you want to put your points.
I don't have a lot of experience with the magic/psionic/superpowers variants of the rules, because Cyberpunk doesn't use any of that. But it seems that they work similarly - spells, psi-powers, and superpowers are all bought as individual skills, so focusing on magic leaves you less time to raise more mundane abilities, which makes sense.
Special Abilities are their own special skills. Every role has a related Special Ability, and most characters only have one (possibly 2) roles. In Interlock Unlimited, SAs add their rating to 2 related skills. Solos, the above-mentioned combat-oriented characters, get bonuses to Initiative and Awareness/Notice for the purposes of noticing ambushes or potentially dangerous situations. Techies get bonuses to Jury-rig and one Tech skill of their choice (Basic, Wheeled Vehicle, Naval, Cybernetic, etc). Fixers, the dealers and negotiators, get bonuses to Streetwise and Persuasion. The Role/SA system was streamlined from the previous iteration of the rules, where some SAs added their level to skills, and other SAs had nebulous "you have access to resources dependent on your level of special ability" benefits. Now, it's simple: SA adds its level to 2 (rarely 3) appropriate skills. Creating new Roles/Special Abilities is just a matter of coming up with a name and the appropriate skills (it should be noted that the only SA that adds directly to a combat skill adds to the "untrained" version of hand-to-hand fighting, Brawl/Melee - no Martial Arts, no Gun-fu).
In the original Cyberpunk 2020 rules, you start with 40 skill points, to be spent on 10 role-specific skills, plus extra "pick-up skills," the number of points determined by your combined Reflexes and Intelligence. This tended to create lots of characters with abnormally high Reflexes or Intelligence for their concepts, so they could squeeze out a few extra skills. In the IU system, you start with skill points equal to the Character Points you divided among your Stats. So, if you get 60 Character Points, you get 60 skill points, no limit on "role-specific" skills - you could be a Solo with no combat skills whatsoever. You obviously wouldn't be a very GOOD solo, but you're given complete freedom in where you want to put your points.
I don't have a lot of experience with the magic/psionic/superpowers variants of the rules, because Cyberpunk doesn't use any of that. But it seems that they work similarly - spells, psi-powers, and superpowers are all bought as individual skills, so focusing on magic leaves you less time to raise more mundane abilities, which makes sense.
Special Abilities are their own special skills. Every role has a related Special Ability, and most characters only have one (possibly 2) roles. In Interlock Unlimited, SAs add their rating to 2 related skills. Solos, the above-mentioned combat-oriented characters, get bonuses to Initiative and Awareness/Notice for the purposes of noticing ambushes or potentially dangerous situations. Techies get bonuses to Jury-rig and one Tech skill of their choice (Basic, Wheeled Vehicle, Naval, Cybernetic, etc). Fixers, the dealers and negotiators, get bonuses to Streetwise and Persuasion. The Role/SA system was streamlined from the previous iteration of the rules, where some SAs added their level to skills, and other SAs had nebulous "you have access to resources dependent on your level of special ability" benefits. Now, it's simple: SA adds its level to 2 (rarely 3) appropriate skills. Creating new Roles/Special Abilities is just a matter of coming up with a name and the appropriate skills (it should be noted that the only SA that adds directly to a combat skill adds to the "untrained" version of hand-to-hand fighting, Brawl/Melee - no Martial Arts, no Gun-fu).
Task-resolution, or, "How do I actually go about shooting that dude in the face?"
Doing stuff is actually relatively simple: roll Skill + controlling Stat + 1d10, +/- any modifiers (conditions, range, etc). If you don't have the appropriate skill, take a -4 penalty (or, if the GM allows, use a related skill with a -2), vs. a variable Difficulty Number (5 = easy, 30 = near-impossible).
Rolling a natural 1 is a possible crit-fail. You roll another d10 and compare on a chart - you can just fail (no extra effect), or do something like hit an ally, blowing his leg right the fuck off (that was a fun session for me as a GM - "what the fuck are you shooting me for?! We're on the same side!"). On the other end of the spectrum, 10s "explode" - add 10 and roll again. Getting at least 10 points higher than the Difficulty Number is usually considered a critical success (get 2 IP in the skill, and do something awesome).
Combat: Ranged combat is a static roll vs. difficulty (based on weapon type - pistol, rifle, smg, etc - and range, determined by individual weapon), with modifiers for Weapon Accuracy, cover, and other complications. Melee combat is an opposed roll, with both attacker and defender rolling Reflex + MA or Brawl/Melee. Characters get one free "dodge" attempt per turn. Damage is usually a variable number of d6s, plus bonuses from Martial Arts ability (half skill level, round down), Body (the higher scores give damage bonuses for hand-to-hand combat), and/or the weapon used.
A side-note on damage:
I'm sure I'm simplifying it a bit (except for taking damage, which I know I'm simplifying a lot), but it's really not that hard a concept to grasp, especially when compared to...
Rolling a natural 1 is a possible crit-fail. You roll another d10 and compare on a chart - you can just fail (no extra effect), or do something like hit an ally, blowing his leg right the fuck off (that was a fun session for me as a GM - "what the fuck are you shooting me for?! We're on the same side!"). On the other end of the spectrum, 10s "explode" - add 10 and roll again. Getting at least 10 points higher than the Difficulty Number is usually considered a critical success (get 2 IP in the skill, and do something awesome).
Combat: Ranged combat is a static roll vs. difficulty (based on weapon type - pistol, rifle, smg, etc - and range, determined by individual weapon), with modifiers for Weapon Accuracy, cover, and other complications. Melee combat is an opposed roll, with both attacker and defender rolling Reflex + MA or Brawl/Melee. Characters get one free "dodge" attempt per turn. Damage is usually a variable number of d6s, plus bonuses from Martial Arts ability (half skill level, round down), Body (the higher scores give damage bonuses for hand-to-hand combat), and/or the weapon used.
A side-note on damage:
As far as getting hit/shot/blown the fuck up, when you take damage, it first has to get through your armor. Armor provides an SP rating (Stopping Power) that is subtracted from damage dealt. Anything that gets through that is further affected by your BTM, which could reduce the damage to nothing. Taking 10 points of damage in a limb renders it useless until medical attention is sought. Taking 12 points in one attack blows the limb off. Every 5 points of damage taken applies a cumulative -1 penalty to all rolls. When you reach 20 points of damage total, you drop to Death State 0 - you're unconscious and bleeding out. You have 10 rounds to stabilize or you're spare parts for a meat-wagon. And as if it wasn't already deadly-sounding enough, headshots deal double damage (everything that actually gets through armor/BTM is doubled).
I'm sure I'm simplifying it a bit (except for taking damage, which I know I'm simplifying a lot), but it's really not that hard a concept to grasp, especially when compared to...
Improvement, or "Getting better at shooting that poor dude in face."
The skill-improvement system is definitely not the prettiest or easiest to work with. The basic thrust is that every time you succeed with a skill check, you get an IP (improvement point) in that skill. To raise a skill, you must get 10 times the current level of the skill in IP (so to raise from 1 to 2 costs 10 IP, from 2 to 3 costs 20, and so on). Martial Arts (and potentially other skills, possibly spells, but again - I'm not too familiar with those) have an added wrinkle in that every "form" (there's an entire IU supplement dedicated just to various MA forms) has an IP Multiplier, from 1 to 5. To raise a Martial Art, you first determine the normal cost, then multiply it by the number for the form. (Example: you have a form with a multiplier of 3. To go from 1 to 2 in that form will cost 30 points - the normal 10 times the multiplier. to go from 2 to 3 would be 60 points, and from 6 to 7 would be 180 points). I guess the idea behind it is that martial arts forms take years and years to master, but it tends to make characters who start off at an average level and rarely, if ever, improve. (Also worth noting, having a martial art is worth it because you're able to add half of your MA skill to the damage you do, in addition to getting bonuses to hit for certain attacks depending on form - Boxers are better at Punching, Kickboxers are better at Kicking, and so on).
Also, in addition to the skill-based IP rewards, you're given "general IP" at the end of each session, which can be spent where you deem appropriate to raise skills (necessary if you want to get better at martial arts, ever), as always, subject to GM approval and vaguely-defined "training times."
Also, in addition to the skill-based IP rewards, you're given "general IP" at the end of each session, which can be spent where you deem appropriate to raise skills (necessary if you want to get better at martial arts, ever), as always, subject to GM approval and vaguely-defined "training times."
My experience with the system comes mainly from Cyberpunk 2020, one of my favorite games, due more to the setting than the rules. When IU came out, I was hooked - they simplified Special Abilities and Roles (making them optional and easy to create), ironed out some of the kinks in the combat rules (and introduced a couple new ones, mainly regarding actions-per-turn), and, perhaps most importantly, made netrunning not a pain in the ass! To be fair, it still might be, but our group tends to simplify netrunning to a couple of rolls, usually made by NPCs.
One of the things IU introduced was the alternate settings - the rules are designed to be as modular as possible to cover everything from prehistoric to "near-future and beyond." And as mentioned above, there are (optional) rules for Psionics, Magic, and Superpowers.
In addition to the Cyberpunk 2020 game that I'm currently running, our local group is using the Interlock Unlimited rules to run an 1890's Pulp Adventure/Steampunk game. We've got a mad scientist (Techie), a Chinese martial artist (Solo), a half-Native daughter of a soldier and widow of another soldier (Solo), an Indiana Jones-type field archaeologist (Scout - gets bonuses to survival and awareness in his chosen environments), an "adventurer-thief" (me, a Sneak/Investigator with a tomb-robbing past), and most recently, a "liason" from our patron, an stenographer/accountant type (Corporate, I believe) who's there to verify the worth of what we find when we're abroad.
We're using the magic and psionics additions, and only one of us has any supernatural ability - the gun-solo has precognitive powers. But, we're picking up information and treasure that's pushing "Philadelphia" Rockwell (the field archaeologist) and Seng (the martial artist) towards learning magic. So far, the game's been really fun - we've had a South America jungle expedition to find some lost treasure, got information (and some treasure) that's pointing us towards Egypt, found a translation of an ancient Babylonian stone tablet that is actually a zombie-creation spell, and are currently in New York planning on stealing a necklace with Babylonian script on it from a husband-murdering wealthy dowager. We know she murdered her husband because Rebecca (our psychic) saw the ghost at a seance at the dowager's dinner party (that I snuck her and I into by lifting an invitation from a drunk party-goer who had to run out to get more cigars). Then, the next day, we went to the psychic and talked to the husband, and we convinced him to help us make her life miserable. We found out from the husband that the dowager keeps a copy of her master key on one of her two little yappy-dogs that are at her side at all times. We're planning on waiting until they're taken out for walkies, kidnapping them, copying the key, and holding the dogs for ransom. So not only will we make the money from the ransom, we'll have a key to get at more of her loot. Our GM is currently unaware of the dog-napping plot, so we're planning on surprising him with it.
relevant linkage:
Interlock Unlimited File Project: the free release of IU, a fan-created update to the notoriously hard-to-follow Interlock system.
Hope this is a competent first thread, and that there are more c-punkers around here. Maybe this can be the Cyberpunk-genre thread, too. I don't mind Shadowrun discussion.
dj.subversive on
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