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Calling all Bionicle Fans, RPG Players, and Bionicle Loving RPG Players

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Toa Lewa
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Hi everyone,

Toa Lewa here. I just finished up GMing a horror survival RPG and I started wondering what type of story I should do next. The thought occurred to me, "I should do a Bionicle story." With this thought in mind, I decided to see if anyone has created a Bionicle RPG system that I could use. To make a long story short, there is very little out there on the internet. I found a few forums where people started working on one, but most of these forums are a couple of years old. At first I was a little disappointed; however, I felt adventure stirring inside my green robotic frame. As the legendary Toa of Air, I feel it is my responsibility to make a Bionicle RPG happen.

Although I really want a lot of feedback from Bionicle fans, I also want feedback from RPG players as well. For any RPG players who are not familiar with the Bionicle universe, I have included a quick list of definitions at the end of the post (since I use quite a bit of Bionicle lingo in this post).

First things first, I am not going to create an RPG framework. Instead, I am going to be using an existing RPG system and attempt to create character sheets for all of the Matoran, Toa, Rahi, villians, etc in the Bionicle universe to work within the chosen RPG system. I also want to take the mask and weapon powers in the Bionicle world and translate them into working RPG effects.

The system I'm thinking of using (because I'm most familiar with it) is a d20 system called The Basic System. In a review from RPG.net of The Basic System, a reviewer pretty much calls it a more streamlined version of D&D3. If you are unfamiliar with the system, here is a link to the rulebook, http://dillygreenbeangames.com/TBSDownloads.html. If you think that there is a better system to fit the Bionicle universe, please share it. I am open to any suggestions.

So what is my goal? Good question! Since I want to get something designed pretty quickly for my RPG group, I will only be focusing on the first year of Bionicle for right now. As such, I want to get character sheets created for some of the most common Rahi on Mata Nui, such as the Kane Ra bull and the Muaka panther, to provide my players with challenges. I also want to create character sheets for the most common Matoran, such as Takua, Jaller, Hali, etc. All of these will be NPCs, as my group of players will play as the Toa. The story will begin with the Toa arriving on the island in their canisters and will follow the storyline of their quest for the masks. The story is supposed to culminate in the Toa's first battle against their ultimate enemy, Makuta.

So where am I at? Well, I'm just starting to work on this, but I do have some compiled notes. I'd like to share some of my ideas for the game, but this post is already long enough and it is pretty late (in my time zone anyway). Mainly, I'd like to see who is interested in a Bionicle RPG idea. What does everyone think? I will probably post some more information tomorrow.

Definitions:

Rahi: Creatures/Animals. They are often controlled by the evil villain Makuta (at least in the first year).

Mata Nui: An island. This is where all of the action takes place.

Matoran: Villagers. These are the people that the Toa are sent to protect.

Toa: The heroes of the Bionicle world. They have elemental powers and also have mask powers.

schattentanz
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Joined: 02/18/2014
D6 system

Are you familiar with the D6 System?

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/20446/D6-Adventure?it=1&filters=0_...

It's a free system that has already been used for fantasy, modern age as well as sci fi Settings.

Due to its flexibility you might want to use it for your system as well.

The benefit of a D6 system is, new players will play with D6 (something they already know) in a world they have yet to learn.

Just a thought.

Good luck on your "quest" :)

Kind regards,
Kai

jvallerand
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Joined: 10/12/2013
I'm not that familiar with

I'm not that familiar with Bionicle, and so it might not be applicable, but D&D 4th edition has a lot of room for re-fluffing powers, and if you describe equipment as new abilities (or those masks), you have even more latitude.

Toa Lewa
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RPG Systems

schattentanz wrote:
Are you familiar with the D6 System?

No I am not, but I am now looking into it.

Quote:

It's a free system that has already been used for fantasy, modern age as well as sci fi Settings.

Due to its flexibility you might want to use it for your system as well.

The benefit of a D6 system is, new players will play with D6 (something they already know) in a world they have yet to learn.

I guess I must have skipped the d6 system and went straight to d20. What would you say are the main advantages of a D6 system over a d20 system?

I have also seen some suggestions that Bionicle would work well in a FATE system. Does anyone have experience with FATE?

Toa Lewa
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Choice of System

Well, I have decided to stick with The Basic System for now. I'm most familiar with the system, and I can start immediately working on the character sheets since I know how it all works. I did look at the D6 Adventure rules though. I think I may eventually translate what I come up with for The Basic System to the D6 system later (so newer players will feel more comfortable).

Toa Lewa
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Bionicle Stat Averages

So here is my idea process for average stats in the RPG. In the first year of Bionicle, there are three main species: Matoran, Rahi, and Toa. My first idea was to create a benchmark for comparing the strength of Bionicle stats to each other. I decided to use Matoran stats as the benchmark. The Basic System states that a stat of 10 is average (which means that a 10 will yield no bonus or negative to a roll when used in a skill check). Since I wanted the Matoran to potentially have modifiers, I decided to make the average of a Matoran's stat 15. In addition, there are a few Rahi that are not as strong Matoran. Having Matoran stats average 15 gives me some room to make these low level Rahi.

Since Toa are really strong (compared to Matoran), I decided to multiply the Matoran average by three, giving Toa an average stat level of 45.

Rahi are going to be a little different since there is such a variation between them. Most of the Rahi will be above Matoran level but below Toa level (probably in the 30 range).

schattentanz
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D6 / Fate

Toa Lewa wrote:
schattentanz wrote:
Are you familiar with the D6 System?

No I am not, but I am now looking into it.

Quote:

It's a free system that has already been used for fantasy, modern age as well as sci fi Settings.

Due to its flexibility you might want to use it for your system as well.

The benefit of a D6 system is, new players will play with D6 (something they already know) in a world they have yet to learn.

I guess I must have skipped the d6 system and went straight to d20. What would you say are the main advantages of a D6 system over a d20 system?

I have also seen some suggestions that Bionicle would work well in a FATE system. Does anyone have experience with FATE?

The advantage of the D6 System is the comfort it brings new players. They don't have to cope with "strange" dice and might not be turned off by them.
Also you get to roll more dice when trying to perform something. And rolling dice is fun!

The Fate RPG is a system putting the focus on narrating a tale.
Instead of values for your attributes, skills, etc. you are using the adjectives Terrible, Poor, Mediocre, Fair, Good, Great, and Superb.
Similar (if not the same) adjectives are used for difficulties, too.
Also, you use "Fudge Dice" (dF): six siders with 2 blank sides, 2 sides with a + and 2 sides with a -.
Each time you are using one of your attributes or skills you roll 4dF: Each + raises your attribute 1 rank, each - lowers the Attribute 1 rank. Blank sides do nothing.

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