Dredd Preview

I note the Judge Dredd preview PDF is up:-

Dredd Preview PDF here

One thing I noticed PDQ, and that's in the Med Judges passage:-

"Though trained to be compassionate, Med Judges soon become hardened to the realities of Mega-City One, injured to the terrors the citizens can infl ict upon themselves and the Street Judges."

The word is "inured." Drop the J, citizen. And clean up the space in "inflict," too.

Resuming proofreading patrol. Will document a full report later.

;)
 
Even though mere mention of the words Judge Dredd conjure up nightmares of Sly Stone for me...I looked at the sample.

Very stylish, I especially like the sentencing rules for "Chump Dumping". I think that is my new favorite phrase.
 
Being the utterly huge Dredd fan that I am (I'm an even more hardcore Strontium Dog fan, but that can wait for now), I am seriously looking forward to seeing this book on the shelves.
 
I must say that I, too am impressed with the Dredd preview. I waited in interest how Mongoose will include special abilities to Traveller engine.
 
SnowDog said:
I must say that I, too am impressed with the Dredd preview. I waited in interest how Mongoose will include special abilities to Traveller engine.

I approached this by putting term special in place of skills here and there which allows to pick from list of special abilities(some having pre-requirements, some don't). Biggest challenge I face is to make special features that are appropriate for setting and which aren't too powerful(especially to level other special abilities aren't used).

Will be interesting to see how far off I went compared to how Mongoose did it.
 
You must share the comparison when the book gets out.

Special abilities have been part of JD gaming since GW times (obviously they were feats in D20 system) but interestingly enough they have stayed in Traveller incarnation as well.
 
SnowDog said:
You must share the comparison when the book gets out.

Not sure I'll be getting Dredd book any time soon. Cash bit limited(no kidding. 40e is my bank account ATM :D) and Dredd isn't my favourite settings(not that I hate it. I just have very, very, VERY little idea about it apart from basics) and I have too many settings as it is ;-)

But for example ATM I have special in pretty much all careers personal development(which I have always felt is least useful development area and therefore could do with bit of a boost) on 6. There's also few specific specialities given in term events or even rank benefits(temptress has smouldering temptress ability when reaches rank 1 for example). Few specialities ATM in list(note no playtesting has yet been done. ATM I'm more of brainstorming ideas for special abilities).

Blood rage – Must have at least one term as barbarian

Barbarian who is under blood rage is nearly unstoppable with sheer rage providing him strength and endurance beyond his normal capacity.
Once per day character may enter blood rage. It takes one standard action for character to whip himself into the frenzied state. While frenzied character gains +2 strength and +2 endurance but suffers -1 for defences. Frenzied state lasts for 2d6 minutes before wearing out.

Defensive combat

You may take -1DM for attack rolls and gain +1DM for all parry or dodge rolls until your next round.

Sweeping blow – Str 10+

Your strikes cleave through your target and straight to another poor victim. If your hit cause damage equal to opponents endurance or he dies you may strike against another target at -1DM.

Greater reserves

You can temporarily have up to three times the amount of magic power as you normally have. This power dissipates as normal.

That sort of stuff. There's also stuff like blind-fight(helps if you are blinded. You aren't TOTALLY as good as with full sight but you suffer less of penalties), ability to get extra "oomph" when sacrificing somebody(sacrifice in turn gives you more psi-points or magic power as I call them) and ability to carry more exotic weaponry or heavier armour than you are normally capable of carrying without penalties(base types are determined by which career terms you have served. Some thief isn't going to be very good at walking around in full plate mail armour!).

ATM tad over 2 pages. Won't have tons of these so probably 3, maybe 4 pages total. Some which aren't neccessarily available for players requlary like daemonic endurance which is ability daemons posses(though sorcerer player characters CAN get that one if they know daemonology spell type and cast daemonic form spell). Figured this is good way to provide also some special abilities more fantastic creatures might posses.

Basically they should provide bit more colour and allow bit more heroic deeds than reqular characters can do. Appropriate IMO for sword&magic where they might face fearsome beasts and unnatural creatures like daemons. I have tried to kept them simple enough that they don't slow the game and tried to kept amount character receives limited(and not even quaranteed neccessarily) so they don't dominate too much. We'll see how it works once I get playtesting started. Base work is now more or less done. Spell list and bestiary are about biggest things left to do. For spells 19 spells(of which 1 has atleast name and basic idea) are left to do(from total of 72 I have put as a goal...) and for bestiary yet undecided amount. Then for mass combat rules which follow the format from mercenary.
 
The Special Techniques are clearly inspired by d20 Feats, but they're an important addition to Traveller if you're going to be able to reflect the kind of outlandish comic book heroics Judges routinely pull-off in the course of their adventures.

Most Special Techniques augment or replace a skill, providing an automatic success in certain circumstances, or a level of success in others. All of them can be found in the Dredd comics.
 
Both ways sound very nice (not the 40 e bank account, though).

Those sword and sorcery abilities sound a bit familiar and having them tied to a number of terms in certain career sound like a good idea.

About Special Techniques, I just have to ask. Is lawmaster kick a special technique or a normal attack? I remember that it was one of the most devastating attacks in GW version of the game and my players used it quite often :P
 
SnowDog said:
About Special Techniques, I just have to ask. Is lawmaster kick a special technique or a normal attack? I remember that it was one of the most devastating attacks in GW version of the game and my players used it quite often :P

There isn't a lawmaster kick special technique.
 
OK, but there is still a way to handle it within normal combat rules. A normal kick with added damage bonus from the Lawmaster?
 
SnowDog said:
OK, but there is still a way to handle it within normal combat rules. A normal kick with added damage bonus from the Lawmaster?

Combat rules are normal for Traveller. Though they did add a Gun Combat (Lawgiver) doesn't add anything special. There are a couple of special techniques related to the Lawmaster though no kick.
 
OK, thanks for the info! Not that it's too important now that my then active Dredd players have scattered and are no longer active gamers...
 
Just flicking through it now. I got to the section on crimes and suggested punishments. In the Civic and Financial section it says bigamy carries a sentence of 1 year per count.

I always thought the punishment for bigamy was two wives. ;)
 
Everyone knows that marriage isn't a word; its a sentence in itself...

I reckon 1 year per count is probably a relief for some perps...
 
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