My BASH campaign rules

[Sijo]

No, I don't have my own BASH campaign *yet* though only because I haven't found the right players; hopefully someday I will.

Meanwhile, its fun to think about which optional rules I would use. All of these are from Ultimate Edition. There are more in the Awesome Powers series, I'll cover them later:

Anti-Heroes: P. 87- Even though my setting would be 'Bronze Age' some of these already existed at the time.

Stun vs. Lethal damage & Medical Aid: P. 88-This is mainly to make attacks and their effects clearer ex. a knife is not the same as a fist.

No Killing: P.83- This is to remind everyone that even murderous vigilantes cannot get away with killing in the campaign, despite the above rule.

The Narrator can change whether a character is designated as a Hero or Villain at any time (see Frenemies, p. 89) As punishment for Heroes who go 'too dark' or a reward for Villains and Anti-Heroes who honestly reform.

Cosmic Power Category: P. 99- Despite not using the Cosmic Scale, Cosmic Powers will be available but limited to level 5.

Buying Advantages: p. 126- By now the fact I find the obligatory balancing of Advantages and Disadvantages impractical should be well known.

Team Gear (P. 91) for heroes who belong to major teams.

Starships: P: 91- Because you know there will be a space adventure at some point.

Cinematic Scale Combat: p. 126- I just find this easier.

Static Soak Values: p. 127- I find this is a better representation of toughness. Conversely, I would still roll for Defense since that represents dodging.

A minion’s damage dice can explode: though a Hero can spend a Hero point to prevent it. (Grittier Combat, Pg. 77) This is because even normals can sometime KO a Hero.

Fame: p. 127- Instead of an Experience system, I feel Heroes should be 'rewarded' with reputation based on their public acts.

[Sijo]

Here are more rules I would use in my BASH campaign; these are taken from the Awesome Powers series.

From AP vol. 1:
Grittier Combat (Expanded): I prefer to Divide Damage after Soak.
New Uses For Hero Points (Renew Resource) - makes sense to me since exceeding your limits is a classic Heroic trope.
New Uses For Hero Points (Power Trick): This clarifies which Powers can be mimicked as Power Tricks.
Deep Water Rules: Because sooner or later we'll visit Atlantis or its equivalent.

From AP vol. 2:
Expanded Damage & Repair Rules- clarifies how to heal/repair robots, cyborgs and power suits.

From AP vol. 4:
Gravity Effects (Zero G, Low-G, High-G): For gravity-powered characters, and those inevitable space adventures.

From AP. vol. 5:
Secondary Limitations- Because I feel creative use of Limitations is a great thing (as long as the Narrator watches for balance issues.)
Using Psionic Powers- This clarifies a lot re: Mental Powers.

From AP vol. 6:
-All the new Equipment plus Equipment Enhancements.

From AP vol. 7:
Bonus Die and Penalty Die: For those Powers that use them.

From AP vol. 8
New Skill Specialties (Athletics/Aerobatics, Military/Demolitions, Occultism/Channeling)- all very useful.

From AP vol. 9:
Paradoxes & Alternate Timelines- No specific plans yet but again, these are a classic.

[Sijo]

And now, a couple of Homebrewed Rules of my own:

Reserved Skill Slots: One problem I had making conversions was that I was often left with unused Skill Slots, mostly because many characters often have few Physical Skills (except combat skills, but those are treated as Powers in BASH.) Then after rereading the rules, I realized that while characters did get Skill Slots based on their Agility and Mind, nowhere did it say they *had* to buy any skills.

So my idea is this: A character may leave any of its skill slots empty, to be filled later (if ever.) The slots are still listed, though. To learn a new skill in-game, you can buy them with EXP. points (if that system is in use) or use this method: The player declares the skill he wants the character to learn. This often requires another character as a teacher (though many skills can be self-taught- Narrator's call) then the appropriate slot is filled between Issues. Usually only one slot can be spent this way at a time. The slot can also be spent on existing skills to add Specialties or to raise a Skill Multiplier.

Damage Division and Multiplication: According to Awesome Powers #9, damage multiplication comes before Soaking, while damage division comes after. I disagree; I think both should come after.

The reason for this is that to me, Soak represents toughness, and the person is hurt by damage that bypasses it. Meanwhile, Powers like Resistance and Weaknesses like Vulnerability are qualities of the character's being. Thus it makes sense that they modify damage *that the character has already taken* not just potential damage.

Example: Swamp Man has Brawn 3, which gives it Soak 15 (remember, I use the Static Soak rule). It is also a vegetable creature, and so it has Resistance to Lethal Damage (it lacks human organs) and a Damaging Weakness to Fire. Its Soak reduces all physical and energy attacks by 15, and any Lethal damage that bypasses it by half (that machete won't help you much) but any Fire-based damage that bypasses its Soak will be doubled.

While this might sound like it favors giving characters too much Defense, remember that in my campaign I use "grittier" combat rules (and characters aren't supposed to be killed anyway.)

[fairytalejedi]

I use half damage after soak, and I should probably use multiply after soak too. In the past I did x2 damage before soak and it was pretty brutal.

Team gear would probably be covered under the Membership advantage. I mean, if you want to give it to them for free, you can. But if you're going to have other things like an HQ under the Membership advantage, you might as well put everything under Membership.

[Sijo]

Yeah, Membership can be considered a "package deal" of Advantages + Disadvantages. However as currently written it costs only one Disadvantage to have it, regardless of its benefits, which makes no sense to me given how expensive many of the Advantages it contains can be. This is why I feel its cost should be based on the final Ad + Disad value. And yes pretty much anything that can be justified as being part of a Team (and lost if you quit or are expulsed) should be available when designing the Membership.

[fairytalejedi]

I've gone back and forth over the Membership advantage. One thing to consider is that if the entire team gets to use their HQ and Super Vehicle, why should only one character have to pay the cost of those advantages? Isn't it more fair to distribute the cost evenly?

If the total cost of gear that comes with Membership is greater than 2x the number of members, you could maybe charge them each 2 points for the Membership advantage. But I would probably only include the "hard' cost in that calculation, not the "soft" cost such as area of influence.

[Sijo]

Hmm, you may be right. Membership needs to be revised. Being in the Justice League for example, means you could count on help from the likes of Superman- sometimes, but just as often he might be busy with his own problem and you might get Elongated Man instead. These things need to be taken into account.