“TROPETRON FORCE, GO!”
Channel #3 is all about the series/character creation channel. Yep. They come both of them. It turns out that creating series is “teamwork” between the Game Master and his or her players. Nice touch there, Spectrum Games! I'm in Sincerity Mode there.
They are four steps”
Step #1 is “Name and Tagline”. It's fine to your group to skip this and move to step #2.
Step #2 is a “Series”. It's contains a good amount of words from Season 2's “The Series” Channel.
Step #3 is the “Dials” – one of my favorite new additions to “Cartoon Action Hour” in this edition. T They four dials that can rated 1 thought 3. The four dials are Seriousness, Realism, Violence, and Continuity.
- Serious Dials reveals how serious a cartoon can be.
- Level 1 is bighearted romp with lot of a laughs.
- Level 2 is normal action cartoon from the 1980s
- Level 3 is very serious and everything is played straight as arrow.
- Realism reveals how much of the reality is present.
- Level 1 is Reality is throw against the fourth wall to be smashed to piece. According the rule book, claim his level is on the “outer fringes of what constitutes being an action cartoon.”
- Level 2 is Reality with Cartoon Logic added in. This is “default level” for action cartoon according the rule book.
- Level 3 is “THIS IS REALITY” business and cut out most of the cartoon logic. This is “very rare level” for the action cartoon according to the rule book.
- Violence tells with what kind of violence to expect.
- Level 1 as told by the rulebook: “The series either avoids physical conflicts like the plague or goes for a slapstick type of violence. It is clearly intended for younger audiences than the majority of the action cartoons. Death simply doesn’t exist in the series.”
- Level 2 is the normal 1980s cartoon routine as par for the course.
- Level 3 as told by the rulebook: “While certainly still within the realms of the retro-toon genre, this series has a slightly darker edge to it in certain respects. Direct physical attacks are more common. The threat of death is real, though bloodshed is still a no-no. “The Movie” rule is in effect for this series (see page 59).
- Next is Continuity which how well the show is connect to each episode.
- According to the rule book, Level 1 is “The series is entirely episodic. Episodes never reference events that came before, making it very easy for the GM to write plotlines. After all, she needn’t concern herself with maintaining any sense of continuity.”
- According to the rule book, Level 2 is “The series is mostly episodic, but past events can affect later episodes. The episodes are usually islands unto themselves, though multi-episode storylines happen from time to time. Most retro-toons belonged to this category.
- According to the rule book, Level 3 is “The series is completely serialized. That is, one episode flows directly into the next, creating one epic storyline that spans the entire season or even series. This level also accounts for one-shot mini-series as well.”
Step #4 is the Player Character's Guidelines. I'm summarizing this one as par for the course.
- Star Power is usually a 3.
- If you want them to unsung heroes drop them down to 2 in Star Power
- If you want to on par with the villain – give them a Star Power in 4.
- You can have a “The Star of the Show” but talk with your players. You may have drop it of one of play is not happy with playing a second-banana to the “The Star of the Show”
- If series has players playing normal humans – given them the Human Tier and Trait Points of 18.
- If series has players playing superhuman – given them the Superhuman Tier and Traits Points of 26.
- If series has players playing cosmic beings – given them the Cosmic Tier and Traits Points of 34.
- The trait tier effects the maxim rating of a series.
- Maximum rating from a “Human Tier” series is 4
- Maximum rating from a “Superhuman Tier” series is 8.
- There is no maximum rating for a “Cosmic Tier” series.
- Other rules as as followed:
- When you have “Disallow Traits”, certain traits aren't allow in the series.
- When you have “Disallow Special Rules”, the people can't pick up any “Special Rules” next to this one.
- A “Required Trait” must be according to the rule book: “This indicates that all players must spend at least some of their Trait points on one particular Trait or type of Trait.”
- A “Free Trait” is a unmodifiable trait and trait rating given to the Ps C free of change.
- A “Free Modifiable Trait” can be modified by the PC just like any other trait.
- According to the rule book, a “Free Floating Trait”: “This indicates that the P Cs are given a free Trait that the players can define themselves… within certain parameters. It can be modified, just like a Free Modifiable Trait.
- “Excessive Trait Ratings” allows the P Cs to have one or more traits that exceeds the normal maximum of a series. Though the rulebook mentions: “Keep in mind that P Cs don’t automatically gain Traits at such ratings; they must be purchased with Trait points as normal."
- “Theme Adherence” means that the PC have to stick to theme like glue – no way of making a Japanese ninja if the “Theme Adherence” stated that all PC must be Knights of the Round Table.
- “Catchphrases” according the rule book are as follow: “If, during character creation, the character is given Upgrade #4, the new Standard Quality can be made into a catchphrase that the character tends to say. The person creating the character should simply write the catchphrase down in the appropriate Standard Quality spot on the bio-file, followed by “catchphrase” in parenthesis. This catchphrase can be used as a normal Standard Quality or it can be used after a check has been made (usually if successful, but not always). If used in the latter fashion, the character gets the normal benefits of using a Standard Quality for a single check the following round… and will earn a point of Oomph as well. If used in that manner, it still causes the Quality to be checked off. Regardless of which way it is used, the person controlling the character is required to actually say the catchphrase aloud (the hammier, the better!)”
- “Gestalts”: Allows the PCs to have gestalts.
I think set up my fake series in the next installment.
