Leverage International RPG - Discussion Thread

I'm planning to start a Leverage themed RPG game, where players will be part of a Caper Crew working to be Just Like Robin Hood .

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The setting will be after the TV Series. Players will be people with 'special skill sets', recruited to be a team of modern day Robin Hoods to use their illegal skills to help the little guy and strike a blow against the greedy and corrupt.

I plan to use the Cortex Plus Leverage RPG system. When you describe something you want to do, you decide on the appropriate PROFESSION and ATTRIBUTE dice to use, plus any ASSET or TRAIT dice. Those dice are rolled and the two highest scoring dice are added together. If your total is higher then the challenge, you succeed. If you are more then five over, you succeed with a bonus. Any dice that are 1 trigger a FIXER decided CONSEQUENCE and you gain a PLOT POINT.

Edited by Nodrog on Apr 23rd 2020 at 1:42:09 PM

Could you specify on hwt two attributes at each level means, as said in the character sheet.

I apologize for not making this clear.

You have to assign values of 'Great', 'Good', or 'Average' to six stats.

Why not 'Good', 'Average', and 'Bad'? Because in Leverage RPG, your characters are all recruited for your experience and special skills. At your worst, you are the equal to someone who is only average. How many attributes you assign to be Great, to be Good, and to be Average depend on whether you are going Focused or Versatile. (Note: Focused and Versatile are terms from the Leverage RPG game.)

If you are choosing to make a Focused character, you choose two attributes to be 'Great' (D10s will be assigned for these two attributes), two attributes to be 'Good' (D8s will be assigned for these two attributes), and two to be average (D6s will be assigned for these last two attributes).

Example: Let's say I want to make a Hitter who's the Mighty Glacier, using the Focussed option.

I would put Strength and Vitality at Great, Willpower and Alertness at Good, and Intelligence and Agility at Average. This build would be a person relatively easy to evade but hard to stop once he/she got moving.

The Versatile build is where you pick one Attribute to be Great, one Attribute to only be Average, and the rest to be Good. (More of a jack-of-all-trades)

This time, if I was making the Mighty Glacier, I would put Vitality at Great and Intelligence at Average. This version of the character is better at catching people who try to run away, but hits less hard.

Edited by Nodrog on Apr 23rd 2020 at 1:46:15 PM

Something to keep in mind when playing Leverage RPG is that it's meant to recreate the feel of Leverage the TV Series / Heist movies. You are free to announce having done something in a flashback or trying to describe something you feel could be found in the location, even if I haven't specifically mentioned it. Also, if it would work in a movie/tv show it will work in the story, even if it doesn't work IRL.

Example:

Fixer: (Me) You've broken into the Mark's office and try to log onto her computer. It's asking for a pin number and a fingerprint. This is two difficulty checks of 10 or a single check of 15 to bypass it.

Hacker: When we spent the day following the Mark around, I saw her using an ATM. Most people reuse their PIN, so I'll try the number she used on the ATM on her computer.

Thief: And I'll spend a plot point to find a glass vase of flowers on the office desk and a roll of scotch tape. I'll use the scotch tape to lift a fingerprint from the glass vase, then eye shadow from my purse to darken the fingerprint before putting it on the scanner.

Fixer: Rolling Profession: Hacker (D10) and Attribute: Awareness (D10) for the hacker. Thief uses Profession: Thief (D10) and Attribute: Intelligence (D8), plus a one time Asset of 'Vase Fingerprint' as another D8. -rolls- Both succeed, but the Thief's Intelligence dice rolled a one. You accidentally break the vase after getting the fingerprint, so the thief gets a new Plot Point and on the thief's next Agility check, the dice will be downgraded from a D10 to a D8. Ok, the PIN number and the fingerprint are both accepted. The computer screen changes to show a home screen with three file folders. One is marked "Accounting", one is marked "Off-Shore Bank Records", and the third is labelled "Porn".

Hacker: I'm suspicious and click on the folder labelled Porn. While it's opening, I tell the thief "Hey, did you know when you say 'PIN Number', you're basically saying Personal Identification Number Number?"

Fixer: You find a file marked 'Project: Obliterate Rival Networks' and a note saying 'Nobody likes a smart aleck'.

Edited by Nodrog on Apr 12th 2020 at 4:22:03 AM

Ok, I moved some stuff over to a Data Dump thread. Please do NOT post in that thread unless it's something like your character's back story or other information you want to be incorporated into the game; anything in that thread should be cannon for the game.

If you have any questions or comments about the Data Dump thread or any questions about the game in general, post them either here or IM me.

Edited by Nodrog on Apr 14th 2020 at 4:32:07 AM

We have three possible players, are you all ok with launching? Also, I'm not sure how comfortable everyone would be basing the story on real world events. My current opening is:

The city... the whole country... is supposed to be in quarantine. You're only supposed to go out for 'essential needs', and curiosity probably doesn't count as an essential need.

On the other hand, you're not one to always play by the rules... either you were just born that way or you've had 'the rules' shoved in your face too many times by someone using them as a way to do people wrong. In any case, when you got the strange invitation, you decided to accept it. A business card, one side bearing a logo for 'Leverage International', and the other side list an address for an uptown office and a time. Totally innocent looking... except each of you found the card waiting for you inside your home, with no sign of how the deliverer put it there.

Each of you has heard rumors... whispers, really... of a group calling itself Leverage. Modern day robin hoods. Wishful thinking or fairy tales, probably. However, over the last few years, there's been a small increase in the number of news reports of high powered companies and wealthy individuals who found themselves no longer powerful nor wealthy. Coincidence, perhaps, but perhaps something more.

Whatever you heard, it was enough... along with the cards... to bring you here.

The address takes you to an almost completely vacant office building full of rental locations, meant for companies looking for temporary space. One office 'suite' has been recently rented by Leverage International, on the top floor. The 'suite' is basically a large conference room surrounded by several small offices, with a small reception area. Entering the suite, you see the receptionist desk. Someone has placed a hand drawn sign on top of the desk, saying 'Rabbit Hole that-a-way' and an arrow pointing to the open door of the conference room.

Glancing around, the furniture looks like it probably came with the office space; one small step up from Ikea. Entering the conference room you finally see one exception; a wall of flat screen monitors has been set up behind the conference table, and a man is sitting at the end of the table to put his back to the monitors. He's watching a laptop as you enter. On the monitors behind him are a variety of security camera footage, making it clear he was able to monitor you as you walked up to the building and then traveled up to the office.

"Oh, good. You've accepted my invitation." the man says. He smiles, seeing Gordon Adamos. "What's up, doc?" he says, then laughs at his own joke. "Sorry, too soon? I'm trying to get better at that. I'm told I can be a bit of a jerk, but I'm here to get your help taking down the REAL jerks."

He presses a button on the laptop and the wall of displays change, going black and then the monitors suddenly linking together for the twelve screens to display a single image: The logo of Con-Glam-O-Rate. After a few seconds, a slightly smaller logo for one of their major subsidiaries (Phobos Pharmaceuticals) also pops up.

"My name is Chaos, and I'm here to tell you first why those guys.." Chaos says, jerking a thumb at the wall of monitors behind him. "...Need to be put down, and then to tell you how you all can be a part of making that happen... and make yourselves a nice chunk of change doing it."

Giant 'No' signs appear over the two logos, red circles with a slash down the middle, and several green floating dollar signs appear around them.

Edited by Nodrog on Apr 22nd 2020 at 12:13:06 PM

I'm fine with launching now.

Any plans on when to start?

Was hoping for a fourth player (or more) but we can go ahead and start now.

Game thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15876612180A50256000&page=1#1

Edited by Nodrog on Apr 28th 2020 at 7:34:28 AM