u/CRTScream

Hi all!

I'm a big TTRPG fan who loves game design, and I recently rewatched the Sonic movies with my partner (in between playing the Marvel Multiverse RPG), and it made me think... why isn't there a Sonic Tabletop RPG? After looking online, I found that there are actually several fanmade versions - Rings & Running Shoes, Sonic Tag-Team Heroes, and this game from 2019 that uses the same system as Sega's own 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books (that I had actually played as a kid!)

As I combed through each one, they either felt too complex or too simple, either too detailed, or not detailed enough... So, I took upon myself, to create rules for my own Sonic the Hedgehog TTRPG!

I've created a general overview of how the game works (a Core Rulebook, if you will) that I'd love to get some feedback on. I feel like it keeps things simple for younger players, while still having a lot of variability for more experienced TTRPG players, and even leaves room to make some interesting OCs! (Plus, I included some character sheets in there already, that I will add to as I keep working on the system.)

You can find the ruleset here

I've made the Google Doc open for comments, and any comments here would be appreciated too. If anyone would be interested in playtesting it too, do let me know, as I'd love a chance to see it in action!

Hi all!

I decided to make a mechanical version of the Symbiote Infected from Web of Shadows, and the Zombiotes from the Venom War event!

I've also designed a mechanic for how they work in-game:

1. A Zombiote/Infected attacks a character, and does at least 1 point of damage.
2. The character must make a TN 18 Resilience Check, or become Infected.
3. If they become Infected, they gain 1 Rank, the Flexible Bones 1, and Combat Trickery Power. They also gain the Infector and Weakness; Extreme Heat/Extreme Sonics/Anti-Venom Traits.
4. Infected can be cured by reducing them to 0 HP with anything that would harm a symbiote, or with any other method that removes a symbiote. When this happens, the symbiote is removed, and the character underneath is cured back to full Health. If they are attacked with any standard attacks that aren't its Weakness and takes damage, it harms the person underneath.
5. Infected will first attempt to spread the symbiote to the next nearest character.
6. If there are none easily accessible, the Infected will make a Ego Vs Resilience Attack against itself, until it is reduced to negative its full Health.
7. The character then becomes a Zombiote - the character themselves is deceased, and cannot be cured of the Zombiote virus, and is simply being piloted by the symbiote. They keep any powers they had, and gain one more Rank, Flexible Bones 2, and the Bloodthirsty Trait. (Weakness is replaced with Anathema, for all of the same kinds of damage.) Otherwise, they follow the same rules as a Zombie character.

Let me know what you guys think!

I ran into an issue in a game I was Narrating where a character had Elemental Protection and Sturdy, and we got into a discussion about it after the session about how you account for the excess damage that gets through.

It seems like this is an ongoing topic among Narrators, because I ran into the same issue in a game I was playing last night!

Some GMs rule that when rolling an attack against a character who has DR and Protection, you roll with DR, and the 'excess' is any damage left over after DR and the Protection's flat damage. This felt... off, to me, because you're accounting for DR before it's hitting the character's body, basically giving the Protection DR, which it doesn't say anywhere in the power description to do.

Then you run into a problem with Elemental Reinforcement - is the 'excess' damage the damage that the Protection takes, or the damage that the character would take? Because if you're rolling with DR, then the damage is what the character takes, but the excess damage should be what the Protection is taking, meaning you're back to re-calculating the same attack without DR to see how much Focus they spend.

If you don't, it means that a Rank 6 character with Sturdy 4 and Protection 4 would only take damage on an attack from another Rank 6 character with Mighty 4, that rolls a 6 or Fantastic Success. It would be 5 damage on a 6 (or 50 damage on a Fantastic). They can spend 5 Focus easily to keep the Protection up, without using any kind of action, basically making them invincible for 6 attacks if they're not spending any other Focus. This seems... Unfair (and awkward).

It also means that you run into a problem with powers like 'Elemental Sphere', which says it uses the same mechanics as Protection - so do you give the Sphere DR? This has also divided Narrators, but I rule no, because there's no excess damage getting through, so it's not hitting anyone with Sturdy... But then you're going against the wording of the power.

However, some Narrators argue that you can't alter the result of the die after you've already used it - i.e. You roll an attack against Protection without DR, it gets through, now are you reversing the result and checking it again with DR? Is this two attacks, or one?

This also felt off to me, because it assumes that you're altering the result that you already got, when you're... not. You're just accounting for DR after you break the Protection - same as if a character punched through a wall and hit a character with Sturdy; the wall doesn't have Sturdy, so it takes a flat 20 damage, but then the character takes the same attack with DR - 20. (If you looking at Plowing Through rules, this makes sense.)

So, I made a flowchart for how to handle attacks against characters that have both Elemental/Telekinetic Protection and Damage Reduction, and how applying Elemental Reinforcement works as well. It's also summarised as;

• Roll attack without DR
• If it breaks the Protection, character can spend Damage - Protection Threshold in Focus to keep it up
• If they don't, they take Damage - Protection Threshold - dM X DR to Health.

I feel like it makes sense narratively, and isn't any more difficult than accounting for an attack that hits multiple characters for half damage, when you have some characters with DR and some without.

(For example, Snap Shooting hitting a character with Sturdy 2 and another character without, you're doing

• (dM X (Rank + Accuracy - DR)) halved for character 1
• (dM X (Rank + Accuracy)) halved for character 2

Equally as mathematically weird, but would see common use.)

Just thought it might be useful for Narrators, at least until they explain it officially (hopefully in the Secret Wars expansion).