Captain's Log: Monolith 2e...Ammo Rules & Damage Types!

Hey folks!

I'm going to be vulnerable and try writing some semi-regular updates about my process. I want to share the thinking behind my design decisions, and also open a platform for feedback, so the people who are actually playing the game (you all) can weigh in with thoughts and feedback.

For this first post, I'm going to discuss combat, damage types, and weapons.

1. Ammo as Resource: Cairn is a very resource-driven game, with slot based inventory playing a big part of that. A big part of that is food and light. With travelling through wilderness and needing to bring torches, that becomes the inventory management minigame. With Monolith, food and light are often less of an issue. In fact, with the way I run games at least, the primary loop is PCs find a job, prep, and go do that job. And as this is sci-fi, there inevitably ends up being a lot of shooting. Especially when they have a ship, food and light become less important to track unless there's some real serious xeno-bushwhacking going on. So the first tweak I'm workshopping is adding ammo. The way think I want ammo to work is that ammo fills 1 slot, has 3 "uses", and a use is expended when a PC's attack roll is the highest number on the dice. So a d6 pistol will mark off a single use of ammo when they roll 6. This gives more damaging weapons longer ammo stores as well. This makes planning a job, or just decision what to carry, a more important decision, while not needing to "track arrows".

This leads into the next item on the list....

2. Damage Types: I'm scrapping the current "Advanced Combat Rules", at least as they exist today. The rules don't always align with the fiction of ItO-based combat, after much pondering. One thing I do want to retain though, at least in spirit, is different damage types. And this can really mean damage from a weapon just as much as from an NPC, Monster, and even the Environment. The fictional implications of being caught in a firestorm on an inferno planet, dodging acid globs from a slug monster, and getting shanked with a broken bottle in a cantina fight all are very different. Right now, I'm trying to put together a list that is minimal enough to represent the larger macro types of damage without being too obnoxiously long. I will share screenshots below. A crossroads I'm at is determining how specific to get with what exactly the damage types mean. Is it enough to know the difference fictionally between shock damage or blade damage? Right now, the answer is yes (but...). And please keep in mind, when looking at the list of damage types at the end of this post, this is science fiction, and I always lean towards the rule of cool and genre tropes over what is realistic or "balanced".

3. Damage Resistance and Weakness: Another aspect of damage types I like is the flexibility of giving certain NPCs, as well as armor & gear, tags indicating weakness or resistance. For example, a metallic NPC may have a weakness to "shock" damage. This would mean the damage roll is enhanced (d12). On the flip side, a PC could potentially buy Rubber Armor, which might not have much base armor (or none), but would have damage resistance to "shock" damage, meaning the damage roll would be impaired (d4). Ultimately what I want this to mean is that the gear PCs pick for a specific job matters, and good planning can be rewarded. This, combined with a simple ammo tracking mechanic, feels like the right level of resources management for science fiction.

Final thoughts...

What do you think? Is this too crunchy? Not crunchy enough? I'm curious how folks feel about this. I want a system that allows for PCs to prep for situations, be that harsh planetary weather, researching a target or location to figure weaknesses, and just being clever with damage types and the environment.

I am potentially workshopping a rule where there are "weapon mods" that a PC can carry, taking up inventory, for when they really want to "soldier it up" with their loadout. Weapon mods would potentially add a bonus effect to a weapon based on its damage type. For example, (this is all WIP) a Beam Focuser could allow for "laser" damage firearms to re-roll 1s (fictionally, its making the shots more accurate). A "Pulse Splitter" could allow for maximum damage rolls with "shock" based firearms to split and hit a second nearby target (chaining the electricity). Etc. I'm still playing with that, trying to find the right mix of fictional and mechanical. It might end up being an optional rule, we'll see... I like the feel of a "nat 20" when you roll high getting that extra adrenaline rush. It doesn't always make sense with HP being hit protection, because a max roll doesn't necessarily mean you actually hit the target. So that's what I'm working through atm.

So let me know what you think of this idea. I want to find the right blend of making changes to the game I want to see, which is why I wrote Monolith in the first place, while also relying on the community to provide your thoughts (which are often excellent and things I'd never think of.)

Next update I'll be talking a bit about adding rules for Stress & Panic Rules to more easily run sci-fi horror and MoShip modules.

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(Text below of my WIP text for Damage Types and Ammo Rules. Nothing here is final and is roughly written.)

Damage Types

• Most damage has a type, whether it comes from a weapon, a trap, environmental hazards, or creature. 
• Some armors will provide resistance to specific damage types, and sometimes weakness to others. Some NPCs and creatures will have weakness and resistance to listed damage types as well. 
• If you believe you have a need for a damage type that somehow doesn’t fit into the list below, adding additional damage types is okay, as is leaving damage type unspecified, in which case defer to the fiction.
  1. Ballistic: Bullets and most other standard projectiles.
  2. Blade: Sharp, edged, and pointed, including shrapnel.
  3. Blunt: Heavy and crushing.
  4. Fire: Live fire and other sources of extreme heat. Can set flammable things on fire.
  5. Shock: Electricity. Conductive. Metal and water are susceptible.
  6. Cold: Extremely low, damaging temperatures.
  7. Chemical: Biological, acidic, venomous, poisonous.
  8. Laser: Hyper-charged light. Typically artificially manufactured.
  9. Plasma: Super-charged fusion energy, often unstable. Melts through most metals and alloys.
  10. Particle: Subatomic particle weapons, and radiation.
  11. Psionic: Mental sources of damage.

Ammunition Rules

• Weapons with the Ammo tag require ammunition to use.
• Rolls of max damage require a reload on the following turn, using either the PC’s action or movement. 
• All ammo has 3 uses and takes 1 inventory slot. An ammo belt or bandolier may be purchased, which takes one slot to wear and can hold 3 ammo items.

Ammo Types

• Magazine: Standard ammo for ballistic firearms.
• Shredder Rounds: Ammo for specialized firearms that deal piercing damage.
• Fuel Tank: Ammo for fire-type weapons.
• Energy Cell: Ammo for cold, shock, and laser-type weapons.
• Fusion Core: Ammo for plasma, chem, and particle-type weapons.