Campaign Idea and GC Questions

[Yogobunzo]

I'll start with the quick questions, and they all stem from 2.0 1st printing book.

Q1: This...is my boomstick feat states that a readied shotgun can be used in a melee attack as a heavy club. Would the player have untrained penalties for using it like so without the blunt weapon proficiency?

Q2: When using AP rounds, does it only decrease the DR of an item, armor, object, etc, or does it also reduce the damage save of items, npcs, vehicles, objects, etc.

Q3: In Chapter 5, table 5.13, size indicates for defense, attack, etc. Do players and my npcs include the bonuses for all their items, including weapons, or is that attack bonus and others used differently. An example would be lovely.

Q4: I'm having complete difficulties understanding calculating total xp reward. The whole formula of adding up the base mission xp(missions, complications, npcs), then taking that number and multiplying it by career level or TL. Could someone please make an example mission, quick and simple with different xp rewards and such so I could totally understand.

Lastly, the campaign setting my players and I are doing is a pulp game set in 1936 and revolves around relic hunting and treasure finding, e.g. Indiana Jones, The Mummy. Off hand, is there any other books and/or movies anyone could refer me to for ideas and areas of study so I can make this good for the players. Just want to be accurate with weapons, gear, money, vehicles, transportation, etc. etc. Thanks everyone, sorry for long post.

[Gatac]

1) By RAW, yes. If I were to GC it, I wouldn't do it, since it's such a limited application and the player spent a feat on it.

2) As far as I remember, it also reduces damage saves. I know that this rule has been errata'd from the first printing, but I'll be damned if the way it's in Second Printing was changed again. The final word is definitely in the errata, so check that.

3) What this table shows is how values are modified, relative to a medium-sized character. For example, if a character is Large, he has -1 to all of his attack rolls and Defense. Those are penalties applied to the base values. Take a Large char, +4 Class Defense bonus, 0 Dexterity bonus. He'll have a Defense of 10 (base) + 4 (Class) +0 (Dex) -1 (Size) = 13. You'll note that the attack and defense penalties are the same, so characters of the same size effectively cancel out each other's size-related modifiers.

Gatac

[Crafty_Pat]

Q1: This...is my boomstick feat states that a readied shotgun can be used in a melee attack as a heavy club. Would the player have untrained penalties for using it like so without the blunt weapon proficiency?

Yes, per the RAW, but as Gatac says the GC's well within his rights to negate the penalty in favor of the feat purchase.

Q2: When using AP rounds, does it only decrease the DR of an item, armor, object, etc, or does it also reduce the damage save of items, npcs, vehicles, objects, etc.

AP affects DR but not Damage saves.

Q3: In Chapter 5, table 5.13, size indicates for defense, attack, etc. Do players and my npcs include the bonuses for all their items, including weapons, or is that attack bonus and others used differently. An example would be lovely.

Generally, the 5.13 modifiers are applied universally, so a Large character's attacks, Defense, encumbrance, wounds, etc. would all be affected as listed. There are exceptions but they're listed with the relevant  rules.

Q4: I'm having complete difficulties understanding calculating total xp reward. The whole formula of adding up the base mission xp(missions, complications, npcs), then taking that number and multiplying it by career level or TL. Could someone please make an example mission, quick and simple with different xp rewards and such so I could totally understand.

Here's a basic example of a finished mission...

Scene 1
Objective: Sneak into an enemy base to find the location of a captured agent (Infiltrate 5): 125 XP
Security: Motion sensor (PR 5): 40 XP
Base guards: 50 XP

Scene 2
Objective: Get agent back from enemy safe house (Rescue 4): 100 XP
Complication: Time Limit (get agent out before he's killed): 50 XP
Henchmen guarding agent: 110 XP and 85 XP

Scene 3
Objective: Get agent back to extraction point (Transport 4): 100 XP
Complication: Dramatic Scene: 0 XP
Pursuing guards (same as in Scene 1): 50 XP
* Surviving henchmen from Scene 2 may join the chase, adding their XP again here

Adding those up, we get the following base XP totals...

Scene 1: 215 XP
Scene 2: 345 XP
Scene 3: 150 XP (perhaps increased to either 235, 260, or 345 XP if either or both henchmen join in)

Total: 710 Base XP

If the mission is tackled by a group of five player characters whose Career Levels are 8, 8, 7, 7, and 2, the Threat Level is 7 ((8 + 8 + 7 + 7 + 2) divided by 5, rounded up). Multiplying base XP by 7, the characters gain the following XP totals...

Level 7 and 8 Characters: 4,970 XP
Level 2 Character: 1,420 XP

There are more variations and modifiers - action dice, TL modifiers, and such - but that's the basic structure.

Hope that helps.

[Yogobunzo]

Wow, thanks Pat. That was stellar example. Guess I just read too much into mission building. Never knew it could be that easy. Now just to see if my players recognize the speaker at the college(their faction, which has a private museum)before going off to their mission, Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr. Field of study Archeology & Ancient Relics,   

[Crafty_Pat]

Coolness. Have fun with the game!