STALKER: The RPG
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : The RPG is what naturally comes when /tg/ decides to get shit done. Not to be confused with STALKER: The Other RPG, STALKER: The Zone RPG, or STALKER - The SciFi Roleplaying Game.
How it came into existence
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : The RPG is a ruleset meant for the d20_Modern system. It was originally created from a British dude who didn't pay as much attention to it as he should. When a group of lonely and hungry-for-Stalker gamers found out about it, they decided it was far too broken to be played. Thus, the overhauling process was initiated.
After the invaluable help of fa/tg/uys, the ridiculous fixing and rule-adding actions taken by the Steam group that asked for feedback in the first place and 4 or so threads, the ruleset reached its final form. Although even cover art was made, the file remained in .doc instead of .pdf form, to the disapproval of many.
General Characteristics
- The players take up the roles of Stalkers, wandering around in the Chernobyl and Pripyat area, a wasteland filled with mutants and dirty opportunity-seekers living in rebuilt settlements, military dudes and greedy traders.
- Every human creature has 50HP, non-changeable (except through the use of artifacts found in the area). This is to promote realism and to keep players and enemies not-overpowered.
- Most would agree that weapons do a lot of damage. This is correct, judging from the fact that 2 OR 3 BULLETS USUALLY KILL THE SHIT OUT OF YOU IRL. That, and guns in Stalker were pretty lethal too.
- There was a big argument about the Knife only inflicting 2d20 damage, thereby being unable to inflict one-hit kills. It was generally agreed upon keeping it that way, since no-one would enjoy players running around armed with knifes and killing everything in one stab.
The setting was playtested by the original introducing crew using Fantasy Grounds 2. It was reported that it worked out well, although some minor problems still existed (like the fact that you wont be getting an assault rifle for some sessions). Overall, it's an issue that should really fall under every GM's jurisdiction. It's up to him to make things easy or hard in the first place
Another playtest was done by 3 Anonymous, 1 DM and his character and 2 normal players. This crew reported a small amount of un-needed feats (like the Rebuild feat, which allows you to fully reconstruct and reinforce small settlements, given time) or overpowered ones (like the Knifan focus, which allows 2 attacks per turn when wielding a knife). However, those kind Anons agreed that the game flow was undisturbed and there were no mechanics that hindered the progress of the storyline.
In the 4th thread, a variant cover was handed out and there was a promise of a .pdf-ication of the .doc file in the near future. If something is given out, expect it to be shown here.
Anonymous delivers. A PDF has been made.
External Links
- The whole bunch of the STALKER: The RPG files (Ruleset, covers, weapon list and empty character sheet) on Rapidshare.com Now in PDF form.
<gallery> Image:Stalkan.png|First, more Grimdark version of the cover art. Image:Weaponlist.JPG|The list of all weapons available. There was one more column listing the special properties of each gun that did not fit the screenshot.