I’ve been away camping for a bit, and while I did a lot of reading – all of it for work – I also did some RPG work. Given my avowed love of the Borderlands computer game, I did a very quick and basic RPG to use as a foundation for creating Pandora Excess, my RPG inspired by Borderlands.
Along with a design philosophy, there were some mechanical aspects of Borderlands that I felt I needed to include, such as Shields. Weapons were a tough one, because my preference is to go with all weapons do the same damage, but Borderlands worked very hard on creating a variety of weapons. I worked that into the game as well, although I have it as an optional component.
The basics are 2d10 + bonuses against a Target Number, not like in Sword Noir. Also like Sword Noir, only the players ever roll, though unlike Sword Noir, every actor in a scene, PC and NPC, gets to act, so it’s a bit more like D&D that way.
This is my initial stats for Mordecai using the basic Pandora Excess rules.
Mordecai
Concepts: Hunter +2, Gunslinger +2
Skills: Revolver +2, Rifle +2, Tracking +2
Elements: Bloodwing (Short) +4, Stealth +2, Deception +2
You can find out more about Borderlands here.