PHANTASM - Role-Playing Game (classic version)
Apr 22, 2014 13:01:33 GMT -5
DustinM and postmortem like this
Post by fantasyball on Apr 22, 2014 13:01:33 GMT -5
PHANTASM
Role-Playing Game - classic version 1.1 (movie part I, II, III and IV)
a phan made phree-ware RPG written by Fantasyball/Fredrik Holm, 2014, no rights reserved whatsoever!
Phantasm? Is it a nightmare? Is it an illusion? Is it an evil? Is it a fantasy? Is it alive? Phantasm is the delusion of a disordered mind; a phantom; a spirit; a ghost.
– He, The Tall Man, is massing an army to conquer dimensions, worlds unknown.
INTRODUCTION
This short and concise RPG gives you the opportunity to play Phantasm the way YOU always wanted it to be understood, along with friends! Gather, roll dice, have fun, and take on the ultimate challenge: to stop The Tall Man and his army of the dead!
Things you need to play are: good friends, paper, pen, six-sided dice.
I. CHARACTER CREATION
Pick an archetype from the following list and give the hero a name, or make an own archetype with the simple instructions at the end of this chapter. Here are the archetypes, inspired by the heroes in the movie series.
1. Dream master
In the mysterious world of Phantasm the line between reality and fantasy is far from clear. Where you shouldn’t believe everything you see – the clairvoyants’ third eye might be both a virtue to unlock secrets and at the same time a personal curse. Mike – the Dream master of the Phantasm universe – has a mystic relationship to the very being of The Tall Man – and vice versa. Tall Man seem to prefer to control a Dream master before killing him. Only one player can be a Dream master.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 3. Equipment: knife, flamethrower
2. Clairvoyant
Next to the Dream master we have the Clairvoyant – in the saga represented by Liz. The difference between the two is only one: you have no mystic bound to Tall Man and therefore he prefers you dead. To play a Clairvoyant might be an extra challenge as a role-player since it is a less forgiving role to play; if you get caught by him or a minion you’re screwed! Your extra-sensory perception to see Tall Man is a threat to him; he might call on you through dreams – only to set a deadly trap in your way on solving his secrets.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 3. Equipment: holy cross, T-shaped brooch/pin
3. Vendor-at-arms
The ordinary working man turns into a full feathered action hero when the war between good and evil comes to their home town. No time is lost; in working clothes they grab handguns of the most extreme and fire away at everything that moves – especially evil cloaked dwarves! Reggie needs your support!
Stats: Strength: 3 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: quad-shotgun, Hemicuda, tuning fork, guitar
(4. Half sphere)
Some individuals out of luck get caught by The Tall Man and are turned into a mix between human and a Sentinel sphere - as Jody. They can oppose Tall Man’s orders and break free for moments to help the heroes with hints how to find and outsmart The Tall Man or avoiding him. A Half sphere can be used for the Game master to pass half truths over to the players from time to time. (A Half sphere works as a sentinel sphere + the ability to open gateways/dimensional forks.) A Half sphere is not playable per se, but if you insist here is the stats:
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: brain-sucker, cut blade, welder, portal opener
5. Priest
Priests are another group of people able to see The Tall Man. Priests take on the old role as exorcists fighting Tall Man as if he was the Devil himself. Tall Man finds it amusing to mock these God’s servants when opportunity is given.
Stats: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: holy cross, dagger
6. Kid with an attitude
Yes, they do exist – and everybody is amazed how much mischief these small menaces can achieve. With a child’s fantasy and innovation the slow adults have no chance outrun a kid with an attitude. Come every child and gather next to Tim – sharpen your toys!
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: razorblade frisbee, gun, tomahawk
7. Ex-soldier
Veterans come home from war X only to find that their home town has turned into yet another of The Tall Man’s ghost towns. With them the ex-soldiers bring their battle knowledge, suited to take on the forces of evil. In the army they’ve been thought how to fight with nunchucks among lots of weapons – and nunchucks are perfect for striking down on balls flying at you. Join Rocky and block the balls.
Stats: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: nunchucks, handcuffs
8. Stranger in town
If none of the archetypes fit you for the moment you can create your own character. Distribute the value of 6 among the three attributes, where one attribute can have a value from between 1 and 4.
II. RULES
The game rules uses six sided dice. To succeed at anything you need to roll the result of 4, 5, 6 on a six-sided die. Harder challenges needs several succeeded die rolls. Here are the difficult levels:
Easy or average challenge: roll 1 succeeded die roll
Hard challenge: roll 2 succeeded die rolls
Make the impossible: roll 3 succeeded die rolls
Whenever you want to succeed at anything of importance you need to pass a test as shown above. It concerns actions that involve milieu. If you’re in combat the rules are different – as shown further down below.
You roll the same amount of dice as you have in that attribute; for an example you roll 2 dice if you have 2 in Dexterity.
In this game there is three attributes that control every skill and very action a hero or villain makes. They are: Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. They cover the following examples:
Strength: covers actions as close combat, forcing to open a door, pull, push
Dexterity: covers actions as climbing, jumping, throwing stuff, using melee weapons
Intelligence: covers actions as finding stuff, tactics, solve problems, suspect, drive a car
Combat:
All joining in combat – or any action that is of real importance – roll the amount of dice they have in Intelligence. If one rolls several dice, he picks the dice with the highest result. The one with the highest result on his die starts, and the rest follows in falling order. This roll is called an initiative roll.
In close combat both combatants roll their dice in Strength. If one rolls several dice, he picks the dice with the highest result. The one with the highest result on his die succeeds with his/her close combat attack and can roll for the damage dealt.
In melee combat the one who won the initiative starts to shoot, and the rest follow in falling order. To hit an object within 20 yards (10 meters) you need to succeed at level: easy (succeed with 1 die). To hit an object above 20 yards you need to succeed at level: hard (succeed with 2 dice).
Health:
Health is a secondary attribute that is built on Strength. A person can take the following damage before he or she passes out.
Strength 1 = Health 6; Strength 2 = Health 8; Strength 3 = Health 10; Strength 4 = Health 12
When out of conscious a person can suffer his Strength in damage before dying.
Damage:
Here is the list of damage weapons deal – with the damage modification given in a number inside parentheses. The modification is added to the damage die roll, made with a six-sided die: 1T6 + modification.
Close combat weapons (damage):
kick/hit (-1), knife/dagger/stiletto (+1), mining axe (+1), chainsaw (+2), hand axe (+1), drill (+1), nunchucks (+1), tomahawk (1+), cremation oven fire poker (+2), baton (+1), bone crush hammer (+1), T-shaped brooch (+0; fast attack: a brooch has +1 in initiative roll, and can be used for super-fast stabs)
Melee combat weapons (damage):
gun (+1), rifle (+2), shotgun (+3), quad-shotgun (+4), flamethrower (+3), hand grenate (+4), thrown tomahawk (+1)
Gold sphere insight weapons:
This part is some extra rules for advanced Phantasm role-playing! If a role-playing character gets a gold sphere implanted into his/her skull, the victim - next to being mind-read by Tall Man - gets in reverse some primitive insights into the wicked science Tall Man is operating with; gaining abilities such as:
Slow telekinesis: the victim can by will slowly lift and drop big rocks on villains (+4 melee). To do so, he/she needs to roll a hard 2 dice intelligence for success (max 1 times a game session)
Create and control 'Toy sphere':
A Toy sphere is a simple prototype sentinel sphere, built and controlled by the person with a gold sphere implant.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: sharp nails (+2 melee weapon)
Fly: it can fly – fast!
Attack backside of head: to hit a target the Toy sphere needs a 3 dice success roll with its Dexterity attribute.
Hit paralyzed victim: needs only 2 dice success roll when attacking with sharp nails at a person standing completely still
Car engine bomb:
By insight into Tall Man's wicked science the victim with a gold sphere implant can turn a car engine into a science fiction-ish bomb! Somehow Tall Man is drawn to the car engine bomb by extreme curiosity... boom!
Car engine Explosion damage: (+5)
III.VILLAINS
The Lord of the dead – The Tall Man – builds headquarters at small towns mausoleums. By reanimating corpses to his minions of living dead, he empties every grave at cemeteries and turns corpses into an army of Dwarves, Spheres, Lurkers and also living people into serving Gravers.
1.The Tall Man
The 19th century scientist of medicine and physics Jebediah Morningside discovered the occult art of reanimating corpses into living dead along with the secret of dimensional traveling. By passing through the dimensional forks – the gateway – he somehow turned into a man of pure evil; he became The Lord of the dead, The Tall Man, since then – in secrecy massing an army of slaves to conquer dimensions and Earth. Together with the Dream master The Tall Man can bend reality and mix it with the rules of fantasy. He has a line of extraordinary abilities.
Stats: Strength: 4 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 4. Equipment: handheld sphere with rotor blade (+2), head implant device (+2)
Extraordinary abilities:
Super strength: he can carry things that weight 500 pounds!
Stiff arm attack: +2 in close combat damage
Reanimate: he know the secret to reanimate corpses and living people with help of yellow injection
Telekinesis: he can by will lift and toss people into the air. Needs to roll a hard 2 dice intelligence roll to succeed (max 2 times a game session)
Pyrokinesis: he can heat things up by thought, and toast a stubborn Half sphere (once per session)
Make fire arms go click: he can make fire arms malfunction by physical touch (once per session)
Open dimensional gate: he can open rifts between dimensions to pass through called dimensional forks
Respawn: then one of The Tall Man’s physical bodies dies – a new respawn from a dimension gate
Weakness to cold & the sound of a tuning fork: When a tuning fork is used The Tall Man is paused for about 10 seconds. When he is put on ice he gets paused until Gold sphere is set free.
2. Sentinel sphere
Silver balls of destruction! They contain reanimated brains. They fly and aim for your forehead. When stuck there by hooks, the sphere sucks by a drill the blood out of you skull: always certain death! Stuck in flesh it calms down and becomes passive. It got special attributes.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: hooks (+2), rotate blade (+2)
Brain sucker: described above, certain death to victim; se “forehead attack bellow”.
Fly: it can fly – fast!
Forehead attack: to hit its target the Sphere needs a 3 dice success roll with its Dexterity attribute.
Hit paralyzed victim: needs only 2 dice success roll when attacking with brain sucker drill at a person standing completely still
Rotate blade: can be used as a close combat weapon (+2 in damage roll)
3. Gold sphere
Boss among the Spheres; might be “a mental aspect of The Tall Man/Mike”. Has same attributes as original spheres, with some exceptions.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: triple hooks (+3), double rotate blade (+3), laser gun (+3)
Fly: it can fly – fast!
Triple hooked brain sucker drill: certain death to victim. Can be used as a close combat weapon
Super forehead attack: to hit its target the Sphere needs a 2 dice success roll with its Dexterity attribute. Only 1 die is need if victim is standing completely still.
Enslave the living: an implanted golden sphere makes Tall Man able to read the victims mind. A golden sphere can be implanted into a living human's head. A golden sphere is implanted with a 'head implant device', but the golden sphere can be pulled out, by Tall Man's hand, without the victim dying. Emotional data is stored within the golden sphere. (More info might be given in the future.)
4. Dwarf
Corpses are by weird methods crushed down (maybe within black tanks [who knows?]) into murderous dwarves. No brain in their heads – they react only on basic body instinct. But can manage to drive cars pretty well anyhow. They’re good at climbing, and prefer to fight together in dwarf mobs. All dressed in brown robes. On The Red Planet they work hard on something behind the hill’s horizon. Only The Tall Man knows what. They are heard on distance making “gopher in a heat” kind of sounds.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: robe
5. Big bug
If parts of The Tall Man are amputated the body parts turn (immediately or after hours if needed) into big insects! They fly and attack by biting with razor sharp teeth/claws (+0).
Stats: Strength: 1* Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 1.
*They only have 3 in Health.
6. Perfect reanimation
Reanimated women turn into “perfect reanimations”. They are so perfect you can’t tell if they are dead or alive! They also work as “dimensional gateways” and The Tall Man can manifest through their perfect being (Lady in Lavender, Alchemy and maybe also Jennifer). On their own they use femme-fatale "sexual violence/assault" on men, trying to separate them from friends and family, to kill them off with a dagger in the dark in a forest or on a graveyard.
Stats: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: dagger
7. Graver
Gravers are good reanimations – done on living (or just deceased) victims, turning them into pale grey faced servants. They function both day and night. Often they work at the mortuary – keeping the facade towards the society. But at night they dig and empty graves of the dead bodies (to crunch them down to Dwarfs or used as Lurkers). Gravers seem to need to get refills of yellow embalm liquid, and at these moments they help each other with the injection. They don’t fear pain – or even to cut off their own hand if needed to!
Stats: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: gas mask, hand axe or bone crush hammer
8. Lurker
Lurkers are badly reanimated since they are made from corpses. Often they haunt priests, widows, and want to pull their victims into a coffin only to break their necks under sardonic laughter. Or they roam the highway in a pink hearse trying to get back at their old enemies. They only come out at night.
Stats: Strength: 3 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: random
9. Hunchback
It’s an illusion – you might think it is the woman of your dreams – but it is a twisted mutation, only part the woman you love, the rest is a pile of meat with a talking face in her back – saying some words to provoke you or as a “calling card” trying to get you nearer and nearer one of Tall Man’s traps!
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 1 Intelligence: 0. Equipment: robe
Possessed personnel:
10. Eyeball sphere:
10. A silver sphere that has a spy eye instead of a brain sucker drill; it helps The Tall Man to see things while gazing into his “fortunetelling” handheld Sphere. They got one deadly special attribute.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 1.
Fly: it can fly – fast!
Possess, by brain teleportation: with a succeeded "impossible" 3 dice dexterity roll, the Eyeball sphere can teleport inside a victims brain and possess it into a "possessed personnel", as in the case of the Demon nurse and the Demon cop (once per session).
11. "Demon nurse" - possessed personnel
You think you might be safe, lying in the hospital bed, but Eyeball spheres might put an end to that! They can possess the nurse by your side, turning her into a deadly enemy. Actually, this can happen to any personnel or vendor in duty...
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 1. Weapons: head implant device.
12. "Demon cop" - reanimated cop
If you reanimate the strong body of a cop – you get a super lurker. The origin of the reanimated cop is clouded in mystery. If he is the cop reanimated – then again, who is calling for help from the back of the police car? Anyway they’re great at fighting, that is for sure, and they are the nemesis of every action man vendor on the road. (Mentioned in "Exhumed" they have a possessing sphere inside their skulls.)
Stats: Strength: 4 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: baton, police car, shotgun
IV. GAME SCENERY
To play this game one person needs to be the “Game master” – the “judge”, a person that describes the events and keep track on rules and odds. The rest takes on one role each, interacting in the world of Phantasm. A game session is often played an evening, and some rules – The Tall Man’s special attributes – can only be used a number of times per session. The same is with the power if a tuning fork: it can be used to stun The Tall Man twice per session. (The Tall Man will try to telekinesis the tuning fork into his possession.)
Phantastic scenery: the landscape of Phantasm is often at isolated or abandoned places often reminding of death: cemetery/graveyard, mortuary/morgue, embalming/autopsy room, mausoleum, crypt, tomb, crematory, basement complex, church, chapel, forest, mining shaft, small town, large house with no parents at home, isolated highway, motel, desert, ghost town, great house with traps.
Stuff that are common in the saga and that can be used with great effect are things like: embalm fluid/yellow injection/”yellow s**t!”, dimensional forks, cryogenic tanks, conservator jars with organs, bottles of acids, fireplaces, lots of candles lit, coffins, embalming tables, urns, hearse cars (with autopilot function), Hemicudas, lots and lots of gravestones and open graves.
The Tall Man has his HQ in mausoleums and in one room is a dimensional gateway open to his “home world” The Red Planet, where dwarves are shipped for slave labor of mysterious sort. The Red Planet has a very hot climate, and an extreme gravity.
General threats repeatedly used throughout the saga of Phantasm are: car crashes, car explosions, blown up houses, femme-fatale women taking men’s attentions away from friends; threats are dealt as creations of imagination or sometimes blamed on the sound of the wind, or just seen as a reflection. Next second the most innocent might be a deadly threat! These general threats also set the mood, and could be used to create an experience everyone recognizes to be typical for Phantasm. Good luck! and remember that things aren’t always what they seem…and…
IT NEVER ENDS…
This is the “classic” version, including part I, II, III and IV. When part V is here and thoroughly analyzed I might make an “ultimate” second edition. Sorry for bad English grammar (I’m from Sweden). Bad written, but you know what it is all about. I hope Phantasm one day gets a proper RPG in its honor (or computer games!), until then this must do. The Phantasm saga is like a loop: it ends as it started; Phantasm? Is it a nightmare?...
If you ever play it - please post here on forum, or e-mail me, and let me know about it!
Fantasyball/Fredrik Holm: fidde.holm@gmail.com
Role-Playing Game - classic version 1.1 (movie part I, II, III and IV)
a phan made phree-ware RPG written by Fantasyball/Fredrik Holm, 2014, no rights reserved whatsoever!
Phantasm? Is it a nightmare? Is it an illusion? Is it an evil? Is it a fantasy? Is it alive? Phantasm is the delusion of a disordered mind; a phantom; a spirit; a ghost.
– He, The Tall Man, is massing an army to conquer dimensions, worlds unknown.
INTRODUCTION
This short and concise RPG gives you the opportunity to play Phantasm the way YOU always wanted it to be understood, along with friends! Gather, roll dice, have fun, and take on the ultimate challenge: to stop The Tall Man and his army of the dead!
Things you need to play are: good friends, paper, pen, six-sided dice.
I. CHARACTER CREATION
Pick an archetype from the following list and give the hero a name, or make an own archetype with the simple instructions at the end of this chapter. Here are the archetypes, inspired by the heroes in the movie series.
1. Dream master
In the mysterious world of Phantasm the line between reality and fantasy is far from clear. Where you shouldn’t believe everything you see – the clairvoyants’ third eye might be both a virtue to unlock secrets and at the same time a personal curse. Mike – the Dream master of the Phantasm universe – has a mystic relationship to the very being of The Tall Man – and vice versa. Tall Man seem to prefer to control a Dream master before killing him. Only one player can be a Dream master.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 3. Equipment: knife, flamethrower
2. Clairvoyant
Next to the Dream master we have the Clairvoyant – in the saga represented by Liz. The difference between the two is only one: you have no mystic bound to Tall Man and therefore he prefers you dead. To play a Clairvoyant might be an extra challenge as a role-player since it is a less forgiving role to play; if you get caught by him or a minion you’re screwed! Your extra-sensory perception to see Tall Man is a threat to him; he might call on you through dreams – only to set a deadly trap in your way on solving his secrets.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 3. Equipment: holy cross, T-shaped brooch/pin
3. Vendor-at-arms
The ordinary working man turns into a full feathered action hero when the war between good and evil comes to their home town. No time is lost; in working clothes they grab handguns of the most extreme and fire away at everything that moves – especially evil cloaked dwarves! Reggie needs your support!
Stats: Strength: 3 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: quad-shotgun, Hemicuda, tuning fork, guitar
(4. Half sphere)
Some individuals out of luck get caught by The Tall Man and are turned into a mix between human and a Sentinel sphere - as Jody. They can oppose Tall Man’s orders and break free for moments to help the heroes with hints how to find and outsmart The Tall Man or avoiding him. A Half sphere can be used for the Game master to pass half truths over to the players from time to time. (A Half sphere works as a sentinel sphere + the ability to open gateways/dimensional forks.) A Half sphere is not playable per se, but if you insist here is the stats:
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: brain-sucker, cut blade, welder, portal opener
5. Priest
Priests are another group of people able to see The Tall Man. Priests take on the old role as exorcists fighting Tall Man as if he was the Devil himself. Tall Man finds it amusing to mock these God’s servants when opportunity is given.
Stats: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: holy cross, dagger
6. Kid with an attitude
Yes, they do exist – and everybody is amazed how much mischief these small menaces can achieve. With a child’s fantasy and innovation the slow adults have no chance outrun a kid with an attitude. Come every child and gather next to Tim – sharpen your toys!
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: razorblade frisbee, gun, tomahawk
7. Ex-soldier
Veterans come home from war X only to find that their home town has turned into yet another of The Tall Man’s ghost towns. With them the ex-soldiers bring their battle knowledge, suited to take on the forces of evil. In the army they’ve been thought how to fight with nunchucks among lots of weapons – and nunchucks are perfect for striking down on balls flying at you. Join Rocky and block the balls.
Stats: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: nunchucks, handcuffs
8. Stranger in town
If none of the archetypes fit you for the moment you can create your own character. Distribute the value of 6 among the three attributes, where one attribute can have a value from between 1 and 4.
II. RULES
The game rules uses six sided dice. To succeed at anything you need to roll the result of 4, 5, 6 on a six-sided die. Harder challenges needs several succeeded die rolls. Here are the difficult levels:
Easy or average challenge: roll 1 succeeded die roll
Hard challenge: roll 2 succeeded die rolls
Make the impossible: roll 3 succeeded die rolls
Whenever you want to succeed at anything of importance you need to pass a test as shown above. It concerns actions that involve milieu. If you’re in combat the rules are different – as shown further down below.
You roll the same amount of dice as you have in that attribute; for an example you roll 2 dice if you have 2 in Dexterity.
In this game there is three attributes that control every skill and very action a hero or villain makes. They are: Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. They cover the following examples:
Strength: covers actions as close combat, forcing to open a door, pull, push
Dexterity: covers actions as climbing, jumping, throwing stuff, using melee weapons
Intelligence: covers actions as finding stuff, tactics, solve problems, suspect, drive a car
Combat:
All joining in combat – or any action that is of real importance – roll the amount of dice they have in Intelligence. If one rolls several dice, he picks the dice with the highest result. The one with the highest result on his die starts, and the rest follows in falling order. This roll is called an initiative roll.
In close combat both combatants roll their dice in Strength. If one rolls several dice, he picks the dice with the highest result. The one with the highest result on his die succeeds with his/her close combat attack and can roll for the damage dealt.
In melee combat the one who won the initiative starts to shoot, and the rest follow in falling order. To hit an object within 20 yards (10 meters) you need to succeed at level: easy (succeed with 1 die). To hit an object above 20 yards you need to succeed at level: hard (succeed with 2 dice).
Health:
Health is a secondary attribute that is built on Strength. A person can take the following damage before he or she passes out.
Strength 1 = Health 6; Strength 2 = Health 8; Strength 3 = Health 10; Strength 4 = Health 12
When out of conscious a person can suffer his Strength in damage before dying.
Damage:
Here is the list of damage weapons deal – with the damage modification given in a number inside parentheses. The modification is added to the damage die roll, made with a six-sided die: 1T6 + modification.
Close combat weapons (damage):
kick/hit (-1), knife/dagger/stiletto (+1), mining axe (+1), chainsaw (+2), hand axe (+1), drill (+1), nunchucks (+1), tomahawk (1+), cremation oven fire poker (+2), baton (+1), bone crush hammer (+1), T-shaped brooch (+0; fast attack: a brooch has +1 in initiative roll, and can be used for super-fast stabs)
Melee combat weapons (damage):
gun (+1), rifle (+2), shotgun (+3), quad-shotgun (+4), flamethrower (+3), hand grenate (+4), thrown tomahawk (+1)
Gold sphere insight weapons:
This part is some extra rules for advanced Phantasm role-playing! If a role-playing character gets a gold sphere implanted into his/her skull, the victim - next to being mind-read by Tall Man - gets in reverse some primitive insights into the wicked science Tall Man is operating with; gaining abilities such as:
Slow telekinesis: the victim can by will slowly lift and drop big rocks on villains (+4 melee). To do so, he/she needs to roll a hard 2 dice intelligence for success (max 1 times a game session)
Create and control 'Toy sphere':
A Toy sphere is a simple prototype sentinel sphere, built and controlled by the person with a gold sphere implant.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: sharp nails (+2 melee weapon)
Fly: it can fly – fast!
Attack backside of head: to hit a target the Toy sphere needs a 3 dice success roll with its Dexterity attribute.
Hit paralyzed victim: needs only 2 dice success roll when attacking with sharp nails at a person standing completely still
Car engine bomb:
By insight into Tall Man's wicked science the victim with a gold sphere implant can turn a car engine into a science fiction-ish bomb! Somehow Tall Man is drawn to the car engine bomb by extreme curiosity... boom!
Car engine Explosion damage: (+5)
III.VILLAINS
The Lord of the dead – The Tall Man – builds headquarters at small towns mausoleums. By reanimating corpses to his minions of living dead, he empties every grave at cemeteries and turns corpses into an army of Dwarves, Spheres, Lurkers and also living people into serving Gravers.
1.The Tall Man
The 19th century scientist of medicine and physics Jebediah Morningside discovered the occult art of reanimating corpses into living dead along with the secret of dimensional traveling. By passing through the dimensional forks – the gateway – he somehow turned into a man of pure evil; he became The Lord of the dead, The Tall Man, since then – in secrecy massing an army of slaves to conquer dimensions and Earth. Together with the Dream master The Tall Man can bend reality and mix it with the rules of fantasy. He has a line of extraordinary abilities.
Stats: Strength: 4 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 4. Equipment: handheld sphere with rotor blade (+2), head implant device (+2)
Extraordinary abilities:
Super strength: he can carry things that weight 500 pounds!
Stiff arm attack: +2 in close combat damage
Reanimate: he know the secret to reanimate corpses and living people with help of yellow injection
Telekinesis: he can by will lift and toss people into the air. Needs to roll a hard 2 dice intelligence roll to succeed (max 2 times a game session)
Pyrokinesis: he can heat things up by thought, and toast a stubborn Half sphere (once per session)
Make fire arms go click: he can make fire arms malfunction by physical touch (once per session)
Open dimensional gate: he can open rifts between dimensions to pass through called dimensional forks
Respawn: then one of The Tall Man’s physical bodies dies – a new respawn from a dimension gate
Weakness to cold & the sound of a tuning fork: When a tuning fork is used The Tall Man is paused for about 10 seconds. When he is put on ice he gets paused until Gold sphere is set free.
2. Sentinel sphere
Silver balls of destruction! They contain reanimated brains. They fly and aim for your forehead. When stuck there by hooks, the sphere sucks by a drill the blood out of you skull: always certain death! Stuck in flesh it calms down and becomes passive. It got special attributes.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: hooks (+2), rotate blade (+2)
Brain sucker: described above, certain death to victim; se “forehead attack bellow”.
Fly: it can fly – fast!
Forehead attack: to hit its target the Sphere needs a 3 dice success roll with its Dexterity attribute.
Hit paralyzed victim: needs only 2 dice success roll when attacking with brain sucker drill at a person standing completely still
Rotate blade: can be used as a close combat weapon (+2 in damage roll)
3. Gold sphere
Boss among the Spheres; might be “a mental aspect of The Tall Man/Mike”. Has same attributes as original spheres, with some exceptions.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: triple hooks (+3), double rotate blade (+3), laser gun (+3)
Fly: it can fly – fast!
Triple hooked brain sucker drill: certain death to victim. Can be used as a close combat weapon
Super forehead attack: to hit its target the Sphere needs a 2 dice success roll with its Dexterity attribute. Only 1 die is need if victim is standing completely still.
Enslave the living: an implanted golden sphere makes Tall Man able to read the victims mind. A golden sphere can be implanted into a living human's head. A golden sphere is implanted with a 'head implant device', but the golden sphere can be pulled out, by Tall Man's hand, without the victim dying. Emotional data is stored within the golden sphere. (More info might be given in the future.)
4. Dwarf
Corpses are by weird methods crushed down (maybe within black tanks [who knows?]) into murderous dwarves. No brain in their heads – they react only on basic body instinct. But can manage to drive cars pretty well anyhow. They’re good at climbing, and prefer to fight together in dwarf mobs. All dressed in brown robes. On The Red Planet they work hard on something behind the hill’s horizon. Only The Tall Man knows what. They are heard on distance making “gopher in a heat” kind of sounds.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: robe
5. Big bug
If parts of The Tall Man are amputated the body parts turn (immediately or after hours if needed) into big insects! They fly and attack by biting with razor sharp teeth/claws (+0).
Stats: Strength: 1* Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 1.
*They only have 3 in Health.
6. Perfect reanimation
Reanimated women turn into “perfect reanimations”. They are so perfect you can’t tell if they are dead or alive! They also work as “dimensional gateways” and The Tall Man can manifest through their perfect being (Lady in Lavender, Alchemy and maybe also Jennifer). On their own they use femme-fatale "sexual violence/assault" on men, trying to separate them from friends and family, to kill them off with a dagger in the dark in a forest or on a graveyard.
Stats: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: dagger
7. Graver
Gravers are good reanimations – done on living (or just deceased) victims, turning them into pale grey faced servants. They function both day and night. Often they work at the mortuary – keeping the facade towards the society. But at night they dig and empty graves of the dead bodies (to crunch them down to Dwarfs or used as Lurkers). Gravers seem to need to get refills of yellow embalm liquid, and at these moments they help each other with the injection. They don’t fear pain – or even to cut off their own hand if needed to!
Stats: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 2. Equipment: gas mask, hand axe or bone crush hammer
8. Lurker
Lurkers are badly reanimated since they are made from corpses. Often they haunt priests, widows, and want to pull their victims into a coffin only to break their necks under sardonic laughter. Or they roam the highway in a pink hearse trying to get back at their old enemies. They only come out at night.
Stats: Strength: 3 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: random
9. Hunchback
It’s an illusion – you might think it is the woman of your dreams – but it is a twisted mutation, only part the woman you love, the rest is a pile of meat with a talking face in her back – saying some words to provoke you or as a “calling card” trying to get you nearer and nearer one of Tall Man’s traps!
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 1 Intelligence: 0. Equipment: robe
Possessed personnel:
10. Eyeball sphere:
10. A silver sphere that has a spy eye instead of a brain sucker drill; it helps The Tall Man to see things while gazing into his “fortunetelling” handheld Sphere. They got one deadly special attribute.
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 1.
Fly: it can fly – fast!
Possess, by brain teleportation: with a succeeded "impossible" 3 dice dexterity roll, the Eyeball sphere can teleport inside a victims brain and possess it into a "possessed personnel", as in the case of the Demon nurse and the Demon cop (once per session).
11. "Demon nurse" - possessed personnel
You think you might be safe, lying in the hospital bed, but Eyeball spheres might put an end to that! They can possess the nurse by your side, turning her into a deadly enemy. Actually, this can happen to any personnel or vendor in duty...
Stats: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 1. Weapons: head implant device.
12. "Demon cop" - reanimated cop
If you reanimate the strong body of a cop – you get a super lurker. The origin of the reanimated cop is clouded in mystery. If he is the cop reanimated – then again, who is calling for help from the back of the police car? Anyway they’re great at fighting, that is for sure, and they are the nemesis of every action man vendor on the road. (Mentioned in "Exhumed" they have a possessing sphere inside their skulls.)
Stats: Strength: 4 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 1. Equipment: baton, police car, shotgun
IV. GAME SCENERY
To play this game one person needs to be the “Game master” – the “judge”, a person that describes the events and keep track on rules and odds. The rest takes on one role each, interacting in the world of Phantasm. A game session is often played an evening, and some rules – The Tall Man’s special attributes – can only be used a number of times per session. The same is with the power if a tuning fork: it can be used to stun The Tall Man twice per session. (The Tall Man will try to telekinesis the tuning fork into his possession.)
Phantastic scenery: the landscape of Phantasm is often at isolated or abandoned places often reminding of death: cemetery/graveyard, mortuary/morgue, embalming/autopsy room, mausoleum, crypt, tomb, crematory, basement complex, church, chapel, forest, mining shaft, small town, large house with no parents at home, isolated highway, motel, desert, ghost town, great house with traps.
Stuff that are common in the saga and that can be used with great effect are things like: embalm fluid/yellow injection/”yellow s**t!”, dimensional forks, cryogenic tanks, conservator jars with organs, bottles of acids, fireplaces, lots of candles lit, coffins, embalming tables, urns, hearse cars (with autopilot function), Hemicudas, lots and lots of gravestones and open graves.
The Tall Man has his HQ in mausoleums and in one room is a dimensional gateway open to his “home world” The Red Planet, where dwarves are shipped for slave labor of mysterious sort. The Red Planet has a very hot climate, and an extreme gravity.
General threats repeatedly used throughout the saga of Phantasm are: car crashes, car explosions, blown up houses, femme-fatale women taking men’s attentions away from friends; threats are dealt as creations of imagination or sometimes blamed on the sound of the wind, or just seen as a reflection. Next second the most innocent might be a deadly threat! These general threats also set the mood, and could be used to create an experience everyone recognizes to be typical for Phantasm. Good luck! and remember that things aren’t always what they seem…and…
IT NEVER ENDS…
This is the “classic” version, including part I, II, III and IV. When part V is here and thoroughly analyzed I might make an “ultimate” second edition. Sorry for bad English grammar (I’m from Sweden). Bad written, but you know what it is all about. I hope Phantasm one day gets a proper RPG in its honor (or computer games!), until then this must do. The Phantasm saga is like a loop: it ends as it started; Phantasm? Is it a nightmare?...
If you ever play it - please post here on forum, or e-mail me, and let me know about it!
Fantasyball/Fredrik Holm: fidde.holm@gmail.com