Bulletproof Blues 2e FR:Introduction

Bienvenue dans Bulletproof Blues: un jeu de rôle de super-héros sans trop de règle, situé dans l'univers de Kalos Comics. Si vous avez vu n'importe lequel des films Avengers, Batman ou Watchmen, vous savez ce qu'est un super-héros: un individu doté d'une grande détermination qui choisi d'utiliser ses facultés pour rendre le monde meilleur. Et, bien sur, tout le monde connaît déjà Kalos Comics.

L'Univers Kalos

Bulletproof Blues se déroule dans l'univers mondialement connu de Kalos Comics, créateurs de Paragon (qui est apparu pour la première fois dans Amazing Adventure Magazine en 1938), Rook (qui se révéla au monde dans Tales of Mystery en 1939), Antiope, Doctor Arcane et le reste des Justifiers ainsi que de sinsitres organisations telles qu'Aegis et GORGON, ou de mystérieuses entités comme The Bride. Des anciennes ruines de Lémurie aux confins de la Dimension de Hausdorff, l'Univers Kalos est maintenant votre à explorer. Si vous n'êtes pas des habitués de l'Univers Kalos, vous trouverez plus d'informations dans le chapitre Documents du MJ.

À la surface, l'Univers Kalos ressemble énormément au nôtre. Les noms de lieux et de shows télévisés sont les mêmes, et les victoires et défaites des individus ordinaires sont identiques à celles que vous connaissez. Tout comme dans notre monde, des extrêmes dans le bien comme le mal existent, mais le gouffre entre eux est une zone boueuse où ceux de bonne volonté peuvent être et sont en désaccord.

Pourtant, l'Univers Kalos peut être un lieu étrange. Il y a d'anciennes civilisations loin sous la surface de la terre, et des extra-terrestres dans le ciel au-dessus de celle-ci. Des forces mystérieuses sont au travail, des puissances cachées manipulent les événements mondiaux et les bulletins d'informations qui les rapportent. Malgré cela, peu sont confrontés à ces bizarreries au cours d'une existence sans histoire ; ou bien ne les reconnaisse pas pour ce qu'elles sont quand c'est le cas. Pour la vaste majorité de l'humanité, le monde de l'Univers Kalos est virtuellement le même que celui dans lequel vous vivez.

Quoique bien des événements soient intentionnellement cachés au public, les actions aseptisées de certains posthumains soigneusement sélectionnés sont retravaillées pour devenir des histoires d'"intérêt humain" pré-emballées. Des réseaux câblés entiers sont dédiés aux exploits et aux vies personnelles des posthumains. Pour couronner le tout, il n'y a guère de temps, en deux semaines, Paragon a assassiné des millions de personnes à Atlanta, dans le Sud-Est Asiatique, et pris le monde en otage – un carnage qui va conduire les politiques gouvernementales, les mass medias, et les opinions publiques mondiales pour des décennies.

The Fall Of Paragon

Bulletproof Blues is set shortly after the "Fall Of Paragon" crossover event, during which the Justifiers were killed by their former teammate, Paragon. The city of Atlanta, Georgia is in ruins, Mount Rushmore has been smashed, the island of Timor rests beneath the sea, and both the Keystone Pipeline System and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System have been destroyed. It is a difficult time for posthumans. Posthumans have never been completely trusted by humanity, and Paragon confirmed everyone's worst fears. Although Paragon was ultimately defeated and killed by a small team of posthumans at the Justifiers' headquarters in Antarctica, his actions have changed forever the relationship between humanity and posthumans.

In the Kalos Universe, much like in our own world, sometimes things don't work out the way we'd like them to. Life is neither fair nor unfair, and the universe is indifferent to human suffering.

The struggle, then, is to make the best possible world with the tools at our command. Your character has great power. How will they use it?

SIDEBAR: Buying The Comics

If you would like to find and read some of the comics we refer to in Bulletproof Blues, we have some bad news for you: the comics this book refers to do not actually exist. It's a framing device. It's supposed to have the feel of a fully developed comicbook universe with a history, but without the baggage and overhead of an established comicbook setting, so that you can feel free to tell your own stories without fear of contradicting some obscure bit of in-universe history and without running afoul of the "big name" characters that overshadow a game set in an established comicbook setting. In a Bulletproof Blues game, your PCs are the "big name" characters.

What Is A Roleplaying Game?

Every roleplaying game has a section at the beginning that attempts to explain what a roleplaying game is, and Bulletproof Blues is no exception. So let's get started! As trivial as it sounds, two distinct elements set "roleplaying games" apart from other things which are not roleplaying games: roleplaying and game play.

First, a roleplaying game involves roleplaying. Generally speaking, roleplaying involves taking on a persona or character and making decisions based on what that character would do in a given situation. Does having a character in a game, by itself, make that a roleplaying game? No. The little dog token in a Monopoly game and a Blood Elf in World Of Warcraft are both characters, but Monopoly and World Of Warcraft are not roleplaying games. Can you roleplay as a dog while playing Monopoly? Yes, and you can roleplay as an elf while playing World Of Warcraft. What keeps these from being roleplaying games is that the roleplaying is not part of the game -- you can't get your Monopoly dog out of jail through unscripted conversation with the jailer, nor can you use roleplaying to convince a cultist in World Of Warcraft to let you pass by without a fight. If the rules of the game do not allow for the possibility that a conflict could be resolved through unscripted conversation (however unlikely that might be), then it isn't a roleplaying game.

Second, a roleplaying game is a game. Roleplaying games are sometimes compared to improvisational theatre, and there are similarities, but improv theatre isn't a game. How can you tell if something is a game? Games have rules that govern things like conflicts between players and whether something a player attempts is successful. Improv theatre is fun, but there aren't any rules like this. As Drew Carey described "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", it's "the show where everything's made up and the points don't matter." It's fun, but it's not a game, and therefore it's not a roleplaying game.

Bulletproof Blues has more rules than some games, but less than others, and an essential part of conflict resolution involves making decisions that your character would make under the circumstances. Maybe those decisions aren't the most tactically advantageous, but if they are true to what your character would do, and if you are having fun playing, then you are playing correctly, because that's what Bulletproof Blues is all about.

If you would like to read more about who plays roleplaying games, and why and where they play them, check out The Escapist -- The Five Ws of RPGs.

The Players

In a roleplaying game, each player adopts a persona called a player character, or "PC". The player characters are imaginary people who inhabit the fictional world of Bulletproof Blues.

In many ways, the player is like an actor who chooses their own part and writes their own lines as the play progresses. The game moderator sets the stage and introduces the characters to their world, but the story is driven by the player characters.

The Game Moderator

The game moderator, or "GM", creates the story and portrays everyone that the player characters encounter during their adventures. These are called non-player characters, or "NPCs". The players help create the adventure by responding to the challenges the GM presents and by pursuing the PCs' own goals. This dynamic creative process creates a story which neither the game moderator nor the players could have created alone.

Why Bulletproof Blues?

Why does Bulletproof Blues exist? That is an excellent question. The simple answer is that we wanted to write the superhero game we wanted to play.

There are dozens of superhero roleplaying games, and at least a dozen more generic games that you can use to run a superhero game. Several of these -- Mutants And Masterminds and Wild Talents, for example -- are outstanding games. So why write yet another?

We wanted a superhero game that was quick to learn, quick to play, and yet reasonably complete. We also wanted a game that lent itself to more serious superhero fiction, like Planetary and the first two years of The Authority. In addition to Mutants And Masterminds and Wild Talents, we tried BASH, Capes, Cowls, And Villains Foul, and Icons. These are all fine games, but not quite what we wanted. We found some games too light, some games too heavy, and some games, well, just weren't what we were looking for. So what's a gamer to do?

If you can't find the game you want to play, as the saying goes, you have to write it yourself. We are pretty happy with the result. It's not perfect, of course. If you have suggestions for improvements, we are happy to listen to them. But we hope you have fun playing, despite any flaws you may find.

Bulletproof Blues is not a carefully balanced simulation of a reality where people can fly, dress up like bats, and shoot energy beams from their jewelry. The rules are here to help you play a fun game and keep things fair, but there's really nothing special about the rules. They are there to serve you, not the other way around. Your first thought when someone tries something new in a Bulletproof Blues game should not be, "Do the rules allow it?", but "Would that be fun?". Of course, what's "fun" varies from group to group. If a tightly plotted political thriller is your bag, that's great. If you prefer nonstop action with giant robots and exploding ninjas, that's great, too. You could use Bulletproof Blues to run either type of game, or anywhere in between. However you want to play, though -- whatever you consider "cool" -- takes precedence over the written rules. If the rules don't make sense in a given context, or if they seem to be getting in the way of the kind of game you want to play, then either change the rules or ignore them.

If it turns out that Bulletproof Blues is not suited to the kind of game you want to play, you might try one of the many other fine superhero games out there, starting with the ones we've mentioned above. Or, as a final resort, you can do what we did, and write your own game.

Ground Rules

A roleplaying game is fundamentally a cooperative activity. The players (one of whom is the Game Moderator) are not in competition. The goal is not to be the most powerful hero, or to win every fight. The goal of a role-playing game is to create interesting stories and to entertain everyone at the table. We hope that you are the kind of player that creates interesting characters and enjoys creating stories with your friends.

Use Common Sense

The single most important piece of advice we can give you is that you should use your common sense. If something in the rules violates the way you think your game should work, then override it. If the rules permit something ridiculous, or would prevent something completely ordinary, then override them. Do not be one of those players who adheres to the letter of the rules in defiance of common sense.

Don't use the rules unless you need to.

In fact, if you can make a character work without resorting to the rules, you should. Saying "it works like this" is often a better solution than trying to find rules to force it to work that way.

Avoid Rule Arguments

It is in the nature of any human activity that differences of opinion will arise. We've tried to make the rules for Bulletproof Blues as simple and clear as possible, but there's only so much we can do. Sooner or later, there will be a difference of opinion among the players regarding what a rule means, or how a rule should be implemented. There is nothing wrong with this: discussion and consensus are healthy. However, the time for rule discussions is between games, not during games. If a rule discussion takes longer than 60 seconds, the game moderator should make an executive decision and table additional discussion for later. If players balk, the GM should be civil but firm, and move on.

Respect Genre Conventions

Bulletproof Blues is a superhero game, and being a superhero game, it has certain genre conventions. Robert McKee defines genre conventions as the "specific settings, roles, events, and values that define individual genres and their subgenres." Superhero games, relying as they do on a relatively commonplace modern-day setting, but one which incorporates extremely non-commonplace characters, have even more genre conventions than most other games.

For example, there are no rules for running out of bullets, or for recharging the cosmic widget from the cosmic widget recharging device. It's not that guns do not run out of bullets, or that cosmic widgets never need recharging. Of course they do, and if a character intentionally empties their gun, then the gun runs out of bullets just as you'd expect. It's just assumed that they don't normally run out of bullets unless there is a dramatic reason for it. The rest of the time, the character is reloading the gun or recharging the widget when it's convenient to do so.

Another genre convention of Bulletproof Blues is that the extraordinary technological advances made possible by the superhuman intelligence of super-scientists (not to mention alien technology) rarely make it into the marketplace. Some technology eventually does -- cell phones and 3D televisions, for example -- but these advances are delayed until they can be successfully commercialized. Any advanced technology with potential military applications remains out of the reach of ordinary people, or even of ordinary soldiers. Shadowy government agencies, amoral corporations, and subversive organizations bent on world domination all conspire to keep these advances to themselves, or at least to as small a group as possible.

Core Mechanics

Rolling Dice

When a character attempts a task, and the outcome is either contested or there is some random element involved, the player rolls 2d6, counts the dots, and adds the result to their relevant attribute. This roll is compared to a difficulty number the GM assigns (typically "challenging", or 12). The attempt succeeds if the player's roll equals or exceeds the assigned difficulty.

The following table shows the chances of success for various task difficulties and attribute values. You don't need to refer to this during play -- it's just to show you what kind of results you should expect.

Table: Task resolution probability

Task Difficulty		Character Attribute (added to 2d6 roll)
		Impaired Human	Average Human	Excellent Human	Peak Human	Average Superhuman		Excellent Superhuman		World-class Superhuman		Galaxy-class Superhuman		Godlike Superhuman
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
9	Routine	42%	58%	72%	83%	92%	97%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
12	Challenging	8%	17%	28%	42%	58%	72%	83%	92%	97%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
15	Demanding	0%	0%	3%	8%	17%	28%	42%	58%	72%	83%	92%	97%	100%	100%
18	Frustrating	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	3%	8%	17%	28%	42%	58%	72%	83%	92%
21	Nigh-impossible	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	3%	8%	17%	28%	42%	58%

When the character is under no pressure, they may be able to "take the average" or "take the max", depending on the circumstances. See Actions for more information.

Plot Points

Each player begins each game session with one plot point. A player gains a plot point when they do something particularly entertaining or interesting, when one of their character's complications causes a serious problem for them during the game, or when the GM overrides a roll of the dice to make things more difficult for the characters. Plot points are spent to alter the game world, gain a skill bonus, or gain an advantage in combat. See Actions for more information.

Benchmarks

We assign numbers to characters' abilities so that we can tell what they can do. No one wants to guess what their characters can pick up or how fast they can fly. You will notice that the relationship between one rank and the next is not constant. At low ranks, each rank is roughly double the value of the previous rank, while at the highest ranks, the increase is approximately eightfold. In between, each rank is roughly quadruple the previous value. This variation is intentional, to offer greater variety to characters of "human" power level, while permitting truly extraordinary power levels at the highest ranks. All of the numbers in this table are approximate: don't be too concerned about it if something is on the edge between one value and the next. When in doubt, err on the side of the players.

The movement distances in this table are for powers, such as Flight, Super-running, and Teleport. If the character has only their natural movement (running, swimming, and jumping), then their movement distance is based on their Agility and Brawn. See Movement for more information.

Table: Benchmarks

Rank	Breaks	Lifts	Throws (50 lbs)	Affects (radius or range)	Base Move	Double Move	All-out Move
					Per Round	Per Round	Per Round	MPH
1	Cardboard	100 pounds	6 feet	50 feet	50 feet	100 feet	300 feet	30 mph
2	Plastic	225 pounds	12 feet	100 feet	100 feet	200 feet	600 feet	70 mph
3	Wood	450 pounds	25 feet	400 feet	400 feet	800 feet	2,400 feet	300 mph
4	Bone	900 pounds	50 feet	1,600 feet	1,600 feet	3,200 feet	2 miles	1,000 mph
5	Brick	2 tons	200 feet	1 mile	1 mile	2 miles	6 miles	4,000 mph
6	Concrete	7 tons	800 feet	5 miles	5 miles	10 miles	30 miles	20,000 mph
7	Stone	30 tons	4,000 feet	20 miles	20 miles	40 miles	120 miles	70,000 mph
8	Ceramic	100 tons	3 miles	80 miles	80 miles	160 miles	480 miles	300,000 mph
9	Steel	400 tons	10 miles	300 miles	300 miles	600 miles	1,800 miles	1,000,000 mph
10	Diamond	2,000 tons	40 miles	1,200 miles	1,200 miles	2,400 miles	7,200 miles	5,000,000 mph
11	Nanodiamond	10,000 tons	300 miles	10,000 miles	10,000 miles	20,000 miles	60,000 miles	30,000,000 mph
12	Stanlium	100,000 tons	3,000 miles	80,000 miles	80,000 miles	160,000 miles	480,000 miles	300,000,000 mph
13	Siegelite	1,000,000 tons	20,000 miles	600,000 miles	600,000 miles	1,200,000 miles	3,600,000 miles	0.9 c
14	Kirbium	10,000,000 tons	160,000 miles	5,000,000 miles	5,000,000 miles	10,000,000 miles	30,000,000 miles	0.99 c

1. Breaks indicates the strongest substance that the character would be able to break under normal circumstances. The thickness of the material and other factors make this a rough estimate, at best.
2. Lifts indicates the greatest weight that the character can "clean and jerk" (pick up and lift overhead). A character carrying or supporting such a weight can take at most one or two steps per round. A character can move normally while carrying a weight corresponding to one rank less than their Brawn. For example, a character with rank 8 Brawn could carry up to 30 tons and suffer no penalties to their movement while doing so.
3. Throws (50 lbs) indicates the farthest distance that a character could throw a compact object weighing 50 lbs. To see how far a character can throw heavier objects, subtract the Brawn rank required to lift the object from the character's total Brawn rank. Look up the difference in the "Rank" column: this indicates how far the character can throw the object. For example, a character with rank 4 Brawn (the peak of human potential) could throw an object weighing 100 lbs (such as a cooperative slender human) up to 25 feet.
4. Affects (radius or range) indicates the radius around the character that they can affect with their powers if their powers affect a radius, or the maximum range of the power if it affects a single target. For example, [Element] Mastery can move or manipulate the chosen element within this area and can use the element to inflict direct damage to a target up to this distance away. The "radius" value is not used for powers that inflict damage directly unless they have been purchased with the Explosive Damage power enhancement.

Off The Scale

Obviously, there are values which are far below or far above what appears in this table. The Moon, with mass of roughly 8.1 × 10¹⁹ tons, is far more than even a character with rank 14 Brawn could move, while a baby or a housecat has a Brawn less than 1. Don't worry about it. At such extremes, the GM should just use their best judgement, and the rest of the players should roll with it.

Glossaire

Agilité (AGL)

agilité, flexibilité et coordination

attributs

ils sont les huit traits de base du personnage: Vigueur, Agilité, Raison, Perception, Volonté, Vaillance, Précision et Endurance

avantage

une capacité exceptionnelle qu'un humain normal peut posséder, mais que la majorité des êtres humains ne possèdent pas.

bonus (test)

un nombre ajouté à l'attribut d'un personnage lorsque un test est réalisé

bonus défensif

un nombre ajouté à la difficulté d'un test de combat (autre nom pour «modificateur de difficulté» )

bonus martial

un nombre ajouté à un test de combat (un autre nom pour bonus (test))

course

mouvement de base x 2 (un autre nom pour «double mouvement»); implique des pénalités aux attaques et aux tests

défaut (pouvoir)

une restriction sur le pouvoir lié qui le rend moins utile qu'il ne l'est normalement

dégâts

la quantité de dommages venant en excès de la valeur de protection de la cible

difficulté du test

la valeur que le joueur doit atteindre ou dépasser en réalisant le test

difficulté du test, en opposition

8 + l'attribut approprié de l'opposant

difficulté du test, sans opposition

routine 9; stimulant 12; exigeant 15; frustrant 18; presque impossible 21

double mouvement

mouvement de base x2; impose des pénalités aux attaques et aux tests

Endurance (END)

la quantité de ravages qu'un personnage peut supporter avant d'être incapable de participer à un conflit

expertise

champ d'extraordinaire compétence d'un personnage

indice de dégâts (ID)

la quantité potentielle de dommages infligés par un pouvoir ou une arme

joueur

une personne réelle, vivante, pratiquant le jeu

marche

vitesse normale de mouvement au sol basée sur un attribut ou un rang de pouvoir (un autre nom pour «mouvement de base»)

meneur de jeu (MJ)

le joueur qui - dans le jeu - met l'histoire en mouvement, incarne tout le monde et chaque chose à l'exception des PJs, et est l'arbitre de tous les désaccords

modificateur de difficulté

un nombre, ajouté à la difficulté d'une tâche pour la rendre plus difficile

mouvement de base

déplacement normal, au sol, basé sur un attribut ou un rang de pouvoir

mouvement intégral

mouvement de base x6; entraîne des pénalités à l'attaque et aux tests

Perception (PER)

conscience de son environnement propre, intuition et compréhension des motivations d'autrui

personnage non-joueur (PNJ)

un personnage fictif appartenant à et sous le contrôle du Meneur de Jeu

personnage-joueur (PJ)

un personnage fictif appartenant à et contrôlé par un joueur

points de personnage

dépensés pour acheter attributs, compétences, avantages et pouvoirs pour un personnage

points de trame

dépensés pour altérer l'univers de jeu, gagner un bonus avec une compétence, ou un avantage en combat

Précision (PRE)

capacité à viser avec les attaques à distance

prendre la moyenne

considérer que sur ses dés, le joueur a obtenu un 7

prendre le max

assumer que sur ses dés, le joueur a obtenu un 12

Raison (RAI)

faculté à analyser les données, tirer des conclusions des faits disponibles, et résoudre des problèmes

rang

une valeur de 1 à 14 décrivant chacun des attributs et pouvoirs d'un personnage

rang de base

le rang d'un attribut ou d'un pouvoir lorsque le personnage est en parfaite santé, n'est pas blessé, et ne subi aucune gêne d'aucune nature

renfort (pouvoir)

une capacité supplémentaire qui rend un pouvoir plus utile qu'il ne l'est normalement

sprint

mouvement de base x 6 (un autre nom pour «mouvement intégral»); implique des pénalités aux attaques et aux tests

succès

un test qui égale ou excède la difficulté de la tâche est un succès

succès extrême

obtenir un résultat de trois points ou plus au-dessus de la difficulté du test telle que déterminée par le MJ

test

2d6 + le rang de l'attribut approprié du personnage + n'importe quel bonus applicable

Vaillance (VAI)

capacité à combattre au corps à corps

valeur de protection (VP)

le montant soustrait des dommages d'une attaque par un pouvoir ou un équipement de protection

Vigueur (VGR)

puissance physique et robustesse générale du personnage

Volonté (VOL)

détermination, concentration et force de personnalité