[7:47 PM]Mars: Hello I’m Mars, I’m a comic artist and scientific illustrator turned game creator! My game is Paratype which is a game set in a post-apocalyptic world overtaken by giant bugs. The people of Paratype are left scrounging in the shadows by this world new megafauna, to adapt to their new world the people of Paratype have learned to splice their DNA of that with their buggy overlords to take on new mutations to survive the apocalypse. The game combines themes of hope, horror, survival and humanity.(edited)
[7:48 PM]Mars: (done)
[7:49 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Thanks, @Mars! The floor is open to questions!
[7:49 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): What was the source of the giant bugs?
[7:50 PM]Mars: That’s something that currently system wise is up in the air to the GM, although the module that’s currently being worked on has its own reasons and lore that are plot important. The playbook begins with “The world ended long ago. It doesn’t matter how; pollution, nuclear fallout or some cataclysmic event, no one really knows. What they do know is that it didn’t take long for the bugs to show up. Giant insects terrorize what remains of humanity, leaving survivors scrounging for what little resources they can get.”
[7:51 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Are the insects just supersized versions of “normal” insects, or are they something stranger?
[7:52 PM]Mars: They’re versions of ‘normal’ insects, as the world of insects is a lot stranger than folks give it credit for! The game embraces that modifications players can take. The game is partially a way for me to express my interest in entomology, all bugs are written at least somewhat accurately to their real life non giant counterparts!
[7:54 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Does that mean that some of them are harmless, or even beneficial?
[7:56 PM]Mars: It does mean some are, yes! Players aren’t entirely at odds with the bugs that they not have to co-exist with. Paratype is made to have various diplomacy options from befriending bugs to a de-escalation mechanic folks can use before a combat begins to stop a fight before it happens. If players want to tame giant bugs, that is encouraged!
[7:58 PM]LaSquida: What inspired you to do giant bugs? (Let me be clear I think it’s awesome)
[7:59 PM]Mars: That’s probably my scientific illustration background, I love drawing entomology and finding out their weird little quirks made me want to incorperate it into a game. When looking at games I couldn’t find anything that fit what I wanted so I ended up developing my own with an EXP buy system for abilities rather than things like classes.1
[8:00 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): You mentioned befriending bugs and de-escalating conflicts with them. That would seem to imply that the bugs are intelligent.
[8:01 PM]Mars: De-escalation is for humans and hybrids! Bugs can be befriended although they have a more animal level intellect.
[8:03 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Ah, I see!
[8:03 PM]Mars: I know Duck who was in here a while ago recommended being able to befriend the bugs more, which is something I’ve made sure to add haha. Although atm there’s no defined mechanic for it
[8:03 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): In what time period did the apocalypse occur?
@MarsI know Duck who was in here a while ago recommended being able to befriend the bugs more, which is something I’ve made sure to add haha. Although atm there’s no defined mechanic for it[8:03 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Does that bug you?
[8:03 PM]carpenter (she/they): Hah, “bug”
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)In what time period did the apocalypse occur?[8:04 PM]Mars: It’s a general modern day setting, or post-modern day rather. Technology still exists although hard to find. Hackers do still exist in the wastelands however. For those lucky enough to have a brain-chip installed pre-everything going to shit they may have an advantage over others
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)Does that bug you?[8:05 PM]Mars: Haha, not at all! I think folks should be able to have a pet giant bug if they want one. God knows my play testers did
[8:05 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Brain-chips, you say? That would seem to be tech more advanced that modern-day.
[8:06 PM]Mars: Ah yes! A little more post-modern, I realize I didn’t explain that well enough haha. Roughly between modern era and 100 or so years in the future. Nothing extremely futuristic but some interesting tech may still exist as artifacts of eras past
[8:07 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Ah, gotcha.
[8:07 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Are the giant insects all literally insects, or are there other giant arthropods like spiders as well?
[8:09 PM]Mars: There are other arthropods! Anything creepy crawly falls under ‘bug’ (although not insect obviously) for me so there are milipedes, centipedes, spiders and scorpions! One of the player character pre-mades is based on Alacran Azul. The blue scorpion.
[8:09 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): That sounds like a pulp superhero.
[8:11 PM]Mars: It could be! The way Paratype is set up, folks can become somewhat super-hero like. It centers around skill stacking to get unique ability combinations to figure your way out around problems. This could be anything from turning invisible and poisoning someone to run away afterwards or adding spikes that damage others to the touch in combination with wings to drop yourself on your enemies
[8:12 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Did gene splicing technology exist pre-apocalypse, and if so, how was it used back then?
[8:14 PM]Mars: It was not! It was something developed mid-apocalypse as a last resort to stay alive. No one knows who made it, or what could be the true consequences of playing god. Letting your stress stat reach its limit can warp the mind and body of those with altered DNA, keeping your body and mind well is important
[8:16 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Are there any “weird” elements to the setting aside from the giant bugs and the hybrids?
[8:19 PM]Mars: There are! The module is introducing artificial beings, at the moment I’m refering to them as Clones but Synth’s may be a better word. Synthethic humans with a differnet skill grouping. They’re the bio-hackers of the setting with several strange and unusual abilities. One such thing is the “web” a collection of all clone consciousness that some can access, it’s a meta-physical space full of interesting information for anyone that knows how to use it but its quite easy to get lost in.. See through someones eyes for a moment, but leave your physical body open for attack. Clones can also do things like pooling HP or incorporating weapons into their body similar to cybernetics.
[8:20 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): How common are the hybrids, and how are they viewed by “normal” humans?
[8:22 PM]Mars: They’re rather common, although can be viewed as dangerous by non-hybrid humans. Folks tend to keep an eye on hybrids, after all some do use that power to rule the apocalypse with an iron fist.
[8:24 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Can you give some examples of hybrid powers?
[8:28 PM]Mars: Sure thing! A lot of bugs have strange and interesting abilities. To have a specific modification you need to be spliced with said but but some of my favorites are: Death Evasion (Cockroach): Avoid a failed death save once by losing your head either partially or fully. Awaken with 1hp. This only works once per level in Death Evasion. Electrical Generation (Vespa Orientalis, a type of hornet): Generate electricity when in direct sunlight. This adds 1d6 to metal weapons used in melee attacks. Targets struck with this attack must succeed on a DC10 grit roll or gain the paralysed condition. Sonic Illusion (Tiger Moth):Create ultrasonic illusions to distract and disorient. Roll Brains to conjure illusions that will confuse and distract hybrids & insects. There’s a lot more extra limbs, mandibles and wings are the most common!
[8:29 PM]Mars: Vespa orientalis is a particularly interesting bug, it generates electricity through sun absorption! These are all abiliites actual bugs possess, if a bit exagerated in some cases
[8:32 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Do all modifications result in some form of bug-like appearance?
[8:33 PM]Mars: Not always! How they appear is up to the players, so if a player wants venom to look like vampire fangs they can choose that. Or if they want to go full ‘The Fly’ and have a bug head they can do that as well. Aesthetically, modifications can be as subtle or visible as players want. However most hybrids can sense others, so its easy to get sussed out so to say
[8:34 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Do you have a character sheet that we can see?
[8:35 PM]Mars: I do, I have an example character and a blank one 🙂
[8:36 PM]Mars: This character sheet is for this pre-made character as an example
[8:38 PM]LaSquida: How’d you choose the typeface for this?
[8:39 PM]Mars: I wanted something both legible and a bit rough to help with the feeling of something a bit worn down
[8:39 PM]LaSquida: Ahh!
[8:39 PM]Mars: I also now realize the images are a bit crunchy! Apologies for that(edited)
[8:39 PM]LaSquida: Tangential: what’s your favorite bug (insect or otherwise)?
[8:40 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): I see that you went with a holistic Body attribute. Is the system able to distinguish between strong-but-clumsy and nimble-but-weak individuals? That would seem to be an important distinction when dealing with giant creatures in particular.
@LaSquidaTangential: what’s your favorite bug (insect or otherwise)?[8:40 PM]Mars: Megasoma Mars! It’s where my screen name comes from it’s a bit of a pun n my name Mars and the Mars Beetle (Megasoma Mars)1
[8:41 PM]LaSquida: googles oh neat!
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)I see that you went with a holistic Body attribute. Is the system able to distinguish between strong-but-clumsy and nimble-but-weak individuals? That would seem to be an important distinction when dealing with giant creatures in particular.[8:41 PM]Mars: That is where Sense comes in! Sense is your street smarts, your precision and your dexterity
[8:41 PM]Mars: Being able to sense things around you, as well as having common sense! Seperate from Brains which is general knowledge
[8:42 PM]Mars: It’s a mix of a charisma and a dex stat
[8:42 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Ah, I see.
[8:42 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): I see a Grapple skill, but nothing like a melee weapons skill. Am I missing something?
[8:43 PM]Mars: Melee weapons use general body, grapple is specifically for holding someone still and grabbing hold of them. Most modifications and skills give bonuses to melee specific attacks. Ranged attacks utilize sense and healing utilizes Brains
[8:44 PM]Mars: Grit is for handling trauma, physical and mental
[8:45 PM]Mars: Here’s the actual character sheet for something more readable, the exports were a bit rough for some reasonParatype_1.3_Sheet_Editable.pdf458.20 KB
[8:47 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): What skills give bonuses to melee attacks?
@MarsHere’s the actual character sheet for something more readable, the exports were a bit rough for some reason[8:47 PM]LaSquida: Ah, yeah, that’s much nicer
[8:49 PM]Mars: Skills are sort of like modifications that humans can take, they’re a lot less hard to aquire similar to D&D feats. Multi-attack gives 1 extra melee attack per day. Giants might adds (Body)D6 to your attack once per day and hysterical strength lets you double your Body stat temporarily with the caveat of taking 2 stress points per round of hysterical strength used.
[8:50 PM]Mars: Everyones favorite skill so far has been Floridian which lets a player use their body stat instead of their brains stat up to 3 times a day and brute force their way into winning!1
[8:51 PM]Mars: Modifications often utilize the body stat, if you want to make a bruiser character you may want some chiton and some extra arms. If you’re looking for a stealthier sense leaning build take up firearms or ranged modifications or take a little bit of everything
[8:52 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Your skills resemble Warhammer FRP skills.
[8:53 PM]Mars: I actually havent played Warhammer FRP, although I have taken inspiration from various superhero systems and skill trees in the genesys system.(edited)
[8:54 PM]Mars: The inventory system was inspired by Mausritter of all things
[8:54 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): I say that because many WFRP skills in the first and second editions more closely resemble “traits” or “feats”.
[8:55 PM]Mars: Makes sense! That is how a lot of the abiliites in Paratype work. EXP can be used to buy Skills or Mods which work to help give you a leg up in niche areas
[8:56 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Can you describe task resolution? The example we like to use here is a PC attempting to leap over a gap.
[8:58 PM]Mars: Sure thing. If a player wants to jump over a gap it could be a regular roll where a player may be asked to roll a d20 athletics check which is their athletics stat plus their body stat. But for something dangerous like jumping from building to building that would be a risk roll which is when a player rolls 2d20 and chooses the farthest number from 10 before adding their modifiers to that. This means an outcome will be either very good or very bad usually.
[8:58 PM]Mars: A player could also potentially use modifications such as wings to fly across the gap and roll that applicable skill instead
[8:59 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): What distinguishes a regular roll from a risk roll?
[9:00 PM]Mars: Risk is something highly dangerous, it’s something that can only end very well or very poorly. Generally something… well risky! Jumping from a moving vehicle to another, defusing a bomb with no prior knowledge, deciding to juggle knives…
[9:01 PM]Mars: The result of a risk roll is usually life or death, or something akin to it. Serious injury versus saving your skin
[9:02 PM]Mars: Although some skills allow you to force an opponent or yourself to roll risk instead of a previously asked roll for those who really like to gamble, I belive that skill is ‘Reckless endangerment’.
[9:02 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Does degree of success matter?
[9:03 PM]Mars: They do! DC’s are important in Paratype, similar to D&D there are degrees of success and DC’s for many actions. I haven’t written in critical success to the game however that’s something I’ve been meaning to do as I find that most people utilize that system.(edited)
[9:04 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Remind me what “DC” stands for?
[9:04 PM]Mars: Difficulty check!
[9:04 PM]Mars: Some actions may require a 10 others may be a 15, or even a 20
[9:05 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Ah, gotcha. But if an action requires a 10, is a total of 15 better than a total of 10? Or are they both just successes?
[9:06 PM]Mars: It’s not written directly into the rules, but it’s something I’ve been meaning to add and will in the upcoming edit pre-production! It’s a house rule that I have been utilizing in play tests. There are also varied DC’s rolling a 10 may keep you alive but hurt but a 20 may leave you safe and sound
[9:07 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): How does combat work?
[9:07 PM]Mars: Combat works in one of two ways. There’s a helpful chart I have actually
[9:12 PM]Mars: Players can attack using a weapon, however attack rolls aren’t a thing. Attacks within an appropriate range band automatically hit, which is faster however more dangerous
[9:13 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): If attacks automatically hit, what difference do the attribute scores make?
[9:14 PM]Mars: They work as additional damage!
[9:14 PM]Mars: An attack with a baseball bat would be 1d6+Body for example
[9:15 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Does Sense add to raged attacks?
[9:15 PM]Mars: Yes! Or firearms which is a sub-stat, as they tend to be a lot more deadly than a slingshot
[9:16 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): How does defense work?
[9:17 PM]Mars: Not sure if you mean defense or the Defend action! Defense is done with armor which soaks an ammount of oncoming damage, the defend action can be used to take damage for an ally within range. If you succeed on your roll you’ll take half the damage of an incoming hit and they’ll receive none. This does however require an action
[9:18 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Is there a way to dodge or parry attacks?
[9:19 PM]Mars: Not at the moment, although a skill may be added in the future to attempt to avoid an attack all together.
[9:20 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): I would hope so. Otherwise, I’d imagine that combat with a giant bug is basically suicide.
[9:20 PM]Mars: It can be! Teamwork is vital. Strategy is important, a lone person is a dead person.
[9:21 PM]Mars: Paratype has fast and dangerous combat, sometimes it’s best to try and avoid a fight. However gaining new modifications after defeating a new bug can be rewarding
[9:22 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): How does that work?
[9:23 PM]Mars: An item can be used to extract DNA from defeated bugs, these when used mark off those check marks on the character sheet. This unlocks new modifications relating to said bugs players can use EXP to buy
[9:25 PM]Mars: If players want certain abilities, they’ll have to fight to unlock them. It’s important in Paratype to know when to fight and when to flee.
[9:26 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Just how “giant” are the giant bugs?
[9:26 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Dinosaur-sized? Kaiju-sized?
[9:26 PM]Mars: Depends on the bug! Generally car sized for most of them, although some get Kaiju sized. Dragonflies are a daaangerous game.
[9:27 PM]Mars: Some art that helps illustrate that
[9:28 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Nice.
[9:28 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): I’m assuming that the game features a bug bestiary? If so, how large is it?
[9:29 PM]Mars: It has a small one at the moment but I’m hoping to make a much much larger one in the printed version/updated PDF for the crowdfundr. At the moment it’s about 1-2 pages with a few rough examples but I’d love to expand it to several pages with several different climates for GMs to make their own campaigns even if they’re less familiar with bugs
[9:31 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): You should include vulture bees.
[9:31 PM]Mars: Meat hives would be a very fun encounter!
[9:31 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): IKR?
[9:32 PM]Mars: The game can delve into horror in some areas and I am hoping to add some horror encounters in the module, so I’ll take that for later certainly!
[9:32 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Cool.
[9:32 PM]carpenter (she/they): Another good horror venture is parasitoid wasps :))
[9:33 PM]Mars: The module is a longer campaign setting about driving down the I-95 at the end of the world it’ll add things like clones, vehicle combat, etc. Players can choose which cities to stop at each state and deal with encounters along the way from Maine to Florida so there’ll be plenty of interesting places along the way
[9:34 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): In the time remaining, is there anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to bring up?
[9:35 PM]Mars: I don’t think so, thanks for the interview I appreciate it! 🙂
[9:36 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Absolutely! Please know that you’re always welcome to hang out with us here.
[9:36 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Usual reminder: If you’ve enjoyed this Q&A and would like to treat me to a coffee or two, you can do so at https://www.ko-fi.com/gmshoe. Anything’s appreciated! Ko-fiBuy Dan Davenport a Coffee. ko-fi.com/gmshoeBecome a supporter of Dan Davenport today! ❤️ Ko-fi lets you support the creators you love with no fees on donations.
[9:36 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): If you’ll give me a minute, I’ll get the log posted and link you!