This con sketch is for Ryan Black, who won it as part of Sherry’s Japanese Post-Quake Post-Nuke Rebuild Raffle. The subject is Keitaro Urashima from Love Hina. I threw in a wrong helicopter RC experience. Pro Tip: Be wary of the R/F for your RC helicopter control unit…mine happened to not play nice with the carbon monoxide detector/alarm in my daughter’s room, causing it to shriek that there was a CO2 leak and to evacuate exclamation point evacuate, and she STILL remains afraid of her own room three days later.

Here’s Keitaro and the gang:

Anyway, thanks for participating in Sherry’s raffle, Ryan!

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here!… Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL 2012 Charity Sketch: Barbara Gordon
2. TRDL 2012 Series No. 01 – Starfire (Happy New Year)

This will be of little interest to anyone who isn’t a gamer, or more especially, isn’t an open-source game developer like me. Margaret Weis, yes THAT Margaret Weis, has licensed the rights to the Marvel RPG game. This initially caused me some alarm. While I don’t use the Marvel RPG stats in my TRDL Sourcebooks, use a generic rule system, TRDL Carbon, which is loosely based on it, in order to make it an easy conversion to that or any other system. This has been done in at least five or six other iterations by other game developers, not all of them for free, predicated on the fact that the old Marvel RPG game was out of print and seemingly abandoned.

Fortunately, the new game will feature her own Cortex Plus Generic Rule System, so that makes me a little more comfortable. I don’t use Marvel RPG stats, but I was inspired by that system, certainly.

Anyway, carry on.

http://www.margaretweis.com/news/116-marvel-mwp-2012

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here!… Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL Game Mechanics FAQ
2. TRDL Tribute: Snow Stark [Marvel + Disney Mash-Up]
3. Third Rail Thrills 50- Mary Marvel Pin-Up

It’s about half-way to the deadline, so if you haven’t started your Friends of TRDL gallery project piece, now’s a good time! Thanks to everyone who have sent me their stuff already! Here’s the details:

Welcome to Third Rail Design Lab’s first ever ‘Friends of TRDL’ gallery project!

The concept is simple: we’re ramping up for some new releases this year, including new editions of the TRDL worldbuilding sourcebooks, a site gallery facelift, and a sequential art release. In the meantime, we’ve had a number of friends produce original art pin-ups based on various characters in the TRDL Universe, and they’ve blown us away. So, we decided to make it a thing.

For the next 33 days, we are holding our first ever open call for original art set in the TRDL Universe. The promotion is open to everyone: members of the R3 Forum, art collaborators we’ve worked with in the past, friends from outside of the comic genre, artist associates, you name it. As in keeping with the tradition of the art jams on our forum, any medium, and any skill level, are welcomed. We want you to pick your favorite TRDL characters and draw em up with 100% minimum awesome.

The Particulars:

What: The 2010 Friends of TRDL Gallery Project

When: 33 days, ending on 13 February 2010

How: Draw your favorite TRDL characters in pencil, pen, color; digital, colored pencil, Pentel, Prismacolor, oil canvas, whatever. The context of this project is comic art, so certainly color comic-style art is recommended, but anything goes that inspires you will work.

The Goods: Everyone who participates will have their work featured in Third Rail Design Lab trade dress on our main illustration site as a special gallery. In addition, we will select favorites from the pool and they will be … Read on for more awesome…

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1. Announcing the 2010 Friends of TRDL Gallery Project!
2. Update: Friends of TRDL Gallery Project
3. TRDL Special Project: Team Lope AIDS Fundraiser 2010

Welcome to Third Rail Design Lab’s first ever ‘Friends of TRDL’ gallery project!

The concept is simple: we’re ramping up for some new releases this year, including new editions of the TRDL worldbuilding sourcebooks, a site gallery facelift, and a sequential art release. In the meantime, we’ve had a number of friends produce original art pin-ups based on various characters in the TRDL Universe, and they’ve blown us away. So, we decided to make it a thing.

For the next 33 days, we are holding our first ever open call for original art set in the TRDL Universe. The promotion is open to everyone: members of the R3 Forum, art collaborators we’ve worked with in the past, friends from outside of the comic genre, artist associates, you name it. As in keeping with the tradition of the art jams on our forum, any medium, and any skill level, are welcomed. We want you to pick your favorite TRDL characters and draw em up with 100% minimum awesome.

The Particulars:

What: The 2010 Friends of TRDL Gallery Project

When: 33 days, ending on 13 February 2010

How: Draw your favorite TRDL characters in pencil, pen, color; digital, colored pencil, Pentel, Prismacolor, oil canvas, whatever. The context of this project is comic art, so certainly color comic-style art is recommended, but anything goes that inspires you will work.

The Goods: Everyone who participates will have their work featured in Third Rail Design Lab trade dress on our main illustration site as a special gallery. In addition, we will select favorites from the pool and they will be included in hardcopy published work as a bonus section. In addition, everyone who enters will be given a promo discount towards upcoming TRDL merch. But we hope it’s about the fun of an art project … Read on for more awesome…

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1. 2010 Friends of TRDL Gallery Project: 1/2 Way Point Reminder
2. Update: Friends of TRDL Gallery Project
3. TRDL Special Project: Team Lope AIDS Fundraiser 2010

Third Rail Design Lab Carbon System

TRDL Carbon is a simple, open-source character descriptor system for role-playing game purposes. It has it’s origin in a popular, long-dead superhero RPG, which illustrated the simplicity and fluid ease of gaming when using a percentage-dice based system for fast, dynamic adventuring with a minimum of complicated game mechanics. The primary function of the Carbon system is to describe character attributes and abilities so that they may be easily converted to other game systems as desired by interested GMs. Obviously, the characters can be played within the Carbon Rules themselves as-is, or with the Marvel RPG on which this system was based. GMs should feel free to modify Carbon to their own desired specifications as house-rules, or to adapt TRDL characters for their own campaigns in the system of their choice.

The TRDL Carbon System is based on the use of a percentile die roll as the primary random number generator, with use of other common gaming die for other types of rolls, where needed. All attributes and abilities are described as a two digit number between 0 and 100, and can be thought of as a percentage of maximum possible. Within the normal constraints of the System, stats will not be less than 0 or greater than 100, though certain exceptions can be made at GM’s discretion for godhead characters. And if they aren’t Lovecraftian, I don’t want to hear about it. Each attribute and ability power ranking is provided as a set number, according to the following values, in increments of 5: 0, 5, 10, 15…100, 1000. These values will be familiar to those that played the Marvel system in the past. As the range of values possible in an attribute represent a percentage of max, a baseline of ‘normal human’ is … Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. TRDL Game Mechanics FAQ
2. Q: How does Armor work? How do Ballistic Weapons work?
3. Q: How Does Range Work?

Another good question from Michael, how does Range work?

A: In the old Marvel RPG system, range was merely a power rank, and specifically resolved based on that rank’s numerical value. Carbon range is similar, but when you see stats for ballistic weapons, you may see a reference to areas, or you may simply see a dice factor (ie. 4d10 damage)… The range values for dice factors for weaponry are easily converted from the Marvel rules by simply consulting that old range chart, but adding +1CS from whatever power rank you associate the maximum die factor to be (ie. if the weapon does 1d10 damage, that amounts to Good Marvel rank, but for our purposes, it would have Excellent range.) Of course, some weapons have range that is not directly proportional to their damage, and you’ll often just see an area reference instead. Also, when Carbon is posted, you’ll see how to convert 00 intensities into range, as well.

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here!… Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. Q: How does Armor work? How do Ballistic Weapons work?
2. Margaret Weis Productions Licenses Marvel RPG Rights
3. TRDL Carbon RPG System Rules

A question was raised by R3 Member Michael, doing some character conversions… how does Armor work? How do ballistic weapons, with d6, d8, d12 etc damage factors, work within the Carbon RPG system?

A: We play Carbon with a full compliment of dice, so it’s literally a matter of calculating total damage points using the die factors listed. The reason this die factor isn’t always expressed in terms of percentage-based intensity levels [IV] is that damage from ballistic weapons, on inanimate objects, in the old Marvel RPG games, never seemed satisfying to me. So, I use attacks against inanimate objects differently… aim to hit, success, roll die for damage, apply damage to armor, then to core strength of object; armor knocked down 10% each time something gets through. This is an adaptation of the Dystopia: Hostile Takeover rules (based on Cyberpunk.)

To understand how ballistic damage works against inanimate objects, we need to understand Armor and Core Strength. Firing on an organic target is simple. Add up your damage, and apply it to the character’s Armor points (AP) and go from there (if the character even HAS Armor,) with damage that passes through that Armor affecting the character’s Life. But for inanimate objects, while no Life stat is present, they have a finite, physical amount of Core Strength that, when depleted, trashes the object. So, an unarmored physical object like a concrete wall merely has a Core Strength, which is analogous to its hit points. Fire away until you collapse the wall, or beat the hell out of it with your posthuman bare hands or powers, using your Power attribute or ability intensity value to determine a numerical assessment of that damage. Items with some mechanical or electronic sensitivity, such as vehicles, computers, annoying robotic pets? At incremental percentage levels, … Read on for more awesome…

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1. Q: How Does Range Work?
2. TRDL 2011 No. 5 – Iron Man Series – Modular Armor
3. TRDL Carbon RPG System Rules

This is a bit of a work in progress, but this section is specifically dedicated to the implementation of the TRDL Universe mythology in a role-playing game environment, whether it is using the TRDL Carbon rules, or adapting characters to other game systems, or using them with the popular Marvel Super Heroes RPG system.

Post questions, comments and discussion points in this section, at will. Have a conversion question? Let it be known. Have an idea for a revision to how the Carbon system is played? Show it. Want to talk about the latest game? Do so!

If you create conversions for TRDL Characters for other rule systems, go ahead and post them in that character’s thread, not here, though you can alert us you’ve done so in this section, if you like. Once we start the TRDL game, this will be here we can do post-mortems on game sessions, discuss mechanics, and talk about how events in the game affect the true continuity of the TRDL Universe…

More as we go…

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

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This is the Wachter, Germany’s National Hero, and one of the earliest technology-based supernormals in the National Hero program.

Art and Origin: Thom Chiaramonte

:::

Wachter

Name: Erich Keller
Affiliation: German National Hero

Attributes:

Melee: 30
Reflex: 30
Muscle: 55
Vigor: 40
Acumen: 10
Observation: 20
Will: 15

Life: 155
Influence: 45

Abilities:

Powered Armor: Wachter is a normal human, a superb athlete and fighter with military training, who has trained in the effective implementation of a custom powered armor designed for his use in his National Hero identity. The armor is primarily comprised of a resin/carbon compound fiber interlaced with sheet titanium, forming an ultralight, durable, damage resistant plating that carries electrical impulses yet shields the wearer from energy damage Resistance vs. physical attacks [40 AP] and resistance vs. energy attacks [50 AP]. The suit’s unique properties allow a cybernetic extension of Keller’s nervous system to interact with the armor itself, allowing for heightened reflexes and improved tactility, reflected in the Attributes above. The armor also contains a life support system, and a sensor array including telescopic, thermogragh, IR imaging, and satellite interlink feed [+2 to Observation Actions], allowing Wachter to track both distant and local targets simultaneously. A primitive combat AI improves his reaction time against multiple targets, and allows the remote Wachter support staff to influence the armor’s combat protocols through a networked feed, in effect remote-controlling some aspects of his otherwise automated offensive and defensive capabilities, but never impeding his primary, willful action [+2 to Initiative and defensive Actions].

The armor comes equipped with a projectile launcher on each wrist: the right contains tear gas and mild neurotoxin shells for non-lethal crowd control [10 RV; area effect on ranged attack, victims must make a Vigor Save vs. a 30 IV attack, or become nauseated and disoriented … Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL Character Factory, No. 73: Rampart
2. TRDL Character Factory, No. 71: The Liberty Group
3. TRDL Character Factory, No. 122: Lenin’s Hammer

This time we bring you The Mantid, a bounty hunter and assassin permanently encased in a symbiotic, regenerative exoskeleton.

Art and Origin: Thom Chiaramonte

:::

Mantid

Name: unknown
Affiliation: n/a

Attributes:

Melee: 35
Reflex: 40
Muscle: 20
Vigor: 30
Acumen: 20
Observation: 55
Will: 10

Life: 125
Influence: 85

Abilities:

Exoskeletal Graft: The Mantid has undergone extensive exoskeletal grafting, permanently fusing a ceramic polycarbonate armor to his skeleton through connection points throughout his body, with all fleshy tissue completely encased in a regenerative sheathing membrane, allowing him to absorb oxygen from air or water, and release fluids and carbon dioxide without restriction. He consumes a nutritional paste that the armor can generate by external processing of most foodstuffs, then ingesting of the paste through a port in his helm. The exoskeleton offers resistance to physical attacks [30 AP] and to energy and thermal attacks [50 AP], and regenerates 5 points daily. It provides Life Support for 8 hours in a vacuum, and allows for water-breathing as well. The exoskeleton includes pulse jets allowing for levitation and flight [20 IV; 20 RV] and provides a Reflex enhancement, reflected in the Attribute as shown. The multisensory helm provides IR, telescoping, thermograph and low-light visual enhancements, as well as auditory and olfactory boosts, increasing his Observation Attribute as well. When in mid-air, the Mantid can use the pulse jets to perform aerial acrobatics, such as bouncing off of moving targets and physical structures. He receives +1CS to physical Actions while airborne, and +2CS to Grapple, Dodge and Evade Actions as well.

Neurotoxin Barbs: The Mantid’s armor is riddled with barbed blades of varying length, which are mounted to orbital sockets allowing for quick extension and variable orientation at a moment’s notice, making them very difficult for opponents to evade when in close combat. … Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL Character Factory, No. 64: Hammerfall
2. TRDL Character Factory, No. 10: Knockout
3. TRDL Character Factory, No. 100: Balboa

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