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What is a Role Playing Game?
A roleplaying game, or RPG for short, is a game of the imagination, where you and some friends get together and create fictional characters, then play out their adventures around a tabletop. One player takes the role of Gamemaster (or GM) and describes the setting and the challenges your characters encounter. The Gamemaster plays the supporting characters and villains in the story. The GM also acts as referee to adjudicate the rules of the game and make sure everything’s handled fairly. Your imagination is the only thing limiting the sorts of adventures you can have, since you and your friends create the world, the characters, and the adventures. It’s like writing your own comic book, with your characters as the heroes! All of the action takes place in your imagination, and the story can go on for as long as you want, with one exciting adventure after another.

What is Daikaiju?
Daikaiju is Japanese for "Giant monster". The most famous example is perhaps Godzilla, although the genre is not specifically japanese based. Gorgo and King Kong are other large big named monsters which have been known to dot the movie scene with their own unique concept. Even though a person could easily make a massive list of merely giant animals and concepts, the very core of Daikaiju is the same: giant monsters somehow stomp through modern day destroying something, somewhere.

In this RP, our Daikaiju are uniquely different: they're all female in some fashion. Taking a twist on the already understood enjoyment of the natural wonders of giantess, mixing in the massive damage of a Kaiju, we proudly present to you, the Daibijinkaiju, "giant demolition girl monster", or simply, Monster maiden.

Characters
The RPG is like a movie. Where a GM is the director, special effects artist, and effectively god, the characters are the stars, the actors, the 'heroes' of the movie. We don't really mean heroes as much as 'goody-goody two shoes' kind of people (although you can be one if you like), so much as the main protagonists. Consider that your character might be..

- An alien robot sent that went defunct after crash landing.
- A horrible experiment that turned into a massive monster.
- A scientist who seeks to study and learn from the creation he made.
- A soldier who grows a bond with the giant abomination, and teaches her skills.

Let your imagination run wild!


The Basics

The Core Mechanic
Like all tabletop RPGs, there is a core mechanic which Monsters and Mayhem runs off of. This mechanic is used to resolve every particular action you may take, based upon the likelihood of luck, skill, and natural affinity for specific players. When you want to attempt an action that may have a chance of failing or having effects contrary to your personal wishes, you will roll a die, most often a twenty sided die, known as a "d20". Other die may include four-side (d4), six-side (d6), or nearly any kind that Gaia provides. To determine whether or not your action succeeds you...

1- Roll a die appropriate to the action.
2- Add relevant modifiers.
3- Compare the result to a target number, most often generated by the Game Master.

If the result equals or exceeds the target number, your character succeeds. Otherwise, you fail. Special actions may occur if you roll a natural high or low, such as a 1 or a 20.

The Game Master
In every tabletop RPG, there is a head honcho. This is an interactive story, which players take on the roles of unique characters we denote as heroes. But one person is a Game Master, or GM. He/She is the referee, the director, the narrator, and all around master of the universe who's authority is absolute. Consider him/her the person who basically makes sure everything works cohesively. The GM sets the scene, keeps the story moving, takes on the roles of opponents and other characters, sets up the difficulties, keeps your characters alive when they shouldn't, kills them when they should survive, and effectively is given the power of the world. Because they do for the most part all the work of making sure you have a good time, the least a player can do is understand that their word is final. While you can ask questions, and attempt to justify different results, in turn, the Game Master is still the one who has the final say. Breaking this bond only leads to trouble, and destroys the real value of the game at hand.

At the same time, the Game Master must understand that the position is not self-gratifying. You have to come up with a lot of work, and deal with people who generally may come off as whiny or under appreciating of the role you do. It's not so much as hard as it is tedious. While you easily could kill off your players and turn yourself into a demi-god which players have to brown-nose to get anywhere with, the point of the game is to have fun for all. If you're a complete jerk, you'll probably find that all your players simply leave, maybe selecting someone with a bit more maturity to pull off the gig.

How to use this guide

This guide is organized into posts covering the major aspects of the game. The breakdown of the guide is as follows:

Post 1 - You just read it, going through the various over-arching themes, setting, and general tone of playing this kind of RPG.

Post 2 - Deals with major character options in building a character from scratch, and a suggested method of making the process as simple and quick as possible.

Post 3 - Goes through the particular attributes that a character has, and the abilities gained from said attributes to best help focus your strengths and plan your weaknesses.

Post 4 - A more detailed look at the classes, giving starting points and frames to help the players pick skills, feats, and story elements. Also breaks down the talent trees for handlers.

Post 5 - A detailed list of skills for handlers to look through and pick up to help interact with story elements and various non-combat situations.

Post 6 - A detailed list of feats that can be used to help define one's combat style and approach.

Post 7 - Goes through the sometimes confusing, but always somehow essential, form of turn-based combat.

Abilities

Abilities are essential to how skills succeed or fail. Some people are smart, able to know a variety of different areas of knowledge and great at solving problems. Others are strong, able to withstand punches, extreme temperatures, and other annoying traits. Others still are very charismatic, able to swoon the masses to their bidding. Some monsters are poor at dexterity, unable to throw an object very far or missing the target completely. Whatever your character's abilities are, each have an important role in not only completing tasks, but helping them through the daily obstacles of everyday (though not quite so ordinary) life.

Generating the ability scores for a level one character is simple. Depending on what type of character you're making (monster maiden or handler), you have a number of set points you can start out with to assign as you freely choose. Monsters have 45 points, Handlers have 35. It helps to know what you're going to be first, before assigning these points, so to best help develop the character the most efficiently as possible.

Ability Modifiers

Abilities have the ability to modify certain actions. For example, a person with higher intelligence generally can do research better than a person with low intelligence. These attributes are not necessarily indicative of training in that attribute. For example, a person with high intelligence may be a person who studied all their life, or a savant and naturally brilliant. A high charisma score might be from training to be a great orator, or just a person with a knack for saying the right thing at the right time. Whatever the reasoning, these abilities have a "modifier" attached to them. You either subtract or add these numbers to the die roll when performing an activity.




The Abilities Explained

Strength
Both monster maidens and handlers have strength. It's a relation of muscle and physical power, and the ability to control one's actions. Strength is especially important for abominations and soldiers to help them prevail in physical combat.

Dexterity
Coordination and agility is very difficult for larger creatures. This stat also helps modify the ability to respond to various stimuli. This skill allows for the ability to dodge, throw objects, and especially important for being able to aim with robotic weaponry.

Constitution
The constitution, or physical hardiness, is an extremely important stat for handling damage in monster maidens. A vital statistic for health and stamina, points in this category are welcome to all walks of life.

Intelligence
A stat most likely used by Handlers, it determines a rate of learning and reasoning ability. Particularly important for scientists, it's also important to anyone trying to learn a lot of skills.

Wisdom
Wisdom is a sort of ingrained knowledge. It's the reflection of a monster's common sense, perception, intuition, and sheer force of willpower to respond to it's environment. Where intelligence is more of a reflection of analysis to information, wisdom reflects more the ability of perception of events. For example, a person who is inherently dumb, lacking a lot of intelligence, may still have great insight and introspection. A vital knowledge of oneself helps to affect one's ability to perform special techniques, instead of simple shoot and smash, and is heavily influencing of mutant powers.

Charisma
The cult of personality is not something to be easily ignored. While often considered a 'dump stat', or something rarely changed, the concept of attractiveness, personal magnetism, and social grace can influence the tide of battle just as much as a punch or bullet.

Abomination

"First thing about being unstoppable. I don't have to stop for you, or anybody."

The Abomination is a creature that wasn't meant to be, a creature whom the words "impossible" seem all too probable. Between martial prowess and armored defenses, the Abomination's skills make it one of the best pure warriors on the planet when faced against another monster maiden. They can be stalwart defenders of the innocent, or cruel marauders, or even just random beings who seek to test their skills.

The Abomination's fighting style revolves around heavy defense and tight close quarters combat, making constitution one of the most important skills an Abomination can use, to help soak up damage from attacks that it's opponents launch, until the abomination can get in close. Strength and melee attacks are also strong points to use in the abomination, but don't discredit the use of dex or wisdom to help increase those defenses.



Defense bonuses
An Abomination has +2 defense to toughness, +1 Defense to Fortitude.

Talents
At the specified levels given by the table, an abomination can pick a talent from any of the following talent trees. You may choose any tree you wish, but you must meed the prerequisites of a talent if given. No talent may be selected more than once unless otherwise stated.

"My looks are meant to lull you into thinking i'm weak. You'll never know my real power until you're destroyed..."

Mutants aren't just your average fighters. These creatures may not appear on the surface to being incredibly strong, but don't let their appearance fool you. Their physical training is augmented by their special abilities, making them tough opponents to beat in their own right. Many will not even realize they've been stunned, paralyzed, or the incoming building that was thrown through telekinesis until far too late.

While all abilities will be important, the Wisdom attribute is extremely useful for adding to defensive capacities and their own particular attacks. Strength is also a vital defense to help block incoming melee attacks, a particular weakness of the mutant class. Dex can help with reflex attacks, though in the case of many mutants, this is much less a factor.



Defense bonuses
An Abomination has +2 defense to Reflex, +1 Defense to Fortitude.

Talents
At the specified levels given by the table, an abomination can pick a talent from any of the following talent trees. You may choose any tree you wish, but you must meed the prerequisites of a talent if given. No talent may be selected more than once unless otherwise stated.

The Scientist

Some people don't like to fight, but think. The Scientist cares nothing for combat, but in these days, the ability to understand the monsters and weapons used to destroy the world is always a valuable commodity. Some scientists are in the game to try to rid the world of these monsters. Others are there to just plain create and enhance them! Whatever their motivation, a scientists must be willing and ready to play a supporting role in the day to day actions of the monsters.

Intelligence is a vital stat for all scientists. It's what allows them to analyze, explore, and understand what they're seeing and doing in the lab, on the field, or anywhere in between. Charisma might help in some aspects of gathering knowledge or helping to provide for the research, and strength can help keep them alive. But brilliance cannot be rushed, for no purpose.

The world is a dangerous place, and sometimes, you're just going to have to put up the dukes to survive. Whether your enemy is the local rent-a-cop, a battalion of tanks, or a massive alien force which you are the only one who can save the world, there's gonna be a need to defend yourself and bite back. You have to do unto them better than they can do unto you. Armed with razor talons, atomic breath, lightning rays, missile launchers, and anything you can get your hands on, you'll be caught up in massive displays of might that can only be imagined in your head. Sure, you can try to bluff your way out of that fight by claiming you were sick, or sneak past the guards on duty, but when the crap hits the fan, nothing is better than a good array of skills to keep you alive.

This post will detail the rules of basic combat first, then move into the unusual strategies of advanced skills and even potentially vehicular combat.

Combat Sequence

The combat sequence can seem daunting at first. But in reality, it can be relatively quick to learn. Combat will take place in a series of turn based rounds, a bit like those old rpgs you used to play on the video games, and will run the following way:

1- The GM ascertains if the characters are aware of their opponent. If not, the opponents will get a free turn to hit, known as a surprise round. In this round, the attribute modifiers do not get added into the defense.

2- Once the surprise round ends, normal combat begins. While in most RPGs there is usually something called initiative to determine order, our version will be more simple. Handlers will go first, followed by monster maidens, followed by NPCs. If the GM wishes, he/she may call for rolls, though this is not necessary.

3- The order of attack continues until combat begins.

The Combat Round
Combat rounds, or the time it takes for all participants in a battle to act, usually cover a period of around six seconds. So, considering this, anything a normal person can do in that amount of time is considered reasonable.

Actions in Combat
Many RPGs use a very strict basis of actions, known as swift actions, standard actions, or move actions. Basically, it states that you can do a quick action (like drawing a weapon or shouting a phrase), move, and attack in one swift motion. In our games, we'll kind of have the same concept going, but to prevent confusion, we only ask that you be reasonable with your posts and listen to the GM on what constitutes fair actions.

Combat Statistics

There are several statistics which help determine how well one does in a combat scenario.

Attack rolls

To swing a punch, fire a weapon, throw a building, or shoot energy from your fingertips, an attack means very little if you simply miss. At the same time, if you're trying to miss your ally in combat, and hit it's attacker, inadvertently hitting your friend is just as bad. The attack rolls are simply a means of hitting. It's relatively easy to calculate the attack roll too. Just:

Roll a 20-sided die + Base attack bonus + Respective Stat modifier + Size if applicable

If the attack overcomes the respective defense, you hit! Easy as that. However, there's several things to watch out for. These are known as Critical Hits and Automatic misses.

Critical hits: By rolling a 20 on the attack roll, no matter how well the target can dodge, even if it wins the defense (I.E. you roll a 20 on the attack, and the opponent has a 100 defense, you still hit), then you automatically connect with the attack. Period. Not only this, but your damage is automatically doubled, and deals at least one damage.

Automatic misses: On the other hand, there are times when even a grenade prematurely detonates, or that special punch you were swinging not only misses the target, but throws you off balance. These automatic misses come from a natural 1 on your die throw. Fate sucks, but you'll just have to suck it up and take it as it comes.

Dealing Damage:

Assuming that you hit, next is to deal damage. Just because a civilian aims his nine millimeter pistol at this giant behemoth, doesn't mean it'll punch through the armor, does it? You can calculate the damage done by:

[Die type * Number] + 1/2 level rounded down - Size if applicable

This gives the damage score. But if a monster or other player has a specific armor or natural defense, it's damage wont' be completely full. Instead, the damage will be reduced, perhaps even completely ignored. Take the toughness defense of the enemy, and subtract that number from the damage dealt, and that's the total dealt.

Running out of Health

Whenever a player or enemy runs out of health, that participant is rendered 'unconscious', and unable to move. They might be just barely clinging onto the edge of life, or bleeding to death. In this state, their defenses are considered to be zero, and if a person wishes, they can perform a killing blow, making sure to destroy it once and for all. If however the attempt is not made, a player can try to revive themself by using a fortitude save. If the fortitude save is enough to beat the challenge level, then their condition becomes 'stabilized', and they are immune to dying permanently. A constitution check can then be used to figure out if a participant can come back to 1 hp. However, if the initial fortitude check fails, a player is considered bleeding out. If a second fortitude check fails, the player is rendered dead...

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