Bond Powers

As DM, it is your responsibility to invent Bro Powers and Love Powers (collectively known as “Bond Powers”) for your players. Level 1 Bond Powers are anything you can come up with that will be executed by one person. Level 2 Bond Powers are cooperative, meaning you have to have the other person there to do it and both of you take actions. Remember that the cool thing about these powers is that they are completely unique to the pair of friends/partners, and most will only make sense given the particular relationship. Here are some example Bond Powers.

Bro Power 1: Switch

You switch places with your ally, by way of teleportation.

Interruption • 5 MP

Range = Bond

You and the target switch places instantly.

Bro Power 2: Catch

You decide now is a good time to toss the skin around. You throw somewhat hard.

Major Action • 5 MP

Range = Level

Damage = 10 + Power

Both participants have to be within range of each other to make this attack. One person begins, and all enemies standing in the imaginary line between you and the other participant take the stated damage.

Love Power 1: Beam

Your love cannot be contained, and it takes the form of a huge laser that shoots from your chest.

Major + Move Action • 15 MP

Hit = Senses + 10 • Range = 30

Damage = Bond

Love Power 2: Thrash

You make symmetrical attacks from both sides of the enemy.

Major + Move Action • 10 MP

Hit = Bond / 4  vs. Senses + 5 • Range = 5

Damage = Power + Smarts

Each participant make an attack. If both attacks hit, repeat. Maximum 6 attacks per person.

Special Weapons

So the Gunblade... it's actually two weapons, and you can make an attack with either. One is a gun, which does 6 damage, has a range of 20, and a hit mod of -1. The other is a sword which does 9 damage, has a range of 5, a min POW of 3, and a hit mod of 0.

Music

If you are in a band, you will need to practice to prepare for performances and then play shows to get yourself out there. Captivating an audience can be difficult, though.

PracticES

All members of a band must be present to Practice. Practicing takes 2 Blocks and gives you +1 Proficiency with your instrument and one additional song per 2 Practices. In addition, every practice your avatar’s attack (see music battles) increases by 5.

ConcertS

When playing music to an audience, use these rules. Your audience has a pool of points similar to HP called Audience Points, or AP. There should be one AP for every member of the audience. The higher the AP of the audience, the more people like you. There can be many layers of AP. The audience can start at negative AP, or they can start at positive AP. This can go all the way from triple negative (we hate you) to triple positive (fan forever). The layer that the audience starts at depends two factors: how critical the audience is, and whether your genre matches the genre of the dominant band in the area. The audience also has a stat called Taste, which should be in the range of 20-30, depending on the audience’s reluctance to accept the new band’s music.

During a concert, you can play as many songs as you have prepared/ time for. Each song is one round. Each band member takes a turn and effectively makes an attack against the audience, just like in combat. Thinking this way, Gain functions as damage (but remember to add instead of subtract damage to the audience’s AP) and Balance as bonus to hit. You also add in your proficiency as normal. No stats are added, however.

In this way, you try to bump up the audience’s AP as much as possible. The level you reach with a certain audience (double positive, etc.) should carry over to your next show in that area. Once you reach the maximum level for that area, you are the dominant band of the area.

Music BattleS

Music battles are shows in which your band and another band play simultaneously. In these battles, you have two goals: win over the audience and defeat the other band’s avatar with your own. An avatar is a ethereal manifestation of your band’s unique sound and musical power. Basically it’s a big glowy monster that appears when your band plays.

Your avatar has two stats: Attack and Sustain. Attack starts at zero and is increased by having practices (see practices). Sustain is equal to (the number of people in your band + the level of the audience’s AP) x 10. Your avatar can take any form, but by increasing it’s sustain it will either become bigger or divide into several smaller avatars.

In music battles, each member of the challenging band takes a turn, and then their band’s avatar takes a turn. Then the same goes for the defending band. An avatar can only do one thing: attack the other band’s avatar. In a music battle, each band member can choose to attack the audience or devote their turn to their avatar. For each member that devotes their turn to their avatar, the avatar gains 1 attack on its next turn.

A music battle is ended when one band’s avatar has been defeated or the show ends. In the case of the former, whichever band defeats the other’s avatar wins. In the case of the latter, whichever band is most liked by the crowd wins.

SOUND SYSTEMS

Usually you will use the house’s sound system, but if there isn’t one, you will have to use a less conventional method. If the price is listed per unit, you need one per person, except for drum sets.

Practice Amp: -4 balance, $100 each

PA: -2 balance, $500

Small Cab: ±0 balance, $300 each

Large Cab: +2 balance, $500 each

NPC Creation

In your campaign, you will need to make a large number of NPCs, Non-Player Characters that the PCs can befriend, date, and fight with or against. These NPCs can be divided into Citizens, MiniBosses and Bosses.

Citizens are the most common type of NPC. They are simply the guys, the girls of the world you set your campaign in. If your campaign is set in a high school, the Citizens would be the students. If it is set in a small town, the Citizens would be... the citizens. These are the people that your PCs are going to interact with on a purely social level most of the time. Here is an example stat block for a Citizen.

Becky

Sex: Female

SO: Straight

Pretty Hot, but kind of Oblivious

Nationality: European

Hair: Longish/Blonde

Eyes: Brown

Likes Radiohead

Fashion Sense: Chill

Attracted to Sex Appeal

Standards: 7 Sex Appeal, 6 Power

Intimidation: 17

Benefits: +2 Power, +2 Proficiency with Heavy weapons, if Grounded, getting up on your turn is a Free Action

Expectations: 21

Maintenance: 2

Here are steps to generate a large amount of Citizen stat blocks. You will need an internet connection, a d20, a d6, and a d10. If an item is labelled Uncommon, if you get it, roll again and take whatever you get.

Name: Use online random name generator.

Sex: Roll d10. 1-5=male 6-10=female.

SO: Roll d20. 1-19=straight. If you get a 20, roll again. 1-10=gay, 11-20=bi.

Natures: Same as PCs. Roll 2d10, use Natures table. No doubles.

Ethnicity: Roll a d20 on Ethnicity table.

Hair & Eyes: Roll 3d6 on Hair & Eyes table.

Likes: Roll a d6 on Likes table for category and make something up.

Fashion Sense: Roll a d10 on Fashion sense table.

Attracted To: Roll a d8 on Attracted To table.

Standards: Roll 2d8 on Attracted To table, then roll a d10 for each.

Intimidation: Roll a d10 and add 15.

Benefits: Roll on Benefits table.

Expectations: Same as Intimidation.

Maintenance: 1d10.

Natures

Positive Natures

1. Daring (one additional EV per level to Guts)

2. Athletic (one additional EV per level to Speed)

3. Tough (one additional EV per level to Toughness)

4. Smart (one additional EV per level to Smarts)

5. Strong (one additional EV per level to Power)

6. Hot (one additional EV per level to Sex Appeal)

7. Nice (+2 to all beginning relationships)

8. Fashionable (+2 Style)

9. Perceptive (one additional EV per level to Senses)

10. Intense (one additional EV per level to Will)

Negative Natures

1. A pussy

2. Awkward

3. Overbearing

4. Fickle

5. Shy

6. Obsessive

7. A douche/bitch

8. Lazy

9. Oblivious

10. A follower

Ethnicity/Nationality

Ethnicity

1. White

2. White

3. White

4. White

5. White

6. White

7. White

8. White

9. Asian

10. Asian

11. Asian

12. Latino

13. Latino

14. Black

15. Multiracial

16. Native American

17. International (roll on table)

18. International (roll on table)

19. Roll again

20. Roll again

International

1. North America (not US)

2. European

3. South America

4. Russia

5. Asia

6. Australia

Hair & Eyes

Girl's Hair Style

1. Short (uncommon)

2. Shortish

3. Mid Length

4. Longish

5. Long

6. Really Long

Guy's Hair Style

1. Buzzed

2. Short

3. Shortish

4. Mid Length

5. Longish

6. Long (uncommon)

Hair Color

1. Blonde

2. Dirty Blonde

3. Black

4. Red (uncommon)

5. Light Brown

6. Dark Brown

Eyes

1. Dark Brown

2. Dark Blue

3. Dark Green

4. Light Brown

5. Light Blue

6. Light Green

Likes

1. Band

2. Food

3. Hobby

4. Subject in school

5. Location

6. Video game or sport

Fashion Sense

1. Hot

2. Cute

3. Vintage

4. Geeky

5. Classy

6. Preppy

7. Chill

8. Wild

9. Sporty

10. Dark

Attracted To

1. Senses

2. Speed

3. Toughness

4. Smarts

5. Power

6. Sex Appeal

7. Guts

8. Will

Benefits

1. +2 to Power & Senses

2. +2 to Will & Toughness

3. +2 to Guts & Sex Appeal

4. +2 to Smarts & Speed

5. +1 Pro with any weapon type

6. +1 to hit to all attacks

7. +2 Style

8. +2 Armor

9. +5 HP

10. +5 MP

Fashion Creation

So, don't wait up on me making a catalog of clothing, because it's not going to happen. You're just going to have to make up your own stuff. To aid you in this, I'm writing a short guide on how to make items of clothing. Here's a stat block for an item of clothing.

Name

Flavour text (optional)

Type: Pants, Shirt, etc.

Attributes: DA1, VI2, etc.

AR Bonus: #

Price: $#

Aspects: Anything else

So, the best way to make clothing for your characters is to simply ask what they want, then make it and sell it to them. The only time you should make fashion items to be drops (items you get for defeating someone) is if they are not core fashion, and usually smallish. For example, you could have a miniboss drop a bracelet that grants +2 to unarmed attacks, or a belt which gives you +5 HP. So here's how you make something. I usually get a picture of the item before I start this process.

Type: This should be pretty obvious. Look a character sheet for reference.

Attributes: Again, just look at the picture and figure it out. Items shouldn't have more than 3 different attributes. Items the characters get at around levels 1-8 should add up to 2-3 at the most, whereas items given at levels 9-16 should add up to 3-4, and items given later can add up to 6 at the most. This is not a law, but a rough guide.

AR Bonus: If it is an item which would cover 30% or more of the body, consider how sturdy the construction is, and how thick the material is. If it's a small item, unless you want it to have special properties OR it is specially made for protection (such as a helmet), don't give it any AR Bonus at all.

Price: Pretty much, as your characters level up, make shit more expensive. Also, If the item has good AR and no Speed penalty, make it much more expensive.

Aspects: Here's the fun part. You can choose to give your item magical characteristics (Belt of Giant Strength, Beanie of Devastation, etc. These make for excellent drops), or you can go the more standard route and simply give it aspects based on common sense. If you have sunglasses on during the day, they will boost your senses. If you have running shoes, you will go faster. Also, the most common aspect is Speed reduction, since large, AR-ful items weigh you down. An item can have Speed reduction in combination with any other aspect, but aside from that, it should be extremely rare to have items with two unique Aspects.

Weapon Creation

Weapons are provided for your convenience, though you are encouraged to come up with your own. For the most part, PCs will order weapons from online stores, receiving them a week after ordering (though they could pay extra for express shipping), unless you want to have weapon stores around your locale, which is cool too. That's how you get regular weapons. Here is a list of weapon types.

Sword

Knife

Thrown

Whip

Heavy

Unarmed

Bow

Gun

Any Mundane property can be applied to any weapon you purchase, at the DM's discretion. These are the Mundane properties.

Defective: -4 damage, falls apart upon critical failure, -50% price

Crappy: -2 damage, -25% price

[Normal]

Masterwork: +3 damage, 4x price

Epic: +6 damage, +3 to hit, indestructible, 10x price

To get Magic weapons, you must find one somewhere or defeat someone to get one. You can't buy them. Here is the list of Magic properties.

Lightning: Turn electricity on and off as free action. Electricity adds 5 damage. Stun for 15 MP.

Frost: +3 damage. Spend 10 MP, target's next attack gets -5 to hit.

Poison: Inflicts poison upon critical.

Hyper: +1d20 damage upon critical. Everyone within 5 feet of the target takes 1d10 damage.

Seeker: +5 to hit.

Dragonslayer: +5 damage.

Returning: Always returns to your hand at the end of your turn.

Drain: Upon critical, divide damage dealt to your target by 2 and gain that much HP.

Ghost: Does damage to target's MP total instead of their HP total.

Pixel: Divide enemy's Armor by 2.

Magnetic: When making a counterattack or blocking with this weapon, gain +5 to success.

Force: When making a Heavy or Scope attack, a successful hit knocks the target back 5 feet.

Supersonic: When making a Light or Dash attack, if you chain, you can make one more Light/Dash attack. Stacks with whatever.

Vengeance: If an enemy lands a critical hit on you, your next attack must target them, and you get +5 to damage.

Depending on the theme and tone of your campaign, you might choose not to use Magic weapons at all. That's fine, but in that case you won't like Giga weapons.

Lifesapper: Once a day, you can perform a Lifesapper Attack. This attack lets you regain MP equal to how much damage the attack does. Any attack can be made into a Lifesapper Attack.

Dawntreader: Once a day, you can spend 30 MP to perform a Dawntreader Attack. This attack allows you to move up to 2x your run speed and make a basic attack with a +10 bonus to hit. If it is early morning-midday, the attack does 3x normal damage.

Nova: Once a day, you can spend 35 MP to perform a Nova Attack. This attack gets +20 to hit, hits everyone in a 15 foot radius, including you, and does 2x normal damage +1d20.

These are EXTREMELY RARE. You should literally have one of each of these in your campaign, and make them incredibly hard to get. Give them to optional bosses, or hide them. They're intense.

You should not combine properties, except maybe Mundane and Magic properties, because then you get shit like "Epic Dragonslayer Katana" or "Masterwork Vengeance Hammer". For dropped weapons, except Giga Weapons, you can give the weapon a random Aspect, for example, +5 damage to Blondes. Just crazy shit. A weapon might even have a Style attribute.

DM Pro Tips

No Alignment

An important aspect of TOG is that there is no alignment listed on any given character's sheet. What this means is not that everyone is good, what it means is that you have to keep track of who's being a dick to other people, who's being nice, and treat them accordingly. For example, if a character takes any chance he can get to beat up random people, he should take penalties to starting relationships. Therefore character actions and especially character-citizen interactions should be closely monitored.

Cheat & Steal

Perhaps the two most important things that you can do as a DM are lie and plagiarize.

Lying and cheating is important on a small scale. Sometimes, dramatic context overrules a roll of the d20. If you just really need a villain to make an impression, or don't want to kill a character over something lame, you should forsake the die roll and just decide what happens. This is a TRPG, not a video game. You can also modify the system in any way you feel is beneficial (or detrimental, if you're a sadist) to your campaign. This includes bringing in elements of other TRPGS as you see fit. Perhaps you want different races, or you hate mana for some inconceivable reason. The point is, the rules you play under are only a framework for telling a story and having fun beating people up. If bending the rules means more fun, do it.

The other item, stealing from other authors, is something all DMs do, even without realizing it. Taking character archetypes and plot concepts from other people is perfectly okay, a long as you aren't blatantly obvious about it.

THE Planner

Utilizing the planner will make any TOG DM's life easier. The easiest way to use it is to print out a bunch, and just put everyone's events on yours, rather than giving one to each player. I can't think of a better place to say this, so I'll just say it here: not everyone has to be present for a fight. In fact, if you have party of more than three people, it should be divided for most fights (with the notable exception of bosses). Solo fights are cool too. Just make sure people are there for the pivotal plot-forwarding battles. If anyone gets both the Early Bird and the Night Owl feats, and they are awake for all blocks possible, make them take a -3 penalty to all Hit rolls the following day.