As a result of some feedback, particularly from gaming veteran Sean Patrick Fannon, we are making some minor changes in Bulletproof Blues.

The first problem is that the “trip” action is supposed to represent a range of actions, including aikido and judo throws, pro wrestling slams, legsweeps, and simple Three Stooges style trips, but we did not convey that adequately in the text. To help make this clearer, we are changing the name from “trip” to “slam” (a term in common use in the field of pro wrestling), and we are expanding the description a bit.

Of course, we already have an effect called “slam”, which is one possible result of an extreme success in combat. We are changing the name of that to “smash”.

We hope this change doesn’t cause more confusion than it alleviates…

Here is the new text for “Slamming”, which replaces the old section, “Trip Attacks”.

Slamming

A slam or takedown involves using a target’s mass and velocity against them so that they fall to the ground. Slams are only effective against targets whose feet are on the ground to begin with. A slam can represent a an aikido throw, a leg sweep, a judo hip toss, or even tripping someone with an umbrella, depending on the attacker’s fighting style.

A slam requires a Prowess task roll against the Prowess of the intended target. If the slam attack is successful, the defender falls to the ground and may be injured by the impact. The damage rating of this attack is normally equal to the attacker’s rank in Agility. Characters with human level Agility (rank 3 or less) inflict stunning damage with their throws. A character with rank 3 Agility would have damage rating 3, and any damage inflicted would be temporary. See Stunning for more details.

If the defender was moving, the damage rating of this attack is equal to the defender’s rank in their movement power or the attacker’s rank in Agility, whichever is greater. If the defender’s rank in their movement power is 3 or less, the slam inflicts stunning damage.

Another small change is in the coordinated attacks action. We are changing the task roll requirements so that the characters attempting to assist with the attack need to make a challenging task roll (task difficulty 12) rather than attempt to actually hit the target. Here is the new text for “Coordinating Attacks”.

Coordinating Attacks

Multiple characters can work together to increase their chances of hitting an opponent. One character will actually make the attack, and the rest of the characters will attempt to assist them. Each character wishing to assist with the attack attempts a challenging task roll (task difficulty 12) using the appropriate attribute (usually Prowess or Accuracy). Each successful task roll increases the attack bonus of the attack by +1, up to a maximum of +3. The character who actually rolls to hit the target provides the base damage (or effect) for the coordinated attack. If the character who actually rolls to hit the target fails their task roll, the entire coordinated attack fails.

We have also made a tiny change to the “distract” action, granting a bonus to the next attack against the target, regardless of who makes that attack.

These changes have been made to the PDF on DriveThruRPG, and the update is free to anyone who has purchased it.

The changes will be made to the print version as soon as we get the print proof of the revised book. Until then, we are making the print book unavailable to keep anyone from buying the current version. If you bought the current print version and would like to buy the updated version when it’s released, let us know and tell us what email address you used to order the book, and we will send you a coupon for $5 off the price of the book.