CANNONS & FEELINGS

My homebrew modifications of the LASERS & FEELINGS game.

Cannons & Feelings 

You are the crew of the ship Albatross.  The ship is rumored to be cursed, but in an odd way where every enemy who attacks it experiences exceptionally bad luck.   The players can rename the ship, but it incurs bad karma.  

PLAYERS:  CREATE CHARACTERS

1.  Create the Party.  See Building an Adventuring Party book:  Session Zero. (currently a work in progress).

2.  Choose a style and role for your character:   Note I’ve aligned the styles with their most common roles, but experienced players can mix and match.

3.  Choose your number, from 2 to 9. 

A low number means you’re better at CANNONS: everything from punching to cannons (even laser cannons!), technical skills, blacksmithing, planning, precise action. 

A high number means you’re better at FEELINGS: intuition, diplomacy, seduction; wild, passionate action, psionics, magic, software.  

4.  Character goal: Choose one or create your own:

Become Captain, Meet New Races, Turn Bad Guys Good, Find New Worlds, Solve Weird Mysteries, Prove Yourself, or Keep Being Awesome (you have nothing to prove).

5.  Give your character a cool adventure nickname. Like Cutlass Sharp or something.

You have:  Fantasy World equipment: Gambeson Armour, best for adventuring. a Short sword, any type, Large knife, Tomahawk or hatchet, Pick one:  Spear, short bow or crossbow

PLAYERS: CREATE THE SHIP

Notes:  Airships are not recommended for inexperienced players or GMs as flying makes many adventures too easy.  Airships, small catamarans and racing catamarans probably can’t hold much more than food and water.  Galleons are not recommended as they have too many potential Non-Player Characters (NPCs).  Longships, Catamarans and Cargo ships are available in multiple sizes.  Generally the larger a ship is the more crew it needs, the slower it is, the deeper its draft and the more cargo it can hold.  Multihulls like a Catamaran are the exception in that the biggest can also be the fastest, but they can’t add much more crew or cargo if they are faster.

OUTFIT THE SHIP:  

Note:  Landing boats, crew served weapons, riding creatures, etc are probably all too heavy for airships, small catamarans or racing catamarans to carry.

ROLLING THE DICE 

When you do something risky, roll 1D10 to find out how it goes. Roll +1D10 if you’re prepared and +1D10 if you’re an expert. (The GM tells you how many dice to roll, based on your character and the situation.) Roll your dice and compare each die result to your number. If you’re using CANNONS (weapons, reason), you want to roll over your number. If you’re using FEELINGS, (passion, magic) you want to roll under your number. 

• 0 If none of your dice succeed, it goes wrong. The GM says how things get worse somehow. 

• 1 If one die succeeds, you barely manage it. The GM inflicts a complication, harm, or cost. 

• 2 If two dice succeed, you do it well. Good job! 

• 3 If three dice succeed, you get a critical success! The GM tells you some extra effect you get!

•  If you roll your number exactly, you have CANNON FEELINGS. You get a special insight into what’s going on. Ask the GM a question and they’ll answer you honestly. Some good questions: What are they really feeling? Who’s behind this? How could I get them to _____? What should I be on the lookout for? What’s the best way to _____? What’s really going on here? (A roll of CANNON FEELINGS counts as a success.) HELPING: If you want to help someone else who’s rolling, say how you try to help and make a roll. If you succeed, give them +1D10.

GM: CREATE A SHIP ADVENTURE Roll 1D6 four times or choose on each table below.

GM: RUN THE GAME Play to find out how they defeat the threat. Introduce the threat by showing evidence of its recent badness. Before a threat does something to the characters, show signs that it’s about to happen, then ask them what they do. “Zorgon loads the cannons on his ship. What do you do?” “Daneela pours you a glass of Arcturan whiskey and slips her arm around your waist. What do you do?” Call for a roll when the situation is uncertain. Don’t pre-plan outcomes—let the chips fall where they may. Use failures to push the action forward. The situation always changes after a roll, for good or ill. Ask questions and build on the answers. “Have any of you encountered a Void Cultist before? Where? What happened?”

WEATHER DISASTERS:

Credits:

© 2022 by Nathaniel Caucutt, The What If Brigade.  The game format is open for hacking and remixing under a CC BY 4.0 license. 

Based on: LASERS & FEELINGS: THE DOUBLECLICKS TRIBUTE RPG (v1.4) The game text is © 2013 by John Harper. johnharper.itch.io The game format is open for hacking and remixing under a CC BY 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0 Make your own L&F hack and share it (or sell it!) as you like. THANKS Aubrey, Ron, Vincent, Ben, Graham, Meg, Ryan, Jason, Brendan, Gene, Laser, Leonard, Bill, Wil. CHECK OUT thedoubleclicks.com nightskygames.com