A Bloated Stupid-fest RPG
Part 1: Chargen

Your guy has ten Stats: Endurance, Musculature, Skelulature, Innate Intelligence, Learned Intelligence, Perceptual Acuity, Reaction Speed, Attractiveness, Social Intelligence, Willpower. Spend 180 points buying their ratings. A rating of 5-10 costs 1 point per; a rating of 11-19 costs 2 points per over 10. For Instance, Endurance 10 costs 10 points, Endurance 12 costs 14 points, Endurance 19 costs 28 points.

A stat can't be less than 5 or more than 19.

You can also reserve points to spend on these optional stats, at 3 points per, max rating 5: Divine Spark, Psi Factor, Cybergear, Genetic Divergency.

The game is part Unbreakable, part Minority Report, part Equilibrium, part Total Recall, part Aliens, part The Exorcist!

Anyway. Now spend points on backgrounds. A rating of 1-10 costs 1 per; a rating of 11-19 costs 2 per over 10, same as stats but with no minimum. You get one background at 15 for free, and can buy it up higher if you want.

The backgrounds are: Street, Professional, Military/Law Enforcement, Civil Service, Working Stiff, Medical/Clinical, Academic, R&D, Artistic, Gang/Mob/Terrorist, Leisured, Public Life.

Each background lists a Base Wealth Factor. For instance, Street lists Base Wealth Factor 1-5:2 6-10:3 11-15:4 16+:5, while Leisured lists Base Wealth Factor 1-5:11 6-10:13 11-15:15 16+:17. Find the number range that includes your rating before the colon; the corresponding number after the colon is your Base Wealth Factor. Check the Base Wealth Factor you'd get from each of your backgrounds and choose the highest. The others don't count for anything.

Your starting age is 10 plus half the number of points you spend on backgrounds. For instance, if you spend 30 points on backgrounds, your age is 10+(30/2)=10+15=25. After age 45 (70 points on backgrounds) you lose rating from certain stats: Musculature, Skelulature, Perceptual Acuity, Reaction Speed and Attractiveness. Each year over 45 you are, choose two stats and lose 1 from each, or choose one stat and lose 2 from it. If you have Leisured at 15+, lose 3 rating per two years over 45 instead of 2 rating per year. How's that rule for a chimneyfuck?

Now buy skills! You get points for skills from your ratings in your stats. Spend points on the same scale: rating 1-10 for 1 point per, rating 11-19 for 2 points per over 10. You can spend points from a stat only on skills listing that stat.

In addition, your ratings in your backgrounds give you your maximum levels for skills within those backgrounds.

For instance, Tactical Awarness (TacAware) appears under Street, Military/Law Enforcement, and Gang/Mob/Terrorist, so your maximum rating in TacAware is equal to your highest rating in those three backgrounds. For stats, TacAware lists Learned Intelligence, Perceptual Acuity, and Reaction Speed, so you can buy TacAware up with points only from those three stats. You can mix and match however you like within those stats, however.

Let's say you have Military/Law Enforcement background at 15, and stats Learned Intelligence 17, Perceptual Acuity 12 and Reaction Speed 15. You want to buy TacAware to max, but you don't need any other high Perceptual Acuity skills (like Forensics, Triage, Appraise/Assess, or Stationary Shooting). You spend all 12 points from Perceptual Acuity; your TacAware is now 11. You need 8 more points to bump TacAware up to 15, the maximum provided by your Military/Law Enforcement background. You can get the 8 points from Learned Intelligence or Reaction Speed, or some from both. Spend your Learned Intelligence points and you'll preserve your Reaction Speed points for skills like Martial Art (specify), Driving (specify), or Competitive Sport (specify); spend your Reaction Speed points and you'll preserve your Learned Intelligence points for skills like Reflexive Judgement, Reactive Shooting, Damage Minimance, or Leadership. Spend evenly from both to keep your options most open.

Notice that some skills list Mod: Divine Spark, Mod: Psi Factor, Mod: Cybergear (specified), or Mod: Genetic Divergency. If you buy any of those skills over 5, add your rating in the Mod optional stat directly to your skill rating.

For instance, TacAware lists Mod: Psi Factor. If you bought a rating in Psi Factor, you add it to your TacAware skill. If this puts your TacAware skill over your background max, or even over 19, you're psyched! Now let's say you also buy the skill People-reading at 6 or higher. It lists Mod: Psi Factor too, so you add your Psi Factor rating to it as well.

In the case of cybergear, list the specified gear on your character sheet under Special Possessions/Factors. For instance, if you bought a rating in Cybergear and you take Computer Espionage/Crime, which lists Mod: Cybergear (Skullport), add your Cybergear rating to its rating and also list "Skullport" on your character sheet. It's possible this way to get all kinds of spiff gear just by buying skills, at no impact to your Wealth Factor!

Notice that some of the skills list things like Combat Mod: 1-5:0 6-10:1 11+:2 or Combat Mod: 1-10:1 11-15:2 16+:3. Once you've bought all your skills, figure your Total Combat Mod. Each Combat Mod skill contributes to your Total Combat Mod, according to your rating in the skill. Simply sum the Mods you derive from your Combat Mod skills.

For instance, TacAware lists Combat Mod: 1-5:1 6-10:2 11-15:3 16+:4. You have a 15 in TacAware, so it contributes 3 to your Total Combat Mod. Let's say that you also have Reactive Shooting at 12; Reactive Shooting lists Combat Mod 1-5:0 6-15:1 16+2. Your 12 in Reactive Shooting adds 1 to your Total Combat Mod. Now let's say furthermore that you have Damage Minimance at 8; Damage Minimance lists Combat Mod 1-15:1 16+:3. Your 8 in Damage Minimance adds 1 to your Total Combat Mod. Continue this way through all your Combat Mod skills. In the end, to be a combat-capable character, your Total Combat Mod should be in the 4-8 range.

Skills listing Healing/Recovery Mod work exactly the same way as Combat Mod. Calculate your Total Healing/Recovery Mod based on your ratings in those skills. If your Total Healing/Recovery Mod is less than 4, you might want to hide behind the big guy.

Notice that a few skills also list a Wealth Factor Mod. It assumes that you've been employing that skill professionally. Wealth Factor Mods work a little differently from Combat and Healing/Recovery Mods, but not too differently. You get your Base Wealth Factor from your backgrounds; add any Wealth Factor Mods you qualify for directly to it to get your Wealth Factor. For instance, say you have a Base Wealth Factor of 10 from your backgrounds, and you have Appraise/Assess at 16. Appraise/Assess lists Wealth Factor Mod 1-15:0 16+:1, so add 1 to your Base Wealth Factor of 10 to get a Wealth Factor of 11. Perhaps you've been working as an art dealer!

Giving the skill Academics (RPG Theory) a Wealth Factor Mod of -1 is my little joke.

See the skill lists and descriptions in Bloaty: the RPG, appendix 1: listy lists.

After you've bought your skills, buy your stuff! Bloaty: the RPG doesn't use money, it uses something called Wealth Factor. You have your Wealth Factor from your backgrounds plus your skills, now you use it to buy stuff for your character.

Everything you can buy lists three ratings: Trivial, Expensive and Investment. When you want something, compare your Wealth Factor:

If your Wealth Factor is greater than or equal to its Trivial, you can buy essentially an infinite number of them. You can write it on your character sheet if you want to, or you can just assume that you have as many of them as you'll ever need.

If your Wealth Factor is less than its Trivial, but greater than or equal to its Expensive, you can buy it. But here's the thing: you can't buy a number of Expensive things greater than your Wealth Factor. If your Wealth Factor is 10, for instance, you can buy at most 10 Expensive things.

If your Wealth Factor is less than its Expensive but at least its Investment, you have to invest in it. You can invest in only one thing per 3 of your Wealth Factor, and each investment you make reduces your Wealth Factor by 1.

Finally, if your Wealth Factor is less than its Investment, you can't have one.

Remember that if you bought a rating in Cybergear, you don't have to pay for any cybergear you got from taking Mod: Cybergear skills!

Also remember that just because you own something doesn't mean you have it with you. You should keep the "Carried?" checkboxes on your character sheet up to date and accurate. If you make any major changes, be sure to inform your GM!

Special note about weapons and armor: Weapons and armor list a Combat Mod and occasionally a Healing/Recovery Mod. Be sure to add them to your Total Combat Mod and Total Healing/Recovery Mod when you're using that equipment.

See the lists and descriptions of crap you can buy in Bloaty: the RPG, appendix 1: listy lists.

The end of part 1! Part 2: Resolution, Combat and Recovery, coming soon or never!

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