You really have to wonder. With the plethora of action/ adventure movies and TV shows out there, and the number of fans the genre has, why isn't there a good Action Movie roleplaying game? Yeah, I know, there are a few games and scenarios based around an SF/ Action flick or two, and an espionage RPG that faded away into obscurity due to licensing problems. But what about a senseless, violence-ridden, generic cops 'n robbers style game modeled after the classics? Think of it. The fans of the Arnold Schwarzenegger/ Mel Gibson/ Sylvester Stallone/ Steven Seagal/ Jean Claude Van Damme/ Muscle Guy Ad Nauseum genre deserve a game of their own, don't they?!?!?

After a pointless loss of several nights' sleep (the little voice kept telling me, 'if you write it, they will play...`), and with very little thought and effort, I set out to create such a game. The result is before you. So, with no further adieu, and tongue in firmly entrenched in cheek, I proudly present:

BAD ATTITUDES:THE ACTION MOVIE ROLEPLAYING GAMEThe First Edition from Out of the Vaultby Berin Kinsmanc. 1993 Berin Kinsmanhttp://www.unclebear.comAll Rights Reserved

MATERIALS REQUIRED FOR PLAYRaid the Monopoly game for some d6s, grab a pencil and some paper- a Post-It note, 3 x 5 card, or the back of an old sales receipt will do...wait a minute! You're all experienced gamers! You know this crap already! Let's get on with it!

MANDATORY JARGONISM AND CUTE TERMINOLOGYJust for fun, instead of calling the gamemaster 'the gamemaster` and the players 'the players`, let's call the GM 'the Perpetrator` and the players 'Accomplices`. No, no, I've got it...the 'Blitzer` and the 'Blitzees`. Wait, wait, better one- the 'Director` and the 'Cast`. Hold it, how about...aww, skip it.

ATTITUDEIn the movies, how tough you are is really a matter of how tough everyone thinks you are which is determined largely by how tough you think you are which is reflected in how you act. Attitude reflects that, is the one (and only) attribute that matters in this game. Starting Attitude is based on Character Type, below.

SKILLSDivide starting Attitude up among the following skills however you want; Maximum skill number is 5.

Shoot Guns!All sorts of guns, and stuff that isn't guns- in fact, anything that isn't a hand-to-hand weapon falls under this skill. Pistols, rifles, sub-machineguns, grenade launchers, thrown grenades, thrown knives, thrown shuriken, flamethrowers...

Kick Butt!All forms of hand-to-hand combat, including martial arts, boxing, street fighting, swords, knives, nunchuks, baseball bats, beer bottles...

Drive Cars!All sorts of vehicles, including trucks, motorcycles, forklifts, cement mixers...

Hang on for Dear Life!The ability to not fall off of high buildings, airplane wings, the hoods of speeding cars, etc. etc.

Pick up Babes/ Hunks!If you need an explanation, your character doesn't really need to have this skill.

Basically Worthless Stuff!Everything else the character knows.

CHARACTER TYPESGood Guys:ACTION HERO - The Ultimate Good Guy. Roll 3d6 to determine starting Attitude. Never has any Basically Worthless Stuff.

SIDEKICK - A Really Good Guy, but not Good Enough for the Lead. Roll 2d6 to determine starting Attitude. Has Action Hero type skills and Basically Worthless Stuff.

REGULAR FOLKS - Every other potato head on the planet: non-player characters, innocent bystanders, victims, kids, stray dogs... Roll 1d6 to determine starting Attitude. Has nothing but Basically Worthless Stuff.

Bad Guys:MASTER VILLAINS - The Ultimate Bad Guy. Criminal masterminds are rarely the physical type. He's the thinker and schemer, and once the Action hero gets past the Right-Hand Man and the hoards of Henchmen (below), he's usually toast. For that reason, he almost never has anything but Basically Worthless Stuff for skills. He does often have a lot of Attitude (especially the really good villains- that's what makes them scary!!!); starting Attitude is 2d6 or 3d6.

RIGHT-HAND MAN - The Master Villain's top hired muscle, this is the guy the Action Hero gets into long, drawn out fist- and fire-fights with. The Right-Hand Man is often an Action Hero type who's Gone Bad; as such, he's generated with 3d6 starting Attitude, and as no Basically Worthless Stuff.

HENCHMEN - Pure Cannonfodder. Starting Attitude is 1d6, and they generally don't have very good Shoot Guns! or Kick Butt! skills. Henchmen that manage to survive (yeah, right) an adventure should get a decent Attitude award, and may return later as Right-Hand Men.

COMBAT:The character with the most Attitude goes first, the next highest second, and so on. When everyone has gone, start over from the beginning. Note that as Attitude changes, so does combat order.

Roll 1d6. If you roll the skill number or less, you succeed. If you don't, tough toogies. A six always fails.

Action Heroes and Right-Hand Men roll damage equal to number of dice in skill, regardless of what kind of weapon they're using- They can be lethal even with a dull pocket knife and a BB gun.

Everyone else does 1d6 damage, except to Action Heroes and Right-Hand Men, who only take 1 point of damage unless the Attack is from other Action Heroes or Right-Hand Men -- they might kill each other, but even with a rocket launcher, no normal person could seriously harm an Action Hero, right?Damage lowers Attitude. 0A = D: Zero Attitude Equals Death.

HEALINGFor dramatic impact, GMs might try having wounded NPCs lie around in comas for the entire adventure, giving the heroes motivation ('I must AVENGE him!`). Once the bad guys who injured the NPC have been vanquished, of course, all NPCs will awaken so they can offer their thanks.

Action heroes don't lie around waiting to heal. They only recover Attitude by earning it (below).

GAINING ATTITUDEEvery time a character displays Attitude, the GM should award him an Attitude Point. This is most often displayed in snappy repartee- like when Arnie says, "I'll be baack" in Terminator, then drives a car through the front of the building- that's Attitude! A mortally wounded character who struggles to his feet in order to continue fighting, like Mel in Lethal Weapon (any of 'em), should get a point for Attitude (and thus remain alive!).

IMPROVING SKILLSIf a character used a skill during an adventure, successfully or not, that skill goes up one point when the adventure is over.

TERMINAL BLITZThe Adventure for BAD ATTITUDES

Let's be honest. Action movie plots, as a rule, aren't incredibly deep. Mostly, they're nothing but framing sequences for fight scenes and car chases, stringing events together into allegedly coherent order. Sure, uh-huh. Terminal Blitz is a good starter scenario for BAD ATTITUDES, playable by any number of participants. Then play it again, call it Terminal Blitz II: The Return of (Insert Player Character Name Here)

For an advanced scenario, try it again, but entitle it Terminal Blitz III: The Mother of All Blitzes. You get the idea. Hey, I'm probably wresting vast royalties in potential modules out of my own pocket here, but what they heck.

The story starts out with a character's (roll 2d6)2 Ex-Partner3 Boss4 Mentor5 Fellow _________ (occupation)6 Father (Mother)7 Brother (Sister)8 Ex-Spouse9 Child10 Best Friend11 Childhood Buddy12 Old Military Pal

who has been beaten up by (roll 1d6)1-2 Drug Dealers3-4 An Organized Crime Group5 A Street Gang6 Mysterious Well-dressed Thugs

because he/ she (roll 1d6)1 Owes them money.2 Was with them, but was selling them out.3 Was investigating and got 'too close`.4 Happened to witness something.5 Was being blackmailed.6 Has a 'package` they want.

The player characters find this NPC (roll 1d6)1 In the hospital after cops took him/ her there.2 At the crime scene surrounded by cops.3 At the NPC's place.4 At the PC's place.5 At the bar/ favorite hangout.6 At the PC's workplace.

The NPC at first is reluctant to talk, but his/ her (roll 1d6)1-3 Patient and caring lover/ spouse4-6 Fab babe daughter/ hunk son

spills everything and asks the character for help. Just then, however, (roll 1d6)1-2 A bunch of Henchmen (1d6)3-4 The Right-Hand Man5-6 The Master Villain

comes in, and (roll 1d6)1-3 Makes veiled threats4-6 Tries to kill the NPC

but gets away because (roll 1d6)1-3 Good Guy Reinforcements arrive.4-6 Bad Guy Reinforcements arrive.

Thereafter, the characters (roll 1d6 for repeated encounters until you get a 6)1 Get in a car chase2 Get attacked3 Meet a love interest4 Lose a lose interest5 Meet the kooky informant6 Find the Master Villain's location(refer to the tables below)

GET IN A CAR CHASE TABLEChase goes on (roll 3d6):3 Down an empty street, picking up speed4 Through dangerous road construction5 Onto a bridge- which is out!6 Into a busy intersection against the light7 Into a dead-stop traffic jam8 Onto a sidewalk and into a street vendor stand9 Into a mall or other spacious one-story building10 Into a parking garage11 Through a plaza and down stairs12 Along the edge of a ledge or cliff13 Jumping over a really big hill14 Under a tractor trailer parked across the road16 Across a park or someone's lawn17 Until Bad Guys' car breaks down18 Until Good Guys' car breaks down

GET ATTACKED TABLESAttacked by (roll 1d6):1-2 2d6 Henchmen3-4 Right-Hand Man alone5-6 Right-Hand Man & 1d6 Henchmen

Where (roll 1d6):1 On a really tall building2 On/ in a moving vehicle3 In a bar4 At the PC's place5 At the NPC's place6 At the Love Interest's place

MEET A LOVE INTEREST TABLE (roll 1d6)1 Fab Good Babe/ Hunk (Sidekick)2 Fab Evil Babe/ Hunk (Right-Hand)3 NPC's Fab Babe daughter/ Hunk son4 Another PC's 'baby` Sibling5 Character's Ex-Spouse/ Lover6 Someone with no discernable connection to the plot whatsoever

LOSE A LOVE INTEREST TABLE (roll 1d6)1 Killed by Henchmen2 Killed by Right-Hand Man3 Kidnapped by Right-Hand Man4 Killed by Master Villain5 Kidnapped by Master Villain6 She/ He gets sick of Hero's career and leaves

MEET THE KOOKY INFORMANT TABLEInformant is (roll 1d6):1 Hooker/ Gigolo with a Heart of Gold who secretly loves the Hero2 Street Kid who idolizes Hero3 Guy/ Gal the Hero got off the streets4 Schmuck the Hero has to beat up to get info out of5 Pro Snitch the Hero has to pay for info6 Babe/ Hunk in the Police Records department who secretly loves the Hero

Informant knows (roll 1d6):1 Henchmen's location2 Right-Hand Man's location3 Master Villain's location4 Plan to kill Hero5 Plan to kill/ kidnap NPC6 Plan to kill/ kidnap Love Interest

MASTER VILLAIN`S LOCATION TABLE (roll 1d6)1 Posh Mansion/ Headquarters2 Abandoned Warehouse3 Heavily populated public place with lots of innocent bystanders to get hit by stray fire and get taken as hostages4 Character's House5 Original NPC's house6 Love Interest's house