This file is Copyright Steven Miller, 1994. All rights reserved. Permission granted for redistribution in electronic form provided all credits are left intact. *FRONT COVER* A NUELOW GENERAL ROLE-PLAYING GAME PRODUCT: "Horndogs!" Role-playing Adventures with Drunken Fratboys in the Age of AIDS NL04 *INSIDE FRONT COVER* NUELOW game products: "Fairies!" (Available Now) "Lust and Dust!" (Available Now) "Ugly Ducklings and Ice Queens!" (Available Now) "Horndogs!" (Available Now) "Stars and Garters!" (Available Soon) "Mechin' Out!" (Available Soon) "Phantom Lovers!" (Available Sometime) "Cyberpluck!" (Available Sometime) "Sea of Sinners!" (Available Sometime) The NUELOW Bedside Companion (Available Sometime) Dedicated to Steve's dorky Chevy Sprint, without which we'd be taking the bus. Lyric of the Month:"How can you ignore me when you know that I can't live without you? / I have to go through your garbage just to learn more about you." --"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Melanie," from Even Worse, Rock 'n' Roll Records, 1989 Published by Wordsmiths, 616 E. 700 S., Salt Lake City, UT 84102. (E-mail to smiller@media.utah.edu or NUELOW@aol.com) Text and NUELOW game, Copyright 1994 Steven Miller. All rights reserved. NUELOW is Wordsmiths' trademark for its multi-genre humor roleplaying games. Other games, movies, and television shows mentioned are trademarked by Someone Else. We mention them in the hope that their lofty reputations will rub off on us. No infringement or challenge to ownership intended. *PAGE ONE* "HORNDOGS!" Role-playing Adventures with Drunken Fratboys in the Age of AIDS Original Game Design and Development: Steven Miller Additional Design: John K. Solomon, Thomas Biskup, and Jon Alfred Invaluable Assistance: E.M. and the Silver City Gang Editing: Thomas Biskup and Vincent J. Guinto TABLE OF CONTENTS THE OBLIGATORY "WHAT IS A ROLE-PLAYING GAME" SECTION INTRODUCTION WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN NUELOW PRODUCTS CHARACTER GENERATION COMBAT SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES (STD) EQUIPMENT FRANKENWOOFER UNIVERSITY (F.U.): A "HORNDOGS!" CAMPAIGN SETTING ADVENTURES FOR "HORNDOGS!" THE OBLIGATORY "WHAT IS A ROLE-PLAYING GAME" SECTION If you need to ask, "What is a role-playing game?", then this is not the game for you. Sure, the rules are mind-numbingly simple and the humor is sophomoric, but we don't think you'll get it if you don't know what you're looking at. To learn what a role-playing game is, we recommend you pick up a copy of TSR's DUNGEONS & DRAGONS (D&D) RULES CYCLOPEDIA. It's a complete role-playing game that'll teach you all the basics about the collaborating on imaginary worlds as players and GMs. When you've had your fill of D&D, come back and see us. By the way, the plug for D&D is unsolicited, and possibly unwanted. If TSR wants to sue, we are ready to settle out of court; Steve Miller will award the company any three of his 10 cats (except Misse... he can't part with her) for which it will promise to provide a good home. In all honesty, we think D&D is truly a cool game system and it is vastly superior to that game with the word "Advanced" in its name. *PAGE TWO* INTRODUCTION Like most NUELOW games, this one has been designed with an eye toward the simple fact that regardless of the type of role-playing game that is being played, the characters will, eventually, engage in lecherous behavior. Most game systems fail to acknowledge this, so GMs have to rely on their limited experience with lechery to give the characters what they want. That is, after all, the only way to please the character's player, and isn't that what the game is ultimately all about? NUELOW simply begins where most games end up, pandering to the baser and sillier impulses of players and GMs alike by providing all the rules needed for gaming situations of a more intimate and sophomoric kind. DISCLAIMER It is not our intention to encourage promiscuity and debauchery among gamers. This product line is simply a response to the many gamers who like to "play house" with imaginary people while sitting around a table with a room full of others. NUELOW is a way to ensure that everyone's playing the same game. We provide the framework; you, if you must, provide the dirty mind. The NUELOW Desing Team is very much aware that many gamers are impressionable children, and, as parents and/or uncles ourselves, know the importance of providing young children with entertainment that displays sound values. For this reason, there is nothing in any of the NUELOW series that couldn't make it onto prime-time television, or hasn't been approved by SMOSM (Steve Miller's Overly Sensitive Mother). WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY "HORNDOGS!" You've already got all the rules right here in this book. Now, you need at least one six-sided die, some friends, a pencil or two, and some paper to write your character up on. Oh, and munchies. Don't forget the munchies. Using "Horndogs!" with other NUELOW products. NUELOW is almost unique among universal game systems... it's actually universal. Each NUELOW gamebook and supplemental rules-set is written with full compatibility in mind, so mixing settings presents no problem. If the players and GM want to have fairies party with the fratboys, then it's only a question of generating characters with the rules in "Fairies!". Likewise, a group of fratboys and football players may stumble upon a dimensional vortex and find themselves facing off against the Enforcers of Hansland. NUELOW is, after all, a fantasy role-playing game, and we're trying to provide a system that will accommodate whatever the GMs and players can dream up. PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN NUELOW PRODUCTS Since the designers and editors of this series find "he" and "she" equally offensive, oppressive, exclusionary, etc., all characters in NUELOW will be referred to as "it" (except in those cases where the character's sex is clear from the context). CHARACTER GENERATION "Horndogs!" is all about adventures on the modern day college campus as you find it portrayed in such classic films as "Animal House" and "Revenge of the Nerds," but this material also can be used to recreate the characters and situations on the hit night-time show "Beverly Hills 90210." In other words, we're encouraging players and GMs to enter a world populated by college campus stereotypes. Players choose from six different types from which they build their characters, most of which whom living off mommy and daddy or sports scholarships while trying to squeeze a little classwork into their demanding schedules of getting the most out of their college experience. Character-types featured in this gamebook are the Frat Boys, Jocks, Sorority Girls, Cheerleaders, Dorm Dorks and Suffering Art Students. GMs and players are encouraged to invent their own character types besides the ones we provide. Character Points All characters start with 40 character points, which are used to "build" a basic character through buying Attribute Ratings, Skills, and Advantages. The points may be split between these three categories as the player sees fit. The beginning total may be increased by taking disadvantages, which may only be taken at creation, unless the GM rules otherwise. As the character parties its way through college, the GM awards additional character points. Players who are close friends of the GM get lots of points. Everyone else gets shafted. These points are applied, just like the first 40 were, toward improving Attributes or Skills, buying new Skills and Advantages, and "buying-off" disadvantages. All of these rules are explained in depth later. Attribute Ratings All NUELOW characters have seven attributes: Strength, Agility, Looks, Intelligence, Personality, Health, and Pain Threshold. Attributes are rated on a scale of 1-15: Attribute Rating Cost Per Point Level 1-3 1 Attribute Impaired 4-7 3 Average 8-10 10 Exceptional 11-12 30 Legendary 13-15 60 Divine Attributes are a measure of a character's natural aptitude in certain areas. Characters who attempt a difficult or dangerous action roll two six-sided dice, or one six-sided die twice, adding the results and checking them against the appropriate Attribute Rating. If the number is equal to or less than the Attribute Rating, the character is successful. If the attempt fails, the GM is at liberty to decide what the result is. Each character can perform one action per round, unless the GM or the rules say otherwise. The GM may also apply modifiers to any checks. (Attribute Rating checks are discussed further under "Skills.") Attribute Ratings of zero or one, while possible, are not recommended. Not only will such ratings result in automatic failure if skill checks are called for, but other players tend to make fun of them. Strength: A measure of the character's ability to inflict damage upon another character while exchanging blows, or how much it can lift and/or carry. The maximum load a character can handle is equal to its Strength Rating times 10 pounds. Equipment weights are given in pounds. For every 15 pounds the character is over its encumbrance limit, its movement rate is cut by one-third. When punching other characters, or attacking with blunt or edged hand-held weapons, the character has the following modifiers to damage inflicted (results of zero or less do no damage): Strength Rating Damage Modifier 0-3 -2 4-7 0 8-10 +1 11-12 +2 13-15 +4 Agility: This reflects the character's natural coordination. Anything from rollerblading to eating a bowl of Jello-brand gelatin-cubes ("Jigglers!") with a spoon would be checked against Agility. The Agility-rating also allows the characters to dodge hand-to-hand (or kick) attacks, if half or less of the rating is rolled on two six-sided dice. Looks: This is the character's physical attractiveness to any species that could possibly be affected by it. The Looks Rating modifies the Personality Rating so: Looks Rating Personality Rating Modifier 0-3 -3 4-7 0 8-10 +1 11-12 +3 13-15 +6 The modifiers represent the first-impression reactions that characters with bad or good looks get from the surrounding world. They may be negated (GM's option) once characters get to know each other. Intelligence: This reflects the character's ability to understand abstract ideas, adapt to unexpected situations, and find their way out of a paper bag should the need arise. Further, the Intelligence Rating allows the character to see through subterfuge (on a successful check, of course). The Intelligence Rating also modifies the Personality Rating. Intelligence Rating Personality Rating Modifier 0-3 -2 4-7 0 8-10 0 11-12 +1 13-15 -3 Readers will note that at either extreme on the scale is a negative modifier. Again, this reflects first impressions, since the general public is not likely to react kindly to someone who constantly drools, or a character whose first words are: "I am the Lord, thy God." On the other hand, the positive modifier reflects the fact that mid-level geniuses (like NUELOW players) have their own special brand of charm. Personality: This is how commanding the character's presence is, and how well it relates to other characters. Most attempts at social interaction with any depth are checked against this attribute. (A character looking for a one-night stand would check against Looks, but a character looking for marriage would check against Personality.) Health: This is a measure of how much physical punishment a character can take, and how well it can resist and/or recover from illnesses. When the Health Rating goes to zero from non-lethal attacks (fists, certain toxins, over-exertion, etc.), the character goes unconscious. When the Health Rating goes to zero from lethal attacks (switchblades, shotguns, being thrown from a great height, etc.), the character is dead. Non-lethal damage is recovered at the rate of 1 point per hour, or 2 points per hour of total rest. Lethal damage is recovered at the rate of 1 point per day if properly cared for (by someone with the Healing Skill), 1 point per week if left unattended. Dead characters do not recover damage--they just decompose. Pain Threshold: This measures how well a character endures physical punishment. Whenever a character suffers 3 points or more damage in one round, it must make a check against its Pain Threshold Rating. A failed check means the character has fainted from unbearable agony. Honorable or merciful opponents will refrain from attacking (or whatever) the character. Other Character Traits Advantages Most advantages are things characters are born with, but a few others are achieved through training. Players can spend their character points on them. Attractive Appearance: The player rolls a six-sided die and adds the result to the character's Looks Attribute Rating. This advantage costs 3 points, regardless of what the player rolls. Boyish Looks: The character is lightly built with fine facial features. Characters who have this advantage receive a -1 modifier on Attribute Rating checks when Cross-dressing, but the slight androgynous appearance results in a +1 penalty on Seduction attempts. This advantage may not be paired with the Busty or Well Hung advantages, and costs 1 point. Busty (women only): The character has a chest that reminds on-lookers of Dolly Parton. This advantage provides a -1 modifier on Seduction attempts, and a +2 penalty to Dodging. This advantage may not be paired with Boyish Looks, and costs 2 points. Cerebrally Gifted: The player rolls a six-sided die and adds the result to the character's Intelligence Attribute Rating. This advantage costs 3 points regardless of the number rolled. Double-jointed: The character receives -1 to all Agility Attribute Checks and Agility-based skill checks. This advantage costs 3 points. Eye-Hand Coordination: Negates "called-shot" penalties while the character is using ranged weapons. This advantage costs 4 points. High Pain Threshold: The player rolls a six-sided die and adds the result to the character's Pain Threshold Attribute Rating. This advantage costs 3 points, regardless of what the player rolls. High Tolerance to Alcohol: The character can drink most other characters under the table. For every 30 minutes of drinking, the character must make a Health Attribute Check with a -2 modifier to the roll. If the check is successful, the character remains unaffected and unintoxicated. In fact, the character gains +1 to its Personality Rating due to the lowered inhibitions from the slight buzz. However, for each failed check, the alcohol effects the character as follows: First Failed Health Attribute Check: +1 to Personality Rating; -1 to Agility and Intelligence Ratings. The Hand-Eye Coordination advantage is negated. Second Failed Health Attribute Check: +1 to Strength and Pain Threshold Ratings; -2 to Agility, Intelligence, and Personality Ratings. Intoxicated characters automatically fail any Seduction attempts on sober characters, but receive -2 on the Attribute Check against characters who are also intoxicated. Characters at this stage of drunkeness are also automatically Seduced by sober characters who make a successful Seduction Skill Check against them. Third Failed Health Attribute Check: +1 to Strength Rating, +2 to Pain Threshold Rating; -3 to Agility, Intelligence, and Personality Ratings. Characters with Sexual Prowess automatically fail the Skill Check. Hitting targets (stationary or otherwise) with ranged weapons is impossible. Fourth Failed Health Attribute Check: Unconscious for an amount of hours as dictated by the roll of one six-sided die. When the character wakes up, it feels ill and sluggish (3 non-lethal points of Health damage), has a throbbing headache (-2 to Intelligence Rating and -1 to Agility Rating), and generally feels hung-over. All modifiers are cumulative. Frat Boys with this advantage tend to use it to put notches in their bedposts in a less-than-honorable and manly fashion. This advantage costs 6 points. Keen Senses: Upon making a successful Intelligence Attribute check, the character can pick out strange sounds or smells, thus lowering its chance of being ambushed. During sex, this advantage lets a character know if its partner is truly being fulfilled, or just "faking it." This advantage costs 2 points. Musical Talent: Allows the character to play instruments not selected under the Skill "Play Musical Instrument" with only +3 to the Attribute Check. Further, the character receives a -2 bonus to any attempts at Seducing another through music. This advantage costs 4 points. Poker Face: The character excels at concealing its emotions. As the title implies, this advantage aids the character in card games, to the tune of -2 on Gambling Skill checks. In certain tricky role-playing situations, such as when a character is negotiating with an enemy, or conversing the morning after ("Of course I still respect you."), the player may fall back on a die roll against its Personality Attribute rating. This advantage costs 3 points. Robust Health: The player rolls a six-sided die and adds the result to the character's Health Attribute Rating. This advantage costs 4 points, regardless of what the player rolls. Status: This advantage adds to a character's Looks Attribute rating or its Personality Attribute rating. A character may either add 1d6 to its Looks rating or add +1 to its Personality Rating. (Frat Boys, Jocks, and Dorm Dorks generally choose Looks, while Sorority Girls and Cheerleaders generally choose Personality.) This advantage costs 3 points. Well-hung (men only): This character can look impressive in jeans without using a cucumber and receives -1 to Seduction attempt rolls. This advantage may not be paired with Boyish Looks, and costs 2 points. Disadvantages Taking disadvantages can provide extra character points. GMs should try to place characters in situations where their disadvantages might come into play. (Don't overdo it, though.) Certain disadvantages have Attribute-bases and modifiers listed. The modifiers are added to the character's roll when it checks to avoid letting weakness get the best of it. There might be some of these disadvantages that characters don't want to resist, of course. GMs shouldn't force players to roll if they want their characters to engage in certain generally unacceptable behaviors. Characters may spend points to negate disadvantages as they earn points. When a character has "repaid" the points it earned from taking the disadvantage, it is "cured" of whatever the weakness was. Alcoholism (Intelligence-based, +2): Whenever the character is presented with alcohol or finds itself in a stressful situation, it must make a check to see if it turns to the bottle. If the Attribute check is failed, the character drinks until it passes out or is prevented from drinking by other characters. The alcoholic character, however, doesn't want to be stopped. For every 30 minutes of drinking, a Health Attribute check must be made, and for each failed check, the character progresses deeper into a state of drunkeness. Game details on this state can be found under the "High Tolerance to Alcohol" advantage. This disadvantage is worth 4 points. Cerebrally Challenged: The character's Intelligence Attribute Rating can't exceed 3 until the disadvantage has been "repaid." This disadvantage may not be taken by characters with the Cerebrally Gifted advantage, and is worth 4 points. Commitments: This disadvantage is representative of the character having other things to do. The character is a single parent or has an infirm parent or needs to spend a lot of time at practice and/or rehearsal, or actually needs to work for the money to pay rent, food, and tuition. The exact nature and number of commitments are something for the player to suggest for GM approval. At least once per game session, a roll must be made on a six-sided to decide if the commitment will get in the way of the character's educational experiences; on a roll of 6, the character will be out of play for 1-6 hours of game time. Characters with this disadvantage receive a -1 penalty to their Personality Rating when dealing with overly social creatures like Frat Boys and Sorority Girls, because from their perspective, if it can't party whenever, it has screwed-up priorities. This disadvantage is worth 5 points. Cowardly (Intelligence-based +1): When faced with danger, the character must make an Attribute Check or flee. This disadvantage is worth 3 points. Delicate Stomach (Health-based +1): Most foods give the character heartburn and/or gas, which can lead to embarrassing social situations. After each meal or alcoholic beverage, the character must make a successful Health Attribute check or suffer a gas attack. Flatulence results in a +3 penalty to all social skills and an automatic failure to Seduction attempts. This disadvantage is worth 3 points. Depressed (Personality-based, +1): The character is constantly wallowing in self-pity and/or thinks the world is treating it unfairly and there is nothing it can do about it. Because of this, the character needs to make a Personality Attribute check as soon as it encounters another character or group of characters. If the check is failed, the character will either mug and sneer at the others, or burst into tears, relieved to finally have a sympathetic shoulder to cry on (whether or not the shoulder is truly sympathetic). Additionally, if the character is involved in a relationship, it needs to make a Personality check before getting out of bed every day. Should the check fail, the character is plunged into dark depression and is unable to get out of bed because it is convinced that its beloved doesn't return the feelings. Heart of Gold (Intelligence-based, +3): The character has an over-developed mother-instinct (whether the character is male or female), but lacks the common sense to counteract it. It is always giving the people in its life money/shelter/favors/food on demand, while feeding stray dogs and writing Remedial English papers for Jocks. At GM's option, the Heart of Gold modifier may be applied to attempts at resisting Seduction. This disadvantage is worth 4 points. Inferiority Complex: The character feels insecure or unworthy. Whether this comes from being weaned too early or not getting a date to the Senior Prom is anybody's guess. The character's Personality Attribute can't exceed 4 until the disadvantage has been "repaid," and all Seduction attempts are made at +2. This disadvantage is worth 6 points. Klutzy: The character's Agility can't exceed 3 until the disadvantage has been "repaid." This disadvantage is worth 10 points. Self-Centered (Personality-based): The character needs to roll a Personality Attribute check with a +1 modifier when interacting socially. Should the check fail, the character rattles on obnoxiously about itself, and otherwise hogs the proceedings until everyone else has left the area. However, if the interacting parties both have Self-Centered as a disadvantage, then +1 is added to their Personality rating while interacting with each other. (It has been scientifically proven that no one can stand being with a self-centered person very long unless they are too self-centered themselves to have any idea that the other person is self-centered.) This disadvantage is worth 3 points. Sense of Honor: The character never attacks a foe who is down, unarmed, or otherwise ill-equipped to defend itself. It always "call outs" opponents, and it never cheats at games. This disadvantage is worth 3 points. Same-sex preference, male or female (Intelligence-based, +2): This disadvantage is only allowed for Frat Boys and Jocks, and then only if it's a same-sex preference. (While other characters may possess this disadvantage, they do not receive any character points for it, since it is not considered a disadvantage.) Should other Frat Boys or Jocks know of the character's sexual preference, it receives automatic penalties to social Attribute Checks (Personality-based skills, primarily). Female jocks with a same-sex preference have a +3 penalty to Personality Attribute Checks, while male Jocks and Frat Boys have a +4 penalty. This disadvantage is worth 5 points. Sexual preference, animal (Intelligence-based, +1): Self-explanatory, but not allowed for Frat Boys (this might be considered an advantage for Frat Boys, particularly during Rush). The character's player may choose the animal. If any characters (except for Frat Boys) discover the character's sexual preference, it receives an automatic +4 penalty to all Personality-based skill checks. This disadvantage is worth 10 points. Sickly: The character's Health can't exceed 3 until the disadvantage has been "repaid." This disadvantage is worth 7 points. Vengeful (Intelligence-based, +5): The character wants to hurt something... anything. When the character takes damage or is embarrassed, it must pursue the attacker or offender, intent on beating the crap of it, until the pursuit is obviously hopeless (GM's call, or another Intelligence check at +3 to the Attribute Rating). This disadvantage is worth 3 points. Skills To successfully use a skill, a character must make a check (on two six-sided dice) against the appropriate attribute. Further, character points can be used to improve skills. There are four skill levels, and it costs 2 character points to buy a first-level skill. The price goes up from there, but at higher levels, the character receives a bonus to Attribute Checks, a negative modifier on the roll. On the other hand, a character has a penalty for attempting to perform an action in which it isn't skilled. GMs should use their judgment in determining the results of a failed check, and even if a desired action can be performed without the required without the skill. Skill Level Point Cost Bonus to Attribute Checks 0 (Clueless) 0 +4 1 (Novice) 2 0 2 (Hobbyist) 4 -2 3 (Professional) 8 -4 4 (Wrote the Book) 16 -6 Characters may attempt to use more than one skill per round. All checks must be successful for the desired effects to come about, and often all Attribute Bonuses should be added to one or both checks. Common sense (as interpreted by the GM) should be applied. Acting (Personality-based): The character is a convincing liar and can recite Shakespeare without sounding like a dweeb. Skill bonuses can be applied to Seduction attempts. Artistic Ability (Agility-based): The character can draw, paint or sculpt works of art of questionable quality. The player chooses what kind of visual art the character practices, and a different skill must be purchased for each type. Butt-kicking (Strength-based): This skill is useful for a variety of things. Jocks can use this skill to perform a phenomenal feat of athleticism in their respective sports. Otherwise, anytime a character with this skill wants to kick someone's butt and totally humiliate them and make them feel like garbage, it just needs to roll under its Strength Rating to accomplish this. If, however, the other character also has this skill, then whoever misses its roll first gets its butt kicked. Cheating (Intelligence-based): This skill allows character to cheat successfully on quizzes and tests. The GM may wish to apply penalties depending on the importance of the test. A straight roll (without skill modifiers) under the character's Intelligence Attribute Rating results in an "A." Cheating (Personality-based): Through strength of personality, a character may try to hoodwink others while playing games of chance. If the player has the appropriate Gambling skill, the modifiers from both skills are applied to Attribute Checks. If the character doesn't know the game, a roll with a +3 modifier against the character's Personality Attribute may be made to check victory. Other characters (if they possess the Gambling skill) receive an Intelligence check to see if they catch on to the cheating. Climbing (Agility-based): The character can perform simple actions such as climbing a drain pipe or a tree without needing to make Attribute Checks. More difficult climbing surfaces, such as a sheer cliff face or an icy incline, can be scaled with the proper equipment and a successful Agility check. Computer Use (Intelligence-based): This is how savvy a character is with one of the primary tools on the modern college campus. At Skill Level 1, a character is familiar with the use of one or two kinds of software, while at Skill Level 4, a character can write complex programs and hack its way into protected files and databases. The GM needs to determine what tasks a character can perform between these two extremes at Skill Levels 2 and 3. Cooking (Intelligence-based): The character can prepare a certain type of meals, as chosen by the player. At Skill Level 1, a character can read the instructions on pre-packaged foods and figure out how to use the microwave, but at Skill Level 4, it can prepare entire, tasty meals from scratch. A separate skill must be purchased for each type of cuisine. A failed Skill Check means the meal is ill-prepared, ranging from too spicy or bland to inedible. The GM decides how bad the meal is (based perhaps on how badly the check was failed) and what effects it has on the diners. (Food poisoning is a major turn-off. If the cooking character was trying to test the adage that the way to a creature's heart is through its stomach, any following Seduction attempt is made with a +3 penalty to the dice roll.) Anyone successfully cooking for a Jock will, when word gets around, receive a modifier of -1 on all checks when interacting socially with the Jock (as well as an effective +1 to the Personality Attribute Rating). Cross-dressing (Intelligence-based): This skill enables a character to dress like and mimic gender traits of the opposite sex, such as body movements, etc. It's great for use on a Frat Boy or Jock by vengeful Dorm Dorks with a camera. Dancing (Agility-based): The character knows a variety of dance styles, ranging from clogging to formal dance. (GMs may rule that characters are familiar with dance types particular to only one cultural group per skill slot devoted to dancing.) Characters with this skill may apply any relevant Attribute Bonus to Seduction attempts, if the two skills are being used in conjunction. Dodge Responsibility (Personality-based): The character has an uncanny knack for talking its way out of performing duties or chores and for shifting blame when something goes wrong. Authority figures on whom this skill is being used receive an Intelligence Attribute Check, modified by the character's skill bonuses, to resist being hoodwinked. Dodging (Agility-based): This skill increases the effective Agility Attribute Rating for purposes of dodging hand-to-hand and ranged attacks by half (round up). Unless paired with a successful Unarmed Combat Skill check, however, the dodging character's chance to strike targets while dodging is also reduced by half. Gambling (Intelligence-based): For each skill-slot devoted Gambling, the character is familiar with common games of a specific type. Card games (such as Strip Poker), board games (such as Strip Checkers), and dice games (such as Strip Craps) each require different skill slots. A game of chance or skill can be simulated quickly by rolling dice with the high roll winning the game. If the GM chooses, this skill can also be used for role-playing games. (In which case, the character can play Strip NUELOW.) First Aid (Intelligence-based): The character knows human anatomy ("No, I'm pretty certain both feet are supposed to point in the same direction...") and has a passing familiarity with home remedies and bandaging wounds. A successful check will cure 2 points of non-lethal damage or 1 point of lethal damage. This may only be attempted once on each group of wounds. The character with this skill may only use it to cure non-lethal damage on itself. Macgyverism (Intelligence-based): This skill allows the character to accomplish anything that the player can even halfway convince the referee is possible, whether it is or not. (I.e., Eugene the Dorm Dork magnifies the sun's light through his binocular lens into his parabolic receptacle -- consisting of the headlight mirror from his dorky Chevy Sprint -- reflecting the energy with the rear-view mirror of the aforementioned Chevy, thus heating the ejector port of the shotgun that is resting against the back of the Frat Boy's truck near the gas tank, thus causing the shells in the shotgun to discharge and explode the aforementioned gas tank while the unsuspecting Frat Boy is trying to get it on with the witless Cheerleader he talked into going grouse hunting with him. Get the picture?) Math (Intelligence-based): The character can do calculations that exceed the number of fingers and toes it possesses, as well as simple multiplication and division. At Skill Level 4, the character can solve complex equations. This skill is free at Skill Level 1 for all characters generated with the "Horndogs!" rules. Play Musical Instrument (Personality-based): This skill enables the character to play a musical instrument without embarrassing itself, unless the Attribute Check is failed. (Then, the results can be quite embarrassing... GMs choice.) For each instrument the character wishes to play, it must buy a different Play Musical Instrument skill. Reading/Writing (Intelligence-based): The character can read and write a language specified by the player. A separate skill is required for each language the character can read/write. (GMs may choose to apply this skill toward spoken language as well, but it is recommended that all characters get at least one spoken language free. This is, after all, not NUELOW "Hominids!") This skill is free at Skill Level 1 for all characters generated with the "Horndogs!" rules. Rollerblading (Agility-based): The character can travel downhill at absurd speeds on inline skates without killing itself. Rope Use (Agility-based): The character knows how to make a variety of knots -- from bows, to slip-knots, to knots that hold tightly. In "Horndogs!", this skill may be used to augment the Sexual Prowess skill. Seduction (Looks-based): The character may attempt to use a variety of techniques, mental and physical, to sway one or more other characters who have even the faintest attraction to the seducer to perform... uh, services and favors for it. The nature of these services is up to the seducer. A seduced creature can perform no actions (other than perhaps kiss or fondle the seducer) for the first round of seduction. On subsequent rounds, the character always acts last. A target may roll against its Intelligence score if it wishes to attempt to resist the seduction attempt. The following modifiers apply to the character's check to resist being seduced: Intelligence Modifier Mitigating Circumstance -3 Giving in will be dangerous -2 Seducer is personal enemy -1 Seducer attacked target prior +1 Eye contact with seducer +2 Physical contact with seducer +3 No negatives from succumbing +4 Expects pleasure beyond dreams Modifiers are cumulative where one or more applies. There are many other circumstances that might result in modifiers, and GMs should use their best judgment in the individual situations. Once the player determines if the character has succeeded or failed to seduce a target, GM and player are encouraged to role-play through the events that follow. However, should the creative font be dry, a roll on a six-sided checked against the appropriate table might inspire an idea or two for excitement in and out of bed: Successful Check Failed Check 1. Will do anything, right here, 1. Roll on success chart; right now. add 2. 2. As #1, but sex acts must be 2. Agrees to sex out of in private. fear/pity. 3. Saving self for marriage, but 3. Punches seducer, leaves. a second successful check yields result, as per #1. If the second attempt fails, result as per #3 on failure chart. 4. Is a maniac who imprisons partner 4. Hits seducer, cries for after a night of amazing sex. help. 5. Result similar to #2, but the 5. Gravely offended. target is married. GM rolls one Friends of the target six-sided die, and if the result ambush seducer later. is 6, the spouse shows up as the seducer and seduced are making love. 6. Result similar to #2, but the 6. Cries rape and attacks target is actually of a gender to sever appendage. opposite of the apparent. (Skill * Level 3 in Cross-dressing.) Once a character has been seduced, it will always be susceptible to the wiles of that particular seducer -- to the tune of +1 to the Intelligence Attribute check, +3 if the seduction resulted in carnal delights. Additionally, if a seduction attempt against a "professional" (hookers, escorts, etc.) is successful, it will only charge half normal rates if a 1 is rolled on a six-sided die. Likewise, the "professional" will charge twice normal if 1-3 is rolled following a failed attempt. (See "Professional" in the Creature section.) Set Traps (Intelligence-based): Useful to most college characters when trashing, humiliating, or getting revenge on other characters. The details of the trap are up to the character, but an Attribute check at +2 is required to construct an effective, well-concealed trap that won't be discovered until it has already been sprung. Sexual Prowess (Agility-based): One of the rare social skills that Dorm Dorks are better at than Frat Boys and Jocks. Also, Cheerleaders tend to exhibit this skill more than Sorority Girls. (Dorm Dorks have little else to do in the dorms than practice this skill, and excelling in this field is one way Cheerleaders validate themselves.) It perhaps goes without saying, but there are few skills more embarrassing to fail an Attribute check for than Sexual Prowess. Strength modifiers may be applied to the check at the GM's option. Possibly, a Health and/or Pain Threshold Attribute Check might be necessary for particularly strenuous, extended, or unusual bouts of whoopee. (At any rate, Strength Ratings are used to decide who's on top if there's a dispute...) At the GM's option, characters with Sexual Prowess may subtract their Agility Attribute bonus from attempts to resist seduction. Singing (Personality-based): The character can carry a tune, and quite well on a successful Skill Check. When used in conjunction with Seduction and/or Play Musical Instrument, all skill bonuses from successful Attribute Checks may be applied to the other skill roll. Skiing (Agility-based): This skill lets the character strap a pair of modified boards to its feet and travel more easily on the snow across an open area, or go flying down a steep mountainside like a suicidal maniac. Weapon Use (Variable): Each weapons skill must be bought separately. See "Equipment" for available weapons, and the Attributes checked for their usage. Each additional level purchased in a Weapon Use category gives the character -1 on to-hit checks. Wrestling (Agility-based): Used by Frat Boys and Jocks to trash Dorm Dorks. Occasionally used by Sorority Girls to humiliate Dorm Dorks. The character with this skill is familiar with techniques that will hold a target in place, once the character has successfully hit the target. The wrestler can choose to pin a target in place or tear a small object (jewelry, a piece of clothing) from the target's body. (Thus, this skill might be applicable to sexual situations.) The target may not attack while held, but may try to squirm free on a successful Agility check at +2. The target may, of course, attack at will if the wrestler chose not to hold it. Character Types This probably goes without saying, but all "Horndogs!" characters are human. If you need us to describe what a "human" is, we suggest you put this gamebook aside, burn all your other role-playing games, comic books, computer games, and "Star Trek" novels, and go for a walk. Take a bus ride. Go to the grocery store. All those people in all those different shapes and sizes, those are humans. The characters in this game will bear a striking resemblance to one of them, possibly even you. Okay, now that is settled, and we can get on with the character types... The first step in determining a character type is to choose its sex (male or female). Some character types in "Horndogs!" are mostly defined by their sex, but this need not be the case. (A male character with the Boyish Looks advantage and the Cross-dressing skill might be able to pass himself off as a Sorority Girl, and eventually end up recreating "M. Butterfly" on a college campus... particularly if the cross-dressing guy only hangs out with Frat Boys.) Ultimately, a character's sex is not really important in the open-minded environment of a university campus. However, a character's sexual orientation might be a different matter (see the "Sexual Preference" disadvantage). Secondly, the player needs to select a race for its character (Black, White, Hispanic, Native American, whatever). Again, this is not particularly important as long as the character is in the open-minded world of the university, but once it ventures off-campus it might find itself faced with all manner of discrimination and trouble for the color of its skin. Thirdly, the player decides what character type he or she wants to play. Details on the various character types are found below. Regardless of type, all characters in "Horndogs!" receive the skills Reading/Writing and Math at Skill Level 1. (The Design Team here is taking the rosey world-view that a character must be able to spell its own name and count the zeroes in the national debt to get into college.) Additionally, each character receives one Skill Level free from a list of possibilities found under each character type (for some, this can result in a free Reading/Writing Skill Level 2). Finally, the player must select an advantage and disadvantage for the character, also from a list found under each character type description. The player neither pays for nor receives points for these. (The reason for forcing the players to select certain skills for their characters is a similar mechanic to the occupational system in "Lust and Dust!". This game centers around college campus stereotypes, and making sure that each character has at least one of the traits that are associated with its type adds to the game's atmosphere.) Frat Boys (Male Only) The Frat Boys' interpretation of making the most of their college experience emphasizes getting laid by Sorority Girls, getting laid by Cheerleaders, and forging intimate and lasting friendships with their fraternity brothers by participating in various ritualistic practices together, including: hazing, partying, trashing Dorm Dorks, scoring, and gentle anal probing. Selection of free Advantages for newly created Frat Boys: Attractive Appearance, High Tolerance to Alcohol, Status, or Well Hung. Selection of "free" Disadvantages for newly created Frat Boys: Alcoholism, Cowardly, Self-centered, or Sexual Preference, Animal. Selection of Skills for newly created Frat Boys: Cheating (choose type), Dodge Responsibility, Gambling, or Seduction. Jocks (Male or Female) The Jocks believe getting the most out of their college experience means winning the conference championship in their respective sports, getting laid by Cheerleaders, getting laid by Frat Boys (most female Jocks), or Sorority Girls (most male Jocks), and forging intimate and lasting friendships with their team brothers or sisters by participating in various ritualistic practices together, including: hazing, partying, trashing Dorm Dorks, scoring, and circle jerks (males) or back-biting gossip about each other's sexual practices (females). Selection of free Advantages for newly created Jocks: Eye-Hand Coordination, High Pain Threshold, Robust Health, or Status. Selection of "free" Disadvantages for newly created Jocks: Commitment (Team), Cerebrally Challenged, Sense of Honor, or Vengeful. Selection of free skills for newly created Jocks: Butt-kicking, Climbing, Dodging, First Aid, Rollerblading, or Skiing. Sorority Girls (Female Only) The Sorority Girls live for getting hold of a Frat Boy, and/or getting hold of a Jock, and/or getting hold of a Professor, and forging intimate and lasting friendships with their sorority sisters by participating in various ritualistic practices together, including: hazing, partying, humiliating Dorm Dorks, scoring, and back-biting gossip about each other's sexual practices. Selection of free Advantages for newly created Sorority Girls: Attractive Appearance, Busty, or Status. Selection of "free" Disadvantages for newly created Sorority Girls: Alcoholism, Cerebrally Challenged, or Self-centered. Selection of free skills for newly created Sorority Girls: Cooking, Dancing, Dodge Responsibility, Rope Use, Seduction, Sexual Prowess, or Wrestling. Cheerleaders (Male or Female) The Cheerleaders' well-known mental prowess only allows them to focus on two goals, namely cheerleading and finding someone who can actually stomach being with them for anything other than seducing them, and following this person around all the time. (This generally means that Cheerleaders are found with other cheerleaders, or a really hard-up Jock.) Selection of free Advantages for newly created Cheerleaders: Attractive Appearance, Eye-Hand Coordination, Double-jointed, or Status. Selection of "free" Disadvantages for newly created Cheerleaders: Cerebrally Challenged, Commitment (Cheerleading), Heart of Gold, or Same Sex Preference. Selection of free skills for newly created Cheerleaders: Dancing, Dodging, or Wrestling. Dorm Dorks (Male or Female) Dorm Dorks believe that making the most of their college experience includes getting good grade, graduating in a major that actually has an application in the real world, getting laid by anything vaguely human and of the sex of their preferred partners, and surviving various ritualistic practices, including: mid-terms, finals, study groups, scheduling problems, financial aid problems, and being humiliated and trashed by Frat Boys, Jocks, and Sorority Girls. Selection of free Advantages for newly created Dorm Dorks: Busty, Boyish Looks, Cerebrally Gifted, High Pain Threshold, High Tolerance to Alcohol, Musical Talent, Poker Face, Well Hung. Selection of "free" Disadvantages for newly created Dorm Dorks: Cowardly, Delicate Stomach, Klutzy, Inferiority Complex, or Sickly. Selection of free skills for newly created Dorm Dorks: Cheating (choose type), Computer Use, Gambling, MacGyverism, Math, Reading/Writing, Sexual Prowess, or Wrestling. Suffering Art Students (Male or Female) Suffering Art Students believe that they benefit from their time in college if their wardrobe is well-stocked with black clothes, star in at least one play/publish a poem in the Campus Literary Journal, open one one-(wo)man exhibit/show or sleep with one established performer and/or artist per term, spend at least five nights a week in a coffeeshop or bar complaining how no one understands their bruised inner child, and find someone who can stand to be around them for more than five minutes at a time. (Suffering Art Students are often found with their own kind, complaining about how the rest of the campus is unworthy and unappreciative of the visionary talents they possess.) Selection of free Advantages for newly created Suffering Art Students: Boyish Looks, Double-jointed, Keen Senses, Musical Talent, or Poker Face. Selection of "free" Disadvantages for newly created Suffering Art Students: Alcoholism, Cerebrally Challenged, Commitment (other Suffering Art Students involved with play/band/whatever or the players in the weekly "Angst: The Whining" role-playing game session), Depressed, Inferiority Complex, Self Centered, or Sickly. Selection of free skills for newly created Suffering Art Students: Acting, Artistic Ability, Cross-dressing, Dodge Responsibility, Play Instrument, Reading/Writing, Seduction, or Singing. Final Note on Character Types The six character types mentioned above only scratch the surface of the wide variety of people encountered on a college campus, and we encourage GMs and players to create player character options for all of them. Obvious player character type choices include Janitors, Non-traditional Students, Teaching Fellows, Professors, and Athletic Coaches. Ideas for other character types might be found in the "Creatures" section toward the end of this gamebook, although it might be best just to take a look around you. We also encourage GMs to use the species presented in "Fairies!" in this setting. Playtesting has shown that when fairies are unleashed in the campus setting, the end result is reminiscent of an ANIMANIACS episode. COMBAT While combat generally means hacking, slashing, and spreading as much carnage in as short time as possible, there are some NUELOW combat rules that apply to more intimate pursuits. As evident in some of the skills above, what is sometimes useful on the field of battle can also come in handy between the sheets... Basics The basis for all time-keeping in NUELOW games is the "round." There are six seconds in one round, ten rounds in one minute, sixty minutes in one hour, 24 hours in one day (which, as we all know, is simply not enough) and so on, and so forth. Consult the calendar on your wall for additional details. Each player must declare what action the character will take that round, and the characters then take these actions from the highest to lowest Agility Attribute Ratings. A player may choose to hold a character's action until later in the round, but must call it as soon as actions have been declared for the character he or she was trying to shaft... uh, support. Each character can perform at least one action per round, although GMs can rule that the character can do more or less, too. (It's a rare thing, though, when a character can't just lay still on the ground, unconscious, or just overcome by exhaustion...) Characters take actions in order of Agility Rating, those with the highest numbers acting first. If there are two or more characters with the same Agility Rating, the order is as follows: 1. In hand-to-hand (or kick) combat, the character with the highest Personality score acts first. 2. Characters who are using a ranged, non-weapon attack (Seduction attempts, etc.). 3. Characters who are in moving vehicles, but not in combat. 4. Characters moving on foot, but not in combat. 5. Characters wielding light/medium ranged weapons. 6. Characters wielding heavy/large ranged weapons. 7. Characters who are in vehicles and engaged in combat. 8. Characters using small melee weapons. 9. Characters who are in vehicles, but attacking a target on foot. 10. Characters using large melee weapons. Remember, seduced characters always act last, unless told otherwise by the seducer. Attribute Ratings are also used to decide who controls the situation during close encounters of the carnal kind. Characters with the Sexual Prowess skill always act first in the round, but the Agility or Personality Ratings apply if both characters possess Sexual Prowess (GM's choice, depending on the situation). However, if the words "whips" and "chains" have come up (together or separately), Strength is most likely the Attribute to use. Characters that have been seduced into the situation will always act after the seducer, unless instructed to do otherwise. See "Attacking" for additional information. Movement A character's full movement rate equals its combined Strength, Agility and Health Attribute bonuses in feet. The minimum full movement is always three, regardless of negative Attribute bonuses. Characters on the ground may choose to move less than their full movement rates, or not move at all. It is possible for characters to move and attack at the same time, if they are within range (or reach) of each other. For each character that has declared movement during a turn, there is a +1 cumulative to-hit penalty. In other words, two moving characters trying to hit each other with clubs would each add 2 to their Agility Attribute checks. Attacking Attacks are resolved whenever a character acts in a turn. To hit, a character must roll a check against the Unarmed Combat Skill or against the Attribute Score for the weapon it is using, with appropriate Weapon Use Skill modifiers. If a character hits the target, apply the damage appropriate to the weapon being used (the attribute bases and damage for weapons are found under "EQUIPMENT") and any Strength Attribute bonuses/penalties. The damage inflicted is subtracted from the target's Health Rating. A character may attack up to three targets in one round, if those targets are in melee combat. For each target attacked, during the round several attacks are being directed, a +1 penalty is added to the Weapon Use skill Attribute check. (+1 for the first target, +2 for the second, and +3 for the third.) Characters may choose to take "called shots." There is a +3 to-hit penalty on "called shots," but extra damage is inflicted on successful hits, with vital areas subject to the greatest damage bonuses. Called-shot Location Extra Damage Head roll six-sided, apply result Torso 4 points Arms 2 points, +1 penalty on to-hit rolls Legs 1 point, +2 penalty on relevant Agility checks, lower movement rate 1/3 for each 5 points of "called shot" damage. Certain sexual situations might require to-hit rolls (Agility or Strength Attribute Checks). These include characters who are moving, characters who are in a boat on a storm-tossed sea, or characters trying to engage in sexual acts with an unwilling target. Attacking with Ranged Weapons The basic NUELOW mechanic for ranged weapons combat is the "line-of-sight" rule: if a character can see it, the character can hit it with ranged weapons. This rule is subject to GM rulings and common sense, but is essentially all that's needed to play. For more detail-minded players (or those without common sense), the following optional rules may be used: Characters must still be able to see what they're shooting at, but to-hit rolls are modified by factors such as weapon size, distance to target, lighting conditions, and aiming time. Further, the modifiers mentioned under "Movement" may be applied as well. A ranged weapon is a device that hurls a projectile, such as a bow or a gun. A switchblade, a rock, a beer bottle, or any number of objects could conceivably be ranged weapons in a pinch. To keep combat simple, we recommend that any makeshift or unusual weapons automatically miss at anything but close range. The following chart lists the modifiers that apply to to-hit rolls for ranged weapons. The sizes of the weapons featured in the game can be found under "EQUIPMENT." Size of Weapon Close Range Medium Range Long Range Small -2 0 +3 Medium 0 -3 -1 Large +2 +1 -3 Close Range is considered 30 yards and less; Medium up to 100 yards; and Long Range is to the maximum range of Line-of-Sight. GM's ruling and common sense also apply. Optionally, the GM might consider weather and lighting conditions during ranged attacks. Heavy snow and darkness add +1 to all to-hit rolls at Medium Range, and +3 to all Long Range attempts. These modifiers are cumulative. Trampling Damage and Attacks In every "Horndogs!" character's life, the day arrives when it has to face a horde of beings that will trample it... either at a sporting event just as the home team has won 476 to 0, or as it gets caught in the middle of a stampeding bunch of Dorm Dorks on their way to the cafeteria for dinner. Such a situation presents a lot of trouble for the player character, but it poses even more problems to the GM. Therefore, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, the following rules were created. (As long-time NUELOW players know, the Design Team is loathe to create new rules; we prefer to cut-and-paste from previous NUELOW products.) As always, we chose the generic approach, so "trampling" in the context of this game not only means being turned to hamburger by stampeding feet and hooves, but it also refers to ending up under wheels and skids and treads on vehicles ranging from a child's sled to the bows of ships. Three values are of importance, when the characters are facing a stampede of whatever...: the difference of mass of the beings involved; the difference in size of the beings involved; and finally the number of beings or vehicles doing the trampling. These three factors determine the amount of damage the character suffers. The base damage is determined by comparing the character's size and mass to the size and mass of one of the beings (or the average size and mass of different beings) in the opposing horde. Base damage found on the following table: Mass lower equal greater Size smaller -1/4 0/2 1/1 equal 0/2 1/1 2/1 greater 1/1 2/1 4/1 The first number is the base amount of damage points the victim suffers. If the trampler's size and mass is equal to, or greater than, the victim, the damage taken is lethal. The second number is the minimum amount of creatures required to cause that damage. If there are fewer creatures than that number, no damage is caused. From now on, this second number will be called the threshold number. Total damage is calculated by modifying the base damage according to the number of creatures trampling the character. The GM determines the number of creatures that are passing over (or ramming) the character's body, and each time the number of trampling creatures doubles, the damage received is increased by +1: If the threshold number is reached once, the character suffers base damage; if the threshold number is reached twice, it suffers base damage +1; if the threshold number is reached four times, it suffers base damage +2; if the threshold number is reached eight times, it suffers base damage +3; if the... (Okay, you get the idea.) All is not lost for the character about to become a puddle of gore, however. If the GM is merciful, the character being trampled can make an Agility Check to lower the damage incurred. On a successful check, it suffers but one-half damage (round down). SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES (STDs) Every time a character engages in sexual activity without using a latex condom there is a 1 in 6 chance that it will pick up a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD). Using a latex condom helps against getting an STD. However, as any number of real-life Frat Boys and Jocks will tell you, it also decreases the enjoyment of sex. When a character uses a condom, roll a six-sided die and check the following table: 1. Character uses a non-latex condom (such as lambskin) to increase the pleasure and must check for an STD anyway. (Was it worth it?) 2-5. Latex condom does the job! No roll necessary for STD. 6. Character has had the damn thing in its wallet so long that besides leaving a permanent ring mark, it has worn small holes in the condom. Character must check for STD. STD Checks A character rolls a six-sided die every time it engages in sexual activity without a condom or if a 1 or 6 is rolled on the condom table. If a 6 is rolled, the character checks the following chart for the severity of its affliction. 1. A cold sore develops and lasts for a week. (Big deal, nothing a lot of makeup can't fix, but still, technically Herpes.) 2-3. Character gets crabs. Must be treated by a doctor, takes 2-4 weeks after treatment begins to go away. (Painful and itchy, but can be hidden from potential partners by nasty, unscrupulous characters who still want to get their jollies.) 4-5. Character gets a form of gonorrhea or syphilis that must be treated by a doctor. Takes 1-2 months after treatment begins to go away. (Forget about it, this STD so obviously affects the genitalia area of the character, it couldn't get laid if it wanted to before getting cured.) 6. AIDS. Sorry, we know it's a human tragedy, but kiss your character good-bye. One last thing. If character gets any STD result other than 1 and somehow the word gets out, the character has -6 permanently subtracted from its Personality roll as long as it remains in the same community. (AIDS results in a -10 modifier.) Yes, in these cases the Attribute Ratings CAN go into negatives. EQUIPMENT This is the shortest equipment list in the NUELOW gamebooks so far. (Break out the champagne!) After all, you know full well what's available to a college student in the latter quarter of the 20th century. Just give your character what you yourself presently own or owned while in college. It's really not that hard. If you think it IS hard, turn to NL01-NL03 for equipment ideas. All the stuff in those gamebooks is acceptable... even if a Frat Boy would look a little weird in chainmail. If you feel the need, a character's on-hand cash can be determined by rolling a six-sided die and multiplying it by 100. Equipment-wise, the only thing we'll address here is what weapons are available. Ideally, "Horndogs!" characters shouldn't be gun-toting maniacs, but we know how much players like to inflict pain on the imaginary people in the game universe, so, as always, we pander to that. We'll leave it up to the individual GM to decide if, and how many, weapons the characters have. Also, each player needs to decide where his or her character lives (at its parents, in the frat or sorority house, its own apartment, or with a bunch of roommates). The only characters that are limited in this choice are the Dorm Dorks, who must reside in the college dorms with a roommate who possesses questionable personal hygiene habits. Weapons Each weapon in "Horndogs!" has six statistics: type, damage, weight, size AT, and cost. Remember, a character's Strength Damage Modifier is added to hand-to-hand and melee weapon attacks, as are "called shot" damage modifiers. Blunt weapons do non-lethal damage, edged weapons do lethal damage unless otherwise noted, and the damage listed for ranged weapons is actually for the projectile it fires. Any large weapon is treated as if weighing 15 pounds for encumbrance purposes. All weapons come with holsters or sheathes. The weapons can be obtained at "Steve's Liqour and Guns" right off campus, if the GM wishes. Key to codes: AT=Attribute-base for Weapons Use skill checks. R=ranged; H=hand-to-hand; B=blunt; E=edged; L=lethal; NL=non-lethal; Str=Strength Attribute Rating; Agl=Agility Attribute Rating. X=Explosive. Numbers in parentheses are the number of shots a gun holds. Weapon Type Damage Weight Size AT Cost AK-47 (30) R 10 L 8 pounds Large Agl $375 Barretta .22 (6) R 3 L 1 pound Small Agl $500 Compound Bow R 4 L 10 pounds Large Agl $320 Billy club H 2 NL 0.3 pounds Small Str $12 Brass knuckles H Str x2L 0.5 pounds Small Str $8 Browning 9 mm (13) R 5 L 2 pounds Small Agl $500 Dynamite (1 stick) X 12 L 0.1 pounds Small Int $10/stk Flame Thrower R 3 NL/3 L 40 pounds Large Agl $3,500 Mace H 1 L/3 NL 0.1 pounds Small Agl $12 Magnum .357 (6) R 8 L 2.5 pounds Small Agl $425 *Shotgun, double(2) R 7 L 10 pounds Large Agl $420 Shotgun, pump (6) R 7 L 12 pounds Large Agl $460 **Scatter-gun (2) R 5 L/2 trg 8 pounds Medium Agl $450 Switchblade H 1 L 0.2 pounds Small Str $40 Uzi 9 mm (30) R 7 L 8 pounds Small Agl $440 Winchester Rifle(12) R 6 L 9 pounds Large Agl $525 Whip (and chain) H,B 1 NL 8 pounds Small Agl $100 *Although Large, this weapon has ranges similar to a Medium Weapon. **Although Medium, this weapon as ranges similar to a Small weapon. CREATURES OF "HORNDOGS!" As always, "creatures" is a generic term for all characters that aren't controlled by players. There are no fantastic monsters listed in this set; for those we refer you to NL01 and NL03, our fantasy gamebooks. The Attribute Ratings given for the various human and animal categories are averages, to be used as examples for GMs to design creatures and NPCs of their own. GMs should outfit intelligent creatures with the appropriate advantages, disadvantages, skills, and equipment. Big Man on Campus: This is either the star football player or the student body president, or one and the same. The BMoC has the Self-Centered Disadvantage in a big way and will ignore all female characters with Look Attribute Ratings of less than 6, (whom he will obnoxiously and clumsily try to seduce) and will ridicule all male characters with Looks Attribute Ratings of less than 4. Str: 5, Agl: 6, Lks: 7, Itl: 3, Per: 2, Hth: 6, Pth: 6. Big Woman on Campus: BWoC character comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, but they are always radical feminists who believe they are victims of the corrupt, oppressive male hegemony that rules the world and the universe. They promote a wide range of crack-pot theories, and the BWoC may be the subject of a future NUELOW expansion. All Seduction attempts on BWoCs automatically fail by any males remotely masculine, and the failure causes the BWoC to attack with the intention of severing limbs and members. These characters may be of any character type the GM chooses, besides being BWoCs. Str: 5, Agl: 5, Lks: 5, Itl: 4, Per: 2, Hth: 6, Pth: 4. Campus Cop: The symbol of law and order on the campus, the Campus Cops are too busy hanging out at nearby donut shops or lurking in speedtraps just on campus to prevent the countless car-thefts, muggings, robberies, petty thefts, and burglaries that take place on campus. The donut shop trips are due to the cops' need for sugar and caffeine to stay alert despite double shifts, and the speedtraps are due to the university administration's insistence that the campus police department needs to pay for itself. Campus Cops occasionally hire out as security for frat parties to augment their pathetic salaries. Str: 6, Agl: 8, Lks: 3, Itl: 5, Per: 5, Hth: 8, Pth: 7. Child, average: This is a rollerblading, video-game playing class-cutter or college-kid wanna-be with raging hormones, some 13-15 years old. They are found anywhere on the campus, but they are mostly hanging out in the student union building by the games or rollerblading along the sidewalks. They may also have one skill and one or two advantages or disadvantages. Str: 3, Agl: 6, Lks: 5, Itl: 4, Per: 5, Hth: 4, Pth: 5. Dog: These are either roaming free on campus during classes, or are found with a Campus Cop. If with a Campus Cop, the character is in trouble if it hears the words, "Sick 'im, boy!". Dogs bite for 2 L points. Str: 5, Agl: 8, Lks: 4, Itl: 2, Per: 2, Hth: 5, Pth: 8. Escaped Mental Patient: This homicidal maniac is armed to the teeth with axes, spikes, and meat cleavers, and is attracted to the basements of sorority houses... where it waits for an opportunity to create a "Friday Night Sorority House Pajama Party Nightmare Massacre." This creature is unaffected by non-lethal damage and ignores lethal damage of less than 3 points. Str: 8, Agl: 3, Lks: 2, Itl: 7, Per: 3, Hth: 15, Pth: 12. Foreign Exchange Student: This NPC can be of either sex, barely speaks English, and is about as smart as the average Jock. It is the object of lust of many characters, as should be clear from its statistics. It has come to the university in America, like the player characters, to get the most out of its college experience. Str: 3, Agl: 9, Lks: 9, Itl: 4, Per: 5, Hth: 6, Pth: 3. Gamer: Most Gamers are also Dorm Dorks or Suffering Arts Students. However, they chatter incessantly about their preferred pastime, which revolves around playing a specific type of war-, roleplaying-, card-, or boardgame. The one thing Gamers like more than talking about their favorite game, is to complain about how inferior other games are, and how dumb those who play the other games are. Gamers seem to be heavily in the throws of the Self-centered Disadvantage, but most of them actually have the Inferiority Complex, and are trying to justify their preoccupation with an activity that many consider childish by claiming they are exploring their inner selves or sharpening social and critical thinking skills. Str: 2, Agl: 4, Lks: 4, Itl: 5, Per: 4, Hth: 5, Pth: 3. Gangbangers: These violent cut-throats dwell in the neighborhoods surrounding the university. They are encountered in groups numbering an amount rolled on three six-sided dice. One member of such groups has a Looks Rating of 7 and a Personality Rating of 8. Each member has at least one Weapons Use skill devoted to AK-47 or Uzi. Str: 5, Agl: 8, Lks: 4, Itl: 3, Per: 4, Hth: 7, Pth: 7. "Professional:" This is a euphemism for a man or woman belonging to the "world's oldest profession." The "professional" will perform sexual favors for a character willing to pay. The amount charged depends on what the character wants to do, but it ranges from $20-$120. "Professionals" have Seduction at Skill Level 1 and Sexual Prowess at Skill Level 2. These NPCs also receive a -2 modifier on checks to resist Seduction attempts, but a seduced professional will only charge half its normal rate. Str: 3, Agl: 9, Lks: 5, Itl: 4, Per: 5, Hth: 5, Pth: 6. Professor: More concerned with having their ego stroked and publishing articles in academic journals than teaching the students who pay the bulk of their salary, these characters are more interested in hearing their own pet theories parroted back at them than actually educating anyone. A sure-fire way for a student of the opposite sex from a professor to get a top grade is to sleep with it, whether or not any real class-work is done. Str: 3, Agl: 3, Lks: 3, Itl: 3, Per: 7, Hth: 3, Pth: 3. Professor, Mad: This professor isn't too terribly concerned with ego-stroking or with publishing in academic journals... "Weekly World News" and other tabloid credits suit it just fine. Mad Professors always have some strange theory or invention they are trying to prove or perfect, and they always use the students enrolled in their classes as test subjects. Mad Professors may also be attempting to contact space aliens and often wear tin-foil under their toupee in the hopes of better receiving their messages. A student who attempts to seduce a Mad Professor for a good grade will invariable end up as a test subject. Str: 3, Agl: 4, Lks: 3, Itl: 5, Per: 6, Hth: 4, Pth: 5. Professor, Nutty: This character loves teaching and believes that its students come to college to learn and actually pay attention when it lectures. This character always has the Commitment and Self-centered disadvantages and they are focused squarely on whatever its chosen field of expertise is. It is always dropping notes and books wherever it goes, and never wears socks that match. Seduction attempts on this character never result in more than a packet of photocopies of the latest articles on the topic of the class. Poor classwork always results in a poor grade from a Nutty Professor. Str: 2, Agl: 2, Lks: 4, Itl: 8, Per: 5, Hth: 4, Pth: 6. Saori: These powerful, golden-skinned Amazon women from outer space have come to Earth in phallic crafts in search of breeding stock. They will attempt to seduce male characters into passionate, unprotected sex (Saori never carry STDs), but failing that, they will paralyze the character and abduct it for a life of never-ending rough sex on the Saori Broodship. (The Saori are a featured player character species in the forthcoming NUELOW science fiction gamebook, "Stars and Garters!".) Str: 8, Agl: 8, Lks: 7, Itl: 6, Per: 3, Hth: 7, Pth: 10. Sheep: Since the release of "Fairies!", NUELOW players clamored for sheep game-stats. After all, what is Sexual Preference, Animal without sheep. In "Horndogs!", sheep are generally found near frat houses during rush week and parties. Str: 4, Agl: 5, Lks: 3, Itl: 2, Per: 1, Hth: 4, Pth: 5. Teaching Fellow: These are graduate student sycophants who are actually the ones who do all the work for the Professors. Some Teaching Fellows may be accomplices of the Mad Professors, or loyal collaborators of Nutty Professors. They generally share the same traits and Attribute Ratings as the professor type they serve except for the Intelligence Attribute Rating; Teaching Fellows have Itl equal to an amount rolled on two six-sided dice. Working Stiffs: These are all the characters who exist outside the never-neverland of the university, and they actually work for a living. As such, all other characters in the "Horndogs!" game look down on and exploit them whenever possible. Str: 5, Agl: 4, Lks: 4, Itl: 5, Per: 5, Hth: 5, Pth: 4. FRANKENHOOFER UNIVERSITY (F.U.): A "HORNDOGS!" CAMPAIGN SETTING Frankenhoofer University (F.U.) was founded in 1904 by industrialist N.O. Frankenhoofer, who wanted to train the next generation of executives in his business empire. The children of employees could attend the private school for one-quarter of what other students paid, providing they signed a contract to spend 15 years with Frankenhoofer Enterprises. (He figured that since he already owned the parents of the prospective students heart and soul, he might as well get their children, too.) Unfortunately, Frankenhoofer was wiped out by the Great Depression, but his university lived on as a Depression era National Recovery Agency project and then as a state university. The F.U. campus was originally on the outskirts of the city, but during the 50s and 60s, industrial areas and scattered low- income apartment complexes have encrouched upon and surrounded it. Thus, F.U. currently stands a little haven for its students and instructors who remain blissfully unaware of the state of the real world. The F.U. campus consists of a few square miles of paved walkways and buildings of various sizes separated by slight hills and well-kept lawns and flowerbeds. Automobiles aren't allowed into campus, although the students careening about on skateboards and bicycles are every bit as dangerous to pedestrians as cars speeding down a freeway. There are several dozen buildings on campus, housing departments and offices and classrooms devoted to every conceivable academic discipline, no matter trivial in its practical application. Whichever classes and academic departments that GMs need to add for their individual campaigns can easily be placed anywhere on the campus. Most "Horndogs!" characters are too busy getting the most out of their college years to learn the campus layout, so we'll just touch on the more important parts of campus and the surrounding neighborhood that they may be most likely to know (or discover). Fraternity and Sorority Row consists of nine houses, four sororities and five fraternities, each type ranging from the posh, palatial manors of the ones with fast-tracks to the Old Boys and Girls Networks, to the run-down party houses with rusting Dodges on the front lawns. These buildings are directly north of campus and hopping with non-stop parties every weekend. The parties are occasionally disrupted by fun and/or revenge seeking Dorm Dorks with strange gadgets or trouble-seeking gangbangers with automatic weapons. At the far end of this street is the Tinggaard Asylum for the Violently Insane. Part educational facility, part warehouse for society's most dangerous criminals, a week doesn't go by where a killing machine doesn't escape to wreck havoc in the surrounding community. The asylum might have been shut down long ago, if not for the problem of what do with its inmates (something the local government doesn't want to address). Next door to the asylum, separated by a high wall that is topped with barbed wire with 10,000 volts of electricity surging through it, is the deserted former home of Frankenhoofer himself, a stately manor that is crumbling under the weight of the years. The Science Colleges teach every conceivable discipline, theoretical, natural and social. This and the Lab Building is the newest of all building-groups and features the latest in hi-tech research facilities. Needles to say, this area of campus is rife with explosions and bizarre happenings, as Mad Professor experiments go awry and genetically engineered > slime monsters escape from their cages. Deep in the bowels of the Lab Building, F.U.'s most famous Mad Scientist, Doc Darbyrub, has an entire sub-basement devoted to government-funded research into growing better radishes and decyphering transmissions from outer space. Additionally, he is conducting reality-bending experiments and has succeeding in creating a tear in the fabric of reality. Through this tear, characters from other NUELOW worlds (such as those presented in other NUELOW gamebooks) enter the world of "Horndogs!" Darbyrub, in turn, is looking for a few good (wo)men (or just someone drunk enough) to venture through from our side to theirs. (Game note: Darbyrub's inter-dimensional gate is also an opportunity for GM's to introduce Creatures Whose Names Can Not Be Spoken Because They Are Copyrighted And Contain No Vowels into the world of "Horndogs!" Where the science buildings are a sparkling vision of opulence, the College of Humanities is a crumbling heap that has barely been painted since it was built. It is drafty, poorly heated, not air conditioned, and instructors generally bring their own light bulbs to work since the administration hasn't given any of the Humanities departments big enough budgets to afford such trivial things. The Political Science department, located in an old nucular fall-out shelter complex under the buidling, teaches a variety of classes directly squarely at the needs of Jocks, including the ever-popular "Democracy Through the Ages 101." The English, Creative Writing and Philosophy departments are always rife with Starving Art Students. Additionally, the campus newspaper is published from this building. The Student Union Building is the center of night-time social life for Dorm Dorks. It features two third-rate cafeterias, a bowling alley with six half-length lanes, a small arcade featuring last year's hit video games and pinball machines, and a couple of ballrooms that are frequently rented to new age faith-healers conducting self-motivation seminars, and less frequently for free dance concerts by fourth-rate bands for the Dorm Dorks. The Dorm Dorks spend much of their time in the Student Union because the Student Dorms are in a state that make the Humanities building look well-maintained; more than one Dorm Dork has been in bed (frequently with someone else) when it suddenly falls down into the room on the floor below. On the other hand, the Athletic Dorms bear a striking resemblance to four-star hotels, including cable and color television sets and private baths in each room (as opposed to no cable and only one TV and communal shower/restroom per floor in the student dorms). Each dorm building features its own restaurant, arcade with the hottest games, steambaths, and two racquetball courts. They are right across the street from the Frankenhoofer Memorial Stadium, which is the world's biggest sports complex. It includes a football stadium, indoor baseball field, and a basketball court that doubles as an ice hockey rink. The highest point on campus is occupied by the Administration Building where all F.U. budgetary concerns are evaluated and decided. Most of the administration's time is spent on deciding what color the carpeting should be in this year's total redecoration of the building's interior, so the tight budget money can be maximized to its fullest. The Campus Police Department islocated in the basement of the Administration Building. This is because the department didn't generate enough money through fines to warrant their own building. Further, the Administration wants plenty of defense should the student body ever again decide to storm the building anbd burn their bras and jockstraps in protest like they did in the '60s. (The order still clings to the portrait of Frankenhoofer in the front lobby.) > Map Key 1. Fraternity and Sorority Row (homeground for Fratboys and Sorority Girls) 2. Administration Building 3. Science Colleges and Lab Buildings (including the Secret Lair of the Mad Professor) 4. College of Humanities 5. Student Union Building 6. Student Dorms 7. Athletic Dorms 8. Frankenhoofer Memorial Stadium 9. Tinggaard Asylum for the Violently Insane 10. Staff Parking Lots (room for 200 cars) 11. Student Parking Lots (room for 12 cars) ADVENTURES FOR "HORNDOGS!" As always in the NUELOW gamebooks, this section merely contains adventure outlines. They intended as jump-off points for GM's to come up with their own wacky college hi-jinx. And, as long-time NUELOW fans have grown accustomed to, both these adventure ideas suck, so your creativity is truly needed. (As mentioned earlier, an adventure that includes "Fairies!" was run with great success. This scenario might just find its way into the NUELOW Bedside Companion.) A great idea for an introductory scenario that was suggested in the 11th hour by one of the smarter members of the Design Team was to have the characters attempt to register for classes. Oh well... maybe we'll do a second edition. 1. This adventure is best played by a group composed primarily of Dorm Dorks. One of the characters, or a non-player character whom they are friends with, with the MacGyverism skill, is approached by a Frat Boy and offered an obscene amount of cash to install a hidden video camera/transmitter in an airvent in one of Frankenhoofer Memorial Stadium's women's locker rooms. The Frat Boy will continue to sweeten the deal, even offering to pay half up front, until the character agrees. The first step of this adventure requires the players come with a decent plan for letting their characters penetrate the heart of enemy territory in order to install the camera; the GM should create a challenging situation for the characters but should not make it too difficult as the real adventure doesn't start until they are installing the camera. As the PC with MacGyverism opens the vent, it discovers that there is already a camera in there, and just as that discovery is made, the locker room is flooded with Jocks of both sexes, led by the Frat Boy who approached the characters in the first place. The Jocks and Frat Boy have a distinct lynch-mob air about them and the characters must flee with angry accusations of being perverts and death-threats being shouted at them. (If the characters don't flee, they'll get their butts whipped big time.) Next day, the campus paper carries a front page story about how the mysterious "Locker Room Videographer" was almost caught by the Men's Lacrosse and Women's Football teams and Delta Sigma Pi member and son of F.U. President Lacey, Charles Lacey the Third, who is shown in a photo with the two cameras. According to the article, the administration will expel the students responsible for the covert taping and the Women's Football Team vows to break the legs and crack the nuts of the perpetrators should they get their hands on them. Should the characters confront the Frat Boy (Charles Lacey the Third) who set them up, he gleefully admits that he heard the camera he and his Frat Brothers had hidden in the locker room had been discovered, but thanks the player characters Delta Sigma Pi had managed to retrieve their tape of the naked hard-bodies anyway. He promises the characters that if he ever so much as hears their names again, he will tell the Women's Football team exactly where they can find each and every one of them. The primary objective of this adventure becomes the player character's quest for revenge against the Frat Boy, either through making his life a living hell from a hidden position, or through exposing him and his Frat Brothers to the Women's Football team. (Going to the Jocks or Administration and just telling the truth is pointless, as no one will believe a bunch of Dorm Dorks over a Frat Boy who's the son of the university president.) If the characters come up with a ingenious scheme, they should be able to just sit back and watch as college women with well-muscled legs go to work on the gonads of Delta Sigma Pi. If the plan is lame, well... 2. When the GM tires of the F.U. setting and "Horndogs!" in general, we encourage the use of a "Frat Beer Fest Massacre" scenario to bring a close to things down. This adventure works best if played by Frat Boy and Sorority Girl characters, although Jocks and Cheerleaders might work as well. On the last night of Rush, the Alpha Ki Mu sorority and the Pi Epsilon Delta fraternity throw their joint annual bash of beer and debauchery on the overgrown and long-deserted grounds surrounding the crumbling mansion that was once home to F.U.'s founder, industrial magnate Frankenhoofer. He started the tradition, and even though the stately manor has long been abandoned, the F.U. administration lets the brothers and sisters and their prospective pledges party there every year, as long as they hire a Campus Cop for security. As the night wears on, there seems to be fewer and fewer revelers. The assumption on the part of characters should be that drunken Frat Boys and intoxicated Sorority Girls are heading off into the undergrowth or the deserted mansion for close encounters of the carnal kind. In actuality, they are being picked off one by one by the escaped maniac, Timmy. (Timmy, who has the statistics and abilities of the Homicidal Maniac from the "Creatures" section, was driven insane as a small child when his parents took him to see a marathon performance of "Taming of the Shrew" and "Othello" starring Sharon Stone, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, James Earl Jones, Mark Hammill, James Wood, Rosanne Barr, and the guy who played "Webster" making up the entire cast of both plays. When he speaks, it's in lines chosen at random from those plays, whether or not the meaning applies to the situation at hand.) The characters eventually hook up with their own human squeeze toys... at which point they start finding non-player characters killed in a variety of creatively disgusting ways (no two dispatched in the same way). The Campus Cop will be no help, since he's been dead since the party began, propped up against the garden wall and the nightstick that has been shoved through his back. At this point, Timmy starts stalking the characters and their lovers, driving them toward the mansion where the big showdown between insane killer and one or two survivors takes place. Timmy is armed with one of each weapon listed in the Equipment section, plus a wide selection of sharp implements that have already been left in slain non-player characters. (GMs with access to "Fairies!" might want to give Timmy ALL the weapons listed in that gamebook.) The theme of this stage of the adventure is random mayhem and violence and kill, kill, kill. Ideally, the GM should save the PCs for last, picking off their NPC lovers before starting on them. Consider the players the actors whose names appear before the title on the dozen of cheesy slasher flicks that fill the shelves at your neighborhood video store, so you know that they'll all bite it... unless they get Timmy before he gets them. (Of course, the only way the player characters will be able to fight Timmy is to retrieve weapons from his victims, or figure out some way to knock him off his feet; each time Timmy falls, he drops 1-6 weapons. Should the player characters enter the mansion, any character who suggests that they go into the basement one at a time receives 5 character points, to be spent if it survives. On the other hand, characters who say "DON'T go into the basement!" receive 10 character points, to be spent if it survives. (Of course, if the GM uses this adventure as we suggest, those points won't make much of a difference.)