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  • LONE WOLF’S “THE DIVERGENT GAMES” (PFRPG + The Hunger Games + Divergent House Rules)


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    LONE WOLF’S “THE DIVERGENT GAMES”

     

    My daughters and I have created these house rules for a fast-paced, easy to learn Pathfinder RPG-based arena player vs. player (PvP) game that can be played with any number of players in a short amount of time (less than an hour with pre-generated characters and packs) and plays like a board game. This is a great way to introduce your pre-teen or teen son/daughter to the Pathfinder RPG (and RPGs in general) by taking the concepts of two popular book/movie series (Divergent and The Hunger Games) and creating some house rules for the Pathfinder RPG that capture those concepts. Because this is a quick play, and because it mainly involves a small set of the Pathfinder rules, it is something that most kids can pick up quickly and have great fun with!

     

    First, I am assuming you and your pre-teen/teen son/daughter have some familiarity with both The Hunger Games and Divergent (either by reading the books or seeing the movies) with respect to Factions (from Divergent), Districts (from The Hunger Games), and an arena-based PvP scenario (from The Hunger Games).

     

    Second, I am assuming you have a decent working knowledge of the Pathfinder RPG and a desire to spend some great quality time with your son/daughter and introduce them to a great RPG that they can enjoy their entire lives. There is no “GM” per se, because everyone will have a player character in this game. You will be the GM-player though, so you’ll need to be able to shepherd your child through the key rules and concepts of the Pathfinder RPG as you play.

     

    In order to get you started more quickly, I have prepared some rules summary tables for you (I have pre-generated content but I haven't figured out how to include it with in this post). I hope you enjoy this as much as my daughters and I have!

     

    Basics

     

    The Pathfinder RPG serves as the basis for the rules of this game. As such, everyone will have a player character with the familiar classes, abilities, skills, feats, and other attributes associated with the Pathfinder RPG (some pre-generated characters are provided in the Appendix for your use). You will use standard miniatures to represent the player characters, and you’ll need a set of polyhedron dice and you should have a copy of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook for reference. It is best to prepare a 1-inch by 1-inch gridded game board for play, but this is not necessary. Because this is an arena-based game, the game board is finite. It has boundaries beyond which the player characters cannot move. The size of the board is your choice, but at least 5-ft. by 5-ft. is suggested (see below).

     

    Player characters start the game with no gear and only peasants clothing. At the start of the game, there are packs of gear placed at various locations on the game board around the central area called the “Cornucopia”. For the initial rounds of the game, player characters will be trying to pick up some of these packs to get adventuring gear, weapons, armor and magic items that they can use to fight others and survive. Any gear or equipment that is available in Pathfinder RPG is available in The Divergent Games, although it is best to keep high-powered gear (e.g., weapons of +3 or more, Greater Wondrous Items, etc.) out of the game unless you have some way to mitigate/counter their use (i.e., a +5 magic sword used against a Level 1 character will have a devastating affect). In general, packs that are closer to the Cornucopia are more likely to have equipment like weapons and armor, while packs further from the Cornucopia are more likely to have food, drink, clothing and adventuring gear. Packs located within the Cornucopia itself are the most likely to contain magical weapons, wondrous items, magical armor and similar high-value equipment. The percentage likelihood of finding particular types of gear or equipment in any given pack by Tier is provided in Table 3. In addition, pre-generated pack contents by Tier are provided for your use in Table 4 (not included with this post).

     

    The goal of The Divergent Games is to be the last surviving character.

     

    Character Creation

     

    Character creation follows the Pathfinder RPG rules, with addition of randomly selected Factions and Districts that affect various aspects of the player characters.

     

    The Faction is related to the “nature” aspects of your character (innate abilities), and determines your character’s class and ability score modifiers. These modifiers are applied at character creation based upon a randomly rolled Faction for your character. Most characters have only one Faction and begin the game at Level 1; however, Divergent characters are unique. Divergent characters have two Factions (and therefore two classes) and begin the game at Level 2 (1 level in each Faction-derived class).

     

    The District is related to the “nurture” aspects of your character (learned or trained capabilities where your character grew up), and determines your skills, bonus feats, and weapons proficiencies. These are determined at character creation based upon a randomly rolled originating District for your character and are in addition to your character’s standard class-based skills and feats (even if your character would not otherwise meet the requirements for them). Each character can have only one District.

     

    The character creation process for The Divergent Games is as follows:

    • Roll ability scores. Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die. Do this for each ability.
    • Assign ability scores as you see fit. Remember, you won’t know your character class yet, and once these scores are assigned, they cannot be changed.
    • Roll 1d10 to determine your Faction. This will also determine your character class (see Table 1. Factions).
    • Apply the ability modifiers based upon your Faction.
    • Roll 1d12 to determine your District.
    • Apply bonus feats, skill adjustments, and favored weapon adjustments based upon your District (see Table 2. Districts).
    • All other character attributes and advancements are governed by your character class (determined in item 3) and follow the Pathfinder RPG rules. Note that some Pathfinder RPG character aspects are not critical to this game and can be ignored in order to simplify the rules for those new to it, if desired (e.g., Alignment, etc.).
    • All player characters should be human. While this is not critical, it simplifies things somewhat and retains the “feel” of Divergent and The Hunger Games.
    Divergent characters are treated as multi-classed characters in the Pathfinder rules. Upon character creation, Divergent characters will begin the game at Level 2, having 1 level in each of two classes. After Level 2, Divergent characters level up in each class alternatively (e.g., at level 3, a Divergent will level up in one of their two classes [always the first one rolled at creation]; at level 4, the Divergent will level in their second class, and so on).

     

    Create A Game Board

     

    You’ll need a large area for the game board. You can either use a grid mat (1-inch by 1-inch squares) or you’ll need a ruler or tape measure to manage movement distances (some gift wrapping paper has 1 inch grids on the back and this can be used to create a great gridded mat for a large area; just don’t tell my wife where her wrapping paper went!). The board should be at least 60 squares x 60 squares (5 feet per square). Larger is better, so if you have a ping pong table or large dinner table or a large open area on the floor, that works better. Setting up the game board can take some time, especially if you use many different terrain types, but remember you can simplify this and just make it a flat, open board so you can get to playing more quickly.

     

    In the middle of the board, draw the Cornucopia. This should be a 20-ft. x 20-ft. area (4 inches x 4 inches). Round this section, there will be 3 concentric sections or "Tiers" progressing outwards (these Tiers are used to determine the quality of packs found in them, described below). Next, mark the Tier 1 area around the Cornucopia, it extends 8 inches (40-feet) in all directions from the edge of the Cornucopia. Next, mark the Tier 2 area around Tier 1, at 8 inches (40-feet) from the Tier 1 boundary. Mark the Tier 3 area around Tier 2, also 8 inches (40-feet) from the edge of Tier 2. Finally, place the starting pedestals 8 inches (40-feet) from the edge of Tier 3. There should be one pedestal for each player, and pedestals should be at least 10 inches (50-feet) from each other. If players are to roll random starting pedestal locations, be sure to number each pedestal (e.g., 1 to 6 for 1d6 roll).

     

    Next, assign terrain types to all squares outside of the Pedestal area; all squares between all pedestals and the Cornucopia should be flat, clear terrain. The terrain for the board can be of any type; woodland, city, ruins, whatever you like; remember that terrain movement penalties and restrictions will apply. If you’re using a paper mat, you can draw the boundaries for each terrain type and write the penalties on the mat itself for ease of reference.

     

    Lastly, place pack markers in the Cornucopia and in all Tiers. These can simply be dots or circles or you can use some sort of physical marker, whatever works for you. These need not be numbered. With the exception of Cornucopia packs, all packs should be separated by at least 2 squares. Cornucopia backpacks can be adjacent to each other.

    An example of a game board is shown in Figure 1 (not included in this post).

     

    Play

     

    Each player rolls initiative.

     

    Each player either rolls a die to determine their starting pedestal (if there are 4 players, there will be 4 pedestals and players can roll 1d4 to determine which pedestal they start on) or players simply place their miniatures on a starting pedestal in Initiative order. Players start at their pedestal with no equipment, no weapons, no armor, and only peasants clothing.

    The players place their game pieces on their pedestal and the GM-Player starts the game. Players move in Initiative order, and play is conducted in rounds using the “Actions in Combat” rules (Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook [CRB] p.181 – 189).

     

    Generally, the initial rounds of play will be players running to pick up packs to obtain gear and equipment. Some players may choose to pick up several packs before looking in them, other players may choose to pick a pack and open it right away (picking up a single pack is a Move action; opening and searching through a single pack to inventory what it contains is a full round action). In either case, packs are pre-generated and assigned numbers that will correspond to die rolls (e.g., if 20 packs were pre-generated, players will use 1d20).

     

    When a player picks up a pack, they roll the appropriate die (e.g., 1d20) to determine which pack from the list of packs for that Tier they have retrieved. At this point, the GM-player provides the player with the total weight of the pack only, and these weights are used to determine the player’s encumbrance. Once a player opens and inventories a pack, the GM-player can reveal the contents of that pack to the player. (You may find it beneficial to use 3x5 cards or folded paper strips with pack weight printed on one side and the pack contents on the other side for this purpose. This way, the GM-Player can reveal the weight of the pack without knowing the contents, and can hand the card to the player so they can copy down the contents of the pack into their inventory once they open and search the pack).

     

    Once play begins, packs are only present for six (6) rounds, at which point all packs and associated equipment that have not been retrieved by a player disappear. Any pack or equipment that a player has retrieved will remain in the game indefinitely.

     

    The game is a player vs. player fight to the death, with the goal of the game is to be the last player standing. Some key Pathfinder RPG rule elements that the GM-Player needs to be familiar with are:

    • Actions in Combat (CRB pp.181 – 182)
    • Combat (CRB pp.178 - 202)
    • Encumbrance and Carrying Capacity (CRB pp.170 – 172)
    • Movement (CRB pp. 170 – 171 and 192 – 194)
    • Evasion and Pursuit (CRB pp.171 – 172)
    • Tracking and Survival (CRB pp.107 – 108)
    • Attacks of opportunity (CRB p.180)
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    Table 1. Factions

    • Column 1 - District No.
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    • 6
    • 7
    • 8
    • 9
    • 10
    • 11
    • 12
    • Column 2- District
    • Luxury
    • Masonry
    • Technology
    • Fishing
    • Power
    • Transportation
    • Lumber
    • Textiles
    • Grain
    • Livestock
    • Agriculture
    • Mining
    • Column 3 - Bonus Feat
    • Light Armor Proficiency
    • Medium Armor Proficiency
    • Stealthy
    • Heavy Armor Proficiency
    • Power Attack
    • Endurance
    • Dodge
    • Two-Weapon Fighting
    • Great Fortitude
    • Iron Will
    • Critical Focus
    • Toughness
    • Column 4- Skill Bonuses (+2)
    • Diplomacy; Perform
    • Craft; Bluff
    • Knowledge (any); Disable Device
    • Swim; Sleight of Hand
    • Disable Device; Perform
    • Ride; Fly
    • Survival; Stealth
    • Craft; Appraise
    • Perception; Sleight of Hand
    • Handle Animal; Ride
    • Heal; Perception
    • Intimidate; Climb
    • Column 5 - Skill Penalties (-2)
    • Survival; Ride
    • Perception; Acrobatics
    • Disguise; Escape Artist
    • Spellcraft; Diplomacy
    • Perception; Sense Motive
    • Stealth; Climb
    • Appraise; Disable Device
    • Swim; Sense Motive
    • Disguise; Bluff
    • Perception; Spellcraft
    • Knowledge; Use Magic Device
    • Use Magic Device; Stealth
    • Column 6 - Favored Weapon (Bonus Weapon Focus Feat)
    • Exotic Weapons - All
    • Simple Weapons - All
    • Martial Weapons - All
    • Trident & Net
    • Greatsword & Bastard Sword
    • Clubs
    • Battleaxe & Greataxe
    • Dagger & Katana
    • Halberd, Guisarme, Glaive, & Naginate
    • Shortsword & Longsword
    • Longbow
    • Hammers
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    Table 2. Districts

    • Column 1 - Faction No.
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    • 6
    • 7
    • 8
    • 9
    • 10
    • Column 2 - Faction
    • Dauntless - Strong
    • Dauntless - Dextrous
    • Erudite - Intelligent
    • Erudite - Charismatic
    • Abnegation
    • Amity - Charismatic
    • Amity - Wise
    • Candor
    • Divergent
    • Factionless; Roll Again
    • Column 3 - Primary Ability (+3)
    • Strength
    • Dexterity
    • Intelligence
    • Charisma
    • Constitution
    • Charisma
    • Wisdom
    • Wisdom
    • Roll two of above
    •  
    • Column 4 - Secondary Ability (+2)
    • Constitution
    • Charisma
    • Wisdom
    • Intelligence
    • Charisma
    • Dexterity
    • Intelligence
    • Constitution
    •  
    •  
    • Column 5 - Weak Ability (-2)
    • Dexterity
    • Intelligence
    • Constitution
    • Strength
    • Wisdom
    • Intelligence
    • Strength
    • Dexterity
    •  
    •  
    • Column 6 - Base Class for HD and Advancement
    • Barbarian
    • Rogue
    • Wizard
    • Sorcerer
    • Paladin
    • Monk
    • Druid
    • Cleric
    • Multiclassed
    •  
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    Table 3. Gear Percentage by Pack Tier

    • Column 1 - Gear Description
    • Adventuring Gear
    • Special Substances and Items
    • Tools and Skill Kits
    • Clothing
    • Food and Drink
    • Ammo
    • Simple Weapons
    • Martial Weapons
    • Exotic Weapons
    • Specific Weapons/Armor
    • Magic Weapons/Armor
    • Potions
    • Light Armor (includes shields)
    • Medium Armor
    • Heavy Armor
    • Minor Wondrous Item
    • Medium Wondrous Item
    • Lesser Minor Ring
    • Greater Minor Ring
    • Lesser Medium Ring
    • Greater Medium Ring
    • Lesser Poisons
    • Medium Poisons
    • 0-1 Level Scrolls
    • 2-3 Level Scrolls
    • Column 2 - Cornucopia Pack (6 items)
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • 0.05
    • 0.1
    • 0.12
    • 0.02
    • 0.12
    • 0.12
    • 0.06
    • --
    • 0.1
    • 0.05
    • 0.1
    • 0.05
    • --
    • 0.03
    • 0.03
    • 0.05
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • 0.05
    • Column 3 - Tier 1 Pack (5 items)
    • --
    • 0.05
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • 0.05
    • 0.15
    • 0.05
    • 0.1
    • --
    • 0.05
    • 0.1
    • 0.1
    • 0.12
    • 0.05
    • --
    • 0.05
    • 0.05
    • --
    • --
    • 0.02
    • 0.03
    • 0.03
    • --
    • Column 4 - Tier 2 Pack (5 items)
    • 0.2
    • 0.07
    • 0.04
    • --
    • --
    • 0.03
    • 0.1
    • 0.14
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • 0.05
    • 0.2
    • 0.1
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • 0.03
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • 0.04
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • Column 5 - Tier 3 Pack (4 items)
    • 0.4
    • 0.01
    • 0.12
    • 0.01
    • 0.02
    • 0.06
    • 0.16
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • 0.02
    • 0.2
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • Column 6 - Pedestal Pack (2 items)
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • 0.5
    • 0.5
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
    • --
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