Super Mario Tabletop RPG

Super Mario Tabletop RPG is a hack of Mr. Blue Sky and the 1d4chan Wiki's "Super Mario RPG" by and YoshiEgg. This article uses much of the same text and terminology of the aforementioned article by Mr. Blue Sky and company, but adapts, expands upon, and tweaks certain concepts and game mechanics. It is a tabletop RPG based on Nintendo's Mario series - specifically the Mario RPGs such as the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi games and Super Mario RPG for the SNES - using dice and imaginative roleplaying to help players create their own Mario story. The game is fairly freeform, with no strict classes, archetypes, or movesets; rather, players embody a colorful and flexible set of playable Mario species such as Goombas, Koopas, Toads, etc. with their own species-based attributes. With a d6-based dicepool based on Shadowrun, the game is meant to emulate the gameplay of Mario RPGs.
==For the GM...==
The Mario series has a lot of medium-based metaphors that tend to get lost in their own figurative weeds - Mario 3 takes place on a stage, the Paper Mario games take place in a storybook and also sort of on a stage, sometimes characters allude to the fact that they're in a game... of course, setting-wise, you can handle this however you want, but I'm getting ahead of myself. For the purposes of this game, you, the DM, GM, MC, etc., should think of yourself as a "Game Master". And I'm not talking about Captain N here. Perhaps a more apt term would be a "Game Developer" or "Game Designer". You're throwing obstacles, NPCs, puzzles, and et cetera at your player characters - the difference here is that you're doing it in real time. Imagine if Miyamoto had to design 1-1 of the original Super Mario Bros. as a Mario with free will ran through it in real time, and they both had to do it through verbage and conversation rather than sprites and coding. I'll admit that's not an elegant description, but if you're at all familiar with the general conceit of running tabletop RPGs, just think of that, but with Mario stuff. You know what you're doing better than you think you do.
===Mushroom World Map===
==Mechanics==
These are the basic mechanics of the game; how to roll, how your stats work, etc.. Refer to this section whenever you need a refresher.
===Dice===
The primary mechanic is a dicepool system similar to Shadowrun: when performing any sort of test or check, roll Xd6, where X is the character's most pertinent stat to the task at hand as well as any additional modifiers such as from equipment or power-ups (note that total mods cannot exceed the value of the stat). A die that rolls a 4-6 counts as a "success" or "hit," and the successes are totaled and compared against a threshold or an opposing test. If the threshold is met, the check is successful. The more net hits, i.e. the more hits rolled above the threshold or opposing test, the greater the degree of success. As GM, you can decide if you wish to implement the rule of "exploding dice" (a die that rolls a 6 counts as both a success and a free reroll).
Example: A character finds a strange mushroom growing just outside a power plant, and he wants to know what it is. To identify the mushroom, it would be a Smarts check; if he has 3 Smarts and is carrying a book on flora and fauna, which the GM rules is a +1 modifier for the test, he rolls [3+1]d6 = 4d6. The threshold for the test is (secretly) established at 1. In this case, no successes means the character can't immediately find the mushroom in his book or can't jog his memory enough to remember it at this time. One success means the character properly identifies the mushroom as a Volt Shroom, while two successes would both identify the mushroom and offer more exact information, particularly its function (renders a character or object electrified for a period of time).
===Initiative & Actions===
To determine initiative (meaning the order in which players take action during combat), all participants in the combat roll a Speed check and add the hits to their Speed score for their final initiative. In the event of a tie, the higher Speed wins. Everyone goes once in a single turn, unless a power-up or other bonus permits extra actions or entire turns for that character; in that case, everyone takes their turn, then the character with extra actions or turns goes again until all extra actions are used, after which the turn actually ends and the next one begins.
There are two types of actions that a player can take: standard actions and free actions. Move actions are omitted from the game for the sake of simplicity, though a GM may choose to add them for more particular actions like sustaining commands or more specific movement. A standard action is the bulk of significant activities in a combat: attack, defend, use an item, swap equipment, and so on. Every character has only 1 standard action per turn, just like in a Mario RPG. Free actions are non-significant actions that take little to no effort, such as talking, activating bonuses from equipment or power-ups, and so forth.
===Stats===
There are 6 core stats and 6 derivative stats. Your core stats (Heart, Power, Smarts, Coolness, Toughness, and Speed) all start out at 3 at the beginning of character creation. You then have 7 points to add to whatever stats you'd like, akin to character creation in Fallout, with a maximum of 7 points per stat. That plus any stat modifiers or considerations based on your character's species, and plus stat bonuses corresponding to any perks your character has, determine the final number of dice you roll when you try and do something.
Heart (H): 	This Stat represents your character's willpower, guts, determination and spirit.
Power (P): 	This Stat represents your character's raw, physical strength.
Smarts (S): 	This Stat represents your character's intelligence and mental fortitude.
Coolness (C): 	This Stat represents your character's charisma, looks and and social skills.
Toughness (T): 	This stat represents your character's resilience, burliness and overall physical presence and health.
Speed (Sp): 	This Stat represents your character's physical quickness, manual dexterity, and reaction speed.
Health Points (HP):	This Stat represents your character's vitality, namely how much damage your character can suffer before becoming KO'd. It is derived from, and is equal to, Heart + Toughness.
Flower Points (FP):	This Stat represents your character's extra effort, notably the potential to perform Specials (techniques, spells, etc.). It is derived from, and is equal to, Heart + Coolness.
====Attacking & Defending====
Depending on the weapon of choice of a character, the primary stat rolled to attack will change. A melee fighter will usually use Power, a caster will use Smarts or Coolness, and a ranged combatant will use Speed. Whatever the stat used, the attacker rolls a opposed check with that particular stat against the defender's stat of choice (depending on the defensive action taken) and counts the total hits. Regardless of the defense used by the defender, if the attacker scores more net hits, the attacker wins the engagement. The attacker then does damage equal to his primary stat plus any damage modifiers, subtracted by the opponent's total Toughness; note that if the defender's total Toughness is greater than the total attack value, then the attack -- even if successfully hit -- is absorbed and does no damage.
A defender, when under attack, may choose one of three defensive tactics as a contextual response (four, if you count "doing nothing"): guard, dodge, and counter.
*If he chooses to guard, he will attempt to absorb the brunt of the damage with an active defense; he rolls Toughness as his stat in the opposed test, and if successful (i.e. the defender has equal or more net hits), he reduces the attacker's damage by his Toughness plus his total hits. If he fails, he takes damage as normal. If he chooses to defend as part of his standard action for the turn, then his defense is boosted; his base stat becomes [Toughness x 1.5 (round up)] for the opposed test.
*If he chooses to dodge, he will try and avoid the attack altogether, be it by darting away or ducking and weaving; his stat of choice for the opposed test is Speed, and if successful (i.e. the defender has equal or more net hits), the attack misses entirely and the defender takes no damage. If the attacker wins, then the defender takes damage as normal. If he chooses to take evasive action as part of his standard action for the turn, his reactions are heightened; his base stat becomes [Speed x 1.5 (round up)] for the sake of the opposed test.
*If he chooses to counter, then he will attempt to actively respond to the enemy attack with his own. The defender responds with his own attack check against the attacker (using the most pertinent attack stat). If the defender wins the test, then the attacker's attack is deflected, and the defender hits the attacker directly for his net hits' worth of damage, ignoring Toughness. If the attack is a spell or spell-like ability and the defender is a caster himself, he will instead attempt to counterspell and dispel the offending spell with his own magic; he handles the defense test with his casting stat (Smarts or Coolness) instead of Toughness. If the attacker wins, the defender takes full damage x 1.5 resisted only by his base Toughness value. Not all attacks can be countered.
====Engagements & Enemies====
Because there's not an overt emphasis on movement or exact positioning of individuals in a combat situation, it can get easy to lose track of which enemies you can affect at any given time with a particular action. Fortunately, the game keeps track of individuals or groups of individuals as engagements. An engagement is a set of individuals in close enough proximity that they constitute a sufficient grouping of individuals for the purposes of targeting, enemy strength, and area-of-effect abilities. For example, the party of PCs in sufficiently close proximity counts as one engagement (the player engagement, for all intents and purposes). The party can be fighting a horde of pirate raiders, but the group of eight pirates may be split up into three engagements (3-3-2 or 4-3-1 or any other mix) that surround the party from all sides. Alternately, there can be an engagement of foot soldiers in front of the party, and directly behind the infantry would be another engagement of just one soldier in a portable Bullet Bill nest. An AoE effect, unless specifically noted to apply to multiple engagements, will work on one engagement of enemies at a time, like a smoke bomb blinding a group of baddies (or even the entire enemy force if the bomb is detonated in the player engagement).
Generally, there are three classes of enemy that players will battle against: grunts, rivals and bosses.
*Grunts are the rank-and-file mooks that most heroes either run past or stomp on with little effort; they are almost universally weaker than any given PC, falling within one or two, maybe three attacks. However, what grunts lack in power, they usually make up for with numbers. Grunts will try to overwhelm the enemy with volume more than quality. Sometimes, bands of grunts can be lead by a rival or two, maybe even a boss. The grunts are most dangerous because they're very good at playing the numbers game.
**There's a special type of enemy formation known as the swarm. This is represented by a tight bundle of mooks that count as one unit, attacking all at once, such as a swarm of Mini-Goombas or a pile of Fuzzies bouncing all over the place. Their stats and attack power are generally equal to the number of enemies in the swarm; when they take damage, the swarm weakens as it loses numbers until there's nothing left.
*Rivals are considered the equal of PCs, generally equal in power and capability. They offer an even fight and can test how well a team works as a unit and their overall chemistry. Rivals can be friendly competitors, cutthroat adversaries or glory-seeking wannabes. Rivals are built almost identically to PCs and usually equal the number of PCs present in a fight, give or take. The rivals are most dangerous because the hardest fight to win is a fair fight.
*Bosses are beings of exceptional might that, on a one-to-one comparison, outstrip a PC's powers almost wholesale. Bosses can be huge, very well-equipped, exceptionally clever or otherwise carry an air of authority and power that makes all others tremble. Parties will be forced to work together to outsmart a boss, exploit its weakness(es) and topple the mighty foe before they are overwhelmed. Unless they have lackeys, bosses generally operate solo but make up for it with elevated stats and powerful specials, along with unique tactics and gimmicks that make the fight all the trickier. The boss is most dangerous because their immense strength can overwhelm even the mightiest of heroes if they're not prepared.
===Specials and Abilities===
As previously mentioned, a special technique (be it a spell or physical attack) usually costs Flower Points to use. The question is, what exactly can your character do? To put it another way, does your character have a specific list of commands they can use?
Well, yes and no.
Super Mario Tabletop RPG permits for modular and freeform play, not just in equipment and changing classes, but also in what a character can do in the world. Unlike the video games, there are no hard limits in what a character can do in a pencil-and-paper game; while Mario may not be able to grab his Bob-omb buddy and hurl them at an enemy to explode on contact via fastball special, you can. A lot of the time, this can happen at no cost to anyone. However, for the purposes of checks and balances, some of the fancier moves you can do will require you to spend FP to do it. If you narrate a particular action that sounds like it can fall under a particular technique, your GM may ask you to spend some FP before you attempt the action. Like all things, this falls to GM discretion and moderation and whatever he/she thinks requires using FP. For the most part, you should only expect to be spending FP in combat.
A good way to think of what can cost FP is to start with a basic command tied to your equipment; in this case, we'll focus on the Hammer's Smash -- the basic melee attack. The base command on its own doesn't cost anything -- it's as simple as it gets. However, if you want to add a qualifier to that base command to do something more, that may come at an FP cost. For example, to turn the Smash into the Power Smash -- a Smash with +2 Power -- will add a cost of 1 FP, if only because it's a straightforward, singular improvement to the attack. Another variant you can make is the Piercing Smash -- a Smash that ignores the enemy's Toughness -- also for a cost of 1 FP. By comparison, you can create the Serial Smash, which lets you make successive Smash attacks against a single enemy repeatedly for as long as you keep scoring at least one success at -1 Power per successive swing. It's a potent attack, but that creates a whopping 3 FP cost for the skill; an attack like that is no joke. These "qualifiers" -- prefixes and suffixes to the base command -- are a quick way to judge if an attack you have in mind will cost FP or not. They can also be stacked together, if you choose, for a far more potent attack, but it adds the FP costs together into a cumulative cost.
It must also be within reason that the character performing the special can reasonably understand the idea behind a would-be special and not be able to do it just because the player wants to. You can make up attacks as you go, but it should also stand to reason that certain attacks like the previously-mentioned Piercing Smash come only with experience or tutelage.
Characters themselves can begin the game with and learn specials of their own, unique of any equipment they use. Most of the time, they have a flat FP cost depending on the ability, though the cost only applies in combat; for example, a Boo's Outta Sight racial special costs 2 FP in combat. Characters can learn all different kinds of specials, from ki attacks to enchanting songs to tattling on their enemies and finding out their abilities to just plain hulking up. If sufficiently justified, a character can begin the game with a number of specials of their own, such as an opera singer with varied songs that buff the party or debuff the enemy, with more songs to be learned in the future. It's usually a feat of note when a character learns a unique special.
Also, there can be specials unique only to a particular item or piece of equipment. These specials can't be moved or tampered with (usually) and make a piece of equipment that much more unique. As an example, the fabled Sun-Kissed Claymore, found only in the depths of a temple somewhere in the Dry Dry Desert, has the special power Sun Spit [3 FP], which casts a lance of burning sunlight from the end of the sword at an enemy for 3 unblockable damage; this is in tandem with the sword's latent light-casting glow when unsheathed.
====Status Effects====
The following is a short list of example status effects that can be inflicted over the course of a game. Most of these are applicable within the scope of combat and usually wear off after the end of a fight. You have the option of having these effects apply in the overworld as well. In combat, when using an attack that applies a status effect, the number of net hits the attacker succeeds with is the number of turns the victim is afflicted with the status effect. Items, unless stated otherwise, have a default duration of 3 turns. Some status effects are more common than others, and some characters -- player and NPC alike -- may be immune to certain status effects. You can create a special attack that inflicts a status effect, similar to creating any other special attack, but status effect powers usually carry a cost of 2-3 FP, depending on the severity of the status effect. Most status effects can be healed with a restorative item like an Able Juice or Refreshing Herb, or any other method of restoring vitality, such as a good night's sleep.
Some characters may be immune to status effects, and some may be more affected by them than normal. This usually depends on species first and foremost, but talk to your GM. Do what's narratively satisfying!
* Blind - The character is blinded and cannot see. Apart from any overworld effects, on any attack test, the range on scoring a success is 5-6 instead of 4-6.
* Burn - The character is on fire and takes 1 damage every turn for its duration.
* Confusion - The character has a 50% chance of targetting a friend with an attack.
* Dodgy - The character's reflexes and reactions are sharper; they may double their Speed further when dodging attacks.
* Electrified - The character is surrounded by an electric aura of power. If the character is struck, the attacker will take 1 damage.
* Fear - The character is quaking in their boots as their Power and Toughness are halved.
* Frozen - Turning into a life-sized popsicle, the character cannot move, attack, or defend.
* Heavy - The character's Speed drops to 1, but their Power increases by 2.
* Mega - Become huge! Power is doubled, but Speed is halved.
* Light - The character's speed increases by 1, but their Power drops to 2.
* Mini - Become tiny! Toughness is halved, but Speed is doubled.
* Mushroomed - The character is turned into a mushroom! They regain 1 HP per turn, but cannot move or attack.
* Messed-With - The character is unable to utilize any FP-consuming moves, whether from a mental block or some other inhibiting effect.
* Payback - The character reflects half of all damage they take back at the attacker.
* Poison - The character is suffering from debilitating poison, taking 1 damage every turn for the duration.
* S'crow - The chracter is transformed into a scarecrow! They cannot move or attack, and they can only use FP to attack or defend.
* Stat DOWN - Decreases one of your stats by 1.
* Stat UP - Increases one of your stats by 1.
* Stun - The character is unable to act, whether knocked loopy, paralyzed, or similar.
===Lives===
If a player character loses all their health, they don't necessarily lose a life; they are merely KO'd. Every player character starts out with 3 lives. A life is lost if a KO'd player character is not revived using a reviving item such as a 1-up Mushroom by another player character before the present session of combat ends.
For example, a party consisting of a Goomba, a Koopa, and a Cheep Cheep are confronted by an enemy Magikoopa. The Cheep Cheep player loses all of their health and is KO'd. The Goomba and Koopa players manage to defeat the Magikoopa or otherwise resolve their conflict with the Magikoopa to a point where they're no longer fighting... but have no items that can revive their Cheep Cheep comrade during the battle in which the Cheep Cheep was KO'd. As a result, the Cheep Cheep player loses a life. In fiction, the Cheep Cheep player is still KO'd, and their party members must tend to their fallen friend with a 1-up Mushroom or similar reviving item procured at a shop or travelling merchant, or deal with their deadweight. A long rest, whether it be at a campsite, inn, hospital, or other such area in the overworld will serve the same purpose as a 1-up Mushroom for a KO'd player character.
If a player loses all of their lives, it's Game Over - meaning that character can no longer be played in the same form. However, there are several workarounds to this, chief among them being that, if the player chooses, they can come back as a Boo or another non-corporeal version of their character, with their memories and stats intact, but with -2 Heart and -1 Coolness. Koopas can become Dry Bones as well with these considerations. detailed further in their "Other Considerations" section.
===Items===
For the purposes of this section, "items" refers to consumables and triggered items, similar to potions and scrolls in any other game. Some items can be used multiple times, but unless mentioned as such, assume these items are one-and-done. It's up to you just how clever you can be with your items. Items can be used in the overworld and in combat, and they have different implications depending on the situation; talk to your GM about this for sure. The following is just a few examples of items you can find and use in the Mushroom World; more can be added as needed, per conversation(s) with your GM and players.
*Mushroom: Restores 5 HP
*Honey Syrup: Restores 5 FP
*Fire Flower: 5 damage to all enemies in battle. Also gives the used-upon character the power to shoot fireballs if used in the overworld, but wears off after 1 use.
*KeroKero Cola: Restores full HP across all party members
*1-Up Mushroom: Upon KO, automatically revives the character with 10 HP
*1-Up Moon: A rare item that will give a player character an additional life.
*Able Juice/Refreshing Herb: Cures one character of status ailments
*Tanooki Leaf: Makes the user more aerodynamic and equips them with a tail that temporarily raises their Power by 1
*Dizzy Dial: Renders a single enemy, well, dizzy, stunning them for 1-2 turns
*Sleepy Sheep Bell: Jingling the bell puts all subjects to sleep until disturbed; resist with a Heart (2) test
*VoltShroom Energy Drink: For 2 turns, take two standard actions instead of one
*Chuckle Blend: This special coffee blend from the Beanbean Kingdom permanently improves a character's Speed by 1.
Add your own!
===Coins and PP (Purchase Points)===
Add the values of your character's H, P, S and C stats together into a single number. This is your character's starting pocket change in Coins. Coins can be used in shops to exchange for items, weapons, and more, and they can be found all over the Mushroom World, earned by defeating enemies in battle, finding treasure, and more. Your GM should present Coins to you in these and more situations; if Coins seem few and far between in your campaign, talk to your GM (but don't be a Wario about it).
Divide your starting pocket change in Coins by 3, rounding appropriately to the nearest whole number. This new number is your character's available Purchase Points (PP). Purchase Points can represent several things: the overall resources available to your character, be it monetary, genetic or anything in between, as well as the general worth of your character's gear, income and/or training up to this point. They may not necessarily represent a character's overall quality of living, nor does purchasing something with PP mean they actually bought anything off the open market; a wizard's robe could be a hand-me-down passed down from generations of family, for example. It's a rather nebulous currency that only appears in character generation, but suffice to say, these PP are what you will use to equip and place the last touches on your character before setting off into the wild blue yonder. You don't need to spend all your available PP, but it can't hurt.
Every 1 PP is good for one of the following:
*A baseline single weapon (a set of projectile weapons counts as this, e.g. a pile of throwing needles), magic focus or set of armor/magic robe
*A single enchantment/refinement of said weapon/focus/outfit (e.g. a Strong Hammer [+1 P] would cost 2 PP: one for the Hammer, one for +1 Power)
*Two (2) basic consumables, such as a Mushroom, Honey Syrup, Able Juice, etc.
*One (1) additional Perk. This new Perk follows the same rules as those in the Perks section.
*An extra character trait/quirk. This can be rather broad, but it should be considered that a character is changed on an intrinsic, internal level of some form. The following are common examples:
**A Koopa can trade in his standard Koopa Shell for a different kind of shell, such as a Spiked Shell or Winged (Paratroopa) Shell.
**A Koopa can get another, separate Koopa Shell altogether. It's not unheard of for a Koopa to own multiple shells, after all. Making it a nonstandard shell still costs another point, though.
**A Koopa/Yoshi can spit fire/ice/whatever from his mouth.
**A Goomba can gain wings, becoming a Paragoomba.
**A Boo can change shape into a more humanoid form. The most common references are to another race (most often their original form in life), a humanoid figure similar to Vivian and the Shadow Sirens, or even the human form itself. "Ghostly beauty" can take on a whole new meaning.
**A Boo can become fully corporeal, providing more appreciable mass and motor control.
**A Bob-omb does not possess a wick and/or triggers explosions through alternate means (remote trigger, timer, etc.).
**A Shy Guy can trade his default white mask for another of varying function. The most common replacement is the Snifit Mask, allowing a Shy Guy/Snifit to spit bullets from his mouth. Shy Guy "emoting" masks count as one mask for this purpose.
**A Shy Guy can gain another, separate basic mask, not unlike a Koopa's shells. Similarly, making the separate mask a nonstandard mask also costs another point.
**A character is a considerable measure larger or smaller than the average.
**A character can weave magic without the need of a focus. Note that this might be achievable through in-game means, though it will take considerable effort.
**A character has some manner of mutation or genetic quirk (e.g. a Toad's spots glow in the dark).
==Species List==
There are a vast variety of creatures inhabiting the Mushroom World, and the following list of species are just what we could come up with off the top of our heads. This list could always be adapted and changed. New species are easy to add to the game; just work with your GM/players on adding stat bonuses/penalties and you're good to go. Theoretically, no Mario species should be off limits! Both players and GMs should consider this fact; it's part of what makes the game open.
Every character has features specific to their species, which are listed below. One feature affects their stats, and the other affects their abilities, and both have different implications in-fiction depending on the context. For example, as listed below, a Koopa's stat-specific species feature is their shell, which, if worn, gains them +1 Toughness and -1 Speed. A Koopa's ability-specific species feature is called Bowserkin, which affords them one temporary point in Power and Toughness at low health. All of these attributes are recorded for each race below, and also on blank character sheets corresponding to each race. If a character sheet does not exist for a race listed below but their modifying stats are listed, feel free to create one.
(Also, don't panic that "para-" versions and certain other subspecies aren't listed - we got you covered. See the "PP" section under "mechanics".)
===Citizens===
Species	Stats	Stats	Abilities
===Bowser's Minions===
Species	Stats	Stats	Abilities
==Character Sheets and Other Documents==
==Misc. Gallery==
Category:Tabletop RPGs