"Stalker anomalies (5150)" Topic

I'm working on some Stalker gaming in 15mm, with the 5150 ruleset. I've run into a sticking point with anomalies.

I don't need the system to reflect the differences between Whirligig and Vortex anomalies (both are gravity anomalies). I would like to reflect the differences between gravity anomalies, flame anomalies, electrical anomalies, and chemical anomalies.

Using the basic damage system with 5150, there is no real difference – damage is damage, so an anomaly is an anomaly.

I think I will have the Impact of an anomaly randomly determined, but beyond that…what should I do to make them different? The list below is what I am leaning towards right now, further suggestions are welcome.

Gravity anomalies will slow and possibly halt movement entirely.

Chemical anomalies could have a chance to damage/destroy equipment.

Electrical anomalies…maybe a flashbang effect from the discharge.

Flame anomalies…what?

I found some great tokens at Dapper Devil, so will probably also create some psionic anomalies. I have Emissions and radiation accumulation already covered.

What makes them different in the game?

Flame anomalies should probably cause the most damage, the other ones all sound good… perhaps chemical anomalies have a negative effect on abilities (-1 Rep?) and electrical could damage equipment… haven't played the game.

In Mass Effect there are different ammo types… for Mass Effect gaming (with 5150) I grouped the ammos into three types.
1) Ammo that is good against Armor
2) Ammo that is good against Shields (and robots)
3) Ammo that is good at damaging people.

Type 1 is simple… it doesn't increase damage against unarmored targets, but it doesn't decrease it either. So HBA counts as SBA, Exo counts as HBA, and BTA counts as Exo. SBA stays the same.

Shields logically translate to Star Power (I play that shields/active defense give Star Power to Grunts and supplement the Star's Star Power) so type 2 ammo should automatically reduce Star Power by 1 for every hit (before taking the roll which may reduce it further) but is at -1 Impact against people. Robots are hit as if at +1 impact regardless of armor (N/A becomes 0).

Type 3 does extra damage to humans… simple enough. +1 Impact against biological targets (of all armor types). Robots get -1 Impact at whatever armor type.

Similar things can be done for other games-- find the effect in the game, translate it to something simple (usually just a +1 modifier for a certain circumstance or something similar), and playtest it a few times.

Not sure what Stalker is, but based on what you've given:
Flame – any model caught in the flame area rolls on the damage table (impact 2?). Any model in or around the flame area (radius ?) is pushed away from the center of the anomaly (I'm thinking a fire based blast wave here).

I think you should do it the other way around.

Instead of taking effects from Stalker and trying to transform it to 5150, think about hindrances that's possible in 5150, and then give it proper name.

For example:
Out of ammo (some kind of anomaly that makes bullets duds; although magz okay :p)
Stun (concussion anomaly)
Harder to activate (mind messing anomaly)
Damage (fire anomaly)
Forced movement in random direction (gravity anomaly)

And so on.

Anomalies are essentially small-scale terrain effects, with appropriate area damage. Your four categories seems fine to me. I'd mark the possible locations, roll D3 for the number of artifacts nearby, then roll for damage on anyone who approaches. Give bonuses for characters with detectors.

As I recall, some anomalies could be very lethal. I've been crushed by gravs more times than I care to remember.

Stryderg- The Stalker franchise is based off of the Soviet novel Roadside Picnic. It was adapted as the movie (also Soviet) Stalker in 1979, and then a series of video games starting in 2007.

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I'm working out some artifact detection/generation rules as well – I don't want them just lying around to find (unless it is a scenario objective), and I want the type based on the anomaly type.

Thinking about the following:

You have to have an artifact detector and spend the active part of your turn scanning the anomaly (you can move up there, but you don't get an "active" shot and can't do anything else). Roll 1d6 per Impact level of the anomaly, if any of the dice come up as a 6, an artifact is present. Roll 1d3 and a scatter die, this determines the location and distance from the center of the anomaly (anomalies have a radius of 2 inches, so an artifact could potentially have rolled out of the radius – if not, you'll have to go in and maybe take a hit to get the goodie). All of this can (and generally SHOULD) be done after all the shooting has concluded. You want to wee away your turn scanning for artifacts when a Monolith soldier has a Vintar aimed at your head, you deserve what you get.

Artifact Power Level is determined by another d6 roll – if the roll is less than or equal to the anomaly's Impact, then that is the artifact's Power Level, otherwise it's just a useless trinket you can sell later on.

This system makes the more powerful anomalies both more likely to produce artifacts and more likely to produce good artifacts.

Power Level will simply be how easy it is to coax the desired effect out of the Artifact – if you want to make it work, roll a d6 and roll equal to or under the Power Level. Power Level goes to 5 max, rolling a 6 means it has burned out and is now a trinket to sell later.

Maybe you can "push" the artifact to get more oomph out of it with a chance of blowing it up…