Making “3:16, Carnage Amongst the Stars” Kid-friendly
I recently donated $20 to Haiti at RPGNow and got the free $1500 PDF bundle. In that bundle was “3:16, Carnage Amonst the Stars“. It is a game about trigger-happy human marines venturing out into the galaxy and killing every life form they come across. I haven’t played it yet, but it is a tight little rules system that seems tremendously fun for some low-prep gaming. Of particular note is the simple combat system that still manages to produce rather colorful results. In fact, the whole game is simple–simple enough that younger kids could play it. Of course, the genocide of the entire galaxy seems a bit of a heavy subject for children. Even if you toned down the violence, I think the underlying theme and statements might go a bit over their heads.
My answer to this: change the material. Instead of marines scouring the galaxy, you are a league of super heroes fighting an organization of super villains. Instead of weapons, characters use super powers. (I would give the players the standard choices for their rank, but allow them to name and describe the special power however they like.) Instead of kills the characters will score glory–a measure of how flashy and effective their attacks are. The rank system could stay the same, but they are ranks inside of the super hero league rather than a military designation. The armor option works the same, but it isn’t some bulky battle dress–it is a special material woven into the suits of all league members. Combat drugs instead become a burst of adrenaline.
The alien special abilities directly translate into super villain powers. When on a mission, the group might be fighting one big, tough guy, a mastermind with minions, or a group of villains. When fighting one tough guy, the threat tokens all represent the stamina of that individual. At the end of each encounter the villain decides to flee and regroup. In the mastermind scenario, threat tokens are minions until the last encounter, where the last token is the villain himself. In this case you might want a special ability for the minions (which might take the form of technology, modifications, or magic supplied by the villain,) and add an additional ability that represents the villain during the last encounter. In the case of a group a villains, come up with one ability for each villain. When you encounter one or more villains, their powers apply to that conflict, and the threat tokens represent the combined stamina of those enemies. You can mix-and-match the villains encountered through the mission, and maybe allow the defeat of one or more before the last encounter (because you might want to avoid having the last encounter use 3 or more abilities.)
The really fun twist, at least in my opinion, comes when describing strengths and weaknesses. These can now be about your super powers and heroic deeds in the case of strengths. Weaknesses can still be about your human flaws, but they also could involve your hero’s version of kryptonite. “I use my super-strength to pick up a car and clobber him over the head!” or “He uses a sonic shock gizmo against me, one of my weaknesses! I am knocked unconscious from the blast.”
