Engine Heart: Warbot Playbook

Engine Heart is a d10-based RPG where you play as small utility robots in a world where humanity is long gone. It can be downloaded for free here.

When I first heard of the game, I wondered what you were supposed to do with it. After reading through the 1d4chan page enough times, I figured it out. It's a game similar to O'er Windswept Golden Fields, where you don't just avoid violence for self-protection (like in most OSR games), but because it's the right thing to do. You can fight (the game has a combat system, and additions like buzzsaws and plasma cutters are options for your PC), but it's never necessary.

While this all sounds delightful (to me, at least), Engine Heart has a large problem for an OSR audience: its long, complex, point-buy character creation system.

None of us have time for that.

A solution for Engine Heart's chargen is Playbooks, similar to Beyond the Wall, where you choose a character concept and roll on a set of tables to create the character.

Engine Heart: Warbot

 

Who Built Your Processor? (1d4)

1. Hansa Automation - 3 RealityCom, 2 HumanCom, 2 DigiCon, 2 MechaniCon, 2 Buffer

2. Parable Intelligence - 1 RealityCom, 1 HumanCom, 4 DigiCon, 4 MechaniCon, 1 Buffer

3. Padlock Reinforced Processing - 2 RealityCom, 1 HumanCom, 1 DigiCon, 1 MechaniCon, 4 Buffer

4. ASQ Social Systems - 2 RealityCom, 4 HumanCom, 1 DigiCon, 1 MechaniCon, 1 Buffer

 

Who Built Your Chassis? (1d6)

1-2. Ducharme Optics - 2 Dexterity, 2 Mobility, 4 Perception, 2 Reflexes, 2 Strength

3-4. Yosef Industrial - 1 Dexterity, 1 Mobility, 2 Perception, 1 Reflexes, 5 Strength

5-6. EOM Advanced Motors - 3 Dexterity, 3 Mobility, 2 Perception, 3 Reflexes, 1 Strength

 

Major Feature (1d12)

1. Armored Chassis

2. Backup System

3. Battering Ram

4. Cutting Laser

5. Enhanced Cameras

6. Drill

7. Flight Ceiling

8. Hardened Programming

9. High Speed

10. Pneumatic

11. Self-Repairing

12. Secondary Battery

 

Minor Feature (Roll 1d10 Twice, Take Both)

1. Agile

2. Biofrequency Scanner


3. Collapsible

4. Loudspeaker

5. Magnetized

6. Silent Mode

7. Simple Assembly

8. Gyro

9. High Chassis

10. Floodlights

 

Defects (Roll 1d6 Twice, Take Both)

1. Compliant

2. High Maintenance

3. Lightweight

4. Major Overriding Directive

5. Rare Model

6. Power Cutoff