This is my favorite game on the Citadel - Combining Mythic and Mass Effect

 I've been playing the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, though mostly ME 2 and 3, and I wondered if it could be put into a roleplaying game. Now there are a bunch of sci-fi RPGs out there, and they're all great games. However, I'm a huge fan of Mythic and wanted to use it instead, which proved to be easier than I thought. 

For this game, I'll be using several issues of Mythic Magazine, specifically:

MM #25:  One Page Mythic

MM #28:  Mythic RPG Narrative Combat

MM #31:  Mythic as a Rules Lite RPG

MM #45:  One Page Character Crafter

Abilities

All characters have 4 Abilities (Technically 5 with Toughness, but we'll get into that later.). Abilities can be positive or negative, with 0 being average. (In the upcoming Mythic rules, this will be changed, and when they do, I'll adjust these. I'm just going with these for now because they're easier for a brand new game).

These Abilities are also based on actions taken during a Class (MM 28):

Damage: This is for actions that make things worse for someone or something. Attacking an opponent, kicking down a door, and intimidating a victim all fall under this.

Defend: This is for actions that keep bad things from happening to you or other characters (or even things). These include ducking out of the way, blocking an attack, or even barring a door.

Effect: This is for everything else. Whether you are distracting a guard, hacking a computer, or exploring a star system, these all fall under Effect.

Power:  Most characters also have powers of some kind, and they fall under Combat, Tech, or Biotic. 

Power

Power allows characters to do all the fun things like they do in the games; set opponents on fire, hack turrets, and picking things up and toss them around. Oh, and don't forget trapping opponents in a spinning vortex before hurling a warp at them.

To use a power, characters add Power to whichever Ability they wish.

For example:

- Power + Damage can be Warp, Concussive Shot, Overload, or even Slam.

- Power + Defend can be Barrier, Defense Matrix, or Fortitude.

- Power + Effect can be Lift, Sabotage, Tactical Cloak, or Drone.

Cooldown:  If Doubles are rolled when using a Power, the power must cool down before it can be used again, which would be the next scene. 

Limit:  The Power ability cannot be higher than the character's highest Ability. For example, if a character has Damage +1, Defend 0, Effect +2, Power cannot higher than +2. However, if the highest Ability is raised, then Power can be raised as well, although it still requires Ability points to do so.

Races

The universe of Mass Effect is filled with species of all shapes and sizes. All characters of Level 1 or higher get a one-time +1 bonus to one ability, depending on their race:

Humans:  Choose.

Asari:  +1 Power

Krogan  +1 Damage

Salarian:  +1 Effect

Turian:  +1 Defend

Quarian:  +1 Effect

Geth:  +1 Defend  (Cannot be a Biotic Class)

Drell:  +1 Damage

Creating a Character

When creating a character, first come up with an idea. Then choose your Race, Class, and Skill (We'll get into weapons and armor later. For now, assume they're built into existing abilities).

Level

 Most character start at Level 1, but that's up to you. In addition to the race bonus, characters gain 3 Ability Points per level that can organized any way to player wishes.

Zero Level Characters:  These are low level characters that usually exist to give new characters practice in learning the game. A 0 Level Character gets no Racial Bonus and all Abilities must add up to 0.

-  So a Thug with +1 Damage could have -1 Defend.

Toughness

Toughness is a character's ability to survive life-threatening situations. It is similar to Hit Points in most games, but it is rolled instead of being kept track of.

-  Toughness is Equal to the character's Level + Highest Ability.

-  Use Toughness when rolling on the Incapacity Table.  (MM 25)

Skills

All characters start with 1 Skill. Skills grant a character a +1 on a non-combat action.

Examples of Skills include:

Pilot

Hacking

Medical

Leadership

Persuasion

Wits

Knowledge

With those in mind, let's create our first characters. Now these aren't the characters I'm using in my usual games. I'm just creating them to show the rules.

But where's the fun in that? Let's let Mythic help us.

First Character:  Male or Female?  (50%)  Male

Character Actions, Combat:  Free Damage.

Sounds like a Soldier to me.

Rammer:  Human Level 1 Soldier

Damage:  3, Defend: 1, Effect: 0, Power: 0, Toughness: 4.

Weapon: Avenger Assault Rifle.

Armor:  Basic.

Is he Alliance?  (50%)  No.

Are any of the team Alliance?  (Unlikely)  No.

Rammer is tough but he has a problem with authority. He's also lazy. But he's a skilled and fearless fighter.

Second Character:  Male?  (50%) Yes.

Character Actions, Combat: Break, Truce. 

Sounds sneaky to me.

Laslow: Quarian Level 1 Infiltrator

Damage: 0, Defend: 1, Effect: 2, Power: 1

Weapon: SMG

Armor: Basic.

Powers: Tactical Cloak, Overload

Laslow learned the commanders on his ship were planning to start another war with the Geth. He released the information that he gained but got removed from the ship in the process.

And the third member of the team:

Male?  (Very Unlikely) Yes.

Character Actions, Combat: Rough, Mechanical

Krix: Salarian Level 1 Engineer

Damage: 1, Defend: 0, Effect: 2, Power: 1

Powers: Combat drone, Overload, Incinerate

Weapon: Heavy Pistol

Armor: basic

Krix is a coward who prefers for technology to fight for him. Luckily, he's very good at technology.

Next time, we'll start their adventure.