You really have to wonder.

With the plethora of action/ adventure movies and TV shows out there, and the
number of fans the genre has, why isn't there a good Action Movie roleplaying game? Yeah, I know, there are a
few games and scenarios based around an SF/ Action flick or two, and an espionage RPG that faded away into
obscurity due to licensing problems. But what about a senseless, violence-ridden, generic cops 'n robbers style
game modeled after the classics? Think of it. The fans of the Arnold Schwarzenegger/ Mel Gibson/ Sylvester
Stallone/ Steven Seagal/ Jean Claude Van Damme/ Muscle Guy Ad Nauseum genre deserve a game of their
own, don't they?!?!?
After a pointless loss of several nights' sleep (the little voice kept telling me, 'if you write it, they will play...`),
and with very little thought and effort, I set out to create such a game. The result is before you. So, with no
further adieu, and tongue in firmly entrenched in cheek, I proudly present:

BAD ATTITUDES:
THE ACTION MOVIE ROLEPLAYING GAME
The First Edition from Out of the Vault
by Berin Kinsman
c. 1993 Berin Kinsman
http://www.unclebear.com
All Rights Reserved
MATERIALS REQUIRED FOR PLAY
Raid the Monopoly game for some d6s, grab a pencil and some paper- a Post-It note, 3 x 5 card, or the back of
an old sales receipt will do...wait a minute! You're all experienced gamers! You know this crap already! Let's get
on with it!
MANDATORY JARGONISM AND CUTE TERMINOLOGY
Just for fun, instead of calling the gamemaster 'the gamemaster` and the players 'the players`, let's call the GM
'the Perpetrator` and the players 'Accomplices`. No, no, I've got it...the 'Blitzer` and the 'Blitzees`. Wait, wait,
better one- the 'Director` and the 'Cast`. Hold it, how about...aww, skip it.
ATTITUDE
In the movies, how tough you are is really a matter of how tough everyone thinks you are which is determined
largely by how tough you think you are which is reflected in how you act. Attitude reflects that, is the one (and
only) attribute that matters in this game. Starting Attitude is based on Character Type, below.
SKILLS
Divide starting Attitude up among the following skills however you want; Maximum skill number is 5.
Shoot Guns!
All sorts of guns, and stuff that isn't guns- in fact, anything that isn't a hand-to-hand weapon falls under this
skill. Pistols, rifles, sub-machineguns, grenade launchers, thrown grenades, thrown knives, thrown shuriken,
flamethrowers...
Kick Butt!
All forms of hand-to-hand combat, including martial arts, boxing, street fighting, swords, knives, nunchuks,
baseball bats, beer bottles...
Drive Cars!
All sorts of vehicles, including trucks, motorcycles, forklifts, cement mixers...

Hang on for Dear Life!

The ability to not fall off of high buildings, airplane wings, the hoods of speeding cars, etc. etc.
Pick up Babes/ Hunks!
If you need an explanation, your character doesn't really need to have this skill.
Basically Worthless Stuff!
Everything else the character knows.
CHARACTER TYPES
Good Guys:
ACTION HERO - The Ultimate Good Guy. Roll 3d6 to determine starting Attitude. Never has any Basically
Worthless Stuff.
SIDEKICK - A Really Good Guy, but not Good Enough for the Lead. Roll 2d6 to determine starting Attitude.
Has Action Hero type skills and Basically Worthless Stuff.
REGULAR FOLKS - Every other potato head on the planet: non-player characters, innocent bystanders,
victims, kids, stray dogs... Roll 1d6 to determine starting Attitude. Has nothing but Basically Worthless Stuff.
Bad Guys:
MASTER VILLAINS - The Ultimate Bad Guy. Criminal masterminds are rarely the physical type. He's the
thinker and schemer, and once the Action hero gets past the Right-Hand Man and the hoards of Henchmen
(below), he's usually toast. For that reason, he almost never has anything but Basically Worthless Stuff for
skills. He does often have a lot of Attitude (especially the really good villains- that's what makes them scary!!!);
starting Attitude is 2d6 or 3d6.
RIGHT-HAND MAN - The Master Villain's top hired muscle, this is the guy the Action Hero gets into long,
drawn out fist- and fire-fights with. The Right-Hand Man is often an Action Hero type who's Gone Bad; as
such, he's generated with 3d6 starting Attitude, and as no Basically Worthless Stuff.
HENCHMEN - Pure Cannonfodder. Starting Attitude is 1d6, and they generally don't have very good Shoot
Guns! or Kick Butt! skills. Henchmen that manage to survive (yeah, right) an adventure should get a decent
Attitude award, and may return later as Right-Hand Men.
COMBAT:
The character with the most Attitude goes first, the next highest second, and so on. When everyone has gone,
start over from the beginning. Note that as Attitude changes, so does combat order.
Roll 1d6. If you roll the skill number or less, you succeed. If you don't, tough toogies. A six always fails.
Action Heroes and Right-Hand Men roll damage equal to number of dice in skill, regardless of what kind of
weapon they're using- They can be lethal even with a dull pocket knife and a BB gun.
Everyone else does 1d6 damage, except to Action Heroes and Right-Hand Men, who only take 1 point of
damage unless the Attack is from other Action Heroes or Right-Hand Men -- they might kill each other, but
even with a rocket launcher, no normal person could seriously harm an Action Hero, right?
Damage lowers Attitude. 0A = D: Zero Attitude Equals Death.

HEALING
For dramatic impact, GMs might try having wounded NPCs lie around in comas for the entire adventure, giving
the heroes motivation ('I must AVENGE him!`). Once the bad guys who injured the NPC have been vanquished,
of course, all NPCs will awaken so they can offer their thanks.
Action heroes don't lie around waiting to heal. They only recover Attitude by earning it (below).
GAINING ATTITUDE
Every time a character displays Attitude, the GM should award him an Attitude Point. This is most often
displayed in snappy repartee- like when Arnie says, "I'll be baack" in Terminator, then drives a car through the
front of the building- that's Attitude! A mortally wounded character who struggles to his feet in order to
continue fighting, like Mel in Lethal Weapon (any of 'em), should get a point for Attitude (and thus remain
alive!).
IMPROVING SKILLS
If a character used a skill during an adventure, successfully or not, that skill goes up one point when the
adventure is over.
TERMINAL BLITZ
The Adventure for BAD ATTITUDES
Let's be honest. Action movie plots, as a rule, aren't incredibly deep. Mostly, they're nothing but framing
sequences for fight scenes and car chases, stringing events together into allegedly coherent order. Sure, uh-huh.
Terminal Blitz is a good starter scenario for BAD ATTITUDES, playable by any number of participants. Then
play it again, call it Terminal Blitz II: The Return of (Insert Player Character Name Here)
For an advanced scenario, try it again, but entitle it Terminal Blitz III: The Mother of All Blitzes. You get the
idea. Hey, I'm probably wresting vast royalties in potential modules out of my own pocket here, but what they
heck.
The story starts out with a character's (roll 2d6)
2 Ex-Partner
3 Boss
4 Mentor
5 Fellow _________ (occupation)
6 Father (Mother)
7 Brother (Sister)
8 Ex-Spouse
9 Child
10 Best Friend
11 Childhood Buddy
12 Old Military Pal
who has been beaten up by (roll 1d6)
1-2 Drug Dealers
3-4 An Organized Crime Group
5 A Street Gang
6 Mysterious Well-dressed Thugs

because he/ she (roll 1d6)

1 Owes them money.
2 Was with them, but was selling them out.
3 Was investigating and got 'too close`.
4 Happened to witness something.
5 Was being blackmailed.
6 Has a 'package` they want.
The player characters find this NPC (roll 1d6)
1 In the hospital after cops took him/ her there.
2 At the crime scene surrounded by cops.
3 At the NPC's place.
4 At the PC's place.
5 At the bar/ favorite hangout.
6 At the PC's workplace.
The NPC at first is reluctant to talk, but his/ her (roll 1d6)
1-3 Patient and caring lover/ spouse
4-6 Fab babe daughter/ hunk son
spills everything and asks the character for help. Just then, however, (roll 1d6)
1-2 A bunch of Henchmen (1d6)
3-4 The Right-Hand Man
5-6 The Master Villain
comes in, and (roll 1d6)
1-3 Makes veiled threats
4-6 Tries to kill the NPC
but gets away because (roll 1d6)
1-3 Good Guy Reinforcements arrive.
4-6 Bad Guy Reinforcements arrive.
Thereafter, the characters (roll 1d6 for repeated encounters until you get a 6)
1 Get in a car chase
2 Get attacked
3 Meet a love interest
4 Lose a lose interest
5 Meet the kooky informant
6 Find the Master Villain's location
(refer to the tables below)

GET IN A CAR CHASE TABLE

Chase goes on (roll 3d6):
3 Down an empty street, picking up speed
4 Through dangerous road construction
5 Onto a bridge- which is out!
6 Into a busy intersection against the light
7 Into a dead-stop traffic jam
8 Onto a sidewalk and into a street vendor stand
9 Into a mall or other spacious one-story building
10 Into a parking garage
11 Through a plaza and down stairs
12 Along the edge of a ledge or cliff
13 Jumping over a really big hill
14 Under a tractor trailer parked across the road
16 Across a park or someone's lawn
17 Until Bad Guys' car breaks down
18 Until Good Guys' car breaks down
GET ATTACKED TABLES
Attacked by (roll 1d6):
1-2 2d6 Henchmen
3-4 Right-Hand Man alone
5-6 Right-Hand Man & 1d6 Henchmen
Where (roll 1d6):
1 On a really tall building
2 On/ in a moving vehicle
3 In a bar
4 At the PC's place
5 At the NPC's place
6 At the Love Interest's place
MEET A LOVE INTEREST TABLE (roll 1d6)
1 Fab Good Babe/ Hunk (Sidekick)
2 Fab Evil Babe/ Hunk (Right-Hand)
3 NPC's Fab Babe daughter/ Hunk son
4 Another PC's 'baby` Sibling
5 Character's Ex-Spouse/ Lover
6 Someone with no discernable connection to the plot whatsoever
LOSE A LOVE INTEREST TABLE (roll 1d6)
1 Killed by Henchmen
2 Killed by Right-Hand Man
3 Kidnapped by Right-Hand Man
4 Killed by Master Villain
5 Kidnapped by Master Villain
6 She/ He gets sick of Hero's career and leaves

MEET THE KOOKY INFORMANT TABLE

Informant is (roll 1d6):
1 Hooker/ Gigolo with a Heart of Gold who secretly loves the Hero
2 Street Kid who idolizes Hero
3 Guy/ Gal the Hero got off the streets
4 Schmuck the Hero has to beat up to get info out of
5 Pro Snitch the Hero has to pay for info
6 Babe/ Hunk in the Police Records department who secretly loves the Hero
Informant knows (roll 1d6):
1 Henchmen's location
2 Right-Hand Man's location
3 Master Villain's location
4 Plan to kill Hero
5 Plan to kill/ kidnap NPC
6 Plan to kill/ kidnap Love Interest
MASTER VILLAIN`S LOCATION TABLE (roll 1d6)
1 Posh Mansion/ Headquarters
2 Abandoned Warehouse
3 Heavily populated public place with lots of innocent bystanders to get hit by stray fire and get taken as
hostages
4 Character's House
5 Original NPC's house
6 Love Interest's house