The Design-an-RPG thread

[Toxn]

I want the dangers to be small, intimate things - this is a post apocalyptic world after all. This also gels nicely with realism, as you simply won't be able to win a stand-up fight against large numbers.

[xthetenth]

I'd say the biggest danger should be escalating matters past where the power you have in that situation (personal combat prowess, social ties you possess, ways you have to damage the social ties of the opposite party, or ways to make it worthwhile for the opposite party to work with you), and the fallout depending on how far you escalated things. Most conflict I'd expect to be maneuvering around against similarly powerful people to try and get an advantage and trying to turn the works of those more powerful to your benefit, all of which is centered on the party and how they fit into the world.

 

Smaller dangers should be failing to press things to where you get benefits out of resolving a situation and damaging your sources of power by drawing on them too much, be it the favor of a somebody above you, a group of troops or just actually having to use blackmail material.

[Sturgeon]

I feel like a realistic portrayal (as opposed to a fantasy one) of religion should be incorporated. Before the Reformation, religion was much, much more political than it became after (where it became a matter of conviction and holy war, often).

[Donward]

I guess a question has to be asked about the economy of the game. Clearly the basic level of the economy is agrarian with other areas that have greater value be they mills, or control of bridges or fordes, tin mines, wool production, forest products and whatnot. As most of us know, the Saxons used the "hide" as a basic taxation value for the value of a set piece of land which could support a household and which could be applied to other valuable real estate. That particular mill is worth ten hides, etc.

 

And with an economy comes ways to tax/extort moneys with obligations going up and down the food chain.

 

The lure of capturing treasure and loot is always lucrative but I'd imagine it to be a more rare and audacious enterprise with corresponding levels of threats. Loot a church and you'll face the potential wrath of other clergy and the populace. Once you have the loot, how do you divvy it up among your bully boys? These are problems that still plague organized crime operations to this day where "big scores" can result in deaths and infighting among co-conspirators or attacks by other gangs. Hence the need to bury ill-gotten gains like the Staffordshire Hoard buried in 7th-8th Century Saxon days.

 

And depending on how long the timeline of a game lasts, there should be a factor for weather and random events such as ample harvests, plagues or that greatest of scourges...

 

A.D. 671. This year happened that great destruction among the fowls.

[Virdea]

/realism The economy of a romanized brittanic settlement will be brass sestercii and silver denarri. Gold will no longer be know except as a fabulous wealth item.  Gold coins, when they exist, come from the Angles and the Saxons, who bring the gold in from the continent - Roman gold ended about a hundred years before and only come in as pocket pieces. /realism

[Toxn]

I'm also quite keen on the idea of realistic magic as something which has mechanical effects but cannot be directly pointed at as supernatural.

Think cursed item - which is ironic as the story meant to illustrate this got eaten by the cursed item known as my pc.

[xthetenth]

I kind of like the idea of a 'wierd/mythic dial'. Some people would find the idea of playing power politics against the various Fae or fighting some gribbly mythic beast all kinds of fun, and I really can't fault them.

 

 

Until you get a better name for the game, I am going to dub it "The Legends of Arthur."  

 

Now, what dangers will these adventurers face?

 

Also to elaborate on this in a setting sense rather than a mechanical sense, I'd say it should vary based on where you are. Inside Romanised territory, I'd say the dangers should be other (mainly powerful) Romans, mainly facing players intrigue and problems with the limited reach of power and so on. In the wilds, various barbarians and beasties should add a greater chance of fighting to the calculation.

[Toxn]

Okay, new model time:

 

"Bucket 'o dice" model

 

1. Characters and items 

 

As before, characters are simply a backstory/description and a set of attributes. The attributes can be innate or earned, and simply give a +/- attribute for a specific task/skill (using melee weapons, conversing in proto-german, haggling etc.). The numbers can vary, but should be pretty low (1-5).

 

Items function in the same way as attributes, but can be swapped around/sold/whatever. A general scheme for items is:

• NAME
• ATTRIBUTE AND MODIFIER
• DESCRIPTION/OTHER INFORMATION

Weapons and armour are a specific case (due to the nature of combat) and have the following:

• NAME
• ATTRIBUTE AND MODIFIER (if applicable)
• ATTACK/DEFENCE MODIFIER
• RANGE (list all applicable)
• DESCRIPTION/OTHER INFORMATION

2. Non-combat events

 

Are resolved conversationally, for the most part. Where a roll is absolutely necessary, the GM simply gives a number corresponding to the difficulty of the situation (taking into account the surroundings, other characters, time constraints etc.) and lets the player roll to succeed. The roll takes the player/party's attributes (+ and -) related to that task, adds them up and then subtracts the difficulty. Then the number remaining is taken out in the form of D6 dice, and a single roll is made with all the dice. A success happens whenever one or more sixes is rolled.

 

You can, of course, never have less than one dice to roll, but for suitably ludicrous situations (party skill = 1 and difficulty = 15) the GM can simply declare the task impossible barring a hail mary roll (two dice, roll for two sixes). A failed task may be rerolled under certain circumstances, but the GM may decide to include complications as he sees dramatically fit (extra difficulty, massive penalties for failure and so on)

 

3. Probability

 

To give an idea of the odds, here are the chances for a success roll (one or more sixes) with various numbers of dice:

1. 16.6%
2. 30.5%
3. 42.1%
4. 51.8%
5. 59%
6. 66.5%
7. 71.5%
8. 76.2%
9. 80.2%
10. 83.5%

15 dice is about as many as could possibly be rolled, so a limit should perhaps be placed here. As mentioned before, a hail mary roll may be used where the odds are seriously against the players, with the probability of success being 2.8%.

 

4. Combat events

 

As with the previous model, characters can only perform one action per turn.

 

Combat rolls are taken when a player/character wishes to attack, and follow the same pattern as non-combat rolls. Here, the attacker's attack value is subtracted by the target's defence value, giving a number of dice to roll for success. The values used in both attack and defence include relevant attributes, environmental attributes, items and the situation in general. Again, one or more sixes give a success and a hail mary roll can be used (if the GM sees fit) to try against impossible odds.

 

A successful roll leads to the target being removed from the scene for the duration, as a victim of death/injury/mishap. The attack roll thus represents the overall chance that the attacker's blow did something to take his opponent out of the fight.

 

Turns are arranged by team, with initiative rolls (ie: which team goes first) being handled as a non-combat roll. When one team is done, then the other can have a turn.

 

Movement is as per previous model - players can move 10-20m per turn under normal circumstances. Placement of players/characters at the start of combat is situational, but would normally be determined by factors such as the maximum range at which either side could engage the other, how far away either side can detect the other and the terrain both sides are situated in.

 

5. Range

 

Range is similar to previous model, but now includes:

• melee range (0-5m)
• short range (5-25m)
• medium range (25-100m)
• long range (100-200m)
• Extreme range (200m+, with the maximum listed in brackets)

Weapons can only be used in their particular range/s, and also only contribute to a player's attack score when in range. Weapons may also limit characters in terms of how many attacks they can perform (including attacks over multiple turns, total number of attacks per combat and so on).

 

6. Post-combat resolution

 

Once combat is resolved, the victorious side can start dealing with the vanquished. If necessary, the characters removed from scene can be examined to determine their fate, with further action being taken as appropriate. To determine what happened, simply roll a D6 for that character and look at the score:

• 1: Dead.
• 2: On death's door - serious work would be needed to bring this character back from the brink, with the time available to do so being very short
• 3-5: Injured - this character needs specific services (doctor, healer, or possibly magic) to recover, and will almost certainly gain some sort of negative attribute related to the injury.
• 6: Mishap/pratfall - this character did the equivalent of slipping on a banana peel and landing up under a pile of bodies. He/she is fine, but still missed the fight.

7. Attribute descriptions

As with the previous model, a description given to an attribute/item/object can serve to add or change rules in a number of ways. These can be argued to an extent, but the GM has the final say on interpretation.

[Toxn]

I'm liking this one because it's simple, statistically easy to control and covers a variety of times/places/technologies/magic/etc.

 

I am a bit leery of the resulting buckets of dice that would be needed to make it work, but them's the breaks.

 

Suggestions on this one are welcome. In the interim, I will work on a bunch of character attributes and items to populate the model a bit.

 

Edit: and maybe some example characters and creatures.

[xthetenth]

I very much like being able to easily handle team effort actions. Very much. The inadvertent encouragement of niche terratorialism is an awful idea and should be countered.

 

Speaking of RPG things I utterly loathe:

 

http://theangrygm.com/ask-angry-passive-skills-active-skills-perception-and-knowledge/

 

Angry GM is good and covers something near and dear to my heart. Skill checks are to resolve the results of actions caused by character choice, either NPC or PC. If a skill check is a matter of passive detection of information, it should be pre-decided and divulged, not be something the players have to badger the GM about.

[LostCosmonaut]

Unintended use of a game system

[Zinegata]

Since someone revived this thread over in TGD thought I would share it:

 

http://www.tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=55089