David Johansen
Legendary Pubber
- Joined
- May 4, 2017
- Messages
- 5,991
- Reaction score
- 12,214
Dead Simple Fantasy
Sometimes the desire to create a detailed game results in a rather complex and bloated one. Dead Simple Fantasy is a stripped down and simple system that uses readily understood rules to model a fantasy world. The skeletal system places the game master in the role of necromancer, conjuring life into the bare bones. Due to the stripped down and terse nature of the game, concepts are only presented as they occur and thus not in the order one might have come to expect in a roleplaying game. Thus core mechanical concepts like success rolls, then characteristics, creatures, character creation, magic, logistical considerations, and combat.
Generating A Percentage
A number from one to one hundred is generated by rolling a ten-sided die and multiply the result by ten then roll it again and add the second result. Treat the ‘0' on the die as a ten on the first roll and a zero on the second so ‘00' is read as 100. This type of roll is frequently used in play to determine the results of the character’s actions. If the roll is equal to or less than the skill rating being tested the action succeeds. If doubles are rolled the result is exceptionally successful or unsuccessful as the case may be.
General Difficulties
Not all activities are created equal. The game master may assign a difficulty level to actions. For example: working in bad light is challenging and working in darkness is Hard.
Easy +20
Routine +10
Average 0
Challenging -10
Hard -20
Resistance Rolls
A roll to overcome an effect, be it physical, social, or even magical is made by rolling a percentage against the appropriate Characteristic +5 per level. Resistance is deliberately difficult or nothing would ever get done. Even contests of stealth and perception are handled by a simple resistance roll with the active party (usually the sneaker) making the success roll and the passive party making the resistance roll.
Characteristics
Characteristic ratings provide a broad picture of an individual’s capabilities. Every species has a set of base ratings which help to describe it in game terms. Characteristics are determined by rolling 2d10. 1d10 +5 may be rolled to represent a more average individual. Each species should have some characteristic modifiers to distinguish them from humans, these must always total to zero as they represent trade-offs rather than advantages.
Agility measures the character’s lightness of foot and ability to move with grace and precision.
Endurance measures the character’s ability to shrug off injury, poison, disease, and fatigue.
Intelligence measures the character’s ability to learn and solve problems.
Perception measures the general acuity of the character’s senses and their overall alertness and awareness of their senses.
Strength measures the character’s build, muscular development and size within their broader size class.
Talent measures the character’s creativity, sense of aesthetics, and manual dexterity when creating works of craft or playing musical instruments.
Willpower measures the character’s resolve, patience, and sense of self, it is used to resist fear and overcome resistance to one’s ideas.
Status is very important in the ancient and medieval world with most wealth and power being transferred along family lines. For beginning characters it is suggested that Status be generated on 1d10 +5. A character begins with silver pieces equal to their Status per level.
Appearance measures how attractive the character is but is not used in play for any other purpose. Attractiveness varies from one culture to the next and seldom crosses the bounds of species.
Hit Points represent the amount of physical punishment a creature can take before dying. They are normally figured as Endurance +5 per level. Tiny creatures get 1/4 of the normal hit points, small ones ½, large x 2, and huge x 4.
Experience Levels
As a character grows and develops they get better at their skills, resistance rolls, and gain hit points. Each level gives a five point bonus to the character’s skills and hit points. In play, every 1000 experience points earned increases the character’s level by one. Under normal circumstances, just living is good for 200 experience points per year of game time. Defeating a foe in combat or court is worth 10 experience points plus the foe’s level and minus the victor’s. Succeeding in a skill roll with a chance of success less than 25 is worth 1 experience point. Every day spent in training at a cost of 1 silver piece per day in addition to living expenses is worth 1 experience point.
Skills
Having a skill gives a ten percent bonus plus a five percent bonus per level to actions relating to them.
A character can develop ten skills per level. It is possible to change which skills are developed from one level to the next but this must be declared the level before the change is made as it takes time to study and learn the new skill.
Traits and Abilities
Different creatures have different capabilities than humans which are represented by special traits.
Amphibious
The creature is adapted to live on land and in the water. While it cannot breathe under water it can hold its breath ten times as long as a human can.
Aquatic
The creature is fully adapted to live in water, it can swim at full speed but moves at half speed on land. It breathes water through gills or osmosis but cannot breathe air.
Arms
The creature has more arms than a human. The downside of this is that each arm is weaker than a human arm would be. Thus for a four armed creature, a human one handed weapon would require two arms.
Exceptional Hearing
The creature gets +5 to hear noises and can distinguish small differences in sounds giving a +5 bonus to playing musical instruments, singing, and speaking languages.
Exceptional Sight
The creature gets a +5 to spot hidden things and sneaking foes and to hit with shooting weapons.
Exceptional Smell
The creature gets +5 smell and can distinguish details that others might not. The bonus applies to tracking and cooking and detecting sneaking foes that are up wind.
Fast
The creature can move twice as fast as a human. This normally indicates a horizontal, quadruped stance and the creature has no hands or arms as a result.
Huge
The creature is really big and thus can take and inflict four times the normal amount of damage. They get +20 to hit by smaller foes because it makes an easy target.
Large
The creature is particularly big and gets twice the normal hit points and inflicts double damage. It is a rather large target and is thus +10 to be hit by smaller foes.
Natural Weapon
The creature is equipped with sharp teeth and claws with which to rend its prey. Natural weapons are not particularly good against even primitive armour which is twice as effective against them.
Night Vision
The creature can see equally well in day-light and darkness.
Nocturnal
The creature sees well in the dark but poorly in daylight. They are still blind in total darkness.
Poison Resistance
The creature is mostly immune to naturally occurring poisons receiving a +20 to resist them.
Power
The creature has supernatural powers which it can use at will. The spell level of the power is added to the creature’s level.
Small
The creature is much smaller than man-sized and thus has half the normal hit points and inflicts half normal damage but is -10 to be hit by larger foes.
Tentacles
One or more of the creature’s limbs are exceptionally flexible allowing them to entangle and grasp very well but don’t gain the advantage of leverage bones provide. This increases their Size by ten when grappling, reduces it by ten when climbing and striking with close combat weapons.
Tiny
The creature is a particularly small and delicate, it has one quarter normal hit points and inflicts one quarter normal damage but is -20 to be hit by attacks by larger foes.
Tough
The creature’s skin is like leather armour with a penetration 5 / 50 damage points.
Undead
The creature may be dead and rotting away but it is animated by unholy magic. The undead are immune to poison, disease, and morale. They no longer eat food as men know it but must kill living things to live. While their senses are dim, the undead get a +10 to detect living creatures.
Venom
The creature is poisonous. If it has natural weapons the moderate poison is delivered by the teeth or claws. If not the creature’s flesh is poisonous mild to the touch and strong if eaten.
Wings
The creature’s broad pinions allow it to fly at twice the normal speed. Creatures that are winged and Fast move at four times the normal speed but only in the air.
Sometimes the desire to create a detailed game results in a rather complex and bloated one. Dead Simple Fantasy is a stripped down and simple system that uses readily understood rules to model a fantasy world. The skeletal system places the game master in the role of necromancer, conjuring life into the bare bones. Due to the stripped down and terse nature of the game, concepts are only presented as they occur and thus not in the order one might have come to expect in a roleplaying game. Thus core mechanical concepts like success rolls, then characteristics, creatures, character creation, magic, logistical considerations, and combat.
Generating A Percentage
A number from one to one hundred is generated by rolling a ten-sided die and multiply the result by ten then roll it again and add the second result. Treat the ‘0' on the die as a ten on the first roll and a zero on the second so ‘00' is read as 100. This type of roll is frequently used in play to determine the results of the character’s actions. If the roll is equal to or less than the skill rating being tested the action succeeds. If doubles are rolled the result is exceptionally successful or unsuccessful as the case may be.
General Difficulties
Not all activities are created equal. The game master may assign a difficulty level to actions. For example: working in bad light is challenging and working in darkness is Hard.
Easy +20
Routine +10
Average 0
Challenging -10
Hard -20
Resistance Rolls
A roll to overcome an effect, be it physical, social, or even magical is made by rolling a percentage against the appropriate Characteristic +5 per level. Resistance is deliberately difficult or nothing would ever get done. Even contests of stealth and perception are handled by a simple resistance roll with the active party (usually the sneaker) making the success roll and the passive party making the resistance roll.
Characteristics
Characteristic ratings provide a broad picture of an individual’s capabilities. Every species has a set of base ratings which help to describe it in game terms. Characteristics are determined by rolling 2d10. 1d10 +5 may be rolled to represent a more average individual. Each species should have some characteristic modifiers to distinguish them from humans, these must always total to zero as they represent trade-offs rather than advantages.
Agility measures the character’s lightness of foot and ability to move with grace and precision.
Endurance measures the character’s ability to shrug off injury, poison, disease, and fatigue.
Intelligence measures the character’s ability to learn and solve problems.
Perception measures the general acuity of the character’s senses and their overall alertness and awareness of their senses.
Strength measures the character’s build, muscular development and size within their broader size class.
Talent measures the character’s creativity, sense of aesthetics, and manual dexterity when creating works of craft or playing musical instruments.
Willpower measures the character’s resolve, patience, and sense of self, it is used to resist fear and overcome resistance to one’s ideas.
Status is very important in the ancient and medieval world with most wealth and power being transferred along family lines. For beginning characters it is suggested that Status be generated on 1d10 +5. A character begins with silver pieces equal to their Status per level.
Appearance measures how attractive the character is but is not used in play for any other purpose. Attractiveness varies from one culture to the next and seldom crosses the bounds of species.
Hit Points represent the amount of physical punishment a creature can take before dying. They are normally figured as Endurance +5 per level. Tiny creatures get 1/4 of the normal hit points, small ones ½, large x 2, and huge x 4.
Experience Levels
As a character grows and develops they get better at their skills, resistance rolls, and gain hit points. Each level gives a five point bonus to the character’s skills and hit points. In play, every 1000 experience points earned increases the character’s level by one. Under normal circumstances, just living is good for 200 experience points per year of game time. Defeating a foe in combat or court is worth 10 experience points plus the foe’s level and minus the victor’s. Succeeding in a skill roll with a chance of success less than 25 is worth 1 experience point. Every day spent in training at a cost of 1 silver piece per day in addition to living expenses is worth 1 experience point.
Skills
Having a skill gives a ten percent bonus plus a five percent bonus per level to actions relating to them.
A character can develop ten skills per level. It is possible to change which skills are developed from one level to the next but this must be declared the level before the change is made as it takes time to study and learn the new skill.
Traits and Abilities
Different creatures have different capabilities than humans which are represented by special traits.
Amphibious
The creature is adapted to live on land and in the water. While it cannot breathe under water it can hold its breath ten times as long as a human can.
Aquatic
The creature is fully adapted to live in water, it can swim at full speed but moves at half speed on land. It breathes water through gills or osmosis but cannot breathe air.
Arms
The creature has more arms than a human. The downside of this is that each arm is weaker than a human arm would be. Thus for a four armed creature, a human one handed weapon would require two arms.
Exceptional Hearing
The creature gets +5 to hear noises and can distinguish small differences in sounds giving a +5 bonus to playing musical instruments, singing, and speaking languages.
Exceptional Sight
The creature gets a +5 to spot hidden things and sneaking foes and to hit with shooting weapons.
Exceptional Smell
The creature gets +5 smell and can distinguish details that others might not. The bonus applies to tracking and cooking and detecting sneaking foes that are up wind.
Fast
The creature can move twice as fast as a human. This normally indicates a horizontal, quadruped stance and the creature has no hands or arms as a result.
Huge
The creature is really big and thus can take and inflict four times the normal amount of damage. They get +20 to hit by smaller foes because it makes an easy target.
Large
The creature is particularly big and gets twice the normal hit points and inflicts double damage. It is a rather large target and is thus +10 to be hit by smaller foes.
Natural Weapon
The creature is equipped with sharp teeth and claws with which to rend its prey. Natural weapons are not particularly good against even primitive armour which is twice as effective against them.
Night Vision
The creature can see equally well in day-light and darkness.
Nocturnal
The creature sees well in the dark but poorly in daylight. They are still blind in total darkness.
Poison Resistance
The creature is mostly immune to naturally occurring poisons receiving a +20 to resist them.
Power
The creature has supernatural powers which it can use at will. The spell level of the power is added to the creature’s level.
Small
The creature is much smaller than man-sized and thus has half the normal hit points and inflicts half normal damage but is -10 to be hit by larger foes.
Tentacles
One or more of the creature’s limbs are exceptionally flexible allowing them to entangle and grasp very well but don’t gain the advantage of leverage bones provide. This increases their Size by ten when grappling, reduces it by ten when climbing and striking with close combat weapons.
Tiny
The creature is a particularly small and delicate, it has one quarter normal hit points and inflicts one quarter normal damage but is -20 to be hit by attacks by larger foes.
Tough
The creature’s skin is like leather armour with a penetration 5 / 50 damage points.
Undead
The creature may be dead and rotting away but it is animated by unholy magic. The undead are immune to poison, disease, and morale. They no longer eat food as men know it but must kill living things to live. While their senses are dim, the undead get a +10 to detect living creatures.
Venom
The creature is poisonous. If it has natural weapons the moderate poison is delivered by the teeth or claws. If not the creature’s flesh is poisonous mild to the touch and strong if eaten.
Wings
The creature’s broad pinions allow it to fly at twice the normal speed. Creatures that are winged and Fast move at four times the normal speed but only in the air.
