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Initial Ideas / Character Creation and Core Mechanic.
We've all done it, or harboured a wish to do it, but I'm going to try and coalesce some half formed thoughts into a workable game in this thread. Why be so open with it (beyond the need for validation and adulation of my peers)? Really its a cheap way of getting feedback (beyond "That won't work. It makes no sense. You suck!" ;)
My current though process is very much inspired by the likes of the Black Hack but I found some of those rules (particularly armour) counter-intuitive and I'm not a fan of using multiple types of dice. Setting wise I'm going take the original idea from the excellent "Long Stairs" thread (on RPG.Net). There are dungeons, they have traps, treasure and monsters. Only instead of adventurers, it's modern day and the Government sends in soldiers and scientists to try to make sense of it all.
Step 1. Character.
Characters are made up of 5 attributes and 2 derived attributes.
Brawn. (Physical feats, hand to hand combat)
Prowess. (Athletics and dexterity, ranged combat)
Intellect. (Perception, understanding)
Will. (Resolve)
Luck. (Gaining Advantage or Disadvantage)
Health (Brawn + Will)
Sanity (Intellect + Will)
Players roll 1d10 per attribute. Rolls of 2-9 are taken as their score in the first four attributes. They can roll one at a time or they can roll 4d10 and then spread the numbers as they wish.
Any roll of 1 gives a point to Luck. The player needs to roll again for the attribute.
Any roll of 10 subtracts a point from Luck and, as mentioned above, the player needs to roll again for the attribute.
Once the 5 primary attributes are sorted, the player needs to work out their health and sanity.
Example character - I roll 4d10 and score 10, 10 9 and 2. I reroll the 2 10's and score 10 and 8. I reroll again and score 9.
That gives me 9,9,8,2 for the four stats and -3 in luck. I split them up accordingly.
Brawn 9
Prowess 9
Intellect 2
Will 8
Luck -3
It also gives me
Health 17/8
Sanity 10/5
The second number in Health and Sanity is half (rounded down) of the total and will be explained later.
The core mechanic is that any task or challenge that needs to be resolved falls under one of the attributes. Players need to roll under the attribute to succeed. Its very much a binary system where success is great and failure is awful, there's not much in the way of granularity.
Now my example character is likely to succeed at most things but then his stats bring to mind a good soldier, hard, tough but not too bright. However, writing this post, I'm thinking there's little opportunity for improvement or growth. Maybe a point spend system would be better? Say, 20 points but you can get more by taking bad luck?
Thoughts?
We've all done it, or harboured a wish to do it, but I'm going to try and coalesce some half formed thoughts into a workable game in this thread. Why be so open with it (beyond the need for validation and adulation of my peers)? Really its a cheap way of getting feedback (beyond "That won't work. It makes no sense. You suck!" ;)
My current though process is very much inspired by the likes of the Black Hack but I found some of those rules (particularly armour) counter-intuitive and I'm not a fan of using multiple types of dice. Setting wise I'm going take the original idea from the excellent "Long Stairs" thread (on RPG.Net). There are dungeons, they have traps, treasure and monsters. Only instead of adventurers, it's modern day and the Government sends in soldiers and scientists to try to make sense of it all.
Step 1. Character.
Characters are made up of 5 attributes and 2 derived attributes.
Brawn. (Physical feats, hand to hand combat)
Prowess. (Athletics and dexterity, ranged combat)
Intellect. (Perception, understanding)
Will. (Resolve)
Luck. (Gaining Advantage or Disadvantage)
Health (Brawn + Will)
Sanity (Intellect + Will)
Players roll 1d10 per attribute. Rolls of 2-9 are taken as their score in the first four attributes. They can roll one at a time or they can roll 4d10 and then spread the numbers as they wish.
Any roll of 1 gives a point to Luck. The player needs to roll again for the attribute.
Any roll of 10 subtracts a point from Luck and, as mentioned above, the player needs to roll again for the attribute.
Once the 5 primary attributes are sorted, the player needs to work out their health and sanity.
Example character - I roll 4d10 and score 10, 10 9 and 2. I reroll the 2 10's and score 10 and 8. I reroll again and score 9.
That gives me 9,9,8,2 for the four stats and -3 in luck. I split them up accordingly.
Brawn 9
Prowess 9
Intellect 2
Will 8
Luck -3
It also gives me
Health 17/8
Sanity 10/5
The second number in Health and Sanity is half (rounded down) of the total and will be explained later.
The core mechanic is that any task or challenge that needs to be resolved falls under one of the attributes. Players need to roll under the attribute to succeed. Its very much a binary system where success is great and failure is awful, there's not much in the way of granularity.
Now my example character is likely to succeed at most things but then his stats bring to mind a good soldier, hard, tough but not too bright. However, writing this post, I'm thinking there's little opportunity for improvement or growth. Maybe a point spend system would be better? Say, 20 points but you can get more by taking bad luck?
Thoughts?