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View Full Version : New classless roleplaying game system idea (PEACH)



Dairian
2009-01-18, 11:55 PM
Ive been working alot on my own rules system lately, as you might know if youve sen my other posts. Those were about specific pieces, now im gonna go into detail on what I have so far for the system on a whole.

Dice: I decided to use a bell curve roling varient I came up with that uses a D12 and a D8 in place of the ubiquitous D20. This system give a nice compromise betwen the extreme randomness of the D20, and the almost forgone conclusions of 3D6.

Abilities: I will be using a point buy system nearly identical to the one green ronin uses for M&M(mutants and masterminds), but with a few exceptions, namely I have done away with base attack bonus(in favor of skills such as melee, and ranged) and you will NOT be able to buy up your defense bonus, since you cant really dodge ranged attacks without some sort of special ability(feats will come in handy), and defending in melee will be based on melee skill.(still deciding if I want to use opposed rolls).

Combat: this is the area where ive made the biggest change. i decided to use a varient on the viality and wnds system from the old d20 star wars. if you roll higher then your opponents defense score, but less then 10 points higher, then you deal vitality dmg = to the amount you beat their defense by.
if you beat their defense by 10 or more, THEN you roll weapon dmg, and apply it to wnds after subtracting any damage reduction from armor.

Im also adding a variation on Action points from D20 modern. basicly every player gets a pool of points that they can spend in a variety of ways: they can add a D6 to any roll; they can heal D8 vitality; they can heal 1 wnd; they can stabalize themselves; and they can use them to activate magic powers.(there may be others uses as well, these are jsut the first ive thought of) I call these willpower points, and they can only be replenished by engaging in restfull activites, including things like: sleeping in a nice in, eating a fine meal, bar brawls, wenching, etc, etc. Basicly, it is a system designed to encourage role playing/noncombat encounters, which in my experience, many gamers would like to do, but have felt reluctant to without some sort of in game reward system.

I invite you all to use my system if you want,and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

Moofaa
2009-01-19, 05:30 AM
Not sure about the d12+d8 thing, but your method of handling damage is intriuging and I would like to hear more about it.I might try it in my next sci-fi campaign.

Pronounceable
2009-01-19, 07:07 AM
I find opposed rolls for attacks slow down the game too much for my liking. A fixed defense is nice for not roughly doubling the rolling.

Your combat mechanic is similar to mine where only the difference between attack roll and defense determines the damage (damage dealt increases with increments of 5 difference), reducing attack resolving to one roll in one fell swoop. Weapons directly increase attack bonus indicative of damage, sparing me from carrying the needless extra dice to play. I'm big on less material components for gameplay.

As for RP encouragement, you can give players a right to vote for character point gainage. When one player does something RPful/awesome/funny, another might ask him awarded. If all/majority of other players agree, he gets a point. Just keep the authority to veto it. (I like to give players totally metagame RPpoints myself, where at the end of a session one with highest points wins. Yep, my players can win the game.)

Dairian
2009-01-19, 01:40 PM
Not sure about the d12+d8 thing, but your method of handling damage is intriuging and I would like to hear more about it.I might try it in my next sci-fi campaign.

here's an expansion on my combat system.

The idea behind having vitality dmg not based on the weapon is that, since it didn't hit you, it doesn't matter if the bullet was a .22, and .45, or a bolt of supper heated plasma. My system pretty much has a static defense score against range attacks, regardless of the level of the defender, which is as it should be as far as im concerned, I mean a low level peasant with musket could kill a trained knight on horseback and plate armor. Where as melee defense is based on your own melee skill.

any way back to the system itself. cover plays a much more integral role in my combat system, since other wise you are almost certain to be taking vitality dmg. or worse every shot fired at you. im also likly to give all players free access to the expertise feat, and its opposite, so that they can freely shift points from attack to defense. what this means is that findign secure cover, can in effect increase your offense as well as defense, as you can now afford to shift a few points away from dodgin to give you a slight edge in attacking. this also put a heavy emphasis on tactics, on geting behind your enemy, and catching him in the open where he is forced to reduce his attack power, just to keep from being shot to ribbons.

if you hav any other specific queations on how i run it, ask me. and i will answer them here.

Zeful
2009-01-19, 02:00 PM
My system pretty much has a static defense score against range attacks, regardless of the level of the defender, which is as it should be as far as im concerned

Um, wow. Ranged weapons will be used far more often, especially sense you can't build your defense but can build your ranged attack up. So I'll take and put all my points for first level into ranged weapons, and defeat everything in the game.

Dairian
2009-01-19, 02:14 PM
Um, wow. Ranged weapons will be used far more often, especially sense you can't build your defense but can build your ranged attack up. So I'll take and put all my points for first level into ranged weapons, and defeat everything in the game.

Actually that is not necessarily so. if you put all your points into ranged, then yes, you will own at range, but as soon as some one manages to into melee range, your toast. but yeah, I suppose ranged fighters will still have an advantage, but I think that's OK. I mean swords pretty much went away once guns got to a certain level. it also really depends on your setting, and what kind of dmg you have weapons do. in my mind, bows and arrows do relativly little dmg, while modern firearms do significantly more. also, in setting where characters have weapons like muskets or old fashioned revolvers that take a while to load, and for me a while means more then one round, then there is still a great incentive for being melee proficient. my rules are desinged to bend and make sense no matter what era you play in. in a world with machine guns, no body fights with a broad sword(unless that broad sword is a beam of pure energy, capable of rflecting laser blasts!)

oh, I forgot to mention a few other points, 1; I havent decided what that base range defense is. 2; My system still has levels, they jsut work liek in mutants and masterminds, there are still limits to how many points you can put into a skill, so a first level archer, will only have a max of maybe plus 3, hardly game breaking. and i started out with the notion that a moderatly well trained archer(level 5 or so) could be a threat to characters of any level, provided he had good cover/support.

Zeful
2009-01-19, 02:29 PM
Actually that is not necessarily so. if you put all your points into ranged, then yes, you will own at range, but as soon as some one manages to into melee range, your toast. but yeah, I suppose ranged fighters will still have an advantage, but I think that's OK. I mean swords pretty much went away once guns got to a certain level. it also really depends on your setting, and what kind of dmg you have weapons do. in my mind, bows and arrows do relativly little dmg, while modern firearms do significantly more. also, in setting where characters have weapons like muskets or old fashioned revolvers that take a while to load, and for me a while means more then one round, then there is still a great incentive for being melee proficient. my rules are desinged to bend and make sense no matter what era you play in. in a world with machine guns, no body fights with a broad sword(unless that broad sword is a beam of pure energy, capable of reflecting laser blasts!)

My point is that all forms of melee besides the Gun Kata won't ever be used under your system. Because Ranged Attack will far outstrip the Ranged Defense of your enemies. It actually would be more effective to throw your weapon than it would be to actually attack in melee with it because of the static ranged defense. Shadowrun, which is about as lethal, can still have a melee character own everything around, as well as do improbable bullet time tricks. Your system pretty much is "I haz bow/gun, u can haz death."

EDIT:
oh, I forgot to mention a few other points, 1; I havent decided what that base range defense is. 2; My system still has levels, they jsut work liek in mutants and masterminds, there are still limits to how many points you can put into a skill, so a first level archer, will only have a max of maybe plus 3, hardly game breaking. and i started out with the notion that a moderatly well trained(level 5 or so) could be a threat to characters of any level, provided he had good cover/support.
1:Since you can't change it, it will also be your final ranged defense.
2:So? That just means the archer, won't be an archer savant. He'll also be able to hide and run away, while still owning people.

Dairian
2009-01-19, 02:54 PM
My point is that all forms of melee besides the Gun Kata won't ever be used under your system. Because Ranged Attack will far outstrip the Ranged Defense of your enemies. It actually would be more effective to throw your weapon than it would be to actually attack in melee with it because of the static ranged defense. Shadowrun, which is about as lethal, can still have a melee character own everything around, as well as do improbable bullet time tricks. Your system pretty much is "I haz bow/gun, u can haz death."

well I geuss this just comes down to a matter of taste, and the old "realism vs. fantasy" debate. I like things to be a bit more realistic, at least in the sense that they force people to employ tactics suitable for the era of play.

however, there is also the matter of armor though, a character with sufficient damage reduction might not have any thing to worry about from a ranged character, thus making him more likely to survive long enough to get into melee range. heh, I kinda like that idea, a dude in full bomb squad gear carrying a battle axe charging a machine gun nest!
and of course heavy armor could easily impose to hit penalties on ranged attacks, meaning that while archers would have an advantage in ranged offense, it could be fairly severely countered with a penalty to defense.

And another point, its really up to the DM weather a game is balanced or not, and how to deal with min maxing. When I run games, I make sure that every character is challenged, while still rewarding smart choices.

PS im finding this back a forth very rewarding and helpful, thank you.

Dairian
2009-01-19, 03:09 PM
and there are ways to buy up your ranged defense, jsut no tdirectly, there will be feats and things that allow you say, add your wisdom mod, monk style, and theres combat expertise, if your ranged oponent has you pinned down, swap 5 points from the attacks you cant use till you close range any way, and make your way to melee range where your opponent is at a huge disadvantage. Then of course is are also spells/technology that can give an additional boost as well.

perhaps one thing I can do to make it more balanced is to put a total cap on your combined attack skills, so that an expert archer cant also be an expert in melee, to make sure my little examples are accurate. I just feel that a battle between a ranged character and a melee character SHOULD require soem sort of strategy for the melee character to close, and give a huge advantage to each character when they are fighting at their preferred range. if you have other ideas on how to do this, id love to hear them.