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Jayngfet
2009-02-07, 05:51 AM
For a while I've wanted to make my own system. Something fairly simple, designed to minimise dice rolling and use only thr more commonly avalable dice if necessary(d6 would be the most common, with a d100 only used as an optional ideally).

Basic ideas:

HP: Each race would start with a set number of Hit points(humans would be five, to use a random number). Plus another number for class, so a melee type would have a class HP of four. So bob the barbarian Starts at first level with 5+4=9hp, at second level he gains four more hp,, so now he has thirteen. And some physical score may provide a bonus.

Magic: I was thinking of using a point system, each day casting casses gain an amount of points, plus some relative to a mental score. So Andy the wizard would have four(again, random number) class granted points, and three bonus points. Giving him seven daily points.

Weapons: Deals a set amount of damage plus 1d2. So a dagger could do two points of damage plus 1d2 points of damage. So it's 2+1d2. I figure bonuses could increase the amount of d2's, or increase it to 1d4.

Armor:Armor blocks a set amount of damage, so plate armor blocks five points of damage(you guessed it, random), and can be enchanted to block additional points(andy could feasably enchant it to block an additional poiny). One enchantment of a certain type overrides others. There are three types, energy, physical, and spell. Physical just increases general toughness of armor, energy blocks against things like fire and ice, spell blocks against arcane damage. Same types don't stack, so you can't just cast +1 physical until you have the blocking power of a tank.

Damage: Physical damage: Basic things like a punch or an arrow, nonmagical physical damage. Energy: Things like being burned or frozen. Arcane: Purley magical attacks(Maybe it does damage based purley on dice?), casters and people with magic weapons of a certain type can bypass normal armor, has no additional dice attack unless further enchanted(so instead of 2d2, an enchanted arcane dagger does 2+1d2).

I'm unsure how to proceed or from where hereonward, so I'm asking the playground for help. I was going to use metric for measuring.

Athaniar
2009-02-07, 12:23 PM
HP system sounds good. "Mana"-based magic is good, I prefer it to Vancian magic. Weapons should deal +1d3 (easily doable with a d6) damage instead of +1d2 as a base, 1s2 is just not varied enough. Armor is good, but you should keep something like D&D's dexterity limiter to heavy armor for the sake of balance. Another idea might be spellcasting bonuses to more mage-y armor, like robes (or spellcasting limitation to heavier armor).

All the energies shouldn't be grouped together, at least have some separation. Fire and electric could be the same, but not together with frost and others. I would go with the metric system for measuring, but I'm biased, since that is the only system I'm familiar with.

You also need to decide if you want classes or not, and what kind of classes if you do want them (a few loose archetypes or many specified classes).

DanielLC
2009-02-07, 12:43 PM
You still need skills.

Can armor prevent the wearer from taking any damage?

What spells will there be? Will there be a way of making wizards cast a variety of spells, rather than highest damage per magic over and over? You could make it take one more point of magic each time you cast a spell in a given day.

What will set this apart from other role-playing systems? It looks pretty generic, so far.

Jayngfet
2009-02-07, 08:51 PM
I was thinking that armor would stop you from taking damage. If you got hit with ten points of damage and had armor that blocked five it would be 10-5=5 points of damage.

Armor: I was thinking that armor would be limited to proficencies: Melee types would be the only one's who know how to use armor right off while casters would have to make more of an effort for it.

Classes: I was thinking lots of different classes. A straight fragile wizard and Armored warrior class right away. Clerics would be a balance types, casing less spells but having some armor proficences. There would be an armored warrior who specialises in doing damage and another class who specialises in armor, and an archer class to do ranged. And Perhaps a caster class who specialises in noncombat spells. And maybe a class who makes and commands constructs and a mind affecting caster class(druid may work, get in an animal's head or empathey with a plant, higher levels might do things with stone_.

Kroy
2009-02-09, 11:10 PM
The Spell Point (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/spellPoints.htm) variant might be helpful, as well as every FF game.

Knaight
2009-02-11, 01:25 AM
First you need to look into the more esoteric systems out there, and mine them for ideas, as stuff which is assumed to be universal after just a quick look around (hit points, damage, criticals, classes and levels, etc.) are often disregarded. I suggest looking at the following systems, which are linked if possible:
Fudge (http://www.fudgerpg.com/)
Fate (http://www.faterpg.com/)
Wushu (http://www.bayn.org/wushu/wushu-open.html)
Risus (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm)
and anything else you can get your hands on. I left you with a good 350 pages of reading, which is a decent amount for RPG books, but its worth going through all of it, as these games will broaden your horizons if you haven't looked at them already. Seeing how things work without classes, without hit points, and all that is really helpful. If you decide you like Fudge or Fate, there is also this online magazine (http://www.fudgefactor.org/sitemap/)

Yakk
2009-02-11, 12:42 PM
Your no-random armor and low-random damage result in certain kinds of armor making certain kinds of attacks ignorable.

You seem to be sticking with damage-attrition-based survival, that scales up with 'level'. Be aware that these are choices.

Rolling dice has a time cost for players. Having dice rolled in situations where the result has low impact is wasteful.

And do read about systems that are distinct from D&D before writing your own system -- they have many amazing ideas.

JVWest
2009-02-11, 12:47 PM
I'm totally in agreement with Knaight. The more games you seek out and at least study the bigger, bolder, and more exciting your game designs can become. I remember the first time I got my hands on FUDGE. It was like an explosion of creative thoughts suddenly spilled into my head.

But I'll add that if, after looking around at what all there is to see in the wide world of gaming, you still like classes and levels there is nothing wrong with that. Classes and levels work. They aren't the only things that work, but they do work.

The real question to ask is "What purpose does this game serve?" From there you can settle on a system that makes sense.