Rutskarn
2009-03-02, 03:47 PM
Behold, the feeble armchair-rulemaking of someone who's utterly incompetent at applying rulesets.
I was mentally sort of working on a martial-arts ruleset. It wouldn't be d20, but it would try to incorporate some of that sense of customization.
The ruleset would encourage using hand-to-hand and martial arts weapons. Firearms would be available, but they would be balanced so as not to give them an advantage over melee fighters. Overall, the setting would simulate every mindless fighting movie ever made, from Kill Bill to The Matrix.
One problem I see with martial arts in a d20 setting, and what few other settings I've experienced, is that it seems very disconnected somehow. You throw a die, see if it hits, roll damage and then let the other person take his turn. None of the exciting back-and-forth of cinematic combat.
The easiest way I can think of to bring this visceral feel to a dice game is to have rolls of d6s represent actual melee blows.
Off the top of my head: two monks of different levels are scrapping. One of them, a lower level character, has three attacks per round. The other has four.
They both cast a single d6. Before throwing, they must declare "strike" or "defend". The lowest level character must declare first. If they declare "strike", their roll (which is probably modified by other factors) is subtracted from the enemy's health. If they declare "defend", their total is subtracted from any future damage done to them.
This repeats itself for each attack the combatants get per round. If one combatant has more attacks than the other, they get to choose whether to use it as an additional "defend" at the beginning of the round or to use it as an additional "attack" at the end of the round.
That would be the core mechanic of the system. Obviously, there'd be many other rules dependent on class progression--disciplines that allowed for an extra attack per round, or a passive DR, etc.
Some other random ideas:
There'd be a "focus" stat that allowed characters to make an extra attack in X number of rounds per day, where X is a number somehow related to the stat.
Focusing on weapons should give higher damage output, while focusing on martial arts would allow more versatility. There should be situations where all but the most focused of either discipline would choose on over the other.
There should be a couple settings attached to the ruleset (modern, Asian, fantasy, etc.) but none of them should affect the actual rules.
No other dice but d6s should be called for.
That's the basic premise. Feel free to come in with suggestions, ideas for mechanics, or criticisms. Not only am I pretty terrible at rules, I'm also damn ill, so this isn't exactly a polished product.
I was mentally sort of working on a martial-arts ruleset. It wouldn't be d20, but it would try to incorporate some of that sense of customization.
The ruleset would encourage using hand-to-hand and martial arts weapons. Firearms would be available, but they would be balanced so as not to give them an advantage over melee fighters. Overall, the setting would simulate every mindless fighting movie ever made, from Kill Bill to The Matrix.
One problem I see with martial arts in a d20 setting, and what few other settings I've experienced, is that it seems very disconnected somehow. You throw a die, see if it hits, roll damage and then let the other person take his turn. None of the exciting back-and-forth of cinematic combat.
The easiest way I can think of to bring this visceral feel to a dice game is to have rolls of d6s represent actual melee blows.
Off the top of my head: two monks of different levels are scrapping. One of them, a lower level character, has three attacks per round. The other has four.
They both cast a single d6. Before throwing, they must declare "strike" or "defend". The lowest level character must declare first. If they declare "strike", their roll (which is probably modified by other factors) is subtracted from the enemy's health. If they declare "defend", their total is subtracted from any future damage done to them.
This repeats itself for each attack the combatants get per round. If one combatant has more attacks than the other, they get to choose whether to use it as an additional "defend" at the beginning of the round or to use it as an additional "attack" at the end of the round.
That would be the core mechanic of the system. Obviously, there'd be many other rules dependent on class progression--disciplines that allowed for an extra attack per round, or a passive DR, etc.
Some other random ideas:
There'd be a "focus" stat that allowed characters to make an extra attack in X number of rounds per day, where X is a number somehow related to the stat.
Focusing on weapons should give higher damage output, while focusing on martial arts would allow more versatility. There should be situations where all but the most focused of either discipline would choose on over the other.
There should be a couple settings attached to the ruleset (modern, Asian, fantasy, etc.) but none of them should affect the actual rules.
No other dice but d6s should be called for.
That's the basic premise. Feel free to come in with suggestions, ideas for mechanics, or criticisms. Not only am I pretty terrible at rules, I'm also damn ill, so this isn't exactly a polished product.