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ShneekeyTheLost
2009-05-23, 03:51 PM
Okay, last week I was asking for some opinions on my game that I am creating. As a way of thanking the community for some valuable feedback, here's a sneak peek at some of the features of my game:

The Kingdom of Allustria and the Xanastos Empire, the two largest nations in the world, have come to an uneasy truce, really more of a cold war. The border between these nations are heavily guarded, with occasional sniping going on between border guards. There is a one-mile 'no man's land' area of pure desolation with no cover.

The Kingdom of Allustria has a powerful Mage Corps which they use both in domestic affairs and in war. Necromancers provide a significant part of the battlefield healing, as well as creating emergency shock troops to throw at a tactical weakness. Elementalists wade into battle, wielding spell and sword, calling on the elemental forces to protect them and smite their foes. Cunning Transmuters flit and dance about, leaving chaos and havoc in their wake. Most feared, though, are the Wizards who are funded by the State with rare and expensive components with which they use to warp the very fabric of reality.

The Xanastos Empire, having but this generation rebelled against Allustria and become it's own nation, instead rely on science and skill to get jobs done. Armed with the secret of gunpowder and the knowledge of its use, they employ their advantage ruthlessly to retain their freedom. Highly trained Soldiers, deadly and skilled in the art of war, employ both gunpowder and more mundane weapons to destroy their foes. Specialists skulk unseen, assassinating and waging guerrilla warfare. Raging berzerkers charge heedlessly into the frey, seemingly more than human in their strength and stature. And their ace in the hole, the counter to the Wizards, are the Techneers. Whispers speak of a Techneer, stripped down to a loincloth and held in an empty cell other than those basic comforts, escaped by making an explosive device out of the soap used to clean the floors. Employed by the Empire, they have created huge steam-powered clockwork golems which seem impervious to all but the most devastating of attacks.

The Clergy are seen, by both sides, as neutral in this fight, as neither side wish to anger the very Gods themselves. Indeed, it is widely rumored that the only reason why this cease-fire has gone on as long as it has is because clergy from every known diety were present upon the signing, and each imparted their blessing on the occasion. The blessings of the dieties can be a two-edged sword, if abused. And not merely the clergy of the Pantheons, both the Clerics and the Paladins, but Nature herself directed no less than three of Her Druids to attend, with a small host of Rangers to accompany them. The impact they had when they simply appeared in the field and insisted on being included was... profound.

And then there are those who are none of these. The monks tend to remain secluded in their monastaries, but some of the orders did participate on either side. Bards are recognized by both sides as well, and granted some level of immunity. No one wishes a Bard to direct their negative attention on them, after all, and have your reputation a thing of bawdy songs sung the world over. Telepaths were also employed on both sides, although the Empire employed more while the Kingdom relied on their mages more. Then there are the strange folk termed 'Adept'. Empathic individuals who study how the mind and the body interact and how to put it together using a blend of skill and mental ability. Of course, what one can put together, one can just as easily disassemble.

The smaller nations, known collectively as the Auxiliary Nations, generally bend knee in one form or another to either the Kingdom or the Empire, although in some cases it may be mere lip service.

Of course, the world has it's share of wild and unclaimed lands which has not been altered by Civilization's steady march.

This is the world we live in. War-torn, and in many cases, war-sick. Civilization itself teetered on the brink of collapse as brother killed brother and father killed son during this bloody and brutal civil war. Lands that were once domesticated have slipped their leash and the Wild have reclaimed them. More and more effort, on both sides, is taken up in simply retarding this steady creep.

This is a land divided, sick, and limping. In many places, particularly among the more distant Auxiliary Nations, Law is simply what you can make for yourself.

It is a time of change, perhaps a time of changing... and a time where uncommon people can achieve extraordinary things.

General mechanics
A die roll has two main factors: die size and number of dice. Die size is set by the class and skill. A primary skill uses a d8, a secondary skill uses a d6, and a cross-class skill uses a d4. One skill may have a permanent increase in die size at character creation. This is your specialization. Die size hard cap at d12. No rolling d20's, percentiles are right out.

Total the numbers on all dice, add any other modifiers, and come up with your result. This must beat the difficulty number of the task, or in the case of a contested check, must beat the opponent. Defender wins all ties.

Skills and Maneuvers
Every class has skills which they are proficient in. These are known as Primary skills. Then they also have a set of skills which they are familiar with. These are Secondary skills. They can also pick up training that is normally outside their area of expertise, these are Cross-Class skills.

Maneuvers are traits or abilities which are based on a given skill. Most one-handed weapon skills, for example, allow the Duo-Wield maneuver. Maneuvers alter or affect what you may do with your skills. While some maneuvers do not have a listed duration, such as Duo-Wield. Those that do may be used once per encounter per time purchased.

Some maneuvers are associated with multiple skills. To initially purchase it, you must have the requisite rank in any of the skills listed, however to be able to apply it to a given skill, that particular skill must meet the prerequisites. Thus, if you required two ranks in any one-handed weapon skill to learn the maneuver Duo-Wield, you could pick up that maneuver when you get your second rank in One Hand Balanced (which covers most swords, batons, and other similarly balanced weapons). However, you cannot use it with a one-handed axe unless you also have two ranks in One Handed Hafted.

Skills and Maneuvers are purchased with Skill Points, which are gained upon character creation and upon attaining a new level. As you level, the number of skill points you gain also increases, however the cost to improve skills and gain access to higher-level maneuvers also has a steep curve to it.

Magic, psionic, and dietic powers also use the skill system, allowing for a very flexible magic system. Maneuvers of magic skill, for example, probably more closely resemble Metamagic feats of D&D 3.5.

Maneuvers that affect die rolls do so in a pre-calculated manner, and recorded on the character sheet as such. Thus there is no calculating during a scene how many dice of what size you have to roll, it has already been pre-determined by the character's skills, maneuvers, class, and level. Buffs almost always add, or subtract, dice from your die pool rather than give static bonuses or penalties, and almost never affect die size.

Character Creation
Stats go from 1-10, with 4-5 being average. 10 is the hard cap, NO PLAYER CHARACTER may EVER obtain a higher score than 10 on any stat, even through magical means. Either roll 1d10 for each stat, or use the Point Buy system, which will either average out to 5-8 per stat, or if you go higher than that, probably seeing at least one 3 or multiple 4's to get a 10.

Class is chosen at character creation. Each class has one class ability, which is recorded at this time. Race is also chosen at this time, and racial stat modifiers are applied before point buy. Racial ability is also recorded at this time.

You start off with a number of skill points, with a bonus or penalty depending on your Int score. You may not have a higher rank in a skill than your character level.

If you have any maneuvers which you meet the prerequsites for with the skills you purchase, and have the points left, you may purchase those with the initial skill points as well.

You may also spend (a lot of) skill points to do the following:

a) make a cross-class skill a secondary skill
b) increase the die size of a secondary skill one category (does NOT make it a primary skill)
c) increase the die size of a primary skill one category (keeping in mind the hard cap at d12)
d) increase a stat by one point (cannot break the hard-cap at 10)

I will likely be releasing the game and basics on the world using an SRD copyright, unless a publishing company provides me with an offer, with a more in-depth worldbook likely available as a .pdf for purchase at a later date if the game becomes popular.

What do you think?

SurlySeraph
2009-05-23, 04:10 PM
Looks workable and interesting. I'm not sure about rolling 1d10 for stats - it seems to me that it would be very easy to end up with terrible stats that way - but everything else looks good. Looks like an interesting hybrid of skill-based and class-based systems.

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-05-23, 04:15 PM
Looks workable and interesting. I'm not sure about rolling 1d10 for stats - it seems to me that it would be very easy to end up with terrible stats that way - but everything else looks good. Looks like an interesting hybrid of skill-based and class-based systems.

That is why the point buy system is strongly encouraged. But enough people asked for random stat generation that I threw it in as an option.

Dogmantra
2009-05-23, 04:22 PM
I like the idea of different sized dice for different measurements of skill level.

On the random stat generation: perhaps suggest 1d4 + 1d6 or 1d2 + 1d8 for people who want a bit more of a bell curve.

lesser_minion
2009-05-24, 04:45 PM
This looks quite good - I think the only problem you really run the risk of suffering is the 'Heartbreaker' problem, especially given the setting.

For rolling stats, I guess you could go with something like 3d6/2 or 3d4-2. Those would give something more akin to a bell curve.

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-05-24, 11:06 PM
This looks quite good - I think the only problem you really run the risk of suffering is the 'Heartbreaker' problem, especially given the setting. Dying can be a problem, however if you can get to your fallen comrade in time, he may only be 'mostly dead' and easily revivable. Failing that, however... it is possible to resurrect a dead person, but it is neither easy nor cheap to do. Players are encouraged to be intelligent. While this isn't supposed to be "Tomb of Horrors" hard, and fairly forgiving with 'get out of trouble' type skills available for most archetypes... well, if you like your character, don't be stupid and you probably won't lose him.


For rolling stats, I guess you could go with something like 3d6/2 or 3d4-2. Those would give something more akin to a bell curve.

Those both put the bell curve a bit higher than I really want it to be. Maybe 3d10/3 would work.

Kroy
2009-05-24, 11:53 PM
Those both put the bell curve a bit higher than I really want it to be. Maybe 3d10/3 would work.

3d6/2, 3d4-2, and 3d10/3 all give the same average roll, 5.5. While the bell curve is slightly different (I think, to lazy to check) the will come to the same most of the time, while variation s balanced. 'course, you might mean to steep of a curve, in which case ignore this.

lesser_minion
2009-05-25, 10:48 AM
Dying can be a problem, however if you can get to your fallen comrade in time, he may only be 'mostly dead' and easily revivable. Failing that, however... it is possible to resurrect a dead person, but it is neither easy nor cheap to do. Players are encouraged to be intelligent. While this isn't supposed to be "Tomb of Horrors" hard, and fairly forgiving with 'get out of trouble' type skills available for most archetypes... well, if you like your character, don't be stupid and you probably won't lose him.



Those both put the bell curve a bit higher than I really want it to be. Maybe 3d10/3 would work.

I meant the 'fantasy heartbreaker' problem that you find in general with fantasy RPGs. Basically, games run the risk of going unplayed regardless of how good they are, simply because 3.x has cornered the market too thoroughly.

There's an essay on The Alexandrian that explains it better, but I can't remember exactly where.