Ichneumon
2010-01-24, 11:12 AM
Ichneumon's Homebrew Role-Playing System
Another system?
A role-playing game is a game of collaborative storytelling in which players take on the roles of characters. Usually one player, called the Dungeon or Game Master, acts as a referee, determining the setting and plot, deciding on the outcome of the player’s actions and interpreting the rules. The other players take on the roles of one character each. They play the protagonists of the story.
To determine the outcome of the character’s actions (whether or not they make the jump, kill the dragon or drown in a river) there is a set of rules, the game system. The game system is used to determine whether someone’s actions succeed or fail. Although the Game Master has complete control over the setting and the difficulty of the challenges the characters face, it is the system that determines whether or not a characters are able to overcome them.
There are many different games systems. The most famous are the different versions of the Dungeons and Dragons d20, GURPS and Hero systems. Different systems focus on different aspects of a game and different styles of play. Many systems are made for a specific genre, while others are “genre neutral”.
In my opinion any story and setting can generally be played with any system, simple or complex. I’ve decided to design my own game system, though, as I felt the need for a simple system that would combine the best parts of other systems while staying simple and leaving the focus on the story. Because most role-playing games are set in a fantasy setting, I will initially built by system for a fantasy genre, yet I intend it to be easily adaptable for other genres as well.
In my view a game system’s only real task is to aid the storytelling. A system needs to be simple and non-intrusive, while still offering the level of flexibility and accuracy needed to make the outcome of the player’s actions feel meaningful and not arbitrary, even though the dice results are random. This has been my main design philosophy.
Because the end result of my game system is so minimalistic I hesitate calling it “mine” as it feels in many ways as just a downgraded version of some kind of fusion of maybe the d20 or Fudge system. Therefore I do not claim this system as being “revolutionary” different or anything. This is just my interpretation of how a game system should look like. I am realistic and realise the market of systems AND homebrew "fixed" systems is so large that nobody will likely play it.
Why I made the game the way it is
I’ve decided to use “attributes” or “abilities” as the main way of describing the character’s physical characteristics, similar to how games such as Dungeons and Dragons do. I’ve however decided not to include social “attributes” or “skills”.
The reason behind this is that I feel they are largely unnecessary, not because there are few social situations in game, but because they don’t need a system to resolve the outcome of the player’s actions. When a character tries to persuade a guard to let them enter the city, the manner in which the character tries to persuade the guard and the content of his speech should determine whether or not he succeeds. This is difficult if not impossible to accurately simulate with rolling dice, so I decided to leave such a system out completely and leave it up to the Game Master’s judgment.
I do this also because I do not want to encourage “dice rolling your way through social interactions”. Social interactions are a vital part of the game and giving the players the option to roll “persuasion checks” somewhat encourages them in my opinion to just roll dice and skip role-playing the social parts entirely, or at least pay less attention to it as it isn't what determines the eventual outcome.
Similar reasons I had for excluding “search” or “alertness” skills or attributes. I didn't want the players to simply go into a room and roll the dice and say “I search the room” and have them find the key that was hidden behind one of the books on one of the shelves when the dice result would be favorable. Therefore I've decided to leave out a “searching skill”. Now, players need to say “I investigate the books on the shelves and what's behind them”, before finding said key.
I decided on 5 attributes: Accuracy, Nimbleness, Muscularity, Endurance and Fortitude. Apart from filling all the different types of actions, I tried to make all of them relevant in some way to combat. Muscularity fulfills the roll of “Strength” in d20 and similar systems, in that it provides a bonus to melee attacks. Endurance provides the hit points. I divided “Dexterity” in 2 different attributes, accuracy and nimbleness. Nimbleness is more about reflexes (and thus concerns defense), while accuracy is about ranged attacks and hand-eye-coordination. In my view it never made sense to have these two combined in 1 stat anyway and having them separated allows you to define your character better. The only attribute that isn’t directly involved in combat is fortitude. I wanted fortitude however, because I wanted to have a stat to control/resist fear and mind control, also when I would add the magic system later, such an attribute would come in handy.
When I had to decide on how to determine the scores, I choose against the “normal” D&D/d20 method of having a score between 7 and 18 have different modifiers between -2 and +4. I choose to simply have all scores be directly the modifiers and I choose against negative attributes, simply because adding a bonus to a dice roll is more fun than subtracting something.
I tried to keep “skill rolls”, or “feat rolls” as I named them, as simple as possible. You just add the appropriate attribute score and compare it to a DC. I had to change the DC to 3 higher than they normally are in d20 like games ( so 10 becomes 13, 15 becomes 18 etc), because the “standard” modifier for attributes now was 3 instead of zero.
When deciding on the combat system I was inspired by the 0e D&D rules (like in Swords & Wizardry) and the parody game Mazes and Minotaurs. I wanted the combat rules to be simple. However, I also wanted combat to be exciting, a bit like it is in 4e Dungeons & Dragons. I wanted the sliding, pushing and pulling, battle-field controlling you find in that game. I believe I succeeded in incorporating it in a simple and elegant way.
In many situations I think the movement of your enemies in such a way can be explained by you bashing against them, overwhelming them with force or something similar. I am still thinking about also adding a mechanic for startling your enemies, which would allow me to make the fortitude attribute more important in combat. The current version of startling is included in the rules, however I am not sure if I am entirely happy with it.
Although I like systems with different classes, as they encourage characters differentiation, I decided against creating an actual class system. I felt it would complicate and limit the system too much and make it too genre specific. However, I did add “aspects” which function a bit like class abilities and help differentiate characters more. I gave the different “aspects” names that imply a certain background, but the abilities are generic enough to be interpreted in another way. I was inspired by True20’s conviction points and core abilities, as well as D&D 4e’s healing surges.
The equipment table is mostly based on the d20 srd, yet switching gp to sp. The equipment list seems large and maybe unnecessary, but considering this will likely be the only “official” source for players to find equipment, I wanted to make sure they have something to choose from, if only to inspire peoples inspiration when looking at the lists.
Another system?
A role-playing game is a game of collaborative storytelling in which players take on the roles of characters. Usually one player, called the Dungeon or Game Master, acts as a referee, determining the setting and plot, deciding on the outcome of the player’s actions and interpreting the rules. The other players take on the roles of one character each. They play the protagonists of the story.
To determine the outcome of the character’s actions (whether or not they make the jump, kill the dragon or drown in a river) there is a set of rules, the game system. The game system is used to determine whether someone’s actions succeed or fail. Although the Game Master has complete control over the setting and the difficulty of the challenges the characters face, it is the system that determines whether or not a characters are able to overcome them.
There are many different games systems. The most famous are the different versions of the Dungeons and Dragons d20, GURPS and Hero systems. Different systems focus on different aspects of a game and different styles of play. Many systems are made for a specific genre, while others are “genre neutral”.
In my opinion any story and setting can generally be played with any system, simple or complex. I’ve decided to design my own game system, though, as I felt the need for a simple system that would combine the best parts of other systems while staying simple and leaving the focus on the story. Because most role-playing games are set in a fantasy setting, I will initially built by system for a fantasy genre, yet I intend it to be easily adaptable for other genres as well.
In my view a game system’s only real task is to aid the storytelling. A system needs to be simple and non-intrusive, while still offering the level of flexibility and accuracy needed to make the outcome of the player’s actions feel meaningful and not arbitrary, even though the dice results are random. This has been my main design philosophy.
Because the end result of my game system is so minimalistic I hesitate calling it “mine” as it feels in many ways as just a downgraded version of some kind of fusion of maybe the d20 or Fudge system. Therefore I do not claim this system as being “revolutionary” different or anything. This is just my interpretation of how a game system should look like. I am realistic and realise the market of systems AND homebrew "fixed" systems is so large that nobody will likely play it.
Why I made the game the way it is
I’ve decided to use “attributes” or “abilities” as the main way of describing the character’s physical characteristics, similar to how games such as Dungeons and Dragons do. I’ve however decided not to include social “attributes” or “skills”.
The reason behind this is that I feel they are largely unnecessary, not because there are few social situations in game, but because they don’t need a system to resolve the outcome of the player’s actions. When a character tries to persuade a guard to let them enter the city, the manner in which the character tries to persuade the guard and the content of his speech should determine whether or not he succeeds. This is difficult if not impossible to accurately simulate with rolling dice, so I decided to leave such a system out completely and leave it up to the Game Master’s judgment.
I do this also because I do not want to encourage “dice rolling your way through social interactions”. Social interactions are a vital part of the game and giving the players the option to roll “persuasion checks” somewhat encourages them in my opinion to just roll dice and skip role-playing the social parts entirely, or at least pay less attention to it as it isn't what determines the eventual outcome.
Similar reasons I had for excluding “search” or “alertness” skills or attributes. I didn't want the players to simply go into a room and roll the dice and say “I search the room” and have them find the key that was hidden behind one of the books on one of the shelves when the dice result would be favorable. Therefore I've decided to leave out a “searching skill”. Now, players need to say “I investigate the books on the shelves and what's behind them”, before finding said key.
I decided on 5 attributes: Accuracy, Nimbleness, Muscularity, Endurance and Fortitude. Apart from filling all the different types of actions, I tried to make all of them relevant in some way to combat. Muscularity fulfills the roll of “Strength” in d20 and similar systems, in that it provides a bonus to melee attacks. Endurance provides the hit points. I divided “Dexterity” in 2 different attributes, accuracy and nimbleness. Nimbleness is more about reflexes (and thus concerns defense), while accuracy is about ranged attacks and hand-eye-coordination. In my view it never made sense to have these two combined in 1 stat anyway and having them separated allows you to define your character better. The only attribute that isn’t directly involved in combat is fortitude. I wanted fortitude however, because I wanted to have a stat to control/resist fear and mind control, also when I would add the magic system later, such an attribute would come in handy.
When I had to decide on how to determine the scores, I choose against the “normal” D&D/d20 method of having a score between 7 and 18 have different modifiers between -2 and +4. I choose to simply have all scores be directly the modifiers and I choose against negative attributes, simply because adding a bonus to a dice roll is more fun than subtracting something.
I tried to keep “skill rolls”, or “feat rolls” as I named them, as simple as possible. You just add the appropriate attribute score and compare it to a DC. I had to change the DC to 3 higher than they normally are in d20 like games ( so 10 becomes 13, 15 becomes 18 etc), because the “standard” modifier for attributes now was 3 instead of zero.
When deciding on the combat system I was inspired by the 0e D&D rules (like in Swords & Wizardry) and the parody game Mazes and Minotaurs. I wanted the combat rules to be simple. However, I also wanted combat to be exciting, a bit like it is in 4e Dungeons & Dragons. I wanted the sliding, pushing and pulling, battle-field controlling you find in that game. I believe I succeeded in incorporating it in a simple and elegant way.
In many situations I think the movement of your enemies in such a way can be explained by you bashing against them, overwhelming them with force or something similar. I am still thinking about also adding a mechanic for startling your enemies, which would allow me to make the fortitude attribute more important in combat. The current version of startling is included in the rules, however I am not sure if I am entirely happy with it.
Although I like systems with different classes, as they encourage characters differentiation, I decided against creating an actual class system. I felt it would complicate and limit the system too much and make it too genre specific. However, I did add “aspects” which function a bit like class abilities and help differentiate characters more. I gave the different “aspects” names that imply a certain background, but the abilities are generic enough to be interpreted in another way. I was inspired by True20’s conviction points and core abilities, as well as D&D 4e’s healing surges.
The equipment table is mostly based on the d20 srd, yet switching gp to sp. The equipment list seems large and maybe unnecessary, but considering this will likely be the only “official” source for players to find equipment, I wanted to make sure they have something to choose from, if only to inspire peoples inspiration when looking at the lists.