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View Full Version : Introducing the RRARG System [PEACH]



Lord Raziere
2011-01-09, 11:32 PM
Realistic Rules for All Roleplaying Games!

Like the acronym? Short, simple, you can shout it (RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRG!)

Just like the system itself. This system is designed mostly for combat situations- everything that isn't combat, doesn't have to be rolled for, because unless you are rolling against something, there is little point to roll at all- unless a door has a trap or is super-super-strong, the super-strong character should just be able to break through it if he wants to. Anything out of combat is not against anything so there is no reason to be fair about it.

These rules are designed to make combat, short, deadly, visceral, realistic, risky, like it is in real life, but it also above all, is designed to be fair. There is NO arbitrarily slanting everything in the favor of the Players like in other systems. You try fighting something too strong for you, you die, no question, no roll. You fight something just as powerful as you and the opponents will have just as much trouble taking you out as you will them. Anything weaker than something that can kill you are things not worth bothering or being bothered by.

However combat itself, is a flexible term. You are probably thinking personal physical combat, but this system also covers magical combat of wizards and curses, mental combat between two psychic characters, spiritual combat between two souls, social combat taking the form of arguments, mass combat featuring entire armies, mastermind combat, a battleground of espionage, politics and deception, god combat where deities dual across reality itself, and even time combat where two people battle by changing history itself.

Better yet, multiple forms of combat can take place in a game at the same time, for no conflict was always about blood and blades. There is more to how people fight against each other than just plain killing and fighting. To truly succeed, one must argue, fight, maneuver and do anything to achieve their goals. The world is a battleground, but not all battlegrounds are readily apparent.

However there is mercy in this system. You can choose to be whatever you want, within reason, and you can choose whatever game you want to play. Whether your in a comedic campaign where a rubbermancer wizard stops a nuclear weapon from exploding by persuading it that there are things worth living for and that it should start worshiping the Holy Palm Tree, in an epic campaign where you block a lightning bolt from a god with your bare hands, a modern campaign where your a police man trying to arrest a mobster, or just the classic bunch of adventurers trying to slay a dragon, this system is all encompassing.

"How" You ask, "Can you accomplish all this?" I answer through the very simple modification from many of the RPG's out there that allows such flexibility and diversity.
Instead hit points like in most systems, the RRARG system has Injury Points, representing the amount of injuries you can withstand before dying.

You see, instead of the hundreds or even thousands of hit points like in most systems, Injury Points are limited and will rarely go into the double digits- the highest amount of Injury Points you are likely to ever see is 10. This is because people can't really withstand a lot of injuries- one or two injuries are enough to cripple someone for life, people with 4 or 5 are probably already dead.
The definition of injury is also flexible- an injury can be a severed hand, losing your cavalry forces, taking a big hit to your reputation, losing a large amount of worshipers, losing some of your memories, your soul getting damaged or you plans being derailed, all of which depends upon what kind of combat you are in.

Injuries as you can tell are relative to the situation, which is what allows such diversity, hit points were too objective and grew too large. Injury Points are adaptable to the kind of character you are playing and what scale and situation you are playing on, so go ahead, play what you want.....just be prepared for the worst and trust in luck, cause if you fail, you fail got it? Nothing is going to save you but yourself.

Injury Points
Injury Points: The center of the RRARG system.
Very simply it is obvious: how many points you have are the number of injuries you can withstand before dying. every time you lose an injury, you gain an injury that affects how you fight from then on.

There three settings for player injury points:
Merciless: 1 Injury Point (For running horror games of course)
Standard: 4 Injury Points
Merciful: 6 Injury Points (If you want a more heroic or more light-hearted game)

As above, the standard game is 4 injury points for each player. That means if you get hit four times, you die and can have as many as three injuries while still being alive.

It is assumed that most of your enemies will have four injury points as well, though weaker enemies might have three or two and tougher enemies might have five or six, enemies with one injury point are generally those weakling type of people you are just supposed to blast through like paper and are more suited for Merciful games- however even a lucky injury one enemy can get a hit in and ruin your day with an inconvenient injury you can do without, you can't underestimate anything here, not even the weakest foes you face.

The injury system as I've said before, is flexible. An argument can have injury points which you have to defeat by disproving enough points and making a good enough counter-argument, a security system can have injury points which you have to deal by dismantling or bypassing the various securities in it. A mission with multiple objectives can have injury points, a mystery you have to solve by finding clues has injury points,
an elaborate quest has injury points- for example any game-spanning quest made by Bioware.

Furthermore, injury points are relative- if you a barbarian with a sword going up against a dragon, you probably have four injury points and the dragon seven or eight.
If YOU are the dragon, you probably have four injury points and the barbarian one injury point- this is because if you are in a game about being a dragon slayer it is more about you killing the dragon being a hero. If the game is about being the dragon itself, the barbarian isn't that important in comparison because you are a dragon, you are more powerful and have greater enemies to face than some savage with a blade.

Therefore injury points do not actually measure health- they measure what is important and how many important things you have before things fail.

Furthermore combat itself plays out like you think it will- as more injuries are accumulated, the more disadvantages are accumulated as well, the person with more injury points is the one winning. There will be a way to gain more injury points through the skill system, but this in turn means you will gain more disadvantages than someone with normal injury points, so it might actually be a good idea not to have more injury points, as this means you have more injuries to drag you down and make combat harder for you once you get them. A guy with eight injuries is in far worse shape than a guy with three, even if they both only have one injury point, meaning the guy who only has 4 injury points total has the advantage in that situation. and of course the guy with only injury point to start with has a definite advantage over both.

The Injury Points therefore emphasize you not to get hit in the first place, this is not hit points allowing you to take some damage while you dish out more, go in with that attitude without the proper defenses and your character is suddenly dead.
How Combat Works


I want Combat to remain simple. Simple, short and deadly. Since the entire system is based around combat, that means the entire system is simple

The entire system will use only one die- a D20. Nothing else.

At the start of combat everyone rolls a D20 to see which order we go in, no bonuses unless an Ability allows it. Pure chance.

During your turn you can do anything you wish- however whether you succeed or not depends on:
what you roll
plus your score in the skill the roll is using ( Example:any action involving martial arts requires a Martial arts roll)
plus your Attribute Bonus in the attribute that governs that skill (Example: Martial Arts is governed by the Body Attribute)

If you attack, you make an Attack roll which is basically the same thing, but the opponent always gets a Defense Roll, which is what they roll plus the kill they using to defend themselves plus their attribute bonus as well.

These are the possible results:
If the Attack Roll's result is higher than the Defense Roll's Result, the defender is dealt an injury.
If the Defense Roll result is higher than the Attack Roll's result, the defender has successfully defended themselves.
If the Attack Roll is a Critical Success but the Defense Roll isn't it deals two injuries rather than one to the defender
If the Defense Roll is a Critical Success, but the Attack Roll isn't the defender counter-attacks and deals one injury to the attacker.
If both get a Critical Success both are dealt one injury point.

There are various things that modify how combat works:

Abilities- generally in a positive way
Injuries- generally in a negative way
Environmental Hazards/ Obstacles- generally in a tactical way. but can be both negative and positive.
Skill and Abilities System
Ok, now to get around to the fun part of the system.

Basically, everyone has Skills and these Skills give access to Abilities if you Skill is high enough.
The max rank you can have in a Skill is 5, to keep things simple.

Rank 1- Average level of skill
Rank 2- Adept level of skill
Rank 3- Expert level of skill
Rank 4- Elite level of skill
Rank 5- Best of the Best, few equals you in this skill

Skills are divided into three Attributes: Mind Skills, Body Skills and Spirit Skills.

Abilities can only be acquired by spending your points in these skills, the power of the Ability depends upon how high the rank of the skill requirement is and how many skills are required.

Example: an Ability requiring Strength 3, Stamina 3 and Magic 2 is gonna be a lot more powerful than an Ability only requiring say, Martial Arts 1 or Science 2.

At character creation you get 25 points to spend on skills and 10 Abilities to start out with.
The Three Attributes: Mind, Body, Soul
There are three Attribute as it says in the title.

Mind, which governs all the skills requiring your rational brain
Body, which governs all the skills requiring a lot of physical activity
Soul, which governs all the skills requiring faith, intuition or magic.

At character creation you decide which Attribute is your Best, Average and Worst Attribute

Best Attribute: You gain a +3 Attribute Bonus to all skill rolls governed by this Attribute
Average Attribute: You gain a +2 Attribute Bonus to all skill rolls governed by this Attribute
Worst Attribute: You gain a +1 Attribute Bonus to all skill rolls governed by this Attribute.

When using an Ability with multiple skill requirements in different Attributes, you always go with the highest Attribute Bonus among them.

This Attribute system allows you to be best in one area while still allowing you to branch out to others. It allows for a lot of flexibility in developing your character.
The Recharge Rate
Now see, abilities cannot be used every single turn. Sure that would be cool, but some might too powerful to use every turn.

So there must be a cost, a way to balance the power of some abilities.

So I've come up with the Recharge Rate, namely the number of turns you have to wait until you can use the ability again.

Continuous: This ability is ongoing
0: You can use this ability every turn
1: You can use this ability every other turn
2: You can use this ability after two turns pass
3: You can use this ability after three turns pass
and so on and so forth

Keep in mind that there are Abilities that can modify recharge rates and can make all the difference in battle.
Turn System


In most RP's, there is a turn system where people do stuff then wait for everyone else to do stuff then do stuff again, not in RRARG.

Instead there is the Energy Point Turn System.

It is simple: everyone has 5 energy points, which they spend as they see fit on their Turn on actions. Most actions either cost 1 or 2 energy points. You can end your turn any time you like; you could spend all your energy points which automatically ends your turn, choose to end your turn after spending a couple of energy points, or not do anything at all and conserve your energy points.

Now see, your energy points do not automatically fill up when it is your turn again. Instead at the start of every person's turn after that you gain one energy point until it is your turn again or until you have maximum energy points.

The twist? You can spend your energy points any time you like, including on other peoples turns. Meaning, that if you say, spend 4 energy points on your turn, let your two teammates spend their energy points where to turns pass by and you gain back 2 energy points, you can say, on your third teammates turn, spend your 3 energy points to do a few actions while your teammates does a few actions.

In short, I have cut up Turns into pieces, it is perfectly ok in this system for people to wait just until they have enough energy points to do things on other peoples turns rather having to wait until its full again, in fact its encouraged: its less linear and if done right can be a great simulation of actual chaotic combat with a whole of different things going on at once.

List of Actions and their Energy Point costs:
Running: 1
Jumping: 2
Putting on Armor: 1
Drawing a Weapon: 1
Attacking: 1
Lifting: 2
Sprinting: 2
Spellcasting: Depends on the spell being cast
Carrying: 1

and so and so forth, I'll update it later.
Abilities
For every skill, there are abilities you gain from them.

This is the registry for those abilities, anyone can post up an ability for the RRARG system, it can be for a specific character for just a general ability.

List of skills:

Physical skills:
Strength -melee combat and raw muscle power
Ranged - ranged combat
Stamina - health and resilience
Dexterity - agility and speed
Martial Arts - discipline in specific forms of fighting
Cybernetics - how well you can use cybernetic systems installed into your body

Mental skills:
Science - your knowledge of the universe's underlying laws
Analysis - ability to puzzle and figure things out
Technology - your ability to work on and operate tech
Willpower - mental resilience and strength
Psychic - your ability to affect the world with your mind
Strategy - planning and scheming
Economics - how good you are at manipulating resources
Piloting - how good you are at operating vehicles
Knowledge - general information.

Spiritual Skills:
Luck - how lucky you are
Faith - how much faith you have
Magic - how good you are at the universe's magic
Intuition - figuring stuff out by pure instinct
Persuasion - self explanatory
Deception - lying and general trickery
Art - performing, painting drawing and general forms of self-expression

please tell me if I've left anything out, I will add it or explain how its already there.

Ability Format:

Name of Ability: (self explanatory)
Ability Requirements: (how much points in skills you need to do this, as well as other stuff if needed)
Ability Recharge Rate: (how much turns you need to wait until you can use it again)
Ability Description: (what it does)


Injuries
The RRARG System also has injuries that hamper and hinder people.

This is the list of the many types of injuries:
Physical
Mental
Spiritual
Moral
Morale -applies mostly to armies
Political
Economic
Religious - applies mostly to gods
Magical
Strategical

Please let me know if there any kind of injuries I missed, I'll either add it for explain how its already there.

Injury Format:

Name of Injury:
Type of Injury:
Injury Description:



Please, let me know if there is anything I can do to improve the system, or just tell me what you think.