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View Full Version : Idea for a Homebrew RPG - [WARNING: Might contain eldritch abominations]



Coplantor
2011-01-26, 08:45 PM
I'm constantly thinking about possible settings, modifications to different games as well as homebrews and houserules. Today I was thinking about the Cthulhu Mythos and the RPG's thye've inspired, I always wanted to play a medieval fantasy game heavily influenced by Lovecraft. Instead of dragons and ogres, abominations from beyond and strange creepers from under the sea and great heroes almost pointlessly fighting these beings.

But then, I thought about the old "he who fights monsters" situation, and characters going insane reminded me of the ending quote from Shutter Island.

Now I want to develop a game in which the three most important stats to keep playing are:

Health: Just like in any other RPG that involves combat, it measures how much punishment you can take before fainting or bleeding to death.

Sanity: Key piece for a Lovecraft inspired game. Being unharmed means nothing if cant stop cowering or seeing things that are not there.

And my own adition:
Taint: Some monsters are tougher than others, and might require supernatural methods to defeat, and those methods will leave a stain in your soul as they will make you less human. As the Taint grows stronger in you, you loose your humanity and you slowly become the very thing you hunt.

If you are lucky, you die before becoming a monster, with just a little luck you might go insane and never realize that you are an abomination. But the unlucky few that lives long enough to become an aberration and keep their sanity intact will live a life of torment, being rejected or hunted for the rest of their days until they either die or accept what they are and become another threat for humanity.

Basically, each one of those stats would be derivated from the Major Atributes: Body, Mind and Soul
And so will the skills, body for physical activities, mind for knowledge and intuition related tasks and soul for will and magic.

As of right now, I'm trying to come up with a die mechanic for the game, I think I prefer something similar to d20. Roll, apply modifiers, compare to target DC, but maybe using 3d6 instead of d20, even the big heroes of this world shouldn't be as epic and larger than life than the DnD heroes, so having a clearer average roll would benefit the feeling of the game.

So, my dear homebrewers, fellow players, playgrounders in general, what do you think?

Coplantor
2011-01-28, 09:56 AM
As I was walking to my job today, I dedicated some thoughts to how the combat system could work. Trying to keep it simple I decided to have the attacker roll 3d6 adding relevat modifiers (I'll know which ones I'll implement after I do the math), defender rolls 3d6 adding modifiers.

Compare results, if attacker rolls equal or higher he hits his target, otherwise, he fails.

Damage depends on the number rolled, not on the difference between the attack and defense roll.

Each creature will have a health level and a wound rating. Health level works like HP and you receive penalties to your actions equal to the ammount of HP you are missing, also, once it reaches 0, you die.

Wound rating tells the number that must be rolled in order to make a scratch, flesh wound, serious wond, deadly wound or outright kill you in one hit. The wound penalty also applies to your wound rating so it's easier to make a killing blow on an already wounded creature.

Coplantor
2011-02-03, 12:41 PM
Settingwise, I imagine viking like villages, isolated from most of the world and living in fear of the foul beasts that roam the wilderness. Chosen warriors travel the lands fighting these creatures. Luckily, the stronger ones are ussualy asleep and buried deep in caves.

The weak ones hide during the day and roam during the night they rarelly attack villages, except when it rains. For some reason, rain makes them both stronger and more agressive.

To keep it simple during these first stages, I think I will play test it with only the three basic stats (body, mind and soul). Also, players will have to chose a main concept/trait. You can get a +2 bonus to every roll that the GM considers related to your main trait.

Unrest
2011-02-03, 01:26 PM
<looks around>
<sees no one else raises a hand>
<raises hand>

Uhh, sir, the thing that comes to my mind is... well... what would be the significant traits of such an RPG that would make it stand out? From what I'm hearing now, it would not be mechanics in the least; as a matter of fact, I wouldn't expect them to be. The setting and atmosphere, on the other hand, would. Or rather could.

The point is, what we are looking at here is combining Warhammer and Call of Chtulhu. Even more Warhammer, but more centred on insanity and horror atmosphere, less epic. Still, very close to that very game, at least in the way I always looked at the two settings. It would just be setting the typical Call of Cthulhu game 600 years earlier. And should you actually keep the "chosen warriors roam the land fighting abominations" part, it will be barely recognizable and will add to its typical fantasy-ness more than you would perhaps like...

Restating the main question: what is the pivotal design point that would make it something worth greater interest in it from the gaming community?

Coplantor
2011-02-03, 02:13 PM
<looks around>
<sees no one else raises a hand>
<raises hand>

Uhh, sir, the thing that comes to my mind is... well... what would be the significant traits of such an RPG that would make it stand out? From what I'm hearing now, it would not be mechanics in the least; as a matter of fact, I wouldn't expect them to be. The setting and atmosphere, on the other hand, would. Or rather could.

The point is, what we are looking at here is combining Warhammer and Call of Chtulhu. Even more Warhammer, but more centred on insanity and horror atmosphere, less epic. Still, very close to that very game, at least in the way I always looked at the two settings. It would just be setting the typical Call of Cthulhu game 600 years earlier. And should you actually keep the "chosen warriors roam the land fighting abominations" part, it will be barely recognizable and will add to its typical fantasy-ness more than you would perhaps like...

Restating the main question: what is the pivotal design point that would make it something worth greater interest in it from the gaming community?

Honestly? I dont know, I´m just trying to flesh out an idea I had. Though I want to explore the RP possibilities of having to chose between dying a human or living like a monster.

Once I start stating things up, I want to make encounters difficult for players, so they can either use traditional means to fight them while greatly risking their lives or use shortcuts (magic and rituals) that will make the fight easier at the cost of their humanity.

Not only that would be an inner process of the character, it involves the whole party, what should I do once my friend becomes a monster? Leave hi be? Kill him? For how long will he remain sane and not dangerous?

I aso plan to expand the mechanics, but slowly and after play testing it.