Machinekng
2012-09-22, 10:34 PM
This thread is a reboot/revamp of my unfinished Dracul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225878) RPG. I've come back to it recently, and I've come up with a lot of new ideas, enough ideas to warrant a complete re-write.
Changes in Design Goals: My original desire was to create a rules-lite game with minimal number work for the DM. I've relaxed the rules-lite aspect a bit, focusing on giving the characters interesting options. It's still important, but it's no longer paramount. I also now seek to make the system more universal, so that it can be used outside of the given setting
1. Introductions, Table of Contents, and Character Creation
Introduction
November 13, 1878.
It is a cold, rainy night. A large cargo ship is found derelict on the Sussex beach. The crew is unaccounted for, although scatterings of cloth and what looks suspiciously like blood is littered throughout the ship. The cargo hold is filled with hundreds of various crates and cages, all empty. The ship manifests suggests that the cargo has come in part from every continent in the world.
Documents found on the ship suggest the cargo's owner.
A certain Mr. Dracul...
Core Mechanic
Dracul's core mechanic is the Challenge roll of the 2d10. A Challenge is any action that can possibly result in a harmful impact on the character or his allies, and is associated with a Discipline. To perform a challenge, the player rolls a 2d10. If the roll is equal to or below the Discipline rank, the action succeeds. Only the player characters roll dice. GM run characters and other factors modify player rolls.
Note: A d10 has 0-9 on it. In Dracul, the zero is treated as a 0, rather than a 10, as it is in D&D.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction, Table of Contents, and Character Creation
2. Challenges and Experience
3. Combat, Challenge Sets, and Tracks
4. Talents
5. NPCs and Monsters
6. Monster Catalogue
7. The World of Dracul
8.*Reserved*
Character Creation
In Dracul, a character is defined by five Spheres, each containing four Disciplines that make up that Sphere. A character can also acquire Talents that are associated with a given Sphere or Discipline. The Physical Sphere represents the character’s body, both its inherent strength and the character’s ability to push it to its limits. The Finesse Sphere represents the character’s fine motor skills and coordination. The Intellectual Sphere represents a character’s knowledge, what the character has learned and how to apply it. The Social Sphere represents the character’s charisma and ability to interact with others. The Mental Sphere represents the character’s reasoning skills and mental prowess.
Characters recieve a certain amount of points for character creation, and can spend their points on either Disciplines or Talents
Disciplines represent a character’s specific skill set, what the character can do. Characters invest points in Disciplines at creation, and can later improve their disciplines as they acquire experience. A character possesses between 0 and 18 points in any given discipline.
Talents represent extraordinary abilities a character possesses. Talents give new uses for Disciplines, offer a new Discipline or Subdiscipline to invest in, or give unique abilities. Some talents could represent a character’s monstrous heritage or magical ability, although characters with these talents are rare, and such abilities carry dire risks. Each talent has its own point cost.
Disciplines
Physical Disciplines
Athletics: Athletics represent's a character's physical condition and quickness. Athletics can be used to chase down an opponent, flee from one, and to perform other athletic feats. A character with low Athletics may be plodding and overweight. A character with high Athletics is fleet of foot and strong of arm.
Melee: Melee represents a character's talent for up close and personal fighting. Melee can be used for fist-fighting, using a sword, and for any other method of close-quarters fighting. A character with low Melee will hurt himself if he keeps swinging that sword around. A character with high Melee can go toe to toe with a monster, and win too.
Resilience: Resilience represents a character's pain threshold and endurance. Resilience can be used to shrug off wounds, resist the affects of poisons and diseases, or to resist some other physical effect. A character with low Resilience may be frail and sickly. A character with high Resilience can take a bullet without more than a grimace and can weather harsh environments
Vigor: Vigor represents a character’s ability to push his body to its limits. Vigor can be used to ignore pain and exhaustion, gain a surge of strength, and to reach the body’s potential in other ways. A character with low Vigor can tire quickly. A character with high Vigor can tap into reserves of strength to perform feats that stretch the bounds of human ability.
Finesse Disciplines
Evasion: Evasion represents a character's talent for dodging hazards and attacks. Evasion can be used to dodge a monster’s blow, to avoid activating a trap, and to evade other hazards. A character with low Evasion has a slow reaction time and may be somewhat clumsy. A character with high Evasion can quickly reaction to situations and can dodge and duck blows with ease.
Precision: Precision represents a character's talent for combat at range. Precision can be used to fight with a gun, a crossbow, or any other method of ranged combat. A character with low Precision has trouble hitting a can off a fence. A character with high precision can shoot the gun out of a man's hand and a sparrow from out of the sky.
Sleight of Hand: Sleight of Hand represent’s a character’s hand-eye coordination and dexterity. Sleight of Hand can be used to pick locks and pockets, slip documents into a pocket, or to do other minor tasks which require quick hands. A character with low Sleight of Hands may have “butter-fingers” or shaky hands. A character with high Sleight of Hands, could steal the nose off your face without you noticing.
Stealth: Stealth represents a character's ability to blend with the shadows and avoid being seen or heard. Stealth can be used to hide in the alley to avoid the cops, to sneak past a monster’s minions, or to excel at any other task where being unseen is a necessity. A character with low Stealth just stands out even more when he tries to blend in. A character with high Stealth can easily avoid conventional detection, and can even slip past some monsters.
Social Disciplines
Connection: Connection represent's a character's social connections and prestige. A character with low Connection is a nobody and has few associates outside side of the party. A character with high Connection is a notable figure, and has friends in high and low places.
Deception: Deception represents a character's ability to deceive others. Deception can be used to lie to others, to use innuendo to pass on secret messages, and other to deceive others in other ways. A character with low Deception is transparent and cannot tell a lie. A character with high Deception can easily run a con and can get away with lying to the authorities.
Mingle: Mingle represents a character’s ability to integrate oneself into a group or crowd. Mingle can be used to eavesdrop on others’ conversations, to blend into a crowd, and for other situations where it’s important to not stand out. A character with low Mingle stands out like a sore thumb in any crowd, and will just get awkward looks if he tries to join a conversation. A character with high Mingle can quickly and easily make himself “one of the guys” or disappear into a crowed area.
Persuasion: Persuasion represents a character's ability to get others to do what he wants. Persuasion can be used to convince someone of the correctness of your argument, to intimidate someone into letting you by, or to convince another in some other fashion. A character with low Persuasion has trouble staying coherent in a heated argument. A character with high Persuasion has a silver tongue and is an excellent orator.
Intellectual Disciplines
Lore: Lore represent's a character's knowledge of legendary creatures and the occult. Lore can be used to identify a monster’s origin, its weakness, or some other fact regarding the things of myth. A character with low Lore may be naive and ignorant in relation to the things that go bump in the night. A character with high Lore knows what he's doing when he comes face to face with monsters.
Mechanics: Mechanics represents a character's affinity for machines and similar technology. Mechanics can be used to disable a mechanical trap, to repair a machine or rig it to explode, or to interact with machines in other ways. A character with low Mechanics has no clue how that thing does. A character with high Mechanics can fix it up and then explain it to you.
Medicine: Medicine represents a character's knowledge of physiology and his ability to treat injuries. Medicine can be used to identify poisons, to apply first aid, or to heal or assist others in various ways. A character with low Medicine has trouble remembering how to bandage a wound, and can easily do more harm than good. A character with high Medicine can fix you up in a jiffy.
Science: Science represents a character's understanding of the natural sciences. Science can be used to create chemical compounds, to calculate physics equations, and to perform other applications of the sciences. A character with low Science doesn't quite get why things work like they do. A character with high Science is up to date on the latest scientific breakthroughs and can apply scientific knowledge to practical situations.
Mental Disciplines
Intuition: Intuition represent’s a character’s deductive reasoning and empathy. Intuition can be used to tell when someone is lying, to piece together various clues, and for similar tasks. A character with low Intuition may be gullible or have poor situational awareness. A character with high Intuition can read people like a book, and can make deductions that would make Sherlock Holmes proud.
Perception: Perception represents a character's awareness and sense perception. Perception can be used to spot a hiding monster, to detect the presence of an explosive gas, or to sense other factors. A character with low Perception may miss something right in front of him. A character with high Perception has an eye for detail.
Research: Research represents a character's ability to track down and disseminate relevant information. Research can be used to search a library for a particular occult book, to gain useful information from records, or for other research tasks. A character with low Research may have trouble searching a library for the right book. A character with high Research can find and interpret cryptic clues and riddles.
Willpower: Willpower represents a character's ability to resist supernatural enchantments and to overcome baser instincts. Willpower can be used to resist a monster’s hypnotic gaze, to overcome fear, or to defy other mental pressures. A character with low Willpower has a difficult time resisting simple temptations, much less supernatural ones. A character with high Willpower can overcome his fear and can stare down the monsters he faces.
Changes in Design Goals: My original desire was to create a rules-lite game with minimal number work for the DM. I've relaxed the rules-lite aspect a bit, focusing on giving the characters interesting options. It's still important, but it's no longer paramount. I also now seek to make the system more universal, so that it can be used outside of the given setting
1. Introductions, Table of Contents, and Character Creation
Introduction
November 13, 1878.
It is a cold, rainy night. A large cargo ship is found derelict on the Sussex beach. The crew is unaccounted for, although scatterings of cloth and what looks suspiciously like blood is littered throughout the ship. The cargo hold is filled with hundreds of various crates and cages, all empty. The ship manifests suggests that the cargo has come in part from every continent in the world.
Documents found on the ship suggest the cargo's owner.
A certain Mr. Dracul...
Core Mechanic
Dracul's core mechanic is the Challenge roll of the 2d10. A Challenge is any action that can possibly result in a harmful impact on the character or his allies, and is associated with a Discipline. To perform a challenge, the player rolls a 2d10. If the roll is equal to or below the Discipline rank, the action succeeds. Only the player characters roll dice. GM run characters and other factors modify player rolls.
Note: A d10 has 0-9 on it. In Dracul, the zero is treated as a 0, rather than a 10, as it is in D&D.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction, Table of Contents, and Character Creation
2. Challenges and Experience
3. Combat, Challenge Sets, and Tracks
4. Talents
5. NPCs and Monsters
6. Monster Catalogue
7. The World of Dracul
8.*Reserved*
Character Creation
In Dracul, a character is defined by five Spheres, each containing four Disciplines that make up that Sphere. A character can also acquire Talents that are associated with a given Sphere or Discipline. The Physical Sphere represents the character’s body, both its inherent strength and the character’s ability to push it to its limits. The Finesse Sphere represents the character’s fine motor skills and coordination. The Intellectual Sphere represents a character’s knowledge, what the character has learned and how to apply it. The Social Sphere represents the character’s charisma and ability to interact with others. The Mental Sphere represents the character’s reasoning skills and mental prowess.
Characters recieve a certain amount of points for character creation, and can spend their points on either Disciplines or Talents
Disciplines represent a character’s specific skill set, what the character can do. Characters invest points in Disciplines at creation, and can later improve their disciplines as they acquire experience. A character possesses between 0 and 18 points in any given discipline.
Talents represent extraordinary abilities a character possesses. Talents give new uses for Disciplines, offer a new Discipline or Subdiscipline to invest in, or give unique abilities. Some talents could represent a character’s monstrous heritage or magical ability, although characters with these talents are rare, and such abilities carry dire risks. Each talent has its own point cost.
Disciplines
Physical Disciplines
Athletics: Athletics represent's a character's physical condition and quickness. Athletics can be used to chase down an opponent, flee from one, and to perform other athletic feats. A character with low Athletics may be plodding and overweight. A character with high Athletics is fleet of foot and strong of arm.
Melee: Melee represents a character's talent for up close and personal fighting. Melee can be used for fist-fighting, using a sword, and for any other method of close-quarters fighting. A character with low Melee will hurt himself if he keeps swinging that sword around. A character with high Melee can go toe to toe with a monster, and win too.
Resilience: Resilience represents a character's pain threshold and endurance. Resilience can be used to shrug off wounds, resist the affects of poisons and diseases, or to resist some other physical effect. A character with low Resilience may be frail and sickly. A character with high Resilience can take a bullet without more than a grimace and can weather harsh environments
Vigor: Vigor represents a character’s ability to push his body to its limits. Vigor can be used to ignore pain and exhaustion, gain a surge of strength, and to reach the body’s potential in other ways. A character with low Vigor can tire quickly. A character with high Vigor can tap into reserves of strength to perform feats that stretch the bounds of human ability.
Finesse Disciplines
Evasion: Evasion represents a character's talent for dodging hazards and attacks. Evasion can be used to dodge a monster’s blow, to avoid activating a trap, and to evade other hazards. A character with low Evasion has a slow reaction time and may be somewhat clumsy. A character with high Evasion can quickly reaction to situations and can dodge and duck blows with ease.
Precision: Precision represents a character's talent for combat at range. Precision can be used to fight with a gun, a crossbow, or any other method of ranged combat. A character with low Precision has trouble hitting a can off a fence. A character with high precision can shoot the gun out of a man's hand and a sparrow from out of the sky.
Sleight of Hand: Sleight of Hand represent’s a character’s hand-eye coordination and dexterity. Sleight of Hand can be used to pick locks and pockets, slip documents into a pocket, or to do other minor tasks which require quick hands. A character with low Sleight of Hands may have “butter-fingers” or shaky hands. A character with high Sleight of Hands, could steal the nose off your face without you noticing.
Stealth: Stealth represents a character's ability to blend with the shadows and avoid being seen or heard. Stealth can be used to hide in the alley to avoid the cops, to sneak past a monster’s minions, or to excel at any other task where being unseen is a necessity. A character with low Stealth just stands out even more when he tries to blend in. A character with high Stealth can easily avoid conventional detection, and can even slip past some monsters.
Social Disciplines
Connection: Connection represent's a character's social connections and prestige. A character with low Connection is a nobody and has few associates outside side of the party. A character with high Connection is a notable figure, and has friends in high and low places.
Deception: Deception represents a character's ability to deceive others. Deception can be used to lie to others, to use innuendo to pass on secret messages, and other to deceive others in other ways. A character with low Deception is transparent and cannot tell a lie. A character with high Deception can easily run a con and can get away with lying to the authorities.
Mingle: Mingle represents a character’s ability to integrate oneself into a group or crowd. Mingle can be used to eavesdrop on others’ conversations, to blend into a crowd, and for other situations where it’s important to not stand out. A character with low Mingle stands out like a sore thumb in any crowd, and will just get awkward looks if he tries to join a conversation. A character with high Mingle can quickly and easily make himself “one of the guys” or disappear into a crowed area.
Persuasion: Persuasion represents a character's ability to get others to do what he wants. Persuasion can be used to convince someone of the correctness of your argument, to intimidate someone into letting you by, or to convince another in some other fashion. A character with low Persuasion has trouble staying coherent in a heated argument. A character with high Persuasion has a silver tongue and is an excellent orator.
Intellectual Disciplines
Lore: Lore represent's a character's knowledge of legendary creatures and the occult. Lore can be used to identify a monster’s origin, its weakness, or some other fact regarding the things of myth. A character with low Lore may be naive and ignorant in relation to the things that go bump in the night. A character with high Lore knows what he's doing when he comes face to face with monsters.
Mechanics: Mechanics represents a character's affinity for machines and similar technology. Mechanics can be used to disable a mechanical trap, to repair a machine or rig it to explode, or to interact with machines in other ways. A character with low Mechanics has no clue how that thing does. A character with high Mechanics can fix it up and then explain it to you.
Medicine: Medicine represents a character's knowledge of physiology and his ability to treat injuries. Medicine can be used to identify poisons, to apply first aid, or to heal or assist others in various ways. A character with low Medicine has trouble remembering how to bandage a wound, and can easily do more harm than good. A character with high Medicine can fix you up in a jiffy.
Science: Science represents a character's understanding of the natural sciences. Science can be used to create chemical compounds, to calculate physics equations, and to perform other applications of the sciences. A character with low Science doesn't quite get why things work like they do. A character with high Science is up to date on the latest scientific breakthroughs and can apply scientific knowledge to practical situations.
Mental Disciplines
Intuition: Intuition represent’s a character’s deductive reasoning and empathy. Intuition can be used to tell when someone is lying, to piece together various clues, and for similar tasks. A character with low Intuition may be gullible or have poor situational awareness. A character with high Intuition can read people like a book, and can make deductions that would make Sherlock Holmes proud.
Perception: Perception represents a character's awareness and sense perception. Perception can be used to spot a hiding monster, to detect the presence of an explosive gas, or to sense other factors. A character with low Perception may miss something right in front of him. A character with high Perception has an eye for detail.
Research: Research represents a character's ability to track down and disseminate relevant information. Research can be used to search a library for a particular occult book, to gain useful information from records, or for other research tasks. A character with low Research may have trouble searching a library for the right book. A character with high Research can find and interpret cryptic clues and riddles.
Willpower: Willpower represents a character's ability to resist supernatural enchantments and to overcome baser instincts. Willpower can be used to resist a monster’s hypnotic gaze, to overcome fear, or to defy other mental pressures. A character with low Willpower has a difficult time resisting simple temptations, much less supernatural ones. A character with high Willpower can overcome his fear and can stare down the monsters he faces.