xBlackWolfx
2013-04-12, 08:35 PM
Earlier today my house had a power outage, which left me unable to read any of my pdfs or use my computer in general. I started to consider the idea of memorizing some of my books, but then i thought, why not just make an rpg that requires no books, as in its so simplistic you can easily memorize all the rules, no need for an encyclopedia of monsters and spells, and allows you to whip up characters and monsters rather quickly.
The specific game I've been thinking about all day looks a lot like a contestant for one of those '24-hour rpgs' or something.
In my system, there are no skills, feats, or attributes (at least, in the traditional sense).
Characters have only five (or six, not sure yet) ability scores. They are combat, finesse, magic, charisma, intellect, and maybe profession.
The rules that govern them, are a bit on the complex side.
Combat, finesse, and magic are the three abilities used in combat. You can choose to attack with any of them, or choose any of them to defend against an attack. Combat only applies to melee combat, both offensively and defensively (so you cant use it to protect yourself from a spell or an arrow, unless you have a shield or something).
Combat is involves two characters rolling 2d6+ability score and seeing who gets the higher result (the loser takes damage equal to the difference). In the case of combat vs combat rolls, the winner automatically damages the loser regardless of wheather they were defending or attacking (this doesn't happen with the other abilities). All characters have 10 hit points.
Finesse mostly determines the 'rogue' skills, such as stealth, though it also determines ranged combat. It can be used to dodge attacks, which can be used to avoid some magic spells, ranged attacks, and even melee attacks, though your opponent won't take damage if you win.
Magic can really only be defended against with magic, only area-of-effect spells can be avoided with another ability (in this case, finesse). I'm not sure what spells will be available, right the only options are damage, reduce ability, increase ability, and defend-against-magic. Ability modification will simply involve rolling against a set score and adding to the attribute a number equal to how much you beat the DC by.
I may have a rule that allows multiple enemies to attack one target. The rule is simply the guy with the highest score does the roll, but gets an additional d6 for each person aiding him.
The use of charisma is obvious, and intellect is only used if none of your abilities would aid you in a certain task. It basically represents the character's ability to learn and adapt (though it is also used for knowledge checks).
The profession ability would encompass common skills that players may want to have (such as crafting skills, or riding an animal, infact i was originally going to call this one simply 'crafting'). It will probably be a 'customizable' ability, where the player chooses exactly what it modifies (it may also be possible to select multiple different professions.
Monsters obviously don't have the latter three abilities, infact most won't even have all three of the others (they'll typically only have one or maybe two). Pretty easy to conjure up monsters, decide wheather its a big strong monster, a fast agile monster, or a spell-casting monster, give it a suitable score, and voila!
What do you think? I think it accomplishes the design goal rather well, though it is a bit on the complex side I dont think its beyond easy memorization. Hell, all the rules can easily fit on a single page.
The specific game I've been thinking about all day looks a lot like a contestant for one of those '24-hour rpgs' or something.
In my system, there are no skills, feats, or attributes (at least, in the traditional sense).
Characters have only five (or six, not sure yet) ability scores. They are combat, finesse, magic, charisma, intellect, and maybe profession.
The rules that govern them, are a bit on the complex side.
Combat, finesse, and magic are the three abilities used in combat. You can choose to attack with any of them, or choose any of them to defend against an attack. Combat only applies to melee combat, both offensively and defensively (so you cant use it to protect yourself from a spell or an arrow, unless you have a shield or something).
Combat is involves two characters rolling 2d6+ability score and seeing who gets the higher result (the loser takes damage equal to the difference). In the case of combat vs combat rolls, the winner automatically damages the loser regardless of wheather they were defending or attacking (this doesn't happen with the other abilities). All characters have 10 hit points.
Finesse mostly determines the 'rogue' skills, such as stealth, though it also determines ranged combat. It can be used to dodge attacks, which can be used to avoid some magic spells, ranged attacks, and even melee attacks, though your opponent won't take damage if you win.
Magic can really only be defended against with magic, only area-of-effect spells can be avoided with another ability (in this case, finesse). I'm not sure what spells will be available, right the only options are damage, reduce ability, increase ability, and defend-against-magic. Ability modification will simply involve rolling against a set score and adding to the attribute a number equal to how much you beat the DC by.
I may have a rule that allows multiple enemies to attack one target. The rule is simply the guy with the highest score does the roll, but gets an additional d6 for each person aiding him.
The use of charisma is obvious, and intellect is only used if none of your abilities would aid you in a certain task. It basically represents the character's ability to learn and adapt (though it is also used for knowledge checks).
The profession ability would encompass common skills that players may want to have (such as crafting skills, or riding an animal, infact i was originally going to call this one simply 'crafting'). It will probably be a 'customizable' ability, where the player chooses exactly what it modifies (it may also be possible to select multiple different professions.
Monsters obviously don't have the latter three abilities, infact most won't even have all three of the others (they'll typically only have one or maybe two). Pretty easy to conjure up monsters, decide wheather its a big strong monster, a fast agile monster, or a spell-casting monster, give it a suitable score, and voila!
What do you think? I think it accomplishes the design goal rather well, though it is a bit on the complex side I dont think its beyond easy memorization. Hell, all the rules can easily fit on a single page.