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View Full Version : Roads and Ruins, A homebrew system



DarkLightHitomi
2013-10-31, 02:52 AM
RnR is a system I've been working on for a long time, but have had trouble getting test players and feedback.

The basic roll, a d12 luck die, a die based on an attribute, a die based on skill, and sometimes a specialization die and/or a circumstances die.

With both attributes and skills having an average of d4, this system gives a similar number range as d20, yet the attributes have greater effect, and it has a bell curve so less likely to get a novice level roll after a masterpiece roll.

Almost all rolls are the core roll. There are no hp instead roll a fort save minus cumulative "wounds" failure drops you down a condition track, success gives you one wound.

There are no classes (as they are the bane of my existance) instead this is a skill based system.

Advancement is by rolling after each encounter for each skill used. If the roll is high enough you gain an advancement point, with enough of those the skill increases the die size. The difficulty of skill use determines the size of the die rolled to gain points.

Some feats can improve the same way, these are called abilities. I.e. two weapon fighting is an ability rather than a feat series, and asit improves, your ability to use two weapons increases.

The attributes are,
Strength, physical strength and body "buffness"
Agility, flexibility and speed
Constitution, the physical ability to heal and resist diseases and poisons etc

Intellect, logic and memory
Creativity, problem solving and nonlogical thought
Awareness, awareness of self and surroundings

Power, strength of aura and energy level
Aura, size and reach of aura
Charisma, social graces and ability

This is just the basics. What does everyone think?

I love questions so feel free. I have much additional info such as saves, magic, technology, etc that I can add later.

D-naras
2013-10-31, 06:09 AM
So you roll at least 3 dice at all times? Is the circumstance die only for additions, or is it used for penalties too?
I don't particularly like the advancement method because it is luck based and can lead to unsatisfying playing experiences. May I suggest giving regular xp and using your rolling method as a way to get some bonus xp at the end of the session? Say, at the end of the session give 5 xp, and then have each player roll a few skills that he used in session. For each success, grant them 1 bonus xp to be used on the chosen skill. This way you promote regular advancement for all players but still keep the excitement of dice rolling.
What do auras do in your game? Are they a supernatural thing, or a character's social air?

Edit: What happens when I roll an untrained skill? Do I not get a skill die? Or is d4 the untrained value? How many values are there? d4 untrained, d6 trained, d8 even more trained and so on? You really need to give more info.

Just to Browse
2013-10-31, 06:11 AM
You probably are having trouble with feedback because you haven't fully described the system. What you've posted here is a bunch of names in blocks, plus a hazy action resolution system.

I don't know what your skills do, I don't know how the rolls interact with skills, I don't know why I need 9 stats (or what to do with each), I don't even know what kind of setting this is designed for.

Write it out, then post it, but right now you have a potentially non-existent Schroedinger's Game Engine, so of course people aren't going to be interested.

Chronologist
2013-10-31, 06:27 AM
You should probably post a more complete system before asking for a critique. As it is, it's an interesting premise but when it's described so generally it's hard to give meaningful feedback.

Here's one question I CAN ask based on what you've told us - why use different dice sides for different attributes? From what I can tell you're aiming for something around 1d12+2d4 plus or minus another die. I assume that as attributes increase, their die side also increases (and the same with skills).

Why not just roll 1d12+2d6 and have attributes give a plus or minus to the result? 1d6+1 is approximately equivalent to 1d8, and you yourself state that you're aiming for a bell curve so as to avoid the extreme swingyness that is the d20. Plus, if you use mainly d6 instead of a variable set of dice, you'll speed up the rolling process and make it easier for people to get into the game. I'd even remove the d12 and replace it with 2d6 - how many d12s do you see lying around in board game boxes?

Anyway, that's just my initial reaction to the system as proposed. I'd love to check it out again when it's at a more completed stage.

DarkLightHitomi
2013-10-31, 07:44 AM
Comments, useful comments! Im in heaven.

Being new to this site, is editing the op post a good way to fill in that missing info or should I always make a new post?

Ill answer the questions here for now since Im about to sleep. Please note, that I have asbergers so what is obvious to me is not always obvious so it is kinda hard to know what Im missing till people ask.

- Circumstance dice can be either positive or negative.

-I saw random advancement in another game and thought it might add another chance for suspension, even in non combat encounters, though I could go either way, but advancing at a different pace based on difficulty has a larger impact without the randomness.

-Auras usually power the special abilities both magic and social. The aura stat generally affects the range of certain powers, while power affects how exhausting useing abilities is.

-rolling an untrained skill, you just roll without a skill die. Skills come as natural (like perception) or learned (like knowledge). Natural skills advance to the second die size much faster.

The die steps are all even numbers starting at zero. d0, d2, d4, d6, etc.
The exception is that attributes will be reduced to d1 before d0.
The can keep on increaseing indefinately, however the cost is exponential. Standard humans should never get beyond a d10 unless you are going for a high powered game.

In fact if Einstien was made in these terms his intellect, knowledge (science), and speciality (science[physics]) dice would all be d8s. Thus making dc36-40 the maximum achievable by mundane modern humans. This was intended to match d20, since many are familiar with it.

-the skills do almost everything, from attacking and defending, to spellcasting, to diplomacy.

- There are nine stats, but there are almost no derived stats, so there is actually less to track. The nine stats also made more sense to me.

-I didnt design this for a specific setting. Like d20 has various settings all using the same base ruleset, this is suppossed to be a base ruleset that I can tweak for different settings at need.

-I decided to use different die sizes because I was inspired while compiling things I liked about d20 and savage worlds. I liked how d20 rolled a single number that could be used to not only compare to a single but that it could be used easily for /how/ much one succeeded or failed, but savage worlds used the different die sizes which I thought was cool and added variety instead of just always the same dice all the time. I also liked the 3d6 varient rule for a bellcurve, so I put them together, three dice of different sizes for a single result on a bell curve.

-I chose to use a d12 as luck for two reasons, first, because using d4s as average gave me more die sizes to improve before needing to start rolling multiple die per stat and I wanted the dcs to match d20, and second, because I have a pair of d12s that I never get to use but they are my favorite dice, and since d12s come in every variety set (which most anyone who uses more then just d6s will have at least one set), it was a safe choice.

-I also wanted to minimize how many static numbers I have floating around. In fact you only get one circumstance die. All bonuses or penalties affect how big it is. Therefore you should never roll more then five dice. As for speeding up dice rolling, I have the players roll all the dice against the npcs averaged static numbers. This is similar to what d20 did, only instead of splitting by stats which got averaged I splitby player / gm.


Note, I have far more completed game then this, but I only have a nook (no c&p) and rarely get to see a real computer to actually type anything. Besides I figured Id see what was thought about the base concept before moving on to details, though it seems I should have started with details. :)

DarkLightHitomi
2013-11-01, 05:10 AM
Those who made comments, I thank thee greatly.

Since there isnt much to say on the base concept, Ill update my site with the last few months of work, but it could be awhile before I get the chance, since I have to go to the library to access an actual computer (all I have myself is a nook, so no c&p, a slow to use keyboard, difficult and inaccurate cursor placement, and no google docs or similar advanced sites work, etc)

I'll post a link here when I have accomplished such. In the meantime, if you have specific questions, Ill be delighted to answer them, and if you want to post things you like or dislike about something found in rpgs that you would want added or changed in whatever system, let me know what it is.

I am generally thinking along the lines of conceptual things as most useful, but pet peeves are always good to be avoided, or if you love how some system handled a specific problem is good to learn from.