d6/d10 Untitled Generic Fantasy System

[p.d0t]

I had posted this elsewhere, but I was encouraged to post it in a separate thread here.

Basically since the time I picked up Diablo 2 and D&D 3.5, I've been working on this idea of a simplified game that borrows from the spirit of those games and others in the genre.

In the past 6 months I decided to get down to brass tacks and build a mechanical system for the game from the ground up, and here is what I came up with. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MgmYw9acHQ9SbgNk-IbcFXtCeMewc3iQOZxRRLpWCKs/) The game uses only d6s and d10s, featuring 3 "ability" scores and 6 base "classes" and is greatly influenced by 4e D&D.

You'll have to excuse the lack of readability and formatting, as I've been forced to work on a tablet (smaller than the average DVD case) due to my PC's monitor dying. I do plan to work on this in the near future.

Any advice/comments/questions/first impressions would be appreciated.


Revisions I have in mind:

scrapping the 3 defenses and instead using your highest attribute as your Defense stat
shifting Tier levels to higher levels
simplifying equipment, and damage/defense dice based on class rather than equipment
making armor a function of attributes and armaments instead of solely armaments
a simpler damage die increase mechanic
different methods for rolling initiative
alternate dice systems? I have gotten a lot of guff elsewhere for using d6+d10

[Rephath]

Seems to have a lot of arbitrary mechanics to it. You defend with your highest attribute score. So I can outsmart a knife or talk that troll out of squishing me? The stats seem interchangeable. Why not just call them stat 1, stat 2, and stat 3 if they don't correspond to all that much. And using secondary attributes for skills doesn't seem to make sense. How does a high mind score help you in acrobatics?

Your mechanics also have needless complication to them. I'd try to simplify and ask each rule and mechanic to justify itself or be simplified.

Your skill system leaves some stuff out. What about crafting items? What about operating a siege engine, sailing a ship, lifting a heavy weight, seeing how much I can drink before passing out, or using medicine?

Also, why are you playing around with classes and levels? They're arbitrary restrictions that seem to have no place in your game. I'd advise working entirely without them and see if you miss anything.

[p.d0t]

Seems to have a lot of arbitrary mechanics to it. You defend with your highest attribute score. So I can outsmart a knife or talk that troll out of squishing me? The stats seem interchangeable. Why not just call them stat 1, stat 2, and stat 3 if they don't correspond to all that much. And using secondary attributes for skills doesn't seem to make sense. How does a high mind score help you in acrobatics?

Well, the short answer is that attributes always have fluff that explains their mechanical uses, and when you have fewer attributes, their applications and scope become broader. But no one ever agrees with those fluff explanations or thinks they "make sense" anyway, so I did intentionally keep the document strictly mechanical. There's also variations between what an attribute does in or out of combat, but they still make fluff sense. If you'd like I could go into more detail on this sort of thing.



Your mechanics also have needless complication to them. I'd try to simplify and ask each rule and mechanic to justify itself or be simplified.
Can you cite some specific ones that need work?



Your skill system leaves some stuff out. What about crafting items? What about operating a siege engine, sailing a ship, lifting a heavy weight, seeing how much I can drink before passing out, or using medicine?
The system broadly relies on GM fiat and/or Players haggling to shoehorn the skills they want to use towards the purpose they want to use them for. I don't think a greater degree of granularity would add much. If anything, I'd say 13th Age-style backgrounds would cover the disparities you've pointed out, so I might work something like that in.



Also, why are you playing around with classes and levels? They're arbitrary restrictions that seem to have no place in your game. I'd advise working entirely without them and see if you miss anything.

People like the feeling of progress, but I didn't want to complicate the math too much; as such the only numbers that go up are damage and HP.

[p.d0t]

I am ramping up for a major rewrite of the system, taking into account advice/criticisms I got here and other places, as well as incorporating some changes I had in mind to begin with.
Rewrite begins here! (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kmJJtLZ2syGQK8jCP1VRS92GWMtvOLJv_koPrZgApuM/edit?usp=sharing)


I have most of the combat stuff more or less figured out, but how it will shake out in terms of skill systems is up in the air at the moment. Here is a list of changes I am planning to incorporate:

Weapons/Shields/Items:

These will be abstracted out into "fighting styles"; a high (2d6) defense style will have a low (1d10) damage die, and vice-versa. How many styles each character will get and when/how they can switch between them is still being ironed out.
Accessory items have been removed; damage/defense/DR modifiers will be exclusively determined by your attributes



Attributes:
In terms of your combat statistics, numbers will no longer be tied to Body/Mind/Spirit, but will instead be based off of your highest/middle/lowest attributes.

Specifics:

Highest attribute determines your movement speed and is a component of your base HP (as has been the case for a while now); Middle attribute will still determine your Encounter Reserves; Lowest attribute will still determine your attack modifier and Daily Reserves
Defense will be 1d10+Highest attribute or 2d6+Middle attribute, depending on your fighting style
Casters will use their Highest attribute for their spell damage modifier, and their Lowest for their weapon damage modifier
Warriors will use their Highest attribute for their weapon damage modifier; 1d10 weapons will also add their Middle attribute, and 2d6 weapons will also add their Lowest attribute
Your armor (damage reduction) and intiative will be inversely related to one another; for example, if you wear light armor, your DR will use your Lowest attribute and your intiative will use your Highest attribute



Attack Effects:
Your normal attack roll is 1d6+1d10+Lowest attribute. Depending on the results, some special effects may be triggered.

Lethal Strike (formerly Critical Hit): When the attack roll results in doubles, the attack deals maximum damage to the target, whether the attack hits or misses. However:

If the attack hits, it ignores the target's DR
If the attack misses, add the value of the attack dice to the damage dealt.


Brutal Strike: When the d6 result is higher than the d10 result, and the attack hits, you can:

Deal damage to the target equal to the attack roll, or;
Deal maximum damage to the target


Glancing Blow: When the d6 result is higher than the d10 result, and the attack misses, you can:

Deal damage to the target equal to the d6 result (this damage ignores DR), or;
Move yourself or the target a number of spaces equal to the d6 result


Power Attack: Before the attack, declare that you are making a Power Attack; roll the attack and damage dice, and use the 2 lowest dice for the attack roll and the remaining dice for the damage roll.

Precise Attack: Before the attack, declare that you are making a Precise Strike; roll the attack and damage dice, and use the 2 highest dice for the attack roll and the remaining dice for the damage roll.

[p.d0t]

So, the comprehensive rewrite is now complete (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kmJJtLZ2syGQK8jCP1VRS92GWMtvOLJv_koPrZgApuM/edit?usp=sharing)! Just looking for playtests and other feedback.

In specific, I am hoping for feedback on the Attack Effects and Expanded Defense feat effects.

[Knaight]

I had posted this elsewhere, but I was encouraged to post it in a separate thread here.

Basically since the time I picked up Diablo 2 and D&D 3.5, I've been working on this idea of a simplified game that borrows from the spirit of those games and others in the genre.


Are you familiar with any non-D&D systems. You might want to learn a few of them, just to have more familiarity with various different mechanics, as that gives you more tools to try and model things. Take a look at Anima Prime, for example - It's an example of a relatively simple very combat focused game that very much has the feel of combat in games like Diablo 2. Look at WR&M, which is a simplified game that pulls from D&D quite a bit (it's simpler than your game even, but taking something like it and making it more complex is easy).

There's also a lot of fiddly weirdness to this (the skill system is just bizarre, for example, particularly the tie on a 6 tie on a 10 tiebreaker rules). That said, more than the fiddly weirdness, it just looks like a D&D offshoot made with minimal knowledge. There's a big glut of these already, and they tend not to be well received.

[p.d0t]

There's also a lot of fiddly weirdness to this (the skill system is just bizarre, for example, particularly the tie on a 6 tie on a 10 tiebreaker rules). That said, more than the fiddly weirdness, it just looks like a D&D offshoot made with minimal knowledge. There's a big glut of these already, and they tend not to be well received.

Yeah, I have an alternate skill system in mind that's a bit simpler, but rest assured that everything in there is backed up by the math (Attack Effects being pretty much the only thing that hasn't been rigorously crunched yet)

Most of the weirdness is derived from either:
a) Trying to use only d6 and/or d10 to resolve everything, and/or;
b) Trying to use the attributes for everything

So, the goals were simplistic but maybe the execution wasn't.
I'd be interested to see how it plays out at the table though. :smallsmile: