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Yakk
2007-03-06, 01:24 PM
A fantasy-world/mechanic concept seed...

Supernatural abilities come from the spirit world. Spirits, Elementals, Gods and Other Beings are omnipresant -- a world in which every tree has a minor spirit, and rivers are moved by elementals. For the most part, the greater Beings view the world of man like we view the squirrels, cats and dogs living in our cities. Some view the mortal world as cattle.

Player Characters are either Wizards, Heros or Saints.

Wizards are humans who have managed to bargain, cajole, enslave or persuade minor elementals to aid them. Their powers are determined by the abilities and inclinations of their allies.

Heros are humans that are playthings of a Greater Spirit. For whatever reason, a Greater Spirit has decided to take an interest in a particular human's life. This is not because they where invited. The Hero is often more skilled than most people -- but that could be the cause or the effect of the Greater Spirit's interest. The Spirit has a mind and goals of it's own, and these goals don't align with the Hero's.

Saints are humans that have dedicated themselves to serving a God. The God has decided to grant some boons to the Saint (conditional on the piety of the Saint), and can step in with Miracles when the Saint is striving for goals the God cares about.

...

I'm thinking a collaberative storytelling (not White Wolf) style system, where the GM and the Players poke at the poor Characters.

All magic, and super-human abilities, are dependant on intelligent beings with their own motivations. These beings have their own quirky set of abilities and limitations.

You can't "learn" how to become a heroic swordman, a wizard or a saint -- all of these positions are determined by a social world (the world of the spirits) beyond what humanity can control.

There would be rules for what a mortal can do, and then rules for breaking the rules using spirits. Each character would be a composite of the stat-up of their character, spirits important to the character, and the relationship between the character and the spirits.

For the most part, a Wizard would be (in D&D terms) Warlock/Sorcerer/Wizard/Druid/Bard like.

A Saint would be Monk/Paladin/Cleric/Druid like.

A Hero would be Fighter/Berzerker/Bard/Rogue/Ranger like.

In theory, you could have a Blade Wizard: but I could see the game mechanics being biased against it.

So, a simple talent/skill character system, a domain/habit spirit system, and a relationship system between a character and her spirits...

Each of the 3 flavours of character should work somewhat differently. The types of spirits, the talents/skills that matter, and the nature of the relationship would differ.

I'm using Being, God, Spirit and Elemental relatively interchangeably in this post. The intention is that each of the spirits that a Wizard deals with are less than the spirit that is poking with a Hero's life, which is less than the God that tosses crumbs at the Saint.

Matthew
2007-03-08, 05:09 PM
Interesting, but is it necessary to create yet another RPG system? Could this not work with some existent rules set?

Yakk
2007-03-08, 06:42 PM
Sure! Any suggestions?

D&D could be used, but the crunch doesn't line up very well with what I described.

I was thinking of using ORE, or maybe flavour-tweaked There Is No Spoon.

There Is No Spoon attempt:

Roll low.

Players have Aptitudes (mortal skills). Most people roll 1d6 -- rolling under is 1 success. 1 is unskilled, 3 is professional, 4 is world-class, 5 is legendary, 6 is godlike.

Players have Mana and Fate points. They burn these Mana points to use their special abilities. You get back your Mana points after every conflict. Half of your Fate points refresh after each chapter/module, or when you do something power-source-reward appropriate.

Heros: Heros have a Destiny number. Burn a Mana/Fate point, and you roll that many extra d6 on a test.

Saints: Saints have a Piety. Burn a Mana/Fate point, and you get to roll 1d8 under your Piety as well as your normal roll. You get the number of successes on that die roll if you roll under your Piety on it.

Wizards: Wizards have Power. Burn a Mana/Fate point, and get Power bonus successes if you succeed.

Aptitudes should be broad:
Fire Magic
Swords and Stuff
Social Interaction
etc.

And then steal the rest from There Is No Spoon, replacing Matrix with Destiny/Piety/Power respectively, and removing the two-tier system of successes (and just count them).

...

In ORE, I could snarf Wild Talents, but getting the flavour differences between the 3 archetypes would be interesting.