I need help...

[CelestialSloth]

I need a name for my homebrew RPG based on the d20 system. I liked the mechanic in Undertale of being able to either spare or kill your enemy, and decided to incorporate that mechanic into a tabletop role-playing game. I have most of the game, but I don't know what to call it.

[jqavins]

I suspect - and I hope - that you're leaving a lot out. I reads like you built a whole system around the desire to add a single particular mechanic to d20. If that's really it then... why?

But the question is what name to use. If there is more to this new system then I would like to know more before offering a name. But if that really is it, then how about "Mercy"? Or "No Kill I"?

[upogsi]

More details about the system would be nice. As it stands, "Nalai Va" would be interesting. It means "come tomorrow" in Sanskrit/Tamil. It comes from the ramayanam, where Rama spares the villains life and told him to come fight tomorrow when he was armed.

Alternatively, sticking to english, "Chivalry", " Tell the others" and "Judgement" seem decent.

[CelestialSloth]

(sorry if any of this is poorly worded or vague, I can't write very well :smallfrown: )

Yeah, I was leaving out kind of a lot, sorry. I'm also making attacking a skill (or multiple skills, I still haven't written that part down :/ in fact I have barely any of the combat stuff written down......) and replacing ability scores and saves with Physique, Willpower, and Dodge skills . I'm also removing the class system entirely - you start with a small amount of skill points that can be divided any way you want (I think 12 but that isn't set in stone). (You can still level up and you do get XP from solving conflicts non-violently.)

Anything you can fight has 3 skills that are effective against it. The GM would have to design monsters themself because you're supposed to guess what skills are effective against monsters. Combat skills are always effective, however (they can't count as any of the three skills!). You lower a monster's Spite by using non-combat skills, and lower a monster's Hit Points (maybe change the terminology to Health???) by using combat skills. Reducing a monster's HP to 0 kills it, reducing its Spite to 0 makes it your friend, or at least not your enemy.

I kinda like Nalai Va... :\

Edit:

jqavins said:
I reads like you built a whole system around the desire to add a single particular mechanic to d20. If that's really it then... why?
Because I have nothing else to do ;_;

[jqavins]

It reads like you built a whole system around the desire to add a single particular mechanic to d20. If that's really it then... why?Because I have nothing else to do ;_;
Not at all; you're clearly doing much more. Designing a whole new system with a bunch of new aspects and features is (at least potentially) worthwhile no matter the inspiration. I'd raise both eyebrows, crinkle my face, and say, in a puzzled voice, "Why?" if there were a whole new system where the only meaningful difference were this non-lethal option which, come to think of it, already exists anyway. But as we suspected, you've got more going on than that.

Anyway, if you're getting rid of classes, attributes, and saves all in favor of an all skill system, I gather that leveling up will provide only HP and skill points. While I don't know any system like that, you might find GURPS to be a closer starting point than d20, since it is classless and very much skills based to begin with. (Just on the off chance that you're not familiar) it is a character point system, in which initial points are used to buy attributes, advantages (which are somewhat like feats, but not really) and skills; there is no leveling; and the GM awards new character points instead of XP. At character creation one gets 100 or more points (plus points gained from taking disadvantages) to buy all these things, but the new points (usually around three to five per session) are used mostly to improve skills. (They occasionally go to buying off disadvantages, quite rarely to buying new advantages, and very rarely to improving ability scores.) There are no saves. So it's not quite as you describe what you're doing, but closer than d20; way way closer than D&D.

All of which has nothing to do with your initial question about a name. On that, ummm... I got nuthin'.