Cilvyn
2016-06-20, 08:07 AM
Hello everyone,
Me and a friend are working on an original system. It is losely based on excisiting systems and alot of inspiration of drawn from the 40K systems like Rogue Trader, Dark heresy, but also D&D has it's influence. My question to you is to have a look at it and to feel free to discuss any part of it that I listed below. Everything is welcome! Thank you for your time and effort.
This system is pretty much a historical correct system very alike to the 40K systems. The idea is the players playing sailors, privateers to be exact, in the years 1650-1750. These are not full-fledged pirates, but something like pirates in service of the crown. Again this is very much like Rogue Trader, sailing the void.. uh seas, merchanting, fighting, and what not. Why a privateer and not a normal pirate? Well this way the system can make use of Profit Factor, because the privateer captain has a sponsor. This way the game is not about running from every authority the ship might encounter, money does not really play a part in this game, but players can aquire items with their profit factor. Also a benefactor creates enemies. For example back in the day Dutch sailors received a Letter of Marque that allowed them to capture Spanish ships without being marked pirates in the eyes of their own country. Ofcourse the spanish would see them as pirates and hunt them.
I said a historical accurate system, well this is not entirely true. There are a few things in history that are a no-go in RPGs, one of these religion, the other etnicity and race. Both of these would normally play a huge part in this era. Ofcourse players can choose to let these factors play part in their game, but the system itself will not hint towards them. In the character creation. Also guns... This is the 18th century, not the far grim-dark future where soldiers wear power armor that are hard to pierce by bullets, hell even sci-fi weapons like las guns. A bullet to the chest is fatal most of the time, if survived the wound will propably kill the injured sailor within a few days. So lethality will be a lesser obstacle than reality would normally demand.
It's a D100 system working with % as markers for succes or failure.
Characteristics
Melee Skill - Same as weapon skill as in 40K system
Ballistic Skill - Same as ballistic skill as in 40K system
Strength - Same as in all systems
Resilience - Willpower and toughness as in 40K system or Wisdom and Constitution as in D&D. In a world without 'magic' the power of the mind is less important and can be combines with physical resistance. RES now represents how well one can resist harsh weather, poison, hunger, force of will etc.
Dexterity - Same as in D&D,
Intelligence - Same as in all systems
Charisma - Same as in all systems
Perception - same as in 40K systems
Generate Characteristics
Either roll 2d10+25 or pointbuy 25 on each and 90 points to devide.
This is the same amount as in Rogue Trader. Being 36 the aproximate average for each characteristc. They can be upped with XP as per usual.
The character creation works like in Dark heresy 2nd Edition. for those unfamiliar with it, it works pretty similar to the normal Rogue trader and Dark heresy systems. You progress through stages of the creation in which you make choises that give your character bonusses and advantages to characteristics which eventually lead to a class. In the second edition the class is pretty much removed with the ranks that were formarly part of them. Now everyone can take skills and advances from one pool of options. However your background options determine how easy you can optain these skills, talents and advances represented b aptitudes. These aptitudes that give you 'discount' on purchasing these skills etc. are obtained from the different character creation stages.
Stage 1: Creating characteristics
We covered this part.
Stage 2: Homeland
Normally one would use countries, but since we don't want to actually hint towards etnicity and race, the homelands are broad catagories which can be alot of things of the players chosing.
Homelands give a bonus and a penalty to a characteristic and give an aptitude and determine the amound of HP/Wounds.
Metropole
Born in a city, big or small. Cities are places of innovation although more people die than are being born. You have to be clever to survive as a thief, or earn a living and compete with other craftsmen.
Characteristics: +5 Intelligence -5 Resilience
Aptitude: Charisma/Dexterity
Wounds: 1d5+7
Countryside
Either in a village, farmlands or woodland. These places are mostly stand alone places although with frequent contact between other villages.
Characteristics: +5 Perception -5 Resilience
Aptitude: Strength/Intelligence
Wounds: 1d5+8
Frontier
Either unchartered prairielands or the harsh deserts. Hunting and wars for food and survival.the character is used to the life in clans or tribes in uncivilized enviroments.
Characteristics: +5 Resilience -5 Intelligence
Aptitude: Dexterity/Resilience
Wounds: 1d5+9
Child of the sea
Born either at sea or at a port you know the life at sea and the hard life of rough sailors, either on board or them visiting your town.
Characteristics: +5 Dexterity -5 Charisma
Aptitude: Dexterity/Perception
Wounds: 1d5+8
Noble Born
Raised and nurturedlike treasure. Nobles mostly live just outside the city or resideen at court. You know etiquettes, have connections and are educated.
Characteristics: +5 Charisma -5 Strength
Aptitude: Charisma/Intelligence
Wounds: 1d5+7
Born in Captivity
Either a serf working as a peasant on the field of a landowner or captured as a slave and have worked for a master on the fields or in the household ot even at sea.
Characteristics: +5 Strength - 5 Dexterity
Aptitude: Resilience/Strength
Wounds: 1d5+9
Stage 3: Background
I haven't worked this one out in detail yet but here are the options so far. These options will give yet another aptitude, this time a secondary (There are characteristic aptitides and secondary matching the characteristics, but with different names: Resilience - Defense, Intelligence - Knowledge). Also these background options give about 3 skills each.
Merchant
Military
Court
Criminal
Church
Scholar
Craftsman
Stage 4: Lure of the Sea
This is just another stage which will give some talents and a skill or two.
Fame and Fortune
New Horizons
Vengeance
Renown
Fear
Duty Bound
Drown the past
Stage 5:Role of the Ship
As said before, there aren't actual 'classes' or 'careers' in this game except a name for them. This game works with roles, which give a number of aptitudes, skills and talents. From this point all 'roles' are pretty much the same in terms of advancing in ranks. The aptitudes determine how much XP is needed for the character.
Captain
Quarter master
Surgeon
Boatswain
Master Gunner
Carpenter
Chaplain
Clerk
Stage 6: Spending XP and buy Armor
Character Advances: (Each advance gives +5 to the characteristic. progression through every previoud step on the table is mandatory to purchase the next.)
Matching Aptitude
Simple
Intermediate
Trained
Proficient
Expert
two
100
250
500
750
1250
one
250
500
750
1000
1500
zero
500
750
1000
1500
2500
Characteristic
Aptitude 1
Aptitude 2
Melee Skill
Melee Skill
Offence
Ballistic Skill
Ballistic Skill
Finesse
Strength
Strengt
Offence
Resilience
Resilience
Defence
Dexterity
Dexterity
Finesse
Inteligence
Inteligence
Knowldde
Perception
Perception
Fieldcraft
Charisma
Charisma
Social
This table shoul;d actually under Character Creation: Stage 6, but for the sake of putting the information closer together I listen it together with the Skills itself. So again skills can be purchased with XP. The table shows howmuch it costs per skills with the matching amount of aptitudes.
Skills come in four ranks which give bonuses or penalties to the die roll.
Unknown: The character is not trained in this skill, but can use it with a -20 penalty. This only applies to skills that are not specialist skills.
Known: The character can use it without the -20 penalty. So he gets a +0.
Trained: the character gets a +10 when using the skill.
Experienced: The character gets +20 when using the skill. it replaces the bonus from being trained.
Expert: The character gets a +30 when using the skill, it replaces the bonus from being experienced.
Matching Aptitude
Known
Trained
Experienced
Expert
two
100
200
300
400
one
200
400
600
800
zero
300
600
900
1200
Here you can see the characteristic the talent is based on and what Aptitudes are needed to buy it. Not all the aptitudes are perfectly clear yet.
Skill Name
Characteristic
Aptitude 1
Aptitude 2
Acrobatics
Dex
Dex
Finesse
Awareness
Per
Athletics
Str
Ciphers
Int
Charm
Cha
Cha
Commerce
Cha
Cha
Consealment
Dex
Command
Cha
Cha
Common Knowledge
Int
Int
Craft
Dex
Int
Deceive
Cha
Disquise
Cha
Dodge
Dex
Endurance
Res
Insight
Int
Int
Social
Intimidate
Cha
Interrogation
Res
Linguistics
Int
Medicine
Int
Navigate
Per
Scholastic Knowledge
Int
Stealth
Dex
Sleight of Hand
Dex
Survival
Int
Swim
Str
Operate
Dex
Parry
MS
This section has not yet been worked on much.. there are just a few talents for now. I still need to skim other systems for more.
Talent Name
Description
Sea Legs
No penalty in rough seas and storms and sea-sickness
Weather Eye
plus to spotting seals/land on sea
Weapon proficiency
improvised, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, Melee, Exotic
Armor proficiency
Leather, Metal. Depending on the kind of armor a requirement of a certain STR bonus. Normally one does not wear alot of armor at sea, but some checkplates and leather is used.
This section needs alot of work. Untill now I have listed a few firearms, but nothing very particular yet.
This section needs alot of work still and is quite an extensive part of the system. This part works pretty much like Rogue Trader, although this is no space ship, but a sailing vessel. It can be assembled with ship points which are obtained by making the Letter of Marque.
These are the steps for the creation of the Letter of Marque. It works pretty much the same as the Character Creation. Each stage will give Ship Points and Profit Factor Profit factor will be used for purchasing everything. Sphip points can be spend on parts of the ship.
Benefactor
Fortune and Fate
Acquisition
Contacts
Warrant renown
Essential parts of the ship:
Hull
Rigging
Steering
Swivel Guns
Command Deck
Crew Quarters
Besides the essential parts there are alot of things that can be added to the ship or modified.
Armory (More space, better weapons)
Copper bottom (less maintenance)
Reinforced Rigging (faster ship)
Crow’s nest (better spotting)
Swivvil Guns (against boarding)
Rail Guns (Fore, aft, port starboard)
Medical bay (better medical care)
Kitchen (better food is better morale)
Longboats
Crew equipement (stronger crew is better fighting)
Again thank you for reading and commenting. To make an entire system it requires alot of knowledge and helpful imput from others with their own expertise (English is not one of mine :smalltongue: )
Kind regards,
Cil
Me and a friend are working on an original system. It is losely based on excisiting systems and alot of inspiration of drawn from the 40K systems like Rogue Trader, Dark heresy, but also D&D has it's influence. My question to you is to have a look at it and to feel free to discuss any part of it that I listed below. Everything is welcome! Thank you for your time and effort.
This system is pretty much a historical correct system very alike to the 40K systems. The idea is the players playing sailors, privateers to be exact, in the years 1650-1750. These are not full-fledged pirates, but something like pirates in service of the crown. Again this is very much like Rogue Trader, sailing the void.. uh seas, merchanting, fighting, and what not. Why a privateer and not a normal pirate? Well this way the system can make use of Profit Factor, because the privateer captain has a sponsor. This way the game is not about running from every authority the ship might encounter, money does not really play a part in this game, but players can aquire items with their profit factor. Also a benefactor creates enemies. For example back in the day Dutch sailors received a Letter of Marque that allowed them to capture Spanish ships without being marked pirates in the eyes of their own country. Ofcourse the spanish would see them as pirates and hunt them.
I said a historical accurate system, well this is not entirely true. There are a few things in history that are a no-go in RPGs, one of these religion, the other etnicity and race. Both of these would normally play a huge part in this era. Ofcourse players can choose to let these factors play part in their game, but the system itself will not hint towards them. In the character creation. Also guns... This is the 18th century, not the far grim-dark future where soldiers wear power armor that are hard to pierce by bullets, hell even sci-fi weapons like las guns. A bullet to the chest is fatal most of the time, if survived the wound will propably kill the injured sailor within a few days. So lethality will be a lesser obstacle than reality would normally demand.
It's a D100 system working with % as markers for succes or failure.
Characteristics
Melee Skill - Same as weapon skill as in 40K system
Ballistic Skill - Same as ballistic skill as in 40K system
Strength - Same as in all systems
Resilience - Willpower and toughness as in 40K system or Wisdom and Constitution as in D&D. In a world without 'magic' the power of the mind is less important and can be combines with physical resistance. RES now represents how well one can resist harsh weather, poison, hunger, force of will etc.
Dexterity - Same as in D&D,
Intelligence - Same as in all systems
Charisma - Same as in all systems
Perception - same as in 40K systems
Generate Characteristics
Either roll 2d10+25 or pointbuy 25 on each and 90 points to devide.
This is the same amount as in Rogue Trader. Being 36 the aproximate average for each characteristc. They can be upped with XP as per usual.
The character creation works like in Dark heresy 2nd Edition. for those unfamiliar with it, it works pretty similar to the normal Rogue trader and Dark heresy systems. You progress through stages of the creation in which you make choises that give your character bonusses and advantages to characteristics which eventually lead to a class. In the second edition the class is pretty much removed with the ranks that were formarly part of them. Now everyone can take skills and advances from one pool of options. However your background options determine how easy you can optain these skills, talents and advances represented b aptitudes. These aptitudes that give you 'discount' on purchasing these skills etc. are obtained from the different character creation stages.
Stage 1: Creating characteristics
We covered this part.
Stage 2: Homeland
Normally one would use countries, but since we don't want to actually hint towards etnicity and race, the homelands are broad catagories which can be alot of things of the players chosing.
Homelands give a bonus and a penalty to a characteristic and give an aptitude and determine the amound of HP/Wounds.
Metropole
Born in a city, big or small. Cities are places of innovation although more people die than are being born. You have to be clever to survive as a thief, or earn a living and compete with other craftsmen.
Characteristics: +5 Intelligence -5 Resilience
Aptitude: Charisma/Dexterity
Wounds: 1d5+7
Countryside
Either in a village, farmlands or woodland. These places are mostly stand alone places although with frequent contact between other villages.
Characteristics: +5 Perception -5 Resilience
Aptitude: Strength/Intelligence
Wounds: 1d5+8
Frontier
Either unchartered prairielands or the harsh deserts. Hunting and wars for food and survival.the character is used to the life in clans or tribes in uncivilized enviroments.
Characteristics: +5 Resilience -5 Intelligence
Aptitude: Dexterity/Resilience
Wounds: 1d5+9
Child of the sea
Born either at sea or at a port you know the life at sea and the hard life of rough sailors, either on board or them visiting your town.
Characteristics: +5 Dexterity -5 Charisma
Aptitude: Dexterity/Perception
Wounds: 1d5+8
Noble Born
Raised and nurturedlike treasure. Nobles mostly live just outside the city or resideen at court. You know etiquettes, have connections and are educated.
Characteristics: +5 Charisma -5 Strength
Aptitude: Charisma/Intelligence
Wounds: 1d5+7
Born in Captivity
Either a serf working as a peasant on the field of a landowner or captured as a slave and have worked for a master on the fields or in the household ot even at sea.
Characteristics: +5 Strength - 5 Dexterity
Aptitude: Resilience/Strength
Wounds: 1d5+9
Stage 3: Background
I haven't worked this one out in detail yet but here are the options so far. These options will give yet another aptitude, this time a secondary (There are characteristic aptitides and secondary matching the characteristics, but with different names: Resilience - Defense, Intelligence - Knowledge). Also these background options give about 3 skills each.
Merchant
Military
Court
Criminal
Church
Scholar
Craftsman
Stage 4: Lure of the Sea
This is just another stage which will give some talents and a skill or two.
Fame and Fortune
New Horizons
Vengeance
Renown
Fear
Duty Bound
Drown the past
Stage 5:Role of the Ship
As said before, there aren't actual 'classes' or 'careers' in this game except a name for them. This game works with roles, which give a number of aptitudes, skills and talents. From this point all 'roles' are pretty much the same in terms of advancing in ranks. The aptitudes determine how much XP is needed for the character.
Captain
Quarter master
Surgeon
Boatswain
Master Gunner
Carpenter
Chaplain
Clerk
Stage 6: Spending XP and buy Armor
Character Advances: (Each advance gives +5 to the characteristic. progression through every previoud step on the table is mandatory to purchase the next.)
Matching Aptitude
Simple
Intermediate
Trained
Proficient
Expert
two
100
250
500
750
1250
one
250
500
750
1000
1500
zero
500
750
1000
1500
2500
Characteristic
Aptitude 1
Aptitude 2
Melee Skill
Melee Skill
Offence
Ballistic Skill
Ballistic Skill
Finesse
Strength
Strengt
Offence
Resilience
Resilience
Defence
Dexterity
Dexterity
Finesse
Inteligence
Inteligence
Knowldde
Perception
Perception
Fieldcraft
Charisma
Charisma
Social
This table shoul;d actually under Character Creation: Stage 6, but for the sake of putting the information closer together I listen it together with the Skills itself. So again skills can be purchased with XP. The table shows howmuch it costs per skills with the matching amount of aptitudes.
Skills come in four ranks which give bonuses or penalties to the die roll.
Unknown: The character is not trained in this skill, but can use it with a -20 penalty. This only applies to skills that are not specialist skills.
Known: The character can use it without the -20 penalty. So he gets a +0.
Trained: the character gets a +10 when using the skill.
Experienced: The character gets +20 when using the skill. it replaces the bonus from being trained.
Expert: The character gets a +30 when using the skill, it replaces the bonus from being experienced.
Matching Aptitude
Known
Trained
Experienced
Expert
two
100
200
300
400
one
200
400
600
800
zero
300
600
900
1200
Here you can see the characteristic the talent is based on and what Aptitudes are needed to buy it. Not all the aptitudes are perfectly clear yet.
Skill Name
Characteristic
Aptitude 1
Aptitude 2
Acrobatics
Dex
Dex
Finesse
Awareness
Per
Athletics
Str
Ciphers
Int
Charm
Cha
Cha
Commerce
Cha
Cha
Consealment
Dex
Command
Cha
Cha
Common Knowledge
Int
Int
Craft
Dex
Int
Deceive
Cha
Disquise
Cha
Dodge
Dex
Endurance
Res
Insight
Int
Int
Social
Intimidate
Cha
Interrogation
Res
Linguistics
Int
Medicine
Int
Navigate
Per
Scholastic Knowledge
Int
Stealth
Dex
Sleight of Hand
Dex
Survival
Int
Swim
Str
Operate
Dex
Parry
MS
This section has not yet been worked on much.. there are just a few talents for now. I still need to skim other systems for more.
Talent Name
Description
Sea Legs
No penalty in rough seas and storms and sea-sickness
Weather Eye
plus to spotting seals/land on sea
Weapon proficiency
improvised, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, Melee, Exotic
Armor proficiency
Leather, Metal. Depending on the kind of armor a requirement of a certain STR bonus. Normally one does not wear alot of armor at sea, but some checkplates and leather is used.
This section needs alot of work. Untill now I have listed a few firearms, but nothing very particular yet.
This section needs alot of work still and is quite an extensive part of the system. This part works pretty much like Rogue Trader, although this is no space ship, but a sailing vessel. It can be assembled with ship points which are obtained by making the Letter of Marque.
These are the steps for the creation of the Letter of Marque. It works pretty much the same as the Character Creation. Each stage will give Ship Points and Profit Factor Profit factor will be used for purchasing everything. Sphip points can be spend on parts of the ship.
Benefactor
Fortune and Fate
Acquisition
Contacts
Warrant renown
Essential parts of the ship:
Hull
Rigging
Steering
Swivel Guns
Command Deck
Crew Quarters
Besides the essential parts there are alot of things that can be added to the ship or modified.
Armory (More space, better weapons)
Copper bottom (less maintenance)
Reinforced Rigging (faster ship)
Crow’s nest (better spotting)
Swivvil Guns (against boarding)
Rail Guns (Fore, aft, port starboard)
Medical bay (better medical care)
Kitchen (better food is better morale)
Longboats
Crew equipement (stronger crew is better fighting)
Again thank you for reading and commenting. To make an entire system it requires alot of knowledge and helpful imput from others with their own expertise (English is not one of mine :smalltongue: )
Kind regards,
Cil