Been creating a Zelda Tabletop RPG off and on for a year + now.....

[Evenglare]

So I have been working on a zelda table top rpg for about a year or so now. It's been off and on, but at this point I have the fundamental system down. It uses legend of the 5 rings' roll and keep system , but it differs quite a bit from there. As far at attributes and stuff are handled. It DOES use a heart system for health, and I have tried my best to make it feel as zelda ish as possible .

EDIT: Please scroll down to my next post for the latest version of the rules. It's actually kind of playable now !

I'm currently working on the aspects of character advancement and the higher functions of the system. Things such as races, and abilities and stuff. It will not be a class based system. If anyone IS interested in helping out I'd love some feed back about clarifications on the document and if you are very interested and are aware of the L5R or are passionate about the zelda franchise I'd love to hear from you . Of course any contributions will be cited, and you will get credit.

Obviously I wont ever be able to sell this or anything, but the whole idea came from my love of zelda, and wanting to stretch my creative abilities as well as dabble in some game design theory. Speaking of that... There is one thing I did that I have never seen before, and it irritates the hell out of me no one does it. I tried my best to put a "Game Design Theory" at the end of my sections to explain the thinking, and mathematics/statistics behind the game, and why I chose them over other things.

Also I have heard the complaint that it is dumb to make this, and the game is only about Link, Ganon, and Zelda. My focus and main idea of actually running the games is to play during the eras that they do NOT exist. There is quite a lot of story to be found . All the wars that happen for one thing, the building of the temples, founding of the original sages, stuff with the minish and vaati, what happened when hyrule got flooded, fighting off ganon's army to ressurect him in zelda II. A goal of mine is to also have a very refinied dungeon builder to give the feel of the games as well.

Well, here is the document. It is still being actively worked on. At this point you cant really do any sort of play test. I dont have the skills and abilities and how combat and all of that work, BUT I do have the basic system so you can see how it will work and the process of the system once I type up everything. I have started making the character sheet as well, im not a great designer but I think it looks decent so far.

 

[Aldeon]

I got all excited reading this and downloaded your playtest rules... then realized I don't know how to play Legend of the 5 Rings, so I can't do anything with it.

Good luck with the playtest, though!

 

[fireinthedust]

I like it so far.

I don't know L5R, is this system based off it?

The Forest roll: is that for anything involving forest terrain and plants?

 

[HeinorNY]

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[Evenglare]

Thanks guys. I have currently finished with the first version of the game. I hope you guys enjoy it. Here are the current versions of the character sheet, and rules. I hope the rules are clear enough so you dont have to have any other knowledge of any other system. If you want to help out , with like art, and layout and stuff feel free to contact me at my email in the document. Right now I'm trying to get it into more of a TTRPG dual column document. I'll be working on the monsters, and patrons and general GM sections next . Thanks for the support again !

 

[Evenglare]

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I love you .

 

[Stormonu]

Can you spit the rules out in a format (say PDF) for those of us who can't read .docx files?

 

[Evenglare]

ALright, loaded up a pdf for you guys to see. Also attached here is an excel sheet i whipped up to see the values of up to 3k3 with mods. On the left side is virtue defense, and the right side is skill stuff. So you can simulate 1000 combats and it will show you what percentage of rolls were one successes, two , 3, 4, and 5 successses.

Or in game terms each success is half a heart so you can go from there as well.

Again, if anyone else loves zelda and is interested in help getting art (even drawing your own stuff , i need a lot of art that depics races adventuring together. Like a Hylian Sage, Goron brawler, Kokiri "adventurer" , and a Zora Knight... just like... doing stuff together as a group, you know... junk like that.

Anyway, again thanks for the support, it means a lot coming from you guys.

 

[Big Friendly Fat Guy]

Just finished my initial read-through. I absolutely love the game design theory portions; they really show the intent behind your choices and will allow for feedback that will tell you exactly how effective you've been towards reaching your goals.

As I'm not terribly familiar with the L5R system, however (closest I ever came was looking at the 3E Oriental Adventures material), I'm not sure I'll be terribly helpful at critiquing your combat system. I might have more to say after a second read-through, but two questions occur to me right now:

- How do you plan on differentiating between non-magic weapons? I saw the 1H / 2H / ranged distinction, but is there any mechanical difference between, say, a Gerudo glaive weapon and an ordinary two-handed sword?

- I like the association of specific, permanent spells with magic items. Will that be the only distinction between a magical weapon and an ordinary one (i.e. will magical weapons have any other mechanical bonuses or differences)?

Great work so far!

 

[Evenglare]

- How do you plan on differentiating between non-magic weapons? I saw the 1H / 2H / ranged distinction, but is there any mechanical difference between, say, a Gerudo glaive weapon and an ordinary two-handed sword?

A- That's a good question. Items will be a huge part of the game , however I dont really have any typed up right now . Each item will add some sort of bonus to your attacks. Possibly a dice, or a bonus, or even both. Off the top of my head 2 handed weapons will probably add a +1 modifier , being able to do more damage with one swing, while a one handed weapon will be able to roll an additional dice , granting a better chance to hit.

- I like the association of specific, permanent spells with magic items. Will that be the only distinction between a magical weapon and an ordinary one (i.e. will magical weapons have any other mechanical bonuses or differences)?

That will be the case with some magic items (like the ice arrows would be... well ... arrows with the ice arrows spell lol) , however many of these items will be much more detailed like the hookshot/clawshot.