The Fantasy Tales RPG project - feedback wanted

[mkill]

Hello everyone,

I think every gamer has the crazy idea of writing his own RPG at some point. Old friends of mine really pulled it off, printed and published it and even sold over 2000 copies. What I'm trying here is far more low-key. If I get to the point that I have a complete system for home use and conventions I'm very happy.

First things first - I've just started, and many parts are unwritten. However, if there is no feedback, it's hard to know what it missing, so I hope I can drive this forward as the thread progresses.


Introduction

Why Fantasy Tales? Who is it for?

Fantasy Tales is an RPG for gamers who like classic fantasy, and want a fast, leight-weight and flexible system for their sessions.
I have been playing Fantasy RPGs for a long time. As I get older, I have less and less time to invest in learning and remembering a complex rules system. As an experienced gamer, I have a good feeling of what works and what doesn't.
As a Game Master, I like to improvise. I need a rules set that gives me freedom to create the world as I envision it, and a flexible but durable tool to judge the player actions.

Game rules - The Abridged Version

Character creation

Before you read this, have a look at the sample characters - I will explain the elements piece by piece.

Fantasy Tales Blank Character Sheet (280 kB)

Fantasy Tales Sample Characters and Character Sheet (Warning: 15 MB)

(I tried to give credits for the artwork used. If I ever make money on this, I'm happy to pay artists)

A quick look at any of the sample characters reveals that characters in Fantasy Tales have only a short list of statistics: the level, three attributes, five abilities, one weakness, a combat role, three attacks, one defense and hit points.
Attributes, abilities, Weakness, Attacks and Defense are measured by assigning a type of die. The higher the die, the better.

Attributes

Choose the characters three highest attributes among Strength, Dexterity, Consitution, Intelligence, Perception, Willpower, Courage, Wisdom and Charisma and assign a d12, a d10 and a d8. All other attributes are considered to be d6.

Abilities

This is a catch-all section that covers a characters non-combat abilities.
These include internal abilities such as learned skills, supernatural abilities, magical powers, as well as external factors such as allies, resources, items, reputation, pets and mounts.
Fantasy Tales encourages players and GMs to be creative. Come up with whatever fits the character. Guidelines and sample abilities are featured in the abilities chapter. (still being written)

Once you have chosen five abilities, assign one d12, two d10, and two d8.

Weakness

Perfect characters don't make for an interesting story, so Fantasy Tales encourages players to come up with a character's defining weakness.
The weakness is assigned a d4.

Ability checks

Ability checks in Fantasy tales are handled by rolling two dice against a difficulty set by the GM. The default roll for checks is 2d6. If the character has an attribute or an ability that can be applied to the task, he can replace one of the d6 with the die assigned to the ability. Up to two attributes or two abilities, or one each, can be applied to the roll. The GM is the final arbiter of which ability or attribute can be used.

If the GM determines that the PC's weakness applies to the check, one die is set as d4, and the PC can only use one other attribute or ability.

For example, a character is trying to steal an apple from a market stall could use his dexterity attribute for quick reaction, perception to tell the right moment, or thievery, pick pocket or sleight of hand to show experience in the task. He could use charisma, bluff or even seduction to distract the merchant for a second. He could also use a pet like a trained monkey, illusion magic or telekinesis.

However, a character with the weakness "righteousness" or "law-abiding" would have second thoughts about stealing the apple, and one die would be set as d4.

In this example, the difficulty of the task is the Perception stat of the Merchant. Usually, NPCs use fixed values rather than dice.

Attacks

Unlike ability checks, attacks are only rolled with one die, which, depending on the attack, either a d20 or a d12.
The attack roll is compared to the opponent's defense rating. The attack roll minus the opponent's defense is the damage dealt by the attack, which is substracted from the hit point total.
At character creation, PCs have three attacks: one with a d20 attack roll, and two with a d12 attack roll. The d20 attack is a straightforward attack that deals damage, without other effects. The D12 attack has a secondary effect if it hits, such as throwing the enemy, rendering him unable to attack for a turn, giving the next ally to attack the target a bonus, and so on. More in the chapter Combat. (still being written)

Defense

Similar to attacks, characters are assumed to use their best abilities and equipment to defend themselves from attacks. Therefore, each character has a standard defense roll, which is a d12. Defenders (see combat roles below) roll a d20 instead.

Note that monsters usually have fixed attack and defense values, while PCs roll for both attack and defense. If a PC's defense roll is equal to or higher than the

Hit Points
Each PC has three tiers of hit points: Light damage, Heavy damage, and deadly damage. Light damage represents mostly combat fatigue, small scratches and bruises. Heavy damage represents open wounds and concussions. Deadly damage represents broken bones, organ damage and other serious injuries.

Each tier has a number of hit points equal to the character's constitution rating. If PCs take damage, they substract the damage from their hit points in order of the tiers: First light damage, then heavy damage, and deadly damage last.

A character that has taken deadly damage cannot fight at full potential: His d20 attacks are reduced to d12, his d12 attacks are reduced to d8, and all other checks are reduced from two dice to one die. PCs who fall below zero on deadly damage are dead.

Healing
The damage types heal at different speeds:

Healing without medical help
* Light damage heals completely on a short rest of five minutes (regardless of other wounds)
* Heavy damage heals after a rest of one hour, equal to the result of a constitution check.
* Deadly damage heals very slowly, at a rate of one point per day.

Healing with medical help
To heal a PC, the medic makes a roll using the wounded PC's Constitution and his own healing ability. Characters with the healer role can use d12 for this check regardless of abilities.
The difficulty for the check is the hit points lost of the current wound tier (heavy or deadly). For every point rolled above the difficulty, the PC is healed one hit point. On a failed roll, the PC takes one point of damage.
For a PC with heavy wounds, tending the wounds takes 5 minutes, and can be done once per hour.
For a PC with deadly wounds, tending the wounds takes an hour, and can be done once per day.

Combat Role
To encourage teamwork, each character in Fantasy Tales is assigned one of five combat roles. (This concept is similar to the D&D 4th edition roles.)

Strikers gain a d6 at the start of each turn to add to an attack roll.

Defenders roll d20 instead of d12 on defense.

Leaders gain a d6 at the start of each turn, which they can give an ally to boost a roll.

Controllers get an extra secondary effect on each attack.

Healers gain a d6 at the start of each turn, which they can use to heal themselves or an ally.

Strikers, Leaders and Healers can store these bonus d6 if they participated in combat for the turn but have not used the die. Up to two dice can be stored, and used at once with the die gained in the third round for a total bonus of 3d6. Stored bonus dice are lost at the end of the encounter.

Combat rounds and Initiative

Combat is staged in rounds. In each turn, first all monsters act, then all PCs.

Before the first turn, all PCs involved in the combat roll initiative. This roll is compared to the single initiative value of the monster side, which is usually the perception rating of the leader. The default value is 7. PCs who match or beat the monster initiative act in a surprise round, before the monsters.

As with any ability check, initiative uses two attributes or abilities. The attributes Dexterity and Perception are eligible for initiative. For abilities, skills like Alertness, and supernatural / magical abilities like Precognition or Divination can be used for initiative.

If the PCs manage to ambush or suprise the monsters, no initiative is rolled, and all PCs act in the surprise round. If the monsters ambush the PCs, there is no surprise round.

Player characters are not passive during the monster turn.
* They make defense rolls against the monster attacks (most monsters have fixed attack stats)
* Leaders can grant their bonus d6 to defense rolls of their allies
* Some PCs have immediate attacks (usually d12 attacks) that they can use in reaction to monster actions.

Level

The level is a relative measure of the PCs power. If a monster is of lower level than the party, it suffers a -1 level penalty to all stats. If it is higher than the party, it receives a +1 bonus to all stats. The level does not affect rolls on the PC side.

Level up

(add XP system here)


NPCs

Named NPCs are created like PCs. Unlike monsters, the GM rolls dice for them.

Monsters

The one-stat monster

One-stat monsters are simple cannonfodder enemies like zombies, giant rats or orc grunts. They use one stat for everything: attacks, defenses, hit points, perception, skills and so on. They only have one hit point tier. If they fall below zero hit points, they are dead.

... to be continued ...

 

[mkill]

To Do / note to self

* Downloadable Playtest document (pdf)

* Abilities Chapter
- Skills
- Narrow Skills
- Supernatural abilities
- Spellcasting

* Combat Chapter
- List / explanation of d12 attack effects
- Making up attacks on the fly
- Skills / abilities in combat

* XP / level up

* Changes based on feedback

* Additional sample characters, especially magic users

* Playtest

* Introduction for RPG beginners

 

[Balsamic Dragon]

Hello everyone,

I think every gamer has the crazy idea of writing his own RPG at some point. Old friends of mine really pulled it off, printed and published it and even sold over 2000 copies. What I'm trying here is far more low-key. If I get to the point that I have a complete system for home use and conventions I'm very happy.

Good for you! I think every gamer should try to create their own system at some point, even if it is just for the learning experience.

Ability checks in Fantasy tales are handled by rolling two dice against a difficulty set by the GM. The default roll for checks is 2d6. If the character has an attribute or an ability that can be applied to the task, he can replace one of the d6 with the die assigned to the ability. Up to two attributes or two abilities, or one each, can be applied to the roll. The GM is the final arbiter of which ability or attribute can be used.

So the difference between a great roll and a terrible roll ranges from 2 through 10, average of 6 on a bell curve, if you have your weakness plus a normal stat, to 4 to 24, average of 13 on a bell curve, if you are completely playing to your strengths. That's a decent spread for a simple, easy to pick up game.

Unlike ability checks, attacks are only rolled with one die, which, depending on the attack, either a d20 or a d12.
The attack roll is compared to the opponent's defense rating. The attack roll minus the opponent's defense is the damage dealt by the attack, which is substracted from the hit point total.

[snipped additional combat info]

Your combat system sounds much more detailed and dangerous than your system for other conflict resolutions and ability uses. There's also a much wider spread of possible rolls, which means that things could go very well or very badly for the PCs, depending on their luck.

Combat Role
To encourage teamwork, each character in Fantasy Tales is assigned one of five combat roles.

I like the idea of adding Combat Roles. You should consider tying these to some out-of-combat abilities as well, to give your characters a bit more depth.

Overall, this looks like two different systems. One is a fairly structured combat system, based on D&D concepts (hit points, etc). The other is a more cinematic, free-flowing system used for everything else. I would try to merge the two a bit. One thing that can happen with games like this, is that you hit a groove in the roleplaying and the story, and then when you enter into combat, everything comes to a crashing halt. All of a sudden, there are much more complex rules to follow and things become more difficult to keep track of, for both the players and the GM. I'd suggest making combat a bit more like the rest of the game, so that it is more intuitive for a new player. For example, out of combat, if I want to cast a detect magic spell, I might roll my Perception + Divination. In combat, if I want to throw a lightning spell, it makes sense that I would roll my Dexterity + Elemental magic, or something to that effect.

Good luck!

 

[mkill]

Your combat system sounds much more detailed and dangerous than your system for other conflict resolutions and ability uses. There's also a much wider spread of possible rolls, which means that things could go very well or very badly for the PCs, depending on their luck.

I'll have to test that, once the combat system is complete. I'm missing critical hits, and I have no monsters yet. One idea I was thinking about was to allow adding the level to each hit point block. If this is still to swingy / deadly, I could increase the hit point blocks to four. Combat should be reasonably challenging though, and require use of the leader bonuses / healer healing and defender defenses.

I like the idea of adding Combat Roles. You should consider tying these to some out-of-combat abilities as well, to give your characters a bit more depth.

This could be interesting. The question is how much you want to shoehorn the combat roles into character archetypes, though. D&D4 did a pretty good job to separate these, for example a controller can be a classic wizard as well as a hunter with a spear.

Overall, this looks like two different systems. One is a fairly structured combat system, based on D&D concepts (hit points, etc). The other is a more cinematic, free-flowing system used for everything else. I would try to merge the two a bit. One thing that can happen with games like this, is that you hit a groove in the roleplaying and the story, and then when you enter into combat, everything comes to a crashing halt. All of a sudden, there are much more complex rules to follow and things become more difficult to keep track of, for both the players and the GM. I'd suggest making combat a bit more like the rest of the game, so that it is more intuitive for a new player. For example, out of combat, if I want to cast a detect magic spell, I might roll my Perception + Divination. In combat, if I want to throw a lightning spell, it makes sense that I would roll my Dexterity + Elemental magic, or something to that effect.

You make a good point. The attack system and the skill system should be integrated better.

To be honest, however, I like classic systems like D&D where the resource allocation for combat abilities and non-combat abilities are separated. Some players tend to optimize for only combat or only skills, which always creates a problem for GMs who want balanced adventures. If both are separate, players create balanced characters without noticing it.

The reason why you don't roll Dexterity + Elemental magic to throw lightning at a zombie, is that I don't want to steer PCs towards an ability selection purely for combat bonuses. Most RPGs come with preset notions that, for example, you have to be strong to wield a sword, and smart to throw magic. You can't, say, use Charisma to outfeint your enemy, or Perception to notice an opening.

I also want to avoid the situation that a PC totally specializes in, say, axes, and then finds a flaming sword that he really likes but he suddenly has to retrain all abilities. Instead, I just say ... as long as the combat style fits your image of the character, go for it. You want classic dwarf with an axe? Go for it. Or you want him to draw runes on the ground that summon elementals? Sure. You want both? Ok, here you are.

After all, the mechanical effect is the same: Roll a d20, and if you roll high enough, you deal damage to one enemy. Why not let the player skin this as he wants? The d12 attacks work similar: roll d12, if you roll high enough, one monster takes damage, plus any of the bonus effects from this list.

In my eyes, this makes for cinematic and free-flowing combat - PCs describe what they want to achieve with their attack, and the GM says a) "d20 attack" b) "d12 attack" or c) "d12 attack, but success means XY instead". The d12 attacks on the character sheet should be understood as examples for quick reference.