Favorite Game Rule Wish List

[GMMichael]

Good and bad news folks: my hard drive crashed, and took some pretty valuable stuff with it. One thing I lost was my wishlist of cool stuff to include in my special edition of Modos RPG.

So I'm starting from scratch. Let me know what your favorite/coolest rules are, and in the interest of sharing, I'll give you some of mine:

Magic spells a la carte: a spell's range, number of targets, and cover defeated determine its difficulty to cast. Its damage die is determined by its level and the type of damage...otherwise its effect must be spread out evenly over levels to determine its spell level. (Also thinking of allowing the attempt of spells above one's level - in exchange for paying extra damage.)

Bonus limit: a d4+1 means that you add +1 to your roll - but you cannot exceed 4! So the average roll increases a little, and you would generally do more damage if it were, say, a dagger, but a die roll cannot result in a higher number than what's on the die you're rolling. This means that as you get better with your weapon you can do more damage, but you still cannot achieve the damage that a greatsword could do with your dagger. (But can't a dagger be very lethal? Indeed - in the right hands. That's why I've rewritten the backstabber perk...)

3d6 rolls: nope. Not gonna do it. Too slow. I'm going to stick with d20s, but each die roll has three outcomes: favorable, tie, or unfavorable. There's no bonus for rolling super high: a favorable result is just favorable. Nor the opposite for rolling super low. However...

Defend (parry) skill: a successful defense prevents all damage. Which can be boring, if it just delays the inevitable. Which is why the new parry skill will also end the attacker's turn if it's high enough and favorable. This is when the defender gains a slight advantage...

I've also been really impressed by the One Ring's traveling rules...but what rules do you really love?

Wanna get technical? Join our community here.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Surprise and Initiative: Instead of anything like a surprise round, or a round where some people can act and others can't, surprise merely confers a large bonus (+10) to initiative. This way there's still a benefit to sneaking up on someone, but it's unlikely that anyone will get two rounds in a row. You end up with less fights that are completely trivialized when the other side never getting to act.

Plus, there's always a chance that you'll sneak up on someone, and they'll still hit you first. That was always my favorite part of any cyberpunk story.

 

[garrowolf]

I prefer a Parry defense instead of a skill. If your attack is 10 less than the defender's parry rating then they get a free counter.

 

[GMMichael]

Surprise and Initiative: Instead of anything like a surprise round, or a round where some people can act and others can't, surprise merely confers a large bonus (+10) to initiative...
Plus, there's always a chance that you'll sneak up on someone, and they'll still hit you first. That was always my favorite part of any cyberpunk story.

Good calls. The v. 1.30 rules contain both: +4 initiative bonus (equivalent to the Off the Mark perk), OR one free action before combat begins. The area definitely deserves a more thorough write-up, though.

I prefer a Parry defense instead of a skill. If your attack is 10 less than the defender's parry rating then they get a free counter.

How is a defense different from a skill? One big difference: if you make defense automatic, then you're focusing more on the "hurt other guys" part of combat and less on the "protect yourself" part.

Your suggestion could become a perk: if your defense contest is at least 10 greater than the attack contest, you may roll attack damage against your opponent as if you were counterattacking him instead of defending. It would require some careful balancing, but could be fun!

 

[garrowolf]

Well I use Parry and Dodge as my static defenses instead of AC. Armor provides Damage Resistance instead. I also use a cascading defense system. Each time you defend after the first time after your turn you take a -1 to all your defenses (well not savings throws or mental defenses).
So if your Parry was 24 then it would go 24, 23, 22, 21, etc.

 

[gamer200011]

My personal favorite games are, in no particular order:

Pinstripe - Thomas Brush (my personal favorite's favorite haha)

The Last Guardian

Transformice - Atelier 801

TES:V Skyrim - Bethesda

Slots - Casino Cruise online games

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2(and openRTC, a modified version with cheats ect.) - EA Games maybe??

Spore - EA + Maxis Entertainment (EA was the publisher if I remember)

The Last Guardian - Team Ico

Ori and The Blind Forest - Microsoft + Moon Studios

Roblox - Roblox Team(?) I like Roblox because of the creativity and generally polite players that usually help the clueless(like me haha) Plus it can educate kids how to use Lua and variables + the like.