Hitman style game idea

[Zurai]

That's all fantastic, how would you deal with speak with dead though?

There's two easy ways to deal with speak with dead. First, remove the jawbone. The skull must be intact for it to speak. Second, don't let the deceased see or hear you. The dead can't reveal what they didn't know in life.

Oh yeah, I planned to use Vitality and Wound points.

Wound Points only really help if you can guarantee a critical - and you can't do that without magic or houserules.

 

[Ambrus]

There's two easy ways to deal with speak with dead. First, remove the jawbone. The skull must be intact for it to speak. Second, don't let the deceased see or hear you. The dead can't reveal what they didn't know in life.

Just what I was going to say; wear a mask and take the jaw bone, or the whole body.

 

[Dire Lemming]

Yeah, I was also thinking of some sort of house rule or feat that allows characters to deal damage directly to wound points if the target would be denied it's DEX bonus to AC, or maybe just if it was flat-footed.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Yeah, I was also thinking of some sort of house rule or feat that allows characters to deal damage directly to wound points if the target would be denied it's DEX bonus to AC, or maybe just if it was flat-footed.

If you do implement a rule like this, be prepared for every character in the game to have either Improved Feint or Flick of the Wrist.

 

[Dire Lemming]

Good point. I think I'll limit it as flat footed. That way they can subdue or kill people stealthily but will still need to do some real fighting as well if they're detected. Also, how about a guaranteed critical special ability with limited use? Come to think of that, there must already be something exactly like that in some publication.

 

[Blackrat]

That actually sounds quite good, though perhaps a little bit more extreme than I want. I would probably end up toning it down just a bit. I'd want to start it in a large urban center containing a number of rich folks that hold lavish decadent parties. We need at least one decadent party after all. Also, corruption helps immensely.

It'll take a while for me to type everything relevant in english but basically the continent is somewhat analogious to medieval europe. The biggest cities have around 25-30 thousand citizens. The area has been an alliance of nations for centuries but the common enemy has been defunct for long time and internal disputes are quickly developing into skirmishes. Only the king of the biggest nation has been strong enough in his resolve to keep the alliance from falling apart. But the king has recently died under mysterious conditions (read: Assassinated). There is much play for political intriques and good opportunities for assassins. What's best is that the great empire that threatened the alliance centuries ago has built up it's strenght and is about to start a new conquest. Corruption and Decadence are the main theme of this homebrew CS.

 

[Dire Lemming]

Sounds good.

It's kind of a shame, but after thinking about it, as great as Ambrus' suggestions are, they don't really fit with the concept I had for the game. It'd still be cool to try a game like that some time though.

So is this an "Evil" Empire?

 

[Ambrus]

as great as Ambrus' suggestions are, they don't really fit with the concept I had for the game.

Oh I see, clean cold-blooded contract killing is all fun and good, but mutilating the dead is beneath you eh? That's it isn't it? How typical...

 

[Dire Lemming]

Oh no, not that. It's just that I'm looking to do a a more "realistic" game where death is mostly permanent. Possibly someone could be brought back by a wish or clone but wizards will practically mythological so if the king is killed, he probably will stay that way. In the world I'm envisioning, Druids are mostly unknown, as well.

You know, I think I have lots of ideas now, I just don't know how to start making them into a game. :\

 

[Cage-Rattler]

Heya! I mentioned D20 "Weird Wars" in another thread a few days back, but I'll bring it up here as well; there's one particular mechanic that may help you get that "assassination" feel.

In the WW system, a character which at the mercy* of another has two options; they can surrender, or they could make a break for it and try to bring up their weapon, or run, or perform any other action.

If the latter is the case, the two parties roll initiative, with the first character (the one who had the other at his/her mercy) gaining a +5 circumstance bonus to the roll. If they beat the other player, they get to take a Coup de Grace action. If they roll lower than the defending player, they still get to make an immediate attack, rolling to hit normally.

*Meaning, the character is Surprised and does not have a weapon at the ready.

If it were up to me, I'd probably tweak the above mechanics a bit; saying that the Assassin could attempt a Coup de Grace on an unaware target, but both individuals would make an initiative roll as in the example. A higher result on the Assassin's part means that he could make his Coup de Grace as normal; a lower result would mean he makes an attack roll against his (flat-footed) opponent normally. If that attack roll hits, the damage is automatically considered a critical hit (which may kill the target outright, anyway).