Microlite20 : the smallest thing in gaming

[kensanata]

I'd be a lot happier if I'd actually get to play these days. But no. All the family dads need to spend time at home instead of going on some adventures...

 

[Pilsnerquest]

Hey all,

Been haunting the EN Microlite20 forum since Snikle pointed all of us this way from FUM where we've been using, and abusing, the rules. Love the ruleset and the continuous ideas, improvements and additions to them. Here's a couple of houserules that have been thrown into the mix.

Renown
As characters adventure around the realms they become more and more well-known as news of incredible feats done by great heroes travels fast and fame soon follows. Foul deeds done by the not-so-good also garners lots of attention and word spreads quickly to watch for the newest threat to the good people of the land.
Renown is gained exactly the same as Encounter Levels, however it is cumulative and does not reset as Encounter Levels do. GM’s may choose to assign titles to characters who achieve high levels of Renown, such as Lord, Master Thief, Grand Wizard, Priest, etc.

Creates a little competition between players as to who is the greatest hero around.​

Overwhelming the Opponent
Each attacker beyond the first against the same target in the same round adds +1 to their attack rolls for each attacker before them. So, a second attack on the same target in the same round by a party member would be at +1, a third attack at +2, etc.
​

This is a nice one that keeps parties working together, especially against devious GM creations.


Pilsnerquest

 

[kensanata]

I've been using the Kitsunemori Campaign Setting Prestige rules: Characters start with a prestige score equal to their WILL score. You can use it for prestige contests when staring each other down ("pulling rank"), or against a DC to see whether villagers or other people recognize them. Use DC 5 for populated regions and DC 20 for hermits... Whenever players do foul or noble deeds, they get to check prestige: If 1d20 + prestige bonus > current prestige, their prestige rises by 1 if doing noble deeds; if the test fails when doing a foul deed, prestige drops by 1 instead. I've used it when players paid respecct at a famous shrine and when players entered a new village.

 

[Pilsnerquest]

I've been using the Kitsunemori Campaign Setting Prestige rules: Characters start with a prestige score equal to their WILL score. You can use it for prestige contests when staring each other down ("pulling rank"), or against a DC to see whether villagers or other people recognize them. Use DC 5 for populated regions and DC 20 for hermits... Whenever players do foul or noble deeds, they get to check prestige: If 1d20 + prestige bonus > current prestige, their prestige rises by 1 if doing noble deeds; if the test fails when doing a foul deed, prestige drops by 1 instead. I've used it when players paid respecct at a famous shrine and when players entered a new village.

That's a neat system for player recognition, especially how you relate it to a DC check. I had been using my Renown stat as a kind of competition between players by keeping a Renown list. Players come and go and characters perish but they are always left on the list so all players can see how they rank against the heroes of the present and the past.

Pilsnerquest

 

[kensanata]

I've also been planning to use it as a substitute for appropriate behaviour in social situations, eg. at court. My Japanese setting would have lots of opportunities ranging from tea ceremony to burials, receptions, and so on. While some of us have some interest in Japanese culture, and one of us has a Japanese wife, the rest does not really care so much. So I will need a shortcut that keeps these other players in the loop.

 

[greywulf]

Pilsnerquest & kensanata: This is what I like about M20 more than anything else - the core rules are so small, they just beg to be added to and made your own. It makes a change to handling monolithic systems where even the slightest alteration is approached with trepidation. Mentioning no game systems by name, of course

The ideas for Renown, Prestige and Overwhelming an Opponent deserve entry into the Microlite20 Macropedia , so that's where they're going.

We're in discussion right now about the HP cost for spell points. As it currently stands, to cast a spell you expend HP equal to double the Spell Level +1 (ie, 1/3/5/7/9, etc). That works well for lower-level gaming, but at higher levels is can be restrictive without some kind of magic item to fuel the spells. Put simply, Mages run out of HP too quickly.

A proposed solution for a higher-magic campaign is to make the HP cost double Spell level -1 so the progression becomes 0/1/3/5/7/9 - a shift to the right. Magi and Clerics could cast 3+MIND bonus 0-level spells per day for free. After that, they also cost 1HP. That brings the cost inline with the psionics PP cost from the SRD. Under this system, it's suggested to also ditch the cheaper cost for favoured spells.

I'm going to put this into the Macropedia as an optional rule for higher-magic games, and would appreciate your input.............

Over to you!

 

[kensanata]

Prestige

I rewrote my Prestige proposal on the M20 website to include examples etc.

 

[Ry]

This thread's getting brutally long... very difficult to jump into. Any chance of a new thread?

 

[Ry]

One question for greywulf:

How do you feel about ideas from this getting lifted for Rank20? There's a lot of things in Microlite20 that are just better and clearer than Rank20, but I think I'd rather keep my Rank and Conviction/Reserve mechanics as the underlying.

 

[kensanata]

I think the thread is ok. When joining a conversation in a room, you also don't need to recap everything. The last two pages is enough.

I don't know about Greywulf's feelings, but at least legally you're safe, if you're taking his ideas, since they are not patented. Originally, all ideas were free. Then people started to grant patents on ideas with industrial application. Roleplaying games are not there – yet, hehe.

And if you want to do copies or incorporate it into other works, creating derivatives, I think all you need to do is follow the OGL attached to all the documents.

"Down with hoarding!"