Prima

[Michael Morris]

Prima (Playtest name, I have no idea what the final will be) is an RPG system that I'm working on, though to what degree I haven't decided. I'm not even sure it's fully workable, but I've been taking my time with it and tweaking things. After a couple years its starting to take form.

The system is somewhat d20 based - d20 vs. a target number. But instead of static modifiers, modifiers take the form of dice. At the very least abilities modify checks, and skills can modify them as well. So, if you have a d8 strength and a d6 climb skill, You'd roll d20+d8+d6.

Very high abilities and skills take the form of multiple dice. Racial abilities, spell effects, equipment circumstance bonuses may also add in dice. No matter how many dice you roll though, you only keep the highest two. So a halfling of mid to high level might have a d6 racial die for stealth checks, have a cloak of elvenkind giving him a d8 bonus to the checks, have a dexterity of d12/d4 and a stealth skill of d12/d6. Hence he'd roll d20 + the best two rolls out of a pool 2d6,d8,2d12,d4

That's the crux of the system that's been tested so far. Attacks are resolved as opposed rolls

There are no hit points. Damage reduces ability scores, usually constitution. The Savage Worlds Shake/Wound approach is used for combat damage. Charm spells and the like must deal damage to charisma and a character only becomes charmed or dominated once their charisma is exhausted. In a sense, charisma is to mental attack / defense what constitution is to physical attack / defense.

I'm unsure if I'm doing classes / levels. My wish is to create a system where classes / levels can be 'mapped' onto a classless engine. that way novice players can use the classes and levels as a guide, and experienced players can just do their thing.

What I've worked out so far is each session a character gets a skill point. More powerful advancements come at different intervals. Unlike a lot of skill based games I'm going to make the "combat" skill be something that can only be advanced occasionally, same with magic manipulation skills. Ability score raises will be the rarest, probably once every tenth session or so.

The structure of the system is such that advancing your best skills / abilities has diminishing returns. Once you have a d12 in a skill, raising to d12/d4 doesn't help that much. At 2d12 your skill is vast enough to make your relevant ability for the skill somewhat of a non-issue. If its low it won't help you, and your ability to hit the highest target numbers doesn't change.

The most important point of the system is to allow players the ability to advance their skills and abilities while keeping the target numbers locked regardless of play level. Once a character has found a way to be rolling 2d12 on a check, whatever other dice he gets to roll don't matter as much except to make failure on the the moderate tasks extremely unlikely. The key is that DC 24 is the highest DC that can be hit by a character with no aid and minimum ability (d20+d4), but also the midpoint on the bell curve for the veteran character with a means through skill and ability (usually both) to have d20+2d12 on the check ( 23.5 is the average roll of those dice).

All other decisions about how Prima will work will flow from there.

 

[GMMichael]

Looks good, and very similar to my system, which can be freely stolen from (or adopted) here:
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/p-p-rpg/wikis/main-page
The downside of the above link is that my rules are written more like code than a game guide.

If you're still hammering out the dice-as-modifiers system, ask yourself these questions:
- Does the system simulate well the difference between a novice and a master?
- Does it support epic or over-the-top-characters as well?
- Are there too many dice involved?

I have a "locked" target number system. It rests on a player's ability to take 10 on a d20 at any time. Each target number has a generic qualifier:
TN---Qualifier
<10--auto success
10---Easy
14---Challenging
18---Difficult
22---Unlikely
26---Impossible
30---Divine

Which is, again, similar to your system, since it suggests that your veterans (getting 23.5) are going to normally be doing things that are "unlikely" for the average person.

I guess a major question for Prima is: how do characters improve their skill dice? Will it take only 5 levels to be a world-leader in basket weaving?

Next question: if d12 is the best skill die, then 6.5 is the best average bonus to a skill. If you use static modifiers anywhere in the system, will a simple +1 to a roll make it too easy for n00bs to threaten the skills of masters?

 

[Michael Morris]

I guess a major question for Prima is: how do characters improve their skill dice? Will it take only 5 levels to be a world-leader in basket weaving?

Not all skills are created equal. In skill based systems there are skills which are important enough to be adventure defining - often the combat skills. Savage Worlds has three of these: fighting, throwing, shooting. Beyond that are skills everyone usually finds useful, like notice, then on the opposite end of the spectrum things like gambling or your example, basket weaving.

I've been debating on how best to work with this disparity. This is what I have.

You have skills, traits, edges abilities and tiers.

We know the six abilities - Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma. They are worth 5 points each

Skills cost one character point. Each session you get one character point. The cost to advance a skill never changes because the nature of the game system creates a diminishing returns paradigm. Your first point gives you an average +2.5 bonus to the skill (d4) and stretches your max to 24. Your next four points only add 1 point to the average when they are applied. When you go from d12 to d12/d4 you get even less bang for your buck. You can sink as many points as you want, but past 2d12 you gain very, very little for your effort. That said, if you have 2d12 skill in something (10 points of training) your ability score for the skill is mostly irrelevant to you. You've trained past your inherent limitation for that skill.

Edges cost 1 to 4 points depending on what they do. Most cost 2 points. An edge lets you break the rules in a small way, or may give you dice on certain rolls. The attractive edge gives you a die for your attractiveness you can add to charisma rolls. It starts at a d4 and can be advanced by purchasing the edge again.

Traits cost 3 points but have a special restriction. When you make a character, you choose your signature trait and that trait starts at d6 for free. All other traits you buy must be one die lower than the signature trait.

Tiers occur at 10 character point intervals. Once a character gains their 11th character point their tier advances (it advances again at the 21st, 31st and so on points). When your tier goes up your signature trait goes up and you either gain an ability score raise or 5 character points. If you choose the later these 5 points do NOT count towards the next time you gain a tier raise.

You gain a character point each session, so your character points are more or less a count of sessions played. The GM can choose to award fractional points or multiple points for different advancement rates. A fighter must be played 30 sessions to reach a d12 attack die.

Next question: if d12 is the best skill die, then 6.5 is the best average bonus to a skill. If you use static modifiers anywhere in the system, will a simple +1 to a roll make it too easy for n00bs to threaten the skills of masters?

Static modifiers won't be used.