The Great Conjunction (RPG DESIGN CONTEST)

[Lord Xtheth]

I've finaly come up with concepts for a system. (Math is hard)
I'm trying to find a way to make magic fit in with the idea. If I can't I might be forced to scrap my idea and start over.

 

[RandomCitizenX]

I've finaly come up with concepts for a system. (Math is hard)
I'm trying to find a way to make magic fit in with the idea. If I can't I might be forced to scrap my idea and start over.

Glad to see that something is coming along for you. I'm sure that the kinks will work themselves out well in time. Still working on a few myself *looks at combat vs conflict resolution and wonders if he should get a hammer*

 

[Wik]

Well, design on The Awakening carries on. Currently, I'm working on my damage system, but there have been a series of problems encountered during my "work week":

1) Skills: My original assessment of skill space was way off. I think I can have two skill write-ups per page... so I had to really knock down the number of skills available to characters. Even then, I now see I'll have 10 pages of skills! A related problem is with character creation; originally, characters would choose two primary skills (+30% bonus), three major skills (+20%), and five minor skills (+10%) - a total of ten skills... or half the skills in my current system! Since four of those skills are psychic skills (only 1 of which will be useful to a character, depending on which power they receive), that's ten skills out of a possible 17 choices!

So, I had to narrow a character's skill selection down to a more reasonable 5 (1 primary, 2 major, 3 minor).

2) The Multi-Action System: I have a multiple action per round system, reminiscent of the d6 system... which is working fine, I think. But I keep thinking of corner cases that I need to add to my rules system. As a result, my "basic rules" is sort of bleeding into the combat rules.

3) Wounds: My damage system has been a problem since the start, but I'm beginning to get a feel for it now. Basically, characters have a number of Health Points (name to be changed later, maybe) - if they reach zero, you're dying or unconscious (depending on the attack that hit you). However, they replenish at the start of every combat.

If you suffer a wound (a set amount of damage dictated by your character's Body and Spirit attributes), you get a negative game effect depending on where you're hit (wound locations!), and your health maximum decreases by 3. If you should ever suffer enough wounds to reduce your health maximum to 0, you're dead.

In keeping with the post-apoc tone of the game, even if your wounds heal, you still have to suffer a long-term effect for a while... you may have a limp, or foggy vision. And if you got hit really hard, you'll suffer a permanent long-term effect.

It doesn't go as far as Warhammer, though - no limb loss.

Problem right now is figuring out how to include Body Armour - should it just be flat Damage Reduction, or should it increase an area's Wound Threshold?

4) Combat: It's hitting me now that in a modern game, there are a lot of options. How do you implement automatic fire? Burst Fire? Shotgun blasts? Grenades? Suppressing Fire? And, more importantly, how do you do it without taking up any space?

5) Magic: I have a psychic powers system, and it's beginning to take shape. But other factors are cutting into my psychic page count, which could be a problem.

6) Adrenaline: Characters in my game get Adrenaline Points, which are used for a variety of purposes. They can power abilities, heal your character, offer re-rolls, and a bunch of other nifty things. The more I work on the game, the more I'm using adrenaline points... which makes me wonder how many points I should give PCs each day (I've already determined they should be a daily pool to draw from). I'm working on 10 adrenaline points right now, but I have a feeling that may be too much, especially because if I have space I'll be including a mechanic that essentially gives extra adrenaline points if a character RPs his character well.

So, those are my issues right now. Two weeks in, is anyone else beginning to encounter unforeseen troubles?

 

[Wik]

I've finaly come up with concepts for a system. (Math is hard)
I'm trying to find a way to make magic fit in with the idea. If I can't I might be forced to scrap my idea and start over.

Well, if you have some system problems, there's nothing wrong with borrowing. I looked at 3.5E (a system I like and generally understan) to figure out if my math looked right. There's nothing wrong with using a d20+modifier system, or an Xd6 score success system (like Shadowrun).

If you need some system ideas, I have a few I can post here. They wouldn't be complete, but they'd be a good place to start.

 

[Abisashi]

there's nothing wrong with borrowing

A little research on other game systems reveals that my system resembles several I have never played; my resolution system, at its core, looks like shadowrun's. In my system you need a 1 or 2 on a d6 for success, because I was originally going to use a variety of dice to represent skill, d4-d20, but I dropped that because I thought it would slow down play too much. I've done lots of stuff to try to speed up the actual mechanical playing.

My multi-action system acts a lot like d6 Star Wars, though I think mine is implemented in a cleaner fashion (I think it will play faster), and I like how I tied it into my wound system.

My mechanics chapter (which includes skills and combat, but not magic) is about 8.5 pages now, and I think it will end up about 10 pages. Skills will probably be about half that. I specify that my skill list isn't meant to be all-inclusive, but I included stuff that I figured would come up a lot (stealth, combat skills, etc.)

One thing I am trying to do is build a system where I can have attacking be a skill like every other without the character feeling like they have to have it; I accomplish this mainly with the power of magic, and because I intend for this to be played with a small number of players (more players tends to make combat encounters more attractive, in my experience).

Two weeks in, is anyone else beginning to encounter unforeseen troubles?

Right now I think my rules are pretty non-sensical, because I haven't really chosen one set of terminology and used it consistently throughout.

Another thing I need to nail down is whether I want combat to be tactical (with minis and a grid) or descriptive; I'm leaning toward the second, but the first has some advantages in terms of clarity.

I currently have four things that can add to a skill roll, assuming no additional outside modifiers; Focus, attributes, skill groups, and skills; I'm thinking of merging attributes and skill groups to clean it up, but I should probably decide that soon.

 

[Wik]

One thing I am trying to do is build a system where I can have attacking be a skill like every other without the character feeling like they have to have it; I accomplish this mainly with the power of magic, and because I intend for this to be played with a small number of players (more players tends to make combat encounters more attractive, in my experience).

Y'know, I never really thought of that, but it's true. The more PCs, the more "fun" combats can get. I guess it's because RP encounters are often dominated by one player in larger groups.

I wanted a similar approach in my post-apoc game, but I went with a different route. I made sure that combats were lethal, and that any fight can result in a PC dying or getting wounded - the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or Shadowrun approach. PCs don't leap into a fight without searching for any advantage they can get, first. At least, that's what I'm hoping will happen.

Right now I think my rules are pretty non-sensical, because I haven't really chosen one set of terminology and used it consistently throughout.

Guilty of that, as well. I'm keeping an alternate file open to function as a glossary to combat this, but a lot of my terms need to be edited later on, when I have a firmer idea of exactly what they do ("Adrenaline" being the most likely to get a name change)

If you're using a good word processor, I'd recommend doing what I'm doing, and putting an "XXX" (by itself, in caps, not connected to anything else) by anything you think you'll want to change later. Then you use "find" later on to pick up on all of these, and fill in the relevant details.

Another thing I need to nail down is whether I want combat to be tactical (with minis and a grid) or descriptive; I'm leaning toward the second, but the first has some advantages in terms of clarity.

Yeah, this is something I looked at, too. I decided to go for the first, if only because my players like using a battle grid. But I wanted to keep the rules simple enough that it can be played without a grid (like d6 SW).

 

[Abisashi]

With that in mind, I know that I want my game to follow a few key rules:
...
2) The Setting's Magic and the Game Rules must intertwine:

I hope you don't mind if I drag stuff from your design blog here. I am curious whether other people's magic systems are similar to/integrated into their general mechanics, or if they are separate and different?

My magic system is going to look totally different from the rest of my mechanics, to help it stand apart (and because using the magic mechanics for every action would be too slow); using magic is not like using a sword at all, and I want the player to feel that.

 

[Abisashi]

I wanted a similar approach in my post-apoc game, but I went with a different route. I made sure that combats were lethal, and that any fight can result in a PC dying or getting wounded - the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or Shadowrun approach. PCs don't leap into a fight without searching for any advantage they can get, first. At least, that's what I'm hoping will happen.

I also wanted a pretty lethal system. Although a mage can survive hit that would kill a normal man, damage reduces his dice pools and ability to take multiple actions; it might be hard for the enemy to land the first hit, but once they do things will go downhill quickly.

 

[Arkhandus]

Huh. I'm late to the game, but I'm going to ponder this for a few days and see if I can't whip up something suitable within the next month.

 

[fuindordm]

Abisashi:

In my RPG, both combat and magic key off of the skill system. If you swing a sword, you use the sword skill; if you speak an incantation you use the True Speech skill. In melee you can defend yourself with a weapon, so the attack roll becomes an opposed roll. I haven't figured out how to incorporate analogous defenses for missile fire and magical attacks.

My damage system is very simple: you can take three wounds, and on the fourth wound you're dead. Melee combat can have several opposed combat rounds before a wound actually occurs. This gives the characters a window to break off combat before physical injury when they realize they're outmatched.

So right now, my mind is gnawing at a simple problem: shields. I'm thinking that using a shield grants you a roll to avoid the wound when it finally occurs. That's certainly a useful benefit, but I foresee two problems: the more skilled combatant in a melee probably ends up not using their shield at all, and the mechanism extends an already long combat.

Ideas are welcome!

Ben