The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ooc]Sometimes people ask me: "Hey, LC! Is it true that you're really crazy when it comes to starting projects that are probably more than you can handle?"

In case the answer weren't obvious, I'm going to make it abundantly clear: The current ill-advised project is a brand new system of game mechanics. From scratch.

Yeah! Crazy!

But, like the Sacred Geometry idea, this is something that has been on my mind for quite a while, and simply will not let me be until I write it down.

Will this ever be used? Maybe, maybe not. My goal is to eventually arrive at a working, usable system that presents a viable alternative to the heavy-hitters we all know and love (or know and loathe) so well.

Am I abandoning d20? Not explicitly, but there's no more d20 work to do on the Jade Stage, and I'm feeling dissatisfied with level-based, class-based systems in general. I'm not done with d20 (I'll still be running the Battle of Brithen game in d20 format), but I'm exploring my other options and ideas.

Is this a Jade Stage project? Yes and no. I'm developing it with the Jade Stage in mind, but ideally, Triad System should be general and adaptable enough to be used for all sorts of gaming environments-- from modern day New York to Camelot, from Dystopia to Stars Above-- with minimal modification.

Why fool around with this whole project? Lots of reasons. The aforementioned dissatisfaction with the status quo is a big one. I think I can make something better than d20. Partially, it's boredom. Partially, it's the necessity of nagging ideas.

What's the Triad System all about? It's essentially a tri-stat system: mental, physical, social-- all three equally weighted. There's subtler shading within that framework, and (hopefully!) a flexible sort of mechanic should lend Triad a great deal of power and precision.

I want to be able to use Triad to build any kind of character I want, and to run any kind of scenario I want, not because I wrestled an obstinate system of mechanics to the ground, but because it's easy and natural.

We'll see how it turns out.[/ooc]

Qualities and Specialties

The Triad describes characters in terms of Qualities-- things you are-- and Specialties-- things you've learned to do. Qualities are general and innate, while Specialties are more specific. For example, Bob the soldier might be pretty tough (that's a Quality), and also a well-trained archer (that's a specialty.) Sammy the trader might be very clever (a Quality) and an amateur musician (a Specialty.) Jane the diplomat might be generally good with people (a Quality) as well as an experienced negotiator (a Specialty.) All these characters use their Qualities and Specialties together to succeed at their various endeavors.

Every character has three main qualities: physical, social, and mental. These three qualities are further broken up as follows:

Physical Qualities
- Speed: A speedy character is nimble, quick, and precise. Having a high Speed helps a character avoid danger, outrun threats, get the drop on enemies, and land attacks with accuracy.
- Guts: A gutsy character is tough and resilient. Having plenty of Guts helps a character ignore pain, shrug off sickness, poison, and injury, and keep coming back for more.
- Brawn: A brawny character has plenty of raw physical strength. Having a high Brawn helps a character lift, move, and break things, subdue opponents, and inflict punishing damage.

Social Qualities
- Style: A stylish character knows how to grab and keep attention. High Style helps a character influence crowds, distract onlookers, and generally impress people with your glamour or demeanor. If you're the center of attention, it's because your Style put you there. Performers, public speakers, con artists, and commanders often drip with Style.
- Grace: A graceful character can read the currents of the social scene and blend in. Graceful characters seem to know all the local customs wherever they go (or they learn them very quickly!), how to act at classy social gatherings, how to blend in with slum-dwelling refugees or decadent nobles alike. High Grace helps a character feel at home and act the part, no matter what their company. Well-traveled individuals, well-bred socialites, and skilled spies are likely to be full of social Grace.
- Charm: A charming character knows how to get his or her way. Maybe it's the face, or the voice, or a certain way with words, but a character with high Charm can often get people to believe he's telling the truth (whether he is or not!), convince others into doing what he asks, or intimidate someone into compliance.

Mental Qualities
- Wits: A character with his Wits about him is always alert. High Wits helps a character notice small details in the world around him, or just generally be clever. Wits helps an adventurer figure out which way to dive to dodge that falling rock, solve the riddles posed by an ancient wizard, or notice that the eyes of that painting really are following him around the room!
- Lore: Lore represents education and the accumulation of useful facts and trivia. A character with a mastery of Lore might know the crests and mottos of noble houses, how to read and write several languages, the histories of nations, how to identify plants in the wild, how to mix a deadly poison, or how to perform emergency surgery on a goblin.
- Wisdom: Wisdom is a more abstract concept, a combination of intuition, insight, creativity, and ability to think outside the box. It is the stock and trade of philosophers, poets, teachers, and problem-solvers-- a person with high Wits might be able to notice hidden clues, but sometimes only a person with high Wisdom can figure out what all the clues mean. Wisdom has to do with a deep and fundamental understanding of life, people, and the world in general-- which means that many people think they possess it in large quantities, but few truly do.

In many cases, all three skills of a certain type will be used together. A character might use all his mental skills to solve a crimescene, or all his social skills to attempt a seduction, or all his physical skills to run a triathalon. But in other cases, a character would use them more selectively: to move a large stone, for example, a character needs only Brawn-- the other Physical Qualities don't matter.

Measuring Qualities
Qualities are measured on a scale of 1 to 7, but the average for most people and most qualities is 3. A Brawn of 3, for example, would be common for most healthy adults. A Brawn of 1 or 2 might indicate the strength of a child, a person suffering debilitating illness, or someone similarly weaker than average. A Brawn of 7 would be extraordinarily rare; someone with that kind of Brawn might be arguably the strongest person in the world. Likewise, a person with a Style of 7 turns heads when she enters any room, and has people hanging on her every word; a person with a Style of 1 or 2 has difficulty getting people's attention even when she has something to say.

A Sample Character
At this point, it's getting difficult to talk about all these things in abstracts, so let's imagine a sample character. We'll call him Nick. Nick works on a farm, and drives his cart into the city to sell vegetables at the weekly market.

[note=Nick's Stats]I don't have much in the way of a character creation process yet, so Nick isn't really "authentically made." We'll just use him as an example for the time being: he is character v.1.0.

I gave Nick 27 points to spread throughout his Qualities. That's exactly enough to put a 3 in everything: the average adult's stats.[/note]

Quote from: Augh, no.Yes, my examples are the most cliché examples ever. Cut me a little slack. :) [/note]For example, let's look at Nick again. He's had a lucrative day at market, and has decided to stop by a local tavern on the way home for a well-deserved refreshing beverage. In the tavern, he meets a large, drunken, belligerent man who has mistaken Nick for someone else: someone he wants to punch in the face!

Nick decides to try to calm the man down. He picks three stats to do this with, and decides to use his qualities of Style, Wisdom, and Charm-- Style to get the drunkard to stop and pay attention to what he's saying, Wisdom to come up with a convincing nonviolet suggestion, and Charm to convince the drunkard to pay heed to it. Nick is drawing upon Social and Mental Qualities, at the same time, in response to a Physical threat.

[note=On Numbers To Beat]I'm not really sure how to determine what Nick would have had to roll to succeed here. Maybe there's a set number. Maybe the drunk gets a roll of his own (perhaps Wits, Wisdom, and Charm?) to see that he's being manipulated.

At any rate, there are still gaps to be filled in.[/note] Nick adds his Style (2), his Wisdom (4), and his Charm (3), getting a total of 9: a pretty average total. To this, he adds 3d6: one die for each Quality he's chosen. But Nick rolls poorly: his total of 3d6+9 is only 15, much too low to thwart the violent intentions of a raging drunkard.

The drunkard pulls back his fist and prepares to clobber Nick. Combat! The drunkard is relying on brute force, so he totals all three of his Physical Qualities and adds 3d6. To defend himself, Nick tries to use his Wits to see the direction of the incoming blow, his Speed to get out of the way, and his Guts to take the punch without serious injury, if it comes to that. He adds Wits (3), Speed (2), and Guts (5), adding 3d6 to his total of 10. Unfortunately, it's just not Nick's night. Nick's total was the lower of the two, and the drunkard's fist catches him squarely in the jaw!

Specialties: Because sometimes Qualities just won't cut it

As mentioned, while Qualities are things you are-- smart or quick, persuasive or tough, etc.-- Specialties are skills you've learned. Specialties work much like Qualities, but tend to be more specific. [note=Listing Specialties]I don't have an exhaustive list of Specialties, but I'm not sure if I need one. There will likely be a "core" list of commonly-used Specialties, but it is completely feasable for players and GMs to work together to create new ones as the situation merits.[/note]For example, most characters use Qualities like Charm to get their way, but a character with high Charm and the Specialty of Negotiation is an even better smoothtalker. Likewise, Lore determines a character's general knowledge, but a character with high Lore and the Specialties of History and Science is going to be especially well-suited to dealing with those kinds of subjects.

Measuring Specialties
Like Qualities, Specialties are measured on a scale of 1 to 7 (or 0, since you don't have to have points in a Specialty at all). Unlike Qualities, a 3 is not "average" for Specialties. Since Specialties represent an above-average focus in a particular area, the "average" value for any given Specialty is not to have it at all.

For this reason, most characters tend to have much lower numbers in their Specialties than in their Qualities, but even one or two points in a Specialty can make a big difference when that Specialty comes into play.

Picking and Choosing Options, with Specialties
Players have a healthy array of options with most actions, even without Specialties. For example, in a sword-duel, a character might easily call upon a wide variety of Qualities: Speed, to strike accurately and parry effectively; Brawn, to punch through defenses and hit hard; Guts, to resist pain and fatigue and keep coming on strong; Wits, to be keenly aware of an opponent's movements in order to counter them; Style, to demoralize an opponent with a display of unshakeable confidence and skill; Charm, to bluff an opponent into making a mistake; and so on. Even if we pick them three at a time, there are many possibilities. It almost seems superfluous to invest points in a Specialization like Swordplay when there are already so many options, especially since basic Qualities like Speed or Style have many possible uses in all sorts of situations, while Swordplay would only be used in combat.

The advantages to using Specialties are twofold. First, the ability to use a Specialty for its related task is stable. Most Qualities are fairly subjective in how they can be used. For example, using Speed, Brawn, or Wits for combat-related actions works fairly well most of the time, but other Qualities see far less use-- there are simply a limited number of situations where it makes sense to use Style, Guts, and Charm in a fight. If you have the Swordplay Specialty, you can use it in every roll involving combat as long as you have a sword in your hand. For a character intending to see a lot of fighting, that kind of extra stability is a big deal: a Specialty like that is something to rely upon.

The other, possibly even bigger advantage to using Specialties is that they're simply more effective than Qualities when it comes to the particular task they're suited for. When your roll includes at least one Specialty, you get to add an extra die to the total (using 4d6 instead of 3d6.) The extra die represents the focused nature of expertise a Specialty grants.

Because of the extra die, even a Specialty with a value of 1 is very powerful. Using the swordfighting example, a character with Swordplay 1 might consider that a better choice in battle than a Quality with a value of 3, 4, or even higher. In this way, learning a Specialty even at one point makes a character very good at what that Specialty is for, even better than a character with above-average scores in the relevant Qualities. And if a Specialty with a value of 1 makes a character quite capable, a Specialty with a value as high as 7 makes a character a serious force to be reckoned with.

[note=Coming Soon:]Character Creation (i.e., how to buy up all these Qualities and Specialties)

A non-exhaustive list of Specialties to get you started

The Core Qualities: Health, Will and Focus

Magic![/note]

Core Qualities: Health, Will, and Focus

Core Qualities are unique in that they are derived from the regular Qualities, rather than "bought" directly with character points. They are the only values on the character sheet that are expended during the course of a game session, and their mechanic emphasizes the importance of being well-rounded.

Like the nine primary Qualities, the Core Qualities are divided into Physical, Mental, and Social categories: Health is Physical, Focus is Mental, and Will is Social. The values of the Core Qualities are closely tied to the values of the associated primary Qualities: a Core Quality equals the lowest value of its three associated primary Qualities. In the previous example of Nick the farmer, Nick's Health is 2 (limited by his Speed of 2), his Focus is 2 (limited by his Lore of 2), and his Will is 2 (limited by both Grace and Style.) Nick can increase his Core Qualities only if he increases his main Qualities; if he increases his Lore to 3, his Focus also increases to 3, because 3 would be the lowest value of all his Mental Qualities.

Health
Health is, simply put, a measure of how much punishment a character can take before his body fails him. Points of Health are not "spent" like points of Focus and Will are. Instead, they are subtracted from a character's total when that character suffers injury. Lost Health is recovered with medical care.

When a character reaches zero health, his body fails him. This may be represented by a loss of consciousness, total exhaustion, paralysis, or other condition that makes sense in light of the type of injury that removed the last Health point. A character with zero health points is unable to defend himself; if he takes further damage that would reduce Health, he is completely at the mercy of his attacker. These types of especially dire injuries can result in maiming, death, and other severe inconveniences.

Focus
Focus, simply stated, is a measure of a character's ability to concentrate under pressure. A character can spend a point of Focus to effectively do two things at once, gaining an extra action in a turn, or reactively using Qualities twice in a round. [note=reactivity]More on this later, I swear.

Maybe.[/note]

However, Focus takes on new layers of significance in the mind of magic-using characters, as it affects the facility with which they use their unusual abilities. Each Magic Thought a mage has active "occupies" one point of Focus-- that is to say, a mage can never simultaneously use more Magic Thoughts than he has points of available Focus. Additionally, some especially potent magic abilities require expenditure of Focus to power them, and certain magic techniques enable a circlewielder to attack another individual's Focus directly, neutralizing enemy magic-users.

Expended points of Focus are replenished by meditation, rest, and similar activities that clear and refresh the mind.

Will[note=Will. Won't!]I pretty much dislike the name for this ability, but I can't really think of a better one. I'm trying to convey a certain determination and "sense of self," but I can't come up with a word that means those things that's short and simple enough for what I want.[/note]
A character's Will represents a character's determination and sense of purpose, the reserve from which characters draw to snatch victory from the jaws of crushing defeat. A player may spend a point of Will upon failing a roll, for a chance at a better outcome.

In a situation where a character would be forced to act against his wishes, spending a point of Will turns failure into automatic success. In other situations, spending a point of Will merely grants another roll as a result of extraordinary effort, and the effects of the second roll must be kept (whether they are favorable or not.) For example, Jesse is torturing Steve in an attempt to get him to reveal the rebels' battle plans, but Steve is determined to keep his mouth shut despite the pain, to give his comrades-in-arms a chance in the big battle. However, Jesse is a skilled interrogator, and her roll for the torture session (Wits + Charm + Interrogation + 4d6) beats Steve's effort to resist (Guts + Wits + Wisdom + 3d6). The agony is too great, and he is forced to give Jesse the informati-- wait! Steve draws on some unfathomable inner reserve, spending a point of Will to resist the torment a while longer. However, he is weakening (gradually spending all his Will!), and Jesse knows that with patience and persistence, she will eventually extract everything she needs to know (assuming Steve's allies don't rescue him before then, of course!)

Steve's auto-success from a Will point is because he used it to avoid acting against his wishes (i.e., giving away information he strongly desired to keep secret.) However, in the hallway outside the torture chamber, a different scene is simultaneously unfolding. Rebel operative Melissa is on a misson to rescue Steve from torture... but first, she has to make her way past the guards. She sneaks down the hallway, trying to find a way past the patrols while still remaining stealthy (Wits + Speed + Stealth + 4d6), but one of the guards notices her! (Wits + Wisdom + Awareness + 4d6.) She spends a Will point, because her mission is urgent! The Will point grants her a reroll instead of automatic success, because being spotted doesn't force Melissa to act against her wishes. If she wins the reroll, the guard assumes he saw only an errant shadow in the flickering torchlight. If she fails the reroll, she is out of options-- she has been spotted.

Will is replenished in response to events that serve to double a character's resolve. A character may regain a spent point of Will upon seeing a mentor gunned down before her eyes, or discovering incontrovertible proof of the Temple's corruption, or returning home at last to find the village burned to the ground by troll marauders.

The Arc Path

[ic=Gor of Iro]Your life is curved, my son. You have a power, yes, but it will lead you away from the plans-you-hold. Cho help you now.[/ic]

Magic users learn the secrets of the Sacred Geometries, and are said to walk the Arc Path, a departure from the straight roads of conventional destiny. The Circle is a force of nature: its effects through and upon its wielders are profound. There are many avenues of power a circle-wielder might pursue, but the first stages of learning, the initiation into the mysteries of the Circle, are generally the same: the young circle-wielder first learns of the nature of the Circle, then begins to perceive the Circle personally.

In game terms, becoming a mage involves the following steps, which must take place in order:
[note=Learning Magic]Naturally, GMs may prefer to insist upon a teacher-student relationship of some kind, in order for a character to learn magic initially. Alternately, they might allow characters to develop magic spontaneously in a different kind of setting (in which case the first requirement involving the Circle Magic Specialty might be dropped entirely.)[/note]1.) Learn at least one point of the Specialty, Circle Magic. This Specialty represents knowledge about mages and magic, as well as (eventually) the ability to use magic with precision and skill. Many magic techniques, when they use rolls, allow for the possibility of using the Circle Magic Specialty.
2.) Learn the Magic Thought technique, Circlesight. This Magic Thought represents the ability to perceive the Circle's effects, and is the first technique young mages learn when setting foot upon the Arc Path.

Once the young circle-wielder has at least one point in Circle Magic and knows the Circlesight technique, he may further explore the mysteries of the Circle at his own pace, advancing his Circle Magic Specialty and learning new Magic Thoughts, Gestures, and Inscriptions as he sees fit.

Magic Thought
Commonly considered the most basic, personal, and internalized form of magic, Magic Thought produces extraordinary effects that alter the way a circle-wielder interacts with the world. To utilize Magic Thought, a mage calls to mind an image of the Circle, weighting certain arcs and circumferencial points with particular emphasis in such a way as to evoke the desired effect from the Circle's natural properties. Maintaining concentration on such a specifically prepared image requires a certain level of mental discipline, but practiced mages can cultivate the ability to hold multiple Thoughts in mind at once, and many do so during all their waking hours.

The importance of Focus
Concentrating on a Thought requires a certain amount of mental energy. A circle-wielder's Focus attribute is of critical importance, since each Thought in effect "occupies" a point of the circle-wielder's Focus. (Some rare and potent Thoughts may require more than one point of Focus, due to their great complexity.) A mage whose current Focus is reduced will often have to relinquish one or more Thoughts, if the reduction brings his current Focus below the number of Thoughts he previously had active.

For example, Ben knows that a spy is active in the city, and he wants that spy's information. Working on a hunch, he puts his mage talents to work at counter-espionage in the streets outside a seedy tavern. Ben has two points of Focus, so he leans against a wall, wrapping himself in two well-chosen Thoughts: one sharpens his eyes and ears as he stands lookout, the other ensures that no one takes a close-enough look to realize he doesn't really belong in this part of town. When Ben notices the spy exiting the tavern he's staking out, he shifts his strategy and his Thoughts, dropping his aura of Obscurity in favor of a commanding voice. "Stop," he intones levelly, in a voice rich with subtle and strange undertones. The spy, to her surprise, finds herself obeying.

Some Magic Thoughts

Circlesight - The first technique a mage learns, Circlesight allows the perception of magic. A mage concentrating on Circlesight is aware of magic effects around him, sometimes leading others (correctly) to surmise that mages see things invisible to the uninitiated. Different circle-wielders experience magic in different ways, often as hazes of color, audial rumblings or susurrations, scents, sensations of pressure or temperature change, or vague mental "hunches." Using Circlesight, mages can heed these sensory cues to pinpoint the location and approximate size and magnitude of magic effects. This enables a mage to notice magic Inscriptions or Circle-engraved items, and even to recognize other individuals as mages (provided they have one or more active Magic Thoughts to be seen.) In some cases the GM may call for a roll to notice small or subtle details, just as with nonmagical perception.

Awareness - This technique sharpens a mage's senses, enabling him to see detail at great distances, hear whispers from across the room, or smell the "undetectable" poison in a cup of wine. A mage under the effect of this Thought may use the Circle Magic Specialization in rolls involving sensory perception, and may be given the opportunity to roll to see, hear, smell, taste, or feel sensations that would be too subtle for normal people to notice (as in the above examples.) Due to the sensory overload resulting from such vastly magnified input, concentrating on Awareness occupies two points of Focus, not one.

Obscurity - A mage cloaked in this Thought hides himself from onlookers, remaining perfectly visible, but becoming unremarkable. Unless the mage calls attention to himself with suspicious action, onlookers will not give him a second thought-- he becomes a mere faceless member of the crowd. Different individuals may see the Obscure mage in different ways-- as hired help, an anonymous and nondescript stranger, and so on-- and will be unable to recall precise details of physical description afterwards.

This illusion is far from foolproof, and there are many conditions under which it collapses. Onlookers are permitted an opposed roll to see through the illusion if the mage behaves suspiciously or calls attention to himself with conspicuous action, or if they know the mage personally and would normally recognize him. The mage is permitted to use the Circle Magic Specialization in these checks. If a mage using Obscurity is seen by a mage using Awareness, a similar opposed roll is made, and both mages may use Circle Magic in the roll. Finally, Obscurity fails if the mage is in a place where there is no normal traffic to blend in with.

Resonance - A mage using this Thought drapes himself with the mantle of authority, lending extraordinary weight to his words. When he speaks while focusing upon Resonance, his voice dances with irresistable undertones and strange echoes, becoming hard to ignore or to disobey. While under the effects of Resonance, a mage may use the Circle Magic Specialization in rolls involving getting and holding the attention of others, or persuading them to follow commands.

Resonance lends the mage a voice of authoritative command or tempting suggestion, not a voice of destruction. Obviously self-destructive commands are ignored, and anyone witnessing them becomes immune to that mage's Resonance for a day and feels that something unnatural and sinister has just happened. More subtle trickery may still work, however, so while a mage may not use Resonance to encourage someone to jump off a balcony, he might successfully persuade the same person to indulge in a glass of (poisoned) wine. Resonance and Obscurity inverse and are mutually exclusive Thoughts, and no mage may use both simultaneously.

Circle Grasp - This Thought enables the mage to interact directly with the Circle Currents around him, grasping, redirecting, and physically manipulating them. Only a mage concentrating on this Thought is capable of using Magic Gesture techniques.

[note=Customizing Magic]This list of powers is tailored for a low-magic setting according to my particular tastes. It can be easily adapted for other settings by adding or removing powers from the list. If you want magic users in your setting to be able to fly or sling eldritch fire, it's fairly easy to add Thoughts and Gestures that do just that.[/note]Arc Aspect - A mage focusing on this Thought allows the Arc Path to carry him slightly out of phase with conventional reality. While focusing upon the image of the Arc Aspect, the mage is unaffected by hunger and thirst, and does not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep to survive. This Thought also suspends both aging and natural healing for the duration of the mage's concentration, but this unnatural method of existence is draining. Every day while using this Thought, the mage must succeed at a roll or lose one point of Focus, meaning that eventually, with no Focus left to maintain this Thought, the mage must rest and refresh his mind.

Mind Over Matter - A mage concentrating on this potent Thought may selectively ignore the laws of nature themselves. This Thought protects a mage against dangers by allowing the mage to treat them as harmless. By exercising Mind Over Matter, the mage may consume poison without consequence, watch arrows pass insubstancially through his body, or harmlessly catch the hewing blade of a sword with a naked hand. This power is taxing in the extreme, however; focusing on Mind Over Matter occupies two points of Focus instead of one, and every injury avoided with this Thought requires the mage to expend one point of Focus or one point of Will. (If doing so is impossible, or if expending a point of Focus would require the mage to drop concentration on Mind Over Matter, the hapless mage suffers injury as normal.)[note=Upcoming]Specific Thoughts, Gestures, and Inscriptions will eventually be listed here.

I am being careful to proceed slowly and deliberately in this portion of the project. I am getting a little more specific here than I did in the opening section, and I want to be sure not to crush the life out of this system. You can pin a butterfly to a display board, after all, but the butterfly isn't much better off for your efforts.

:yumm:[/note]

Combat and Other Conflict Resolution

You already know most of what you need to know for this stuff. But there are just a few more ideas that should lend the system some color.

The Rule of Seven
It's one thing to come out on top, but completely dominating your rivals is something a little more special. When a conflict is particularly one-sided (or when one participant gets particularly lucky,) some serious fireworks can go off. In game terms, when two characters make opposed rolls and one beats the other by seven or more, victory is particularly sweet (and defeat is particularly bitter.)

Players and the GM should work together to determine exactly what happens when the Rule of Seven comes into play, but here are some examples of typical effects:

In combat:
- If the attacker beats the defender by seven, he can do an additional point of Health damage.
- If the defender beats the attacker by seven, he can exploit an opening to get a free attack against his assailant.
- In general, this is how people find themselves disarmed, backed into corners, put in headlocks, or otherwise disadvantaged.

Elsewhere:
- (Note to self: fill soome of this stuff in :yumm: )

A good rule of thumb is to keep effects of the Rule of Seven moderate (instant death is probably a bit much, for example), and to make them based on a character's skill, not luck. For example, a duelist who loses a roll against his opponent by seven or more should face his consequence because his opponent made a skillful maneuver or because he left himself open, not because he happened to trip on a random pebble and fall upon his own sword.

Reactivity:
If someone strikes you, you probably react by defending yourself from the blow. If someone asks you a question, you might react with an answer or a witty retort. If someone turns to flee from you, you might try to grab them by the shoulder before they can escape. If someone pulls a gun on you, you might try to disarm them, try to talk them down, or dive for cover.

There are myriad ways to deal with someone else's actions, and players can be as creative as they like when doing so. But there is no one parry that will turn aside any attack, and there is no one argument that will deflect all criticism. Anyone living the dangerous life of an adventurer must be flexible enough to adapt to rapidly changing situations, and consistently relying on the same retorts is a recipe for failure.

[note=Still Brainstorming about this]This little idea has a dual purpose: to break up the monotony of combat (and other roll-intensive situations) by requiring a little creativity, and to encourage players to make well-rounded characters rather than relying on one really good combination of three high stats.

I still haven't decided whether I like it or not.

It can be adjusted to be more strict or more lenient, as required. My first idea was that no quality can be used twice to react between turns (which is much more strict, and coincidentally puts another point in favor of specializations.) More recent ideas included the notion that repeated reaction rolls are just penalized by the removal of a d6 for each repetition, rather than outright disallowment (which is clearly more lenient.) Time and testing will tell what works (or whether any of these work at all.)[/note]Because of this, no character can use the same combination of qualities and/or specialties in a reaction roll more than once between turns.

For example, Gor walks alone through the streets of Taro, when he's ambushed by three thugs. It seems he has angered Keth Farrhal, and is about to be taught a lesson! The thugs surround Gor, and begin to lunge at him with steel cudgels! Instinct takes over, and Gor drops into a brawler's stance, turning to face his attackers: one, two three. He sidesteps the first thug's swing (Speed + Wits + Brawling + 4d6), but that move won't work on all of them. He has to meet the next attacks with a different combination of stats, and decides to grab the next thug's wrist at the height of the swing. He uses (Speed + Brawn + Brawling + 4d6) to do so, succeeding with a 24 to his opponent's unfortunate 14. Since the Rule of Seven comes into play, Gor decides to wrest the cudgel from that thug entirely. But there's still a third thug to deal with, and Gor decides to deflect this attack with the cudgel he's just grabbed (Guts + Brawn + Wits + 3d6.) This turns out not to work as well as he'd hoped, as the thug shifts and cracks him on the elbow instead. Gor roars in pain!

However, now it's time for a reckoning. Gor moves to the attack! When Gor takes his action, all his reactions "refresh," and he can use those combinations again (Speed/Wits/Brawling, Speed/Brawn/Brawling, and Guts/Brawn/Wits) to react against the thugs' next round of attacks.

Focus and Reactions:
This brings us to the third and final use of the Focus stat. Let's review. Focus can be used...
1.) By magic users, to keep their Magic Thoughts active,
2.) By anyone, to perform an extra action in a turn, and
3.) By anyone, to reuse a reaction in a single turn. A character expending a point of Focus in this way picks a single reaction roll he has already used this turn, and can now use it again. In the above example, if Gor had wanted to deal with his second attacker the same way he'd dealt with the first one (with Speed + Wits + Brawling), he could spend a point of Focus to use the (Speed/Wits/Brawling) combination again right away.

[ooc]Strawberry preserves[/ooc]

[ooc]Delusions[/ooc]

[ooc]What[/ooc]

Will does not seem like the ideal name for a social quality.

Dictionary.com defines will as (first): the faculty of conscious and especially of deliberate action; the power of control the mind has over its own actions

I would say that Will is a measure of mental strength and determination.

Honestly, I thought Focus was going to be your social Core Quality.  Perhaps you could also call it Drive, Force, Aptitude, or something similar.

Just a suggestion while you are brainstorming.

I agree in not liking a level-based progression, and you seem to making progress and have some interesting ideas.

I'm looking it over now, and it looks very nice after a quick skim.  If by chance you finish it, I might consider using it myself, just as I fully intend to use the Sacred Geometries idea you posted in another thread.  Some ideas are just too good to let go just because they weren't you invention...

Anyway, keep it up LC!  Your work is an inspiration to us all.

This looks like a very interesting system and i will follow it with interest. I hope you do get it at least close to completion. Keep it up LC, this looks wicked.
I look forward to seeing how specialities work and how you advance characters (i fing this to be the hardest thing to create and have work in a non-level based system).

This looks marvellous. Mmmm... overlapping abilities. I may have to lift some of this for a supers game (if that's okay).

As bare-bones rules systems go, this one seems quite nice. Too many "simplified" systems try to include gimmicky die-rolling conventions (or alternatives to dice) just for the sake of showing how different they are from "complicated" systems, but this one avoids that pitfall. A few stats, a few skills, roll and add. When I'm going free-form, that's just about what I do.

I've finished the section on Health, Focus, and Will. For now.

Here I go to reply to some of your comments. Thank you all for taking an interest in my wacky ramblings!

Quote from: CritIf by chance you finish it, I might consider using it myself, just as I fully intend to use the Sacred Geometries idea you posted in another thread.

I look forward to seeing how specialities work and how you advance characters (i fing this to be the hardest thing to create and have work in a non-level based system).[/quote]bad[/i] at, but no especially high rolls, either. There's a balance to be sought there.

Hopefully, soon I will be able to get to things like more information on Specialties, and on how Sacred Geometry works with this system, precisely. But we'll see.

This system kicks ass so far, and I'm seriously contemplating using it for Dystopia.  It's very simple, and yet it makes so much sense.

One issue though: the fact that Nick's health is limited by his speed (to the point where, despite having Guts 5 and Brawn 4, his Health is still 2!!!) makes little sense to me, considering how strong and durable he otherwise is.  It would make more sense to me if a core quality was the average of the three, so that his scores are 3, 2, 3, instead of 2, 2, 2.