The Campaign Builder's Guild

This is still for my sigged projects, but I want to get started on a new discussion thread, to discard the clutter of the old one and begin on the clutter of a new one. Here I'll be getting deeper into specifics, and maybe start mulling over setting ideas and thinking about how exactly I want this game to play.

So in no particular order...

The Core Mechanic
Those of you who have read my system know the core mechanic is to roll d10s under your skill, and that the number of d10s is based on the difficulty of the task.

You may also know that penalties in combat might add d6s (so it's easy to know what dice do and don't count for damage... and so penalties don't make stuff stupid hard.)

I'm considering one tiny change in the core mechanic: Not limiting myself to one or two die types. I'm having a hard time working difficulties into 1-3d10 for many kinds of tasks where I want many factors to matter, and armor gives penalties of 1-3 dice too. I'm considering using d6s for most skills, d10s for combat skills (and d6s for penalties), d4s for wealth checks, and a d8/d6 combo for random wounds. I'm not sure what dice to use for saves, as they defend against both standard and combat skills (I'm thinking d8s).

I'm wondering how far I should take this, or if I should use this idea at all.

Grappling
Most maneuvers will be handled by opposed checks, but grappling's still been rough for me. Mine will probably be a hybrid of the Star Wars Saga grappling system and the one in M&M 2nd ed.

Characters can grab other characters as a minor action to open up the following options:
Standard Attack (you must have a hand free to grab, so one handed weapons only)
Standard Maneuver
Magic (nothing with somatic components)
Throw the grabbed foe as a major action (range increment and damage based on size)
Pin the grabbed foe as a major action (your foe can't do anything on their next turn, and you open up two more maneuvers)

Once you've pinned your foe you can use any of the above maneuvers, plus two more.
Bind your foe (if you've got rope or manacles you can make your foe effectively continuously pinned)
Hold your foe hostage (you can attack your foe as a reaction any time, and take no penalty to called shots)

Grabbed characters can neither attack nor defend against anyone except the person grabbing them.

Grabbing and everything else will be simple opposed check maneuvers, but I may put together a flow chart for when you can do what.

Wounds
I'll probably replace the current wounds setup with another one. Under the current system you roll 1d10 and might roll it a few times. Under the new system, it'd be a d8 to determine the wound type and a d6 to determine the severity.

d8
1-left leg
2-right leg
3-left arm
4-right arm
5-knockback
6-bleeding
7-bonus damage
8-vitals

d6
1-3: 1 wound
4-5: 2 wounds
6: 3 wounds

d6 (if you rolled vitals)
1-2: 1 wound (stun)
3-4: 2 wounds (stagger)
5: 3 wounds (k.o.)
6: 4 wounds (death)

Races
I have what I think is a suitable list of playable races. I went for iconic things, but maybe for a different set of iconic things, and some aspects of the way I handle them will set my game apart a little. Especially the fact that each fantasy race has some innate magical potential.

Before I get started, I should describe the racial powers. They're based on will and they mimic spells in the way they function. Having racial powers doesn't make a character good at magic (so they can't automatically cast rituals as well as a dedicated caster, can't counterspell as well, identify spells, or do any number of other things). Characters pick up racial powers as perks (same as spells), but what powers they can pick up are limited by their race. Humans don't get innate magic.

Racial powers serve a mechanical purpose, besides the flavor purpose of giving each race a unique magical feeling (so they get to be more fey). It also de-gimps spellcasters. First level spellcasters will typically take skill focus (magic), skill focus (concentration), and a spell; then they'll have no perks left to spend. If they have to buy their race too, they'll have to lose a spell or skill focus on concentration. So elf casters (or what have you) can take "elf" instead of skill focus (magic) and still meet the prereqs for a bunch of magic powers.

I'm having two problems thinking of race stats.

1) The magic problem of a lost perk for potentially little payoff exists for other builds, like fighter and "face" types.
2) I'm trying to avoid ability adjustment except on trolls and goblins because they are large and small respectively.

So I need each race to have an ability that both offsets the cost of not being human and is really unique and distinct and representative of that race.

ELVES
Elves are magical, fey, aloof, and live in a kind of otherworld that they can go back and forth from. Their powers will allow them to manipulate spirits, plants, and animals and will let them jaunt back and forth between the material and spirit realm. I'm considering letting that one come standard. I may let them have light and darkness in their spellcasting arsenal as well.

They hunt in the woods of our world, go home to cities in theirs, and venerate the ghosts of ancestors they can still communicate with (though I think the ancestors' spirits will be incorporeal if they manifest physically at all).

Here I'm not sure what abilities (outside of planar travel) the elf perk should come with. Something combat useful and something for "unearthly grace" so they can mess with peoples' heads.

DWARVES
Dwarves are dwarves. They're dour, subterranean workers and warriors. I'm considering letting dwarf magic be its own thing... like powers but intelligence based and with rules for runes. Dwarf magic should focus on summoning, wards, and elemental spirits not limited to earth. Maybe with a little divination thrown in.

Again I'm not sure what abilities the perk should come with. Dwarves should have something combat useful and maybe their usual innate awareness of how far under ground they are. Plus the always useful darkvision.

GOBLINS
Goblins are short, ugly, manic, obsessive tricksters. Their magic allows them to become giant or invisible, or to produce illusions and such. They may be able to talk with certain kinds of animals.

Goblins will be small, which is probably a liability in combat, but has its uses. They'll also have darkvision and a keen sense of smell.

TROLLS
Trolls are large. They are formidable warriors with a reputation for being highly antisocial or severely depressed (when I get working on the setting, you'll see they have good reason). I haven't a clue what kind of magic to give them.

Trolls will be large, which is its own combat bonus, and will have the ability to withstand brutal cold. They may also have a keen sense of smell.

ROBOTS
Robots are made of metal. They will have innate armor roughly equivalent to plate, with the penalty dropped slightly. They will also be immune to poison, disease, suffocation, drowning, starvation, and thirst. They will have no racial powers.









There's a lot more to be said, but I'm tired now, and should probably be in bed soon.

Okay, so I lied... I felt like talking about how I'm going to go about the setting before I get into a whole lot of detail about who's who and what's what.

My primary concern is gameable material. I've got a lot of big ideas to try and make fit for the larger setting, but my primary concern is the area I'm going to be running a playtest in. I want to run a game with a heavy exploration and mystery theme, and not a lot of railroading, so I want lots of details that players can explore or ignore at their option. To that end, I want.

1) A dungeon.
2) A hex-based wilderness.
3) A city.
4) A sketch of the world around and before, but the details can be fuzzier the fewer people know about things. I'm just saying don't go looking for me to tell you how the world was born. Nobody alive today existed back then. If they did, they're probably not speaking your language and it'll melt your face to look at them.

Went on a bit of a tangent back then.

The dungeon has a bit of a history. Under the mountain the dungeon is built in lies something horrible and tentacled, whispering in the darkness to anyone who comes close enough. The dungeon exists because the  thing at the bottom is trying to get out.

The upper levels are an ancient, overgrown temple, built by some human who worshipped the beast beneath. He held great power in the city that grew up in the valley at the time (the one whose ruins the new city is built on and of). He also dug deep catacombs. Enemies here will include animals and plants as well as spirits of the dead and the traps that are laid about the ruins. There may also be treasure.

Not nearly so long ago, goblins moved in during a time of war and established a fort in parts of the dungeon, also digging deeper and adding new construction built out of the stones of the old temple complex. A human knight came in and was tasked with wiping out the goblins' geurilla stronghold, but he heard the whispers of the thing beneath the mountain. Instead of killing the goblins, he has enslaved them, and has them mining everywhere at a frantic pace. The shafts are prone to collapse, there is little or no light, and the goblins sent to work on this part of the dungeon are resentful. This part of the dungeon will be filled with brutal traps, thinking foes, and the potential to turn some of the goblins against their bullying superiors.

The lowest layers contain underground water, with twisting hidden passages and caverns, deep darkness no torch will light, and plenty of opportunities to be trapped, drowned, suffocated or just plain lost with no way back up. To make matters worse, the thing at the bottom can better interact with these layers, and may break the minds of some characters just by proximity. It may also have hideous fishy spawn more adapted to the wet environment or flying through the high caverns.

The city and such I will get to later.

I have a very few ideas for the city and such.

1) The dungeon gives me some pretty clear ideas about the ancient history of the site the city is built on. There will be ruins in and under the town, and as I've said many buildings will be built of stone from the ruins like they did back in Rome. There's a chance people in town know a little about the thing in the dungeon, and they may have a dedicated cult. In keeping with the lovecraftian themes here, I'm thinking they should be working on a way to transform themselves and a bunch of innocent townfolk into monstrous servitors for the thing.

2) Also, the dungeon tells me there should have been a period of recent warfare with the goblins. I've got a pretty clear idea of what the nearby goblin nation/empire should look like. I'm thinking they've been in an on again off again war with the human nation I'm detailing first for a very long time, and an on again on again on again war with the dwarves for much much longer. I'm also thinking there should be a goblin king. He'll be a short, fat, grotesque, toadlike figure and a capricious bully, but the goblins will serve him unquestionably and give their lives for him if necessary. I have a feeling he'll have some magical means of keeping the obedience and veneration of the goblins.

3) This isn't something the dungeon tells me, but I've got ideas for the trolls. I'm thinking their homeland was overrun by something big and bad (don't know what yet). There are those that stayed at home, loyal to the new power. There are those who established a new homeland, reactionary and paranoid. And there are those who left seeking refuge, often wandering the world alone.

4) While we're working on non-human races, dwarves should be economic allies of some sort with the humans, but they'll probably want to get the war with the goblins started back up. Elves should have an outpost in the wilderness outside the city, and should be wandering in / watching the woods.

5)I have no idea where I'm going with this, but I want there to be political unrest, and potential for a revolution as play goes on.

Sounds good!  Political tension is always a grand adventure hook.  I will wait on your revised system rules before I comment on the mechanics, however.  The grappling sounds good, at least.

Perhaps, with the goblin war, subvert the trope and make the dwarves weary from their last conflict (they've long memories, mind), and less willing to fly into another destructive (and distracting) conflict than the humans?

M.

Quote from: CheomeshSounds good!  Political tension is always a grand adventure hook.  I will wait on your revised system rules before I comment on the mechanics, however.  The grappling sounds good, at least.

Perhaps, with the goblin war, subvert the trope and make the dwarves weary from their last conflict (they've long memories, mind), and less willing to fly into another destructive (and distracting) conflict than the humans?

M.
[/quote]
Dwarves weary of conflict actually sounds pretty good, as does a king losing the support of his people looking to distract them with a new war with an outside enemy. Even if I start with the standard arrangement, it would make a great campaign hook.

Specific Applications for Wounds
If you know my system, you know by now that if you deal a person a bunch of damage in one attack, you can roll a random wound (or if you called a shot, you get the wound you called).

But I have a few other uses for the damage threshold.

If a character gets hit with energy damage for a lot of damage, there's a specific effect. For example, if you're fried by a fire spell, instead of rolling normally, you catch on fire. Electricity will stun you for 1d4 rounds. Cold will stagger you (I couldn't think of anything better). Also energy damage will have no weapon bonus and bypass armor.

Certain monsters have unique reactions to massive damage. If you deal massive damage to a skeleton, it clatters to the floor as a pile of bones. Unfortunately, if you didn't kill it, it'll just get back up again as a minor action the next round. If it's an intelligent skeleton, it might play dead until it's got a better chance of winning a fight.

Sanity
I've also been thinking about sanity mechanics. Originally, I was thinking of ripping off something like CoC or Unknown Armies or even Heroes of Horror's taint/corruption. I knew that stuff just wouldn't work in my system or wouldn't feel right in my setting, and in both cases wouldn't play the way I wanted my game to play. So I figured I'd forget it and leave it be. But recently I've thought up a new approach: treat sanity as I treat hit points.

In this case, your max sanity would equal will score times five or ten (whatever I go with for hit points). Terrifying situations, certain kinds of magic, learning certain rituals, etc. might damage your sanity. You can go completely insane if you run out of sanity. In the mean time, there's also a sort of "damage threshold" for sanity imposed by your will score. If you lose more sanity than your will score in one go, you roll on a table and suffer a temporary or minor permanent effect.

I'm just wondering what specific effects might be. So far, I've got...

Stunning (or you could get staggered or even pass out)
Running (your character must flee)
Rage (not sure the specific effects)
Delusions (again not sure)
Bonus damage (+10, +20, or +30 closer to completely insane)
Fear or Phobia? Maybe work that into running?

And that's it. I want it to look more or less like the current set of wounds... so I'll need a total of eight tracks of 1-3 "wounds" to a characters' mind.

Spells like "fear" or "rage" might deal damage straight to sanity like a normal attack, and cause a specific effect based on the spell if they broke a character's san threshold.

Taint
Since I mentioned sanity, it might be nice to have taint rules too. I should have another table for random taint, though taint doesn't need its own "hit points" like sanity... it can just deal straight hit point damage like normal.

In the same way wounds and sanity effects can get recycled in energy or fear spells, I suppose taint might be things that can be recycled in poison and disease rules...

...but I haven't even thought about this until just now.

Quote from: beejazzCold will stagger you (I couldn't think of anything better).

Maybe you get penalty dice to Dex-based skills and/or combat from uncontrollable shivering (I've experienced this)?  Otherwise, being stunned/staggered is pretty realistic judging from the encounters I've had with cold before.

I don't have any real comments on the system just yet, but I'm also still working on reading this thread.  There are some pretty interesting ideas here and I'm still trying to link it all together in my head.

Quote from: PolycarpMaybe you get penalty dice to Dex-based skills and/or combat from uncontrollable shivering (I've experienced this)?  Otherwise, being stunned/staggered is pretty realistic judging from the encounters I've had with cold before.

I don't have any real comments on the system just yet, but I'm also still working on reading this thread.  There are some pretty interesting ideas here and I'm still trying to link it all together in my head.
[/quote]Basics are mostly in the threads in my sig. This thread is just me scrambling to jot down ideas I've had at the back of my mind before fall semester starts.

Armor, Penetration, and Monsters

Those that followed the last discussion thread will remember that weapon stats are...

(weapon name)
(damage type) (low damage bonus)/(high damage bonus) (armor type)
(keywords)

For example...
Some polearm*
Slashing 3/7 Leather
Reach, Two Handed

*not actual stats for some polearm

...and that armor stats are...

(armor name)
(armor type) (low number / high number)
(penalty)

Some kinda plate*
Plate 6/8
3d6

*not actual stats for some kinda plate.

...right? And you'll remember that weapons penetrate the type of armor mentioned in their stat block, and that a weapon that penetrates uses its higher damage bonus vs the armors lower DR, and that a weapon that doesn't penetrate uses its lower damage bonus vs the armors higher DR. Right? Well, if you don't remember, you've been reminded.

Anyway, things can't work the same for monsters, can they? You can't just list under each weapon what monsters' defenses you can penetrate, 'cause the stat blocks would get ridiculous. So monster defenses follow a similar model with a different basis.

Monsters have (value)/(value) (damage type) and things of the given damage type penetrate.

To give but one example, swarms will have damage reduction that bludgeoning weapons can beat. Because recycling the armor rules seems easier than also having 50% damage from certain weapons or what have you. Skeletons would also have the armor overcome by bludgeoning ('cause piercing and slashing weapons are crap against a guy who's mostly empty space... same logic as for swarms).

I wonder if I could implement something like this for incorporeal foes? Or maybe for other supernatural enemies? Armored against iron or silver or jade?

What monsters do you think should be weak against what, now that I'm on the topic?

Magic

Magic, for the most part (there are exceptions for innately magical creatures), is book magic. The magic skill tells you first and foremost how good you are at reading and casting elaborate and formulaic rituals. Outside of that it lets you detect, identify, and counter magic in play. Rituals can take minutes or hours, but generally they're the kind of thing you can't do in combat.

But players' characters and some of the people they'll interact with are exceptional. They'll have the ability to cast what would normally be rituals as spells instead. It'll only take a couple of seconds and a few components to cast that spell your character absolutely knows to the point that he or she has a personal shortcut for casting it.

There is no limit to how many spells a character can cast per day, and you won't have to memorise your spells every morning. There is, however, a limit to how many spells you can have active simultaneously. It takes very difficult concentration to maintain two or three spells at once.

There is also a limit to how powerful a spell you can cast, based on your skill. The more difficult a spell you try to cast, the more likely you are to roll a critical failure and suffer some ill effect from that spell. This is especially true if you don't know what you're doing.

The rules for this?

Casting rituals: Each ritual describes multiple uses for it and the difficulty for those uses, as well as critical failure rates and effects (in addition to the usual description of casting time, components, and effects). Characters use their magic skill to cast. More powerful characters can do more with the same ritual than less powerful ones.

Learning spells: Each time you learn to cast a ritual as a spell, you buy it with a perk. After that, you don't need the book, it only takes a major action, and you only need one component of your choosing (see verbal, somatic, and focus below). Some rituals can't be learned as spells (it will *always* take more than a round and one component to summon Cthulhu).

Focusing on spells: Every time you want to cast a spell or ritual, you must expend your focus. You can regain your focus as a minor action by making a concentration check with a difficulty equal to the number of spells you currently have active. If you fail the check, you wasted your action and can't cast spells until you get your focus back. If you critically fail, you also lose your focus on all your current spells. Yes I know I ripped the focus rules from 3.x psionic feats. But what works works.

Verbal Components: You must speak to cast your spell. The drawback is that you're audible, and can't cast if you're silenced somehow. The benefit is that armor, combat, etc. won't interfere with spellcasting.

Somatic Components: You must gesture to cast a spell. The drawback is that you can be prevented from gesturing by armor or grappling. The benefit is the potential to cast silently.

Focus Components: You use an attuned fetish to cast spells. The benefit is that you can cast spells very very discretely. The drawback is that if you lose your focus you're screwed. To make a focus, you've got to cast the spell in ritual form over the object in question. You can have multiple focuses for multiple spells, or one focus for all your spells at your discretion.

Thaaaaaaaaats all I feel like writing right now. Gonna babble about character sheets next post probably.

The Character Sheet

FRONT: Your Character.

The left column will have the ability scores and skills.

Ability scores will have 4 boxes next to them. At the top they will be labeled "raw" "+level" "+5" and "+5" respectively.

Below that skills will be listed, along with their primary ability and skill type. Next to each skill will be three boxes. One will be under +level, another under +5, and another under the second +5. Instead of writing down a number for each skill, players can just check the box that applies and look up.

The left column will be divided into some blank lines for perks and some blank lines for gear.

BACK: Combat Stats.

On the left will be all the terrible things that can happen to you.

On top will be initiative, followed by hit points, damage threshold, and armor. Below that will be a listing of all the wounds you can get with 1-8 on the left (so you can use it as a table) and three boxes on the right (so you can tick off the one that applies.

If there's extra room I may put a section for sanity etc. below that.

On the right you'll have your weapon stats, with a box to put your skill.

Below that you'll have your three defense skills.

Below that will be lines for notes, relevant feats, etc.

Continuing thoughts on dice:

I've decided to go through with the multi-die solution.

Skill and ability checks: d6

Combat skills: d10

Magic skill: d8

Saves: d8

Wealth checks: d4

Penalties: d6

Random Wounds/ Sanity Effects: d6 d8 combo.

Soon I'll be getting into the whole revolution and/or coup plotline, and figuring out why it's worth revolting.

Also, I'll be finalising some specific skill rules and maybe even the perks list.

Unfortunately, it's sleep time now and the semester starts soon, so this may wind down for a bit.

I'll be going into local politics soon, I promise, but first, I had a few fairly awesome ideas.

Reputation
Not too rigid a system, but a good way I think to simulate the effects of a character's growing reputation.

Each character has a reputation score. It starts at zero and increases through play.

Each time a character does something notable in front of anyone who might spread the word, the GM rolls an appropriate number of dice. More dice for a more notable event and for people more likely to spread it. If the dice roll over your current reputation, you add the number of dice rolled to your reputation score and the event to the list of things you'll be known for.

When you meet someone, the GM may make a reputation roll to see if they've heard of you. Fewer dice the more likely people are to know you (if you're in your hometown or one of the things you're known for is relevant to the NPC, for example). If the roll is under your reputation score, the NPC recognises you, and reacts to you based on the list of things you're known for.

If you do something you'd rather not be known for, it's up to you to shut the witness up.

XP Rewards

Remember how you gain 1xp per session and level up when you've got xp equal to the next level you want (and lose your xp on leveling up)?

I'm thinking of adding two rules to speed things up a little and encourage roleplay.

1. At the end of the session, players vote on who RP'd the best. That player's character gets 1 bonus XP

2. Players can set goals by discussing with the GM. Nothing too hard or too easy, and the GM has final say on what flies. If a player accomplishes a goal he set, he gets a bonus XP.



On an unrelated note to either of these two things, I'm tempted to develop contact rules too.... not letting players stat up their own contacts, but having them encounter them in an adventure and pick them up. Again, trying to get PCs to engage in the setting.

You know what? I think I can manage with d10s and d6s only after all. I've figured out the finally final version of my crit table, and I didn't need to use a d8 or any of that rolling again stuff.

Additionally, behold. All will be explained later.

A temple with tombs and a fortress and mines and underground river and teh inevitable 'the worst' at the bottom = awesomeness.

Assuming it is a side view. (which is how i saw it)

You saw right. And I'm glad you like. I'll probably flesh it all out a little tonight, and get to explaining all the arrows too.