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Beyond the Pale RPG

Started by Seraph, February 10, 2016, 03:40:30 AM

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Seraph

Beyond the Pale
Beyond the Pale is meant to be a gritty, easy-to-play RPG set in a medieval genre with a Celtic theme.  It is meant to be compatible with the Cad Goleor setting, tough not necessarily exclusive to it.  This post will give a sense of the overall, with subsequent posts going into more depth.  This post will be updated as necessary.

Skill Based
Skills form the brunt of your character's abilities.  Levels will play a less significant role than in games like D&D, and serve mostly as a way-point for the gaining of skill points.  Skills are organized in groups called fields, and classes earn different numbers of skill points each level for each field.  The Fields are: Athletic, Fighting, Mental, Sense, and Social. 

Classes
Like levels, classes play a lesser role in Beyond the Pale than in D&D and the like.  Classes differ from one another first and foremost in the number of skill points they have in each field.  Classes also have one or more secondary features to differentiate them.  The Classes are, at present: Bard, Cateran, Druid, Galloglass, and Kern.

Combat
There are four main aspects of combat: Initiative, Modes, Fighting Skills, and Damage.
Initiative: Determined by your Reflexes skill, or your Alertness skill, whichever is higher.
Modes: Based on initiative order, you may select from one of three "modes" of combat for the round: press, stand your ground, or retreat.  These give different bonuses or penalties to your combat rolls that round.
Fighting Skills: Blades, Bludgeons, Bows, Polearms, and Thrown.  These can be used for attack or defense.  Additional, Reflexes can be used to defend. 
Damage: When attacks succeed, they deal damage, which is subtracted from the Character's Hit Points. 
Brother Guillotine of Loving Wisdom
My Campaigns:
Discuss Avayevnon here at the New Discussion Thread
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Seraph

#1
Skills
Skills determine your abilities.  Skills come in 5 categories, which are listed below.  Characters receive points in each field based on their class, and the distribution of these points is otherwise unlimited.  

Athletic Skills
1.   Agility: Your balance, quickness, and precision of movement.  
2.   Athletics: Running, Jumping, Climbing, Swimming, etc.
3.   Fortitude: Endurance & ability to take a hit
4.   Might: Sheer physical power, useful for lifting, pushing, dragging or breaking heavy objects, arm-wrestling, and so forth.
5.   Stealth: Ability to move unnoticed.

Fighting Skills
1.   Blades: Using swords, knives, and axes in melee
2.   Bludgeons: Using flails, clubs, hammers, and maces in melee
3.   Bows: Using bows and crossbows at range
4.   Polearms: Using staffs, spears, and other polearms in melee
5.   Thrown: Javelins, darts, throwing axes, and any other thrown weapon

Mental Skills
1.   Healing: Applying salves and bandages, stitching up wounds, setting & splinting broken bones and otherwise caring for injuries.  
2.   Occult: The knowledge of arcane or hidden knowledge, magickal rituals, and otherworldly beings.  
3.   Scholarship: General learnedness, useful for knowing pieces of information one might learn from formal education on subjects such as mathematics, law, geography, nature, and the like.
4.   Survival: Your ability to get by in the wilderness.  Finding and building shelter, locating safe food and water sources, and so forth.
5.   Willpower: Your mental resistance and strength, determination, and equilibrium.

Sense Skills
1.   Alertness: Your awareness of your surroundings.  Used for Initiative.  
2.   Perception:  How you are at noticing details.  
3.   Insight: Understanding into other people, their motives, and their tells.  Good for knowing when someone is lying.  
4.   Search: Your skill at finding thing you are actively looking for.  
5.   Sixth Sense: Your ability to sense or perceive something beyond the five physical senses.  Can detect otherworldly presences, Ley energy, or other strange phenomena.  

Social Skills
1.   Animals: Your skill at training, commanding, and interacting with animals.  Useful for riding a horse, falconry, dog training, and the like.  
2.   Charm: Your ability to be friendly, persuade, and convince people to see your side of an argument or situation.  
3.   Deceit: Your skill at lying, cheating, tricking, and confusing people.  Also useful for sleight of hand and disguises.  
4.   Influence: Your pull in your social circle.  Can include informants, connections, and funding sources.  
5.   Provoke: Your ability to aggravate, intimidate, insult and belittle a person.  Can make a person look foolish, or cause them to take an unwise action in anger.

Using Skills
Skills are primarily used for task and conflict resolution.  If success or failure would not seriously impact the players, assume they succeed.  In a dangerous situation, a contested situation, or where success is questionable, roll 1d20 and add the character's total points in the relevant skill, plus any conditional modifiers.

Contested situations:  If the PC is competing against an NPC, only roll one d20.  The NPC's skill is considered a conditional modifier.  This includes combat situations, which will be covered in more detail later.

Applying Skill Points
At each level, a PC gains skill points to apply to skills in each field.  No more than 5 points can be put into a single skill each level, but otherwise, players are free to allocate their points how they wish, as broadly or narrowly as they like.  If a player puts 3 points in a skill one level, they can still only add a max of 5 more points the next level.
Brother Guillotine of Loving Wisdom
My Campaigns:
Discuss Avayevnon here at the New Discussion Thread
Discuss Cad Goleor here: Cad Goleor

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Seraph

#2
Classes
More details to follow

Bard
A poet and performer, keeper of knowledge and lore.
Armor:  Bards can wear light armor only.  They cannot use shields
Performer: Bards get 1 point for free in all social skills.
Skill Points: Athletic 3/level; Fighting 3/level; Mental 7/level; Sense 5/level; Social 7/level

Cateran
A dashing rogue and a highwayman, the cateran lives a life of crime, relying on his wits, and keeping a step ahead of those who seek to bring him to justice.  Known for stealing cattle
Armor: Caterans can wear light armor only.  They can use shields.
Wary: Caterans get 1 point for free in all sense skills
Skill Points: Athletic 5/level; Fighting 5/level; Mental 3/level; Sense 7/level; Social 5/level

Druid
A priest and magician, a druid is a member of the intelligentsia.  They know more about the world around them than anyone.
Armor: Druids cannot wear armor or use shields.
Intelligentsia:  Druids get 1 point for free in all mental skills.
Skill Points: Athletic 3/level; Fighting 3/level; Mental 7/level; Sense 7/level; Social 5/level

Galloglass
A heavy-infantry warrior common to mercenary companies, known for using the best armor and biggest weapons.
Armor: Galloglasses can wear any armor, but cannot use shields.
Weapons: Galloglasses are proficient in 2-handed weapons, especially swords or axes
Tough: Galloglasses begin play at level 1 with +5 max HP.
Skill Points: Athletic 5/level; Fighting 7/level; Mental 3/level; Sense 5/level; Social 5/level

Kern
A light-infantry warrior known for mobility, ranged attacks, and hit-and-run tactics.
Armor: Kerns can wear light or medium armor, and can use shields.
Weapons: Specialize in Thrown Weapons and Bows
Athletic: Kerns get 1 point for free in all Athletic Skills.
Skill Points: Athletic 7/level; Fighting 7/level; Mental 3/level; Sense 5/level; Social 3/level
Brother Guillotine of Loving Wisdom
My Campaigns:
Discuss Avayevnon here at the New Discussion Thread
Discuss Cad Goleor here: Cad Goleor

Bardistry Wands on Etsy

Review Badges:
[spoiler=Award(s)]   [/spoiler]

Seraph

#3
Combat

Initiative: Instead of rolling initiative, each character has a base Initiative value, which can be affected by momentum.  Your base initiative value is the better of your Agility or your Alertness.[ooc]I am also considering making it the sum of these, to indicate the effectiveness of both.[/ooc]

Characters act in Initiative Order.


  • Momentum:  Each time you are damaged (regardless of the amount) you lose momentum.  Each time you succeed at an attack, you gain momentum.  You can also gain or lose momentum as the result of maneuvers or magick.

Attacking and Defending
When you are in combat, you are free to use a variety of skills to achieve results, but most actual combat will be performed with one of the five Fighting feats.  These are used equally for both attack and defense.  When engaging in one of these actions, you choose your "mode" as well and apply any relevant bonuses or penalties. As with other skills, these are added to a d20 roll, and compared to a difficulty.

The enemy's skill is subtracted as a conditional modifier
What determines the difficulty?  Armor?  Agility? 

Mode: There are three primary combat options for Melee Combat: Press, Stand Ground, or Retreat.  If you have the initiative, you may choose whichever you like.  If you are being attacked, you must choose either to retreat, or stand your ground.


  • Press: You make a full attack, adding +2 to your attack roll.  Push your target backwards.
  • Stand Ground:  You attack with care, making sure to keep your defenses strong.  -2 to attack, but +2 to all defense rolls this turn.
  • Retreat: Full defensive action.  +5 defense, but you must shift backwards.  Not an option if you are backed against a wall or other impassable obstacle.

Critical Hits: If an attack roll results in a natural 20, it is instead a critical hit.  This results in +1 dice of damage.  If a critical hit results in the target being taken out, the target suffers more serious consequences.

Hit Points
Every Character is assumed to have 10 HP at level 1, lacking any modifiers.  Each point of Fortitude grants 1 additional HP.  Each level beyond level 1 also grants +1 HP, for a base HP of 19 at level 10.

Damage: When characters are hit by attacks or otherwise suffer stress, they take damage to the HP total.  At any point between full HP and 0, the character is unhindered.  At 0 HP, the character is taken out, and suffers a consequence, which can include, but is not limited to, death.   

Taken Out: The character is incapacitated & removed from battle.  If a certain attack was declared, then choose an appropriate consequence.  If none was specified, then roll a d6 on the chart below.

  • 1-Hobbled: The character's leg is broken, hamstrung, or otherwise disabled long term.  Until the character is healed back to full, they are slowed.  If this wound was inflicted by a critical hit, the character loses the leg entirely. 
  • 2-Main Hand: The character's dominant hand or arm is badly injured, rendering it unfit for use.  Any attempt to do so causes 1 dice of stress to accrue.  This remains in effect until all HP damage has been healed.  Using the off-hand to make attacks results in a -2 penalty.
  • 3-Off Hand:  Your non-dominant hand or arm is injured, making you unable to effectively use a shield, dual wield, or use a two-handed weapon.  Attempts to do such cause 1 dice of stress to accrue.  This lasts until the character is fully healed. 
  • 4-Chest: You have an injury to a vital organ, and must remain still, or at least move very lightly.  Each turn you participate in combat, you suffer 1 point of stress damage, and must roll against the heal result used to bind your wounds.  If you fail the check, your wound reopens, and you are incapacitated once more.
  • 5-Head: You receive a concussion, and are dizzy the rest of the day.  You may lose brain function or intelligence permanently.
  • 6-Death: Your character is killed. 

Brother Guillotine of Loving Wisdom
My Campaigns:
Discuss Avayevnon here at the New Discussion Thread
Discuss Cad Goleor here: Cad Goleor

Bardistry Wands on Etsy

Review Badges:
[spoiler=Award(s)]   [/spoiler]

Hibou

This seems pretty nifty. I'll be keeping an eye on it.
[spoiler=GitHub]https://github.com/threexc[/spoiler]

Kindling

#5
I like this. Can you expand on the differences between Alertness and Perception, beyond the former's role in Initiative? That's really the only thing that's not feeling very clear and intuitive so far.

EDIT: I would also like to see more about the Stress that is mentioned in some results on the 1d6 chart for being Taken Out in combat, and would like to know if there's a concrete rule on when you "may" lose intelligence and brain function from a head injury on the same chart. In addition, how are Initiative ties resolved? A simple dice roll, or is another ability used as a decider?
all hail the reapers of hope