Quick Play RPG System

[Elemental_Elf]

Yea I was thinking of looking it over for stuff like that and come up with my own take on it. Then I could come up with tiers and prerequisites. Of course things like empower spell and that are all included in the spell system and based on how much aether you spend. Things like silent and still spell though are possible abilities.

In a way your system sounds vaguely like Psionics. Maybe's there's a feat feats you could pilfer! :)

[Nomadic]

Yea I was thinking of looking it over for stuff like that and come up with my own take on it. Then I could come up with tiers and prerequisites. Of course things like empower spell and that are all included in the spell system and based on how much aether you spend. Things like silent and still spell though are possible abilities.

In a way your system sounds vaguely like Psionics. Maybe's there's a feat feats you could pilfer! :)

Perhaps. I have never used psionics though. It always seemed out of place in fantasy.

[Elemental_Elf]

Yea I was thinking of looking it over for stuff like that and come up with my own take on it. Then I could come up with tiers and prerequisites. Of course things like empower spell and that are all included in the spell system and based on how much aether you spend. Things like silent and still spell though are possible abilities.

In a way your system sounds vaguely like Psionics. Maybe's there's a feat feats you could pilfer! :)

I always liked the mechanic of Psionics, much more fantasy than Vancian Casting but the flavor was definitely un-fantasy.
Perhaps. I have never used psionics though. It always seemed out of place in fantasy.

[Nomadic]

Yea I was thinking of looking it over for stuff like that and come up with my own take on it. Then I could come up with tiers and prerequisites. Of course things like empower spell and that are all included in the spell system and based on how much aether you spend. Things like silent and still spell though are possible abilities.

In a way your system sounds vaguely like Psionics. Maybe's there's a feat feats you could pilfer! :)

I always liked the mechanic of Psionics, much more fantasy than Vancian Casting but the flavor was definitely un-fantasy.
Perhaps. I have never used psionics though. It always seemed out of place in fantasy.

I am a very silly person who likes to misquote people for my own amusement.

:P

[Nomadic]

It's been awhile but I have totally revamped the system. It was getting a bit too complex and the whole point was to avoid complexity. Here is the new version. It is feat based so a DM can modify it however they want by adding in feats. I will also be writing up some feat ideas for any interested DMs to pull from.

+2 hitpoints
1 new feat[/i]

Feats
- These are special abilities that let you do things that others cannot.
- Feats are tiered so you need the level 1 version to get the level 2 version and so on. Some also have certain minimum level requirements.
- Example Feats:
Brutal Fighter 1: You gain a +2 to all attack rolls but take a -4 penalty to all defense rolls.
Brutal Fighter 2 (level 3): Your penalty to defense rolls is decreased to -2.

Success Failure Skills
- Roll 1d20.
- Success if roll is greater than or equal to difficulty level.
[/i]easy level - 5
medium level - 10
hard level - 15
epic level - 20

Combat
- Roll 1d20 for initiative.
- Success if greater than or equal to enemy difficulty level.
- Attack Round (lasts 5 seconds):
any movement (up to 25ft per round; each 5ft shift uses up 1 second)
attack (roll attack; a standard attack uses up 2 seconds)
special (anything else that can be done within the remaining time)
- Enemy Round:
enemy movement
enemy attack (player rolls defense vs enemy attack difficulty; success = miss - failure = hit for enemy damage)
enemy special

Social
- Roll 1d20 + Influence Bonus.
- Success if the roll is greater than or equal to NPC social difficulty level.
Easy (5): something the NPC agrees with
Medium (10): something the NPC is neutral towards
Hard (15): something the NPC disagrees with
Epic (20): something the NPC is fervently against
- Certain things can also give small bonuses or penalties to the roll
NPC is on good terms with player: +2
NPC is on bad terms with player: -2
Suggestion is profitable for NPC: +2
Suggestion is dangerous to NPC: -2
Other: depends on situation
- Anything that is impossible should not be allowed (for example you will never convince a priest that you are god).
- An NPC can attempt to do the same to you. In that case though you and the DM both roll 1d20 to determine the winner (any ties are rerolled).

[Nomadic]

I am beginning to hammer out some basic feats. Note that I have not tested these yet. Me and a couple friends will be playtesting my system in the next couple days and I hope to use that to find some balance.

Acrobatic:
Level 5 - Requires: Agile
The bonus from agile increases to +2 and you gain a +1 bonus to attempt an acrobatic maneuver.

Agile:
Level 2
You gain a +1 dodge bonus to defense rolls.

Berserker:
Level 5 - Requires: Skilled Attacker
Your bonus to attack rolls from brutal fighter increases to +4.

Brutal Fighter:
Level 1
You gain a +2 to all melee attack rolls but take a -4 penalty to all defense rolls.

Eagle Eye:
Level 3 - Requires: Farsighted
Your bonus from Farsighted increases to +2.

Farsighted:
Level 1
You gain a +1 bonus to ranged attack rolls.

Mighty Strike:
Level 2
You gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls.

Penetrating Strike:
Level 4 - Requires: Mighty Strike
Your bonus from mighty strike increases to +2.

Quick On Your Feet:
Level 1
You gain a +2 bonus to your initiative rolls in combat.

Quick Strike:
Level 5 - Requires: Quick On Your Feet
Your time per attack decreases to 1.5 seconds but you take a -1 penalty to damage.

Skilled Attacker:
Level 3 - Requires: Brutal Fighter
Your penalty to defense rolls from brutal fighter is decreased to -2.

Skilled Diplomat:
Level 3 - Requires: Smooth Talker
Your bonus from smooth talker increases to +2.

Smooth Talker:
Level 1
You gain a +1 bonus to rolls to influence someone with social.

Sniper:
Level 5 - Requires: Eagle Eye
Your bonus from eagle eye increases to +3.

Sweeping Attack:
Level 4
You may hit multiple enemies adjacent to you with each attack. However, each one you hit beyond the first enables the previously hit foe to counterattack against you at a +2 attack bonus.

Trained Perception:
Level 2
You gain a +1 bonus to perceive something

Trapfinder:
Level 5 - Requires: Trained Perception
Your bonus from trained perception increases to +2 and in addition you gain a +1 bonus to disable traps.

[Xeviat]

You know me and my love of simulationist games, but I do think this works if your group cares more about the story and less about gameplay.

I definitely advise you to put a "combat advantage" mechanic into combat, a way to get a flat +2 to your combat roll to represent times when you're at an advantage; when you have someone flanked, when you've got someone on the ground, when someone's stunned ...

As for your feats, I'll go through them in depth when I'm more awake. Since the system is simplistic, it should be very easy to find a baseline power level in the feats.

[Xeviat]

As promised, here's my input on the feats.

First off, since you're dealing with a d20 for most everything, you have a window of available bonuses. With the standard being DC 10, getting a +5 bonus on something is going to bring you to a 80% success rate instead of the standard 55% success rate; that's huge. So +5 is probably the highest you'll want things to go.

Big things like attack rolls should only get +1 per feat (max +2). Smaller things like D&D skills could get +2 per feat (max +4). Some circumstantial things could get +2 or +5 from a feat (like +2 to attack an opponent who attacked you and missed in the previous round, or +5 to a specific use of a skill); I'd max these at just the one feat, but let them stack with other things.

As for your feats specifically, there's only a couple I don't like. Mainly I don't like your attack feats scaling all the way to +3 (it might be fine), and I don't like Sweeping Attack (it's complicated). I also think that some of the feats are "boring"; for instance, spending a 3rd feat to get +3 to attack is effective, but it's bland next to your skill feats that give a bonus and another bonus to something related. I'd do that with the 2nd or 3rd attack feat and you're in business.

I only don't like sweeping attack because I'm unsure how it works. I'd simply have a -2 attack penalty for each target attacked past the first (if you attack 3 targets, you take -4 to attack on each target). This is because in the damage system I've been discussing with you, getting two attacks is similar to getting +2 damage to one attack, and since damage and attack are interchangable, taking -2 attack to get an additional target works.

[Nomadic]

Ok, after much helpful talk with the illustrious Kapn I have made some mods to the system. So far all I have is the combat system, here it is.

Combat Rounds
Combat begins by determining initiative. Initiative is a roll of one 20-sided dice plus any bonuses a player has. In the case of a tie the person with the higher bonus goes first (if neither has a higher bonus then both roll a tiebreaker). Once all rolls are decided the turns then begin with the highest rollers going first. If anyone is caught unawares by the combat they don't get to participate in the first turn, however they still roll initiative for next turn.

A turn constitutes five seconds during which the person may do certain actions. Different actions take different amounts of time and the combined total of these actions cannot exceed the turn time. During the turn the participant may:

- Attack an opponent within range (taking 3 seconds).
- Move 5 feet (taking 1 second).
- Move 10 feet (taking 1 second and a -2 penalty to defense until your next turn).
- Partake in any other action that can be done within the allotted time.

Attacking
When you attack a foe you first roll to hit vs. their defense. You roll one 20-sided dice and add on any attack bonuses given by the weapon you are using as well as any feats you have. If this roll is greater than your opponents defense roll, you hit them and deal damage. The type of weapon being used determines attack and damage bonuses.

Light weapons constitute things such as daggers, hand crossbows, pistols, and the like. Light weapons have an attack bonus of +2 and a damage penalty of -2. Heavy weapons meanwhile are things that require two hands to use such as rifles, great swords, longbows, and so forth. Heavy weapons have a +2 bonus to damage and a -2 penalty to attack. Medium weapons have no bonus and fall in between. These constitute the centerline, things like carbines, long swords, crossbows, etc.

Defending
If you are attacked by a foe, you must roll for defense. Defense determines whether or not you dodge the attack. For this you roll one 20-sided dice and add on any defense bonuses you have from armor or feats. If your roll is equal to or greater than your opponents attack roll, you successfully dodge the attack. Armor, like weapons, has certain bonuses and penalties based on type that can affect defense and resistance rolls.

Light armor such as leather gives a +2 bonus to defense and a -2 penalty to resistance. Heavy armor such as plate mail gives +2 to resistance and -2 to defense. Unlike weapons there is no medium armor. The equivalent to medium (+0/+0) is unarmored. Additionally a person with a free hand may equip either a light (+1 resistance -1 defense) or heavy (+2 resistance -2 defense) shield.

Being Dealt Damage
When you are hit by an enemy attack that deals damage you must roll a 20-sided die. The score you get (added to any resistance bonuses you have) determines your resistance score. If your score is equal to or greater than 15 plus the damage bonus of the enemy, you shrug off the attack without ill effect. Failing to meet or exceed this score results in certain penalties.

- On any fail you receive an injury (-1 to resistance checks, this stacks with other injuries)
- Failing by 10 or more dazes you (lose 3 seconds of time during your turn)
- Failing by 20 or more is a knock out as well as a wound (-2 to resistance checks)

Knocked Out
Being knocked out constitutes taking enough of a blow to be unable to fight. When this happens you are considered to be dying. While you are in this state, once per turn, you must make a moderate physical check. Three successful checks means you are stable and can get up again, three failures though means death. Additionally the trauma of the event wounds the person. Anyone who is knocked out takes a wound penalty (-2 to resistance rolls). This penalty stacks with other wound penalties. Wound penalties can be removed by a full nights sleep. Each night of full rest you get removes one wound penalty until they are all gone.

Healing
You may attempt a heal check on a knocked out person. When doing so you roll a hard mental check. This requires you to spend at least 3 seconds stabilizing them. On a success they are cured of one resistance penalty and are no longer knocked out. Additionally a person may, during combat, remove a single resistance penalty by taking 3 seconds to catch their breath. Doing so requires succeeding on a medium physical check. Outside of combat, a full minute of rest removes all injuries, and a full night's rest removes 1 wound.

[Nomadic]

[spoiler=Just leaving this here so I can access it from any computer]
Quick Play RPG System

What is Quick Play RPG?
QpRPG is a game system built around on the fly style gameplay. Its purpose is to be there when a more complex system cannot. It is designed to be easy to learn and carry around so that you can pull it out and run a quick game anywhere. If you forget your books, or even just find your group bored as you wait for your plane to arrive at the terminal, QpRPG can help smooth things over when it is inconvenient or impossible to use a full fledged system.

What Quick Play RPG is not'¦
QpRPG is not a realistic or otherwise simulationist game. Its purpose is to serve as a set of foundational rules that a Game Handler can work with, not to handle any conceived situation. As a foundation it is up to the Game Handler to be able to build on it if necessary. QpRPG covers the standard situations you might come across, but if you find yourself in an odd situation just remember to use common sense. An on the spot rule will probably go over fine (and where bonuses and penalties are concerned +2 and -2 are good rules of thumb).

What is needed to play with Quick Play RPG?
There is only two must haves for QpRPG: a 20-sided dice & these rules. Anything else is extra. Certainly there are things that will be most useful, a pencil and some paper for example. However, those two are the only things necessary to play. This enables the Game Handler to easily carry everything in their pocket. As a side note a useful thing for the Game Handler to carry around might be a sheet with a pre-created adventure ready to go and possibly stats written up for prepared player characters and NPCs.

Creating a Character

Characters are arguably the most important part of any game. Both the player characters that interact with and explore the world, as well as the non-player characters that make up that world. Both are necessary and in the case of QpRPG both work the same way.

Skills
Each character has three skill attributes. Each one handles a variety of sub-skills with any bonus to it applying to any sub-skill within its area. To use a skill a player simply states what they intend to do and then rolls based on the difficulty level the Game Handler gives. If their roll plus any bonuses is greater than the difficulty the player succeeds, otherwise it is a failure (with the results determined by the DM and depending on how badly the player failed the roll).

Physical '" Physical skills are those that relate to the exertion and control of the body. Example sub-skills would be things like running, jumping, and climbing.
Mental '" Mental skills are those that deal with the strength and training of the mind. Example sub-skills include things such as searching, studying, and focusing.
Social '" Social skills are those that relate to influencing and outwitting others. Example sub-skills would include things like persuasion, motivation, and the uncovering of lies.

In addition to the bonus to the overall skill, players may choose abilities that give bonuses to individual sub-skills (such as getting a larger bonus to jumping instead of a small bonus to physical). Note that there are several sub-skills that have no primary skill. These are Attack, Defense, Resistance, and Initiative which all fall under the combat rules.

Abilities
Abilities are special traits that players choose which add certain bonuses, penalties, and special effects to their character. A starting character gets 3 slots to use for these abilities. Abilities are not pre-designed items; instead they are crafted at the time of creation by choosing from a list of effects.

- List coming soon'¦
- List coming soon'¦
- List coming soon'¦

Character Growth
As characters experience more encounters they grow in their capabilities. Abilities represent this growth. Every 5 encounters the character may create a new ability to learn. This will largely affect how fast your game progresses. If you want a faster game you can give out abilities more often. For a slower game simply do the opposite. It is all up to what the group wants.

Combat

Combat Rounds
Combat begins by determining initiative. Initiative is a roll of one 20-sided dice plus any bonuses a player has. In the case of a tie the person with the higher bonus goes first (if neither has a higher bonus then both roll a tiebreaker). Once all rolls are decided the turns then begin with the highest rollers going first. If anyone is caught unawares by the combat they don't get to participate in the first turn, however they still roll initiative for next turn.

A turn constitutes five seconds during which the person may do certain actions. Different actions take different amounts of time and the combined total of these actions cannot exceed the turn time. During the turn the participant may:

- Attack an opponent within range (taking 3 seconds).
- Move (taking 1 second per 5 ft or 1 second per 10 ft with a -2 attack penalty to their next strike)
- Partake in any other action that can be done within the allotted time.

Attacking
When you attack a foe you first roll to hit vs. their defense. You roll one 20-sided dice and add on any attack bonuses given by the weapon you are using as well as any feats you have. If this roll is greater than your opponents defense roll, you hit them and deal damage. The type of weapon being used determines attack and damage bonuses.

Light weapons constitute things such as daggers, hand crossbows, pistols, and the like. Light weapons have an attack bonus of +2 and a damage penalty of -2. Heavy weapons meanwhile are things that require two hands to use such as rifles, great swords, longbows, and so forth. Heavy weapons have a +2 bonus to damage and a -2 penalty to attack. Medium weapons have no bonus and fall in between. These constitute the centerline, things like carbines, long swords, crossbows, etc.

Defending
If you are attacked by a foe, you must roll for defense. Defense determines whether or not you dodge the attack. For this you roll one 20-sided dice and add on any defense bonuses you have from armor or feats. If your roll is equal to or greater than your opponents attack roll, you successfully dodge the attack. Armor, like weapons, has certain bonuses and penalties based on type that can affect defense and resistance rolls.

Light armor such as leather gives a +2 bonus to defense and a -2 penalty to resistance. Heavy armor such as plate mail gives +2 to resistance and -2 to defense. Unlike weapons there is no medium armor. The equivalent to medium (+0/+0) is unarmored. Additionally a person with a free hand may equip either a light (+1 resistance -1 defense) or heavy (+2 resistance -2 defense) shield.

Being Dealt Damage
When you are hit by an enemy attack that deals damage you must roll a 20-sided die. The score you get (added to any resistance bonuses you have) determines your resistance score. If your score is equal to or greater than 15 plus the damage bonus of the enemy, you shrug off the attack without ill effect. Failing to meet or exceed this score results in certain penalties.

- On any fail you receive an injury (-1 to resistance checks, this stacks with other injuries)
- Failing by 10 or more dazes you (lose 3 seconds of time during your turn)
- Failing by 20 or more is a knock out as well as a wound (-2 to resistance checks)

Knocked Out
Being knocked out constitutes taking enough of a blow to be unable to fight. When this happens you are considered to be dying. While you are in this state, once per turn, you must make a moderate physical check. Three successful checks means you are stable and can get up again, three failures though means death. Additionally the trauma of the event wounds the person. Anyone who is knocked out takes a wound penalty (-2 to resistance rolls). This penalty stacks with other wound penalties. Wound penalties can be removed by a full nights sleep. Each night of full rest you get removes one wound penalty until they are all gone.

Healing
You may attempt a heal check on a knocked out person. When doing so you roll a hard mental check. This requires you to spend at least 3 seconds stabilizing them. On a success they are cured of one resistance penalty and are no longer knocked out. Additionally a person may, during combat, remove a single resistance penalty by taking 3 seconds to catch their breath. Doing so requires succeeding on a medium physical check. Outside of combat, a full minute of rest removes all injuries, and a full night's rest removes 1 wound.

Notes for the Game Handler

-coming soon

Placeholder for credits and legalese
[/spoiler]

[Ninja D!]

Did this ever become 100% finished, stamp of finished-ness and all?

[Nomadic]

The concept largely yes, the individual skills and such no. Though that was a much more time consuming thing. I may come back to this and make a finalized version once I have more time this summer.

[Ninja D!]

Cool. I hope to see that some day.

[Elemental_Elf]

I [will] come back to this and make a finalized version once I have more time this summer.

I can't wait!

[SamuraiChicken]

Looks like a fun system, sort of 'D&D lite.' I like the idea that most rolls are d20 + highest feat bonus + (other modifier). This is a much simpler version than D&D's 'only one type of bonus' and then carries on with feat bonuses, deflection bonuses, circumstance bonuses, etc. This version is much more elegant.

I also find it funny that in this thread alone there are about 3 different versions of the same system, tough each one has had so many changes from the former that they seem like three completely different games (an technically, they are). While I know this is a common occurrence when constructing a roleplaying game, I find it a little funny that each edition of the game has it's own page.  :D

The spell creation reminds me of one of my old projects. Back when I played D&D 3e (before the release of 4e), I almost completed a set of rules for crafting your own spells because I had this crazy idea that while wizards study magic, sorcerers create magic. After reading your system, I think you accomplished what I had dreamed of. (which is awesome).  :cool:

On the idea of dealing damage: while you got rid of Hit Points and rolling for damage in the latest edition, have you considered making damage a static number? Instead of 1d4 + modifier damage, it would be 2 + modifier damage. This way there is less rolling involved: attacking would consist only of an attack roll, did it hit? If so, it deals this much damage. No extra rolls involved. If you are going for simplicity, try to have as little rolling as possible (typically one roll per action).
I don't know how helpful this idea is after you changed how attacks, damage, and health works, but it might be something to consider.

Idea for an ability or feat: You can cast a spell that takes more than one round to cast and move more than 5 feet in the same turn, however you treat normal terrain as difficult terrain (and difficult terrain is treated as impassable terrain).

Leveling up: instead of gaining a level every 3-5 encounters, why not say 'every 5 encounters', but have a boss fight be equal to completing 2 encounters? For example: fighting a band of goblins is a simple/normal encounter, so that counts as 1 encounter. Fighting a dragon, on the other hand, counts as 2 encounters.