The CBG System (discussions)

[beejazz]

Mph... mana's been done often enoough, IMHO.
Also... just as a question... we gonna mix sci-fi into this whole crazy thing. I've always been fond of alternate tech progressions, most notably biopunk and psychopunk themes.

[Wensleydale]

Yup. And when you create spells, the amount of abilities INCREASES the time, whilst paying lots of points into the recharge skill DECREASES the time by so much (like, you have two spells, one with a recharge time of 40 rounds, another with a recharge time of 10 rounds. By paying, say, 150 points into the recharge thing, you can decrease that cost by 2 rounds.)

[CYMRO]

I like Beejazz's array of Dexterity, Agility, Strength, Toughness, and Luck, maybe with a 6th score called Mana or the like (if we choose to do it that way). An interesting twist would be to see a willpower equivalent be handled by Luck.

I can go with those 5.

Whoops, I'm too late on the Mana thing. I like the sound of recharge better to be honest, but even so should we put a part of the character sheet stating how fast a character recharges? Maybe with the expenditure of points recharge times can be reduced?

If blasting spells can be used once very 3 rounds, example only, then a recharge feat would allow for once every 2 rounds, Improved recharge every round.  

Also... just as a question... we gonna mix sci-fi into this whole crazy thing. I've always been fond of alternate tech progressions, most notably biopunk and psychopunk themes.

There is no reason why not, the intro of "high tech" can be easily enough balanced once the basics are established.

[Hibou]

Oh yeah, another thing. I think we should try to keep point values from having too many digits. 10 looks better than 1000, for example. There should definitely be a start point for 'standard' gain, such as 10 or 20, so there is room to divide the cost of something if it's what I'm going to call a 'half-improvement'.

[Wensleydale]

High Tech can be introduced later, just like D20 modern.

[Numinous]

I think, that to answer the issue of the learning curve and what type of feel we want, we should publish this system in two pdf's.  This way, they can be updated and downloaded again if we find glitches in the system, and things like sci-fi, other magic systems, new skill trees, etc. can be in the second pdf.  This way, basic rules are simple to leanr and play, yet options are available once they're desired.

[Wensleydale]

Yes. Good idea.

So, what ability scores do we want?

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Wait, we're already thinking about publication?  We just started.

As for stats, I think it depends on what we need to have the stats do.  Tri-Stat has three, Body, Mind, and Soul, and seems to do pretty well.  d20 derivatives generally stick with the six we know, and they aren't so bad most of the time.  Some systems stat attractiveness of some kind, some divide up mental stats, many divide up physical stats.  If we're going to as "what ability scores do we want?" we should be clear on why.

My take on stats:
No mental stats.  I like to roleplay who and what I want to roleplay and not something that my stats tell me I have to do.  If you want to encourage people to roleplay something they might not have thought of before, make an RP system for it so that if someone ignores it there is no mechanical way to tell.
The stats I think are relevant (note: these aren't the names I'm proposing, just the concepts):
Strength
Coordination
Reaction time
Physical toughness

[CYMRO]

My take on stats:
No mental stats.  I like to roleplay who and what I want to roleplay and not something that my stats tell me I have to do.  If you want to encourage people to roleplay something they might not have thought of before, make an RP system for it so that if someone ignores it there is no mechanical way to tell.
The stats I think are relevant (note: these aren't the names I'm proposing, just the concepts):
Strength
Coordination
Reaction time
Physical toughness

I can see these, whatever the names, are tight.
I can live with this.

[Numinous]

what Cym said

[Wensleydale]

I vote Silver's.

[CYMRO]

Strength
Coordination
Reaction time
Physical toughness

Any objections, caveats, additions?
If not I think we have our stats, actual names to be worked out, but the concept seems sound.

Race questions seems the next logical point of discussion.
D&D treats races as a balncing act/trade-off to the human baseline.
Is this what we want?  Or shall race be flavorful?

[snakefing]

My latest idea on spells was to give the Character an overall Mana Level. Each time you cast a spell, your Mana Level decreases according to the strength of the spell. It recharges at a steady rate though. In SRD terms, your Mana Level is roughly equal to your caster level. The cost of a spell is roughly equal to the spell level, augmented if you want to increase particulars like range, damage, area, duration, etc. Recharge would be somewhere from 1 Mana per minute at the fast end, to 1 Mana per hour at the extreme slow end, I hadn't figured out the balanced approach. This means that casters can pump out lots of low level spells with virtually no worries, but if they start ramping up the power they'll run out of juice pretty quickly, then be weakened for a period of time.

[snakefing]

I think that race and culture benefits should come in on an equal footing. Every culture would have their own set of benefits. I'm not a big fan of having great disparities in abilities or characteristics between races. If everyone wants to play a lizardman, fine. If only one person does, it becomes a very tricky matter to balance them.

[Numinous]

I think races should be offered as a series of benefits, as mentioned earlier, and should cost proportionate points when addign them to a character.  As humans are the baseline, they would have a cost of 0 points and gratnt no bonuses or penalties.  in response to the worries abotu whether a penalty actually hampers anything, I suggest that penalties add points to your pool, but a small amount.

Just numbers off the top of ym head, but say a +2 Str costs 10 points, then a -2 coordination would give you 2 or 3 points to use.  Low enough to not be unblanacing, but high enough to give some reward for weakening yourself.

As always, take whatever you want from the post, and dispute my opinions all you want.  i'm just giving you all my ideas so that the good ones which might exist can be used.