Beejazz's Homebrew: Discussion Thread

[beejazz]

It's been up for a little while already, and it looks like people have been checking it out. This is the discussion thread for Beejazz's Homebrew System (setting too, later). I'll come here with more specific questions later. In the mean time, what do you think so far?

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

It sounds simple.  The only thing I not a fan of is the "1 evade per round".  Is this supposed to discourage going up against a lot of opponents?

[beejazz]

Yes. That is exactly what it's for. There are special rules I haven't really covered yet that give you a little extra wiggle room. Superior fighters get abilities that let them take on bigger groups, and you do have the option of fighting defensively and such.

Firstly, I use different action types like 3.0/3.5 D&D do, and the rule that you can always trade down. So by default you only get one reaction, but you can trade your main and/or minor action for an extra dodge or two. In the same way that the active defense mechanic saves space by handling what would be flat-footedness, flanking, etc. this rule takes over for "full defense" and "fighting defensively."

Secondly there will be perks that let you defend yourself under certain circumstances as a non-action (free actions you can take out of turn). Mainly it makes low-dice attacks easy to dodge for higher level characters.

I know how rough one dodge per round can be.

[beejazz]

I've given the skills and abilities overview. I'll probably have to clarify somewhat later. I'll also be writing up specific rules for each skill. What do you think?

[beejazz]

I'm going to get to work soon on specific skill descriptions. Just gonna run some disorganized thoughts by you guys here before consolidating it on the main system thread. The same goes for combat, where certain perks were difficult to write (two-weapon fighting for example, given the nature of the active defense mechanic).

Movement Skills
For pretty much any and all of the movement skills, success moves you further and failure moves you shorter distances. Circumstances such as terrain increase or decrease the difficulty. Where applicable, a critical failure indicates falling (I haven't gotten to critical failure yet... it'll probably be a failure with two ones).

So climbing will have a higher DC for a greater incline, lack of handholds or rope, or a slippery surface. In all instances you move x feet on a failure and y feet on a success (the movement values of individual skills still has me scratching my head) and fall on a critical failure.

There'll also be perks that improve your movement rate on a success.

The higher your level, the more likely you'll be able to use the greater distance in any and all circumstances. However you don't actually move further unless you take a perk for it. Avoids some (if not all) of the craziness of 3rd edition jump mechanics (though I gotta say I really liked the simplicity there).

I may also not include ride and/or fly in movement skills for two reasons. Firstly, it doesn't work in a similar fashion (I don't think it would anyway). Secondly, why penalize ride for armor? (I'll get into that later... suffice to say for now that armor penalizes movement skills, defense skills, and magic by default and that proficiency negates penalties to defense and magic).

social skills
I have a few rules I'd like to adhere to myself when writing these.

1)The GM has the right to determine when these rules are applicable, if at all.
2)Circumstance and RP matter, and are the primary things when determining the DC of the check.
3)The effects are subtle. No overtly making an NPC do this or that. Convince an NPC of a falsehood? Yes. Scare the crap out of him? Yes. Make a stranger a friend? Yes. Negotiate your surrender to avoid being killed? Yes. But you won't make the guy who wants to kill you give you candy instead (looking at you diplomacy).

That said, most rules will be similar.
The DC for a bluff check is determined by the plausibility of the lie, as is the DC of the raw perception check to notice (So the odds are *strongly* slanted in the favor of a clever liar).

The diplomacy (er... "befriend") system will be similar. I think I may even keep the guidelines on "hostile" to "unfriendly" and "helpful" and so on. However, I'm ruling that you can only move an NPC one step in order to make a more specific request. For example, negotiating your own surrender to an angry mob that would otherwise kill you (hostile to unfriendly) or convincing a friend of yours to give you a discount on something (friendly to helpful). Additionally, the results aren't typically lasting, but apply to specific circumstances and such (so the person's not going to give you a discount on all services in the future, and the angry mob might still give you some kind of trial and execution later).

Intimidation I'm just not sure about. I've never been clear on the rules in 3e and while I like the idea it's never come up in play.

attack skills
Attack skills will be melee and ranged attack. They're fairly self explanatory.

You roll under your attack skills with as many dice as you like and the damage is equal to your roll on the dice plus your weapon modifier. That's a one roll attack. And since your damage is based on your skill, it both varies depending on how good a fighter you are and automatically scales with level.

And for special maneuvers? The same exact thing, except that on a success you knock a foe prone or disarm them or whatever. There are a few (feinting, grappling, two weapon fighting, etc.) that will work differently out of neccessity.

People can defend themselves from standard attacks with defense skills (I'll explain more later). Against maneuvers they use strength or dexterity saves (which are non-actions instead of reactions, and are more likely to be high across the board than skills).

defense skills
defense skills are used as a reaction to negate an otherwise successful attack. The difficulty in all cases is based on the dice used to attack you (so a 3dice attack would require a 3dice defense check).

Dodge is mainly for ranged attacks, but you can use it at +1DC against melee attacks too.
Parry is the reverse.
Shield stops both ranged and melee attacks just as easily, but it does take up one of your hands (preventing you from using two weapons or a single two handed weapon).

Ah hell... I guess I'll get to sketching out my ideas for combat later.

[beejazz]

I'm still working on stuff in this thread before having it set in stone over on the other one. For today, I want to go over something that's been bugging me... the critical table. I made it as simple as I could, and I like it, but I still wonder if maybe it's too much.

When a character's damage threshold is beat, he suffers a critical hit. Higher strength and/or better armor means fewer critical hits (so does dodging, shielding, parrying, etc. by way of preventing attacks... so as said before, it pays not to get surrounded or surprised).

For critical effects, roll d% on the following table. A character gets one wound unless otherwise noted (for example, the character is hit with a slashing weapon or rolls +1 wound). More wounds on the same spot will mean worse effects.

1-15 Left Arm (limb)
16-30 Right Arm (limb)
31-45 Left Leg (limb)
46-60 Right Leg (limb)
61-70 Knockback
71-80 Bleeding
81-90 Vitals
91-100 +1 Wound

Limbs:
Wounds to limbs overlap rather than stacking. Slashing weapons deal +1 wound to limbs.

Right Arm:
1) -5 penalty to checks made with the right arm or both arms. This includes attacking or parrying with a weapon in that hand, shielding with a shield in that hand, climbing, swimming, etc.
2) The right arm is disabled, can do nothing, and drops whatever it is holding. Checks requiring the use of both arms can be made at a -5 penalty. If both arms are disabled, tasks requiring one or both arms automatically fail.
3) The right arm is severed. The penalties are the same as for a disabled arm, except that they are permanent. Further, the character suffers a bleeding wound.

Left Arm:
I'll type it later. More of the same.

Right Leg:
1) -5 to movement skill checks and a reduction in speed (I haven't decided how much).
2) The right leg is disabled. Again I need to think more on this one. If both legs are disabled the character cannot move.
3) The right leg is severed. It suffers the same penalties as if it were disabled, only permanently. Further, the character suffers a bleeding wound.

Left Leg:
More to type later. Again more of the same.

Knockback:
The character is knocked prone and is also knocked back (1-wounds) squares. Bludgeoning and/or larger foes may get bonus wounds on this one.

Bleeding:
The character suffers (wounds)d10 damage per round.

Vitals:
Roll (1+wounds)d10 on the following table. Characters also suffer all the effects of lesser conditions (so a staggered character is also stunned, etc.)
1-5 Stunned: The character cannot act for one round.
6-10 Staggered: The character loses one minor action every round (though he can still take minor actions by using his main action)
11-15 Unconscious: The character is helpless, prone, and unable to act.
16+ Dead: The character falls to 0 hp and is dead.

[snakefing]

I like some kind of vague hit location, because I think it adds to the characterization of the damage. Makes it easier to visualize what the character would be feeling, how the wounds impact them after combat, etc.

My main concern is maybe a few too many rolls. E.g., if you roll +1 wounds, then roll vitals, then you have another roll on the vitals table, you have a lot of possible rolls there. Whether that is bothersome depends on your tastes, I guess, and how often you run combat. If you don't run it often, but want some additional level of detail or "realism" when you do, this could work pretty well.

[beejazz]

Okay, so here's what I've got so far on a revision.

1-10: Left Arm 1
11-20: Left Leg 1
21-30: Right Arm 1
31-40: Right Leg 1
41-55: Bleed 1
56-70: Knockback 1
71-80: Stunning 1
81-90: Vitals 1
91-97: +1 Wound
98-100: +2 Wounds

Slashing weapons deal +1 wound to limbs as before.
EDIT: Changed... non-slashing weapons treat 3 wounds as two on limbs.

Limbs are all the same as before, more or less. 1 is a penalty, 2 is disabling, 3 is permanent disabling.

Bleed's about the same. 1d10 per round per bleed.

Knockback's about the same. 1 is prone, 2 is prone and knocked back a square, 3 is prone and knocked back two squares.

For Stunning, 1 is stunned (as above), 2 is staggered (as above), and 3 is unconscious.

For Vitals, 1 is staggered, 2 is unconscious, and 3 is dead.

Rules for called shots come soon. As you may have guessed, the effects you can achieve here get recycled.

[beejazz]

I also want to talk a little here about the setting before I actually start a thread for it. I've got a general feel for the kinds of things I want to include, but not a whole hell of a lot of concrete detail.

Tech: Tech falls around Civil War era, with some things being behind and others being slightly ahead. I definitely want for there to be gunpowder weapons and steam powered vehicles. Internal combustion engines not yet, though. As for manufacturing... I don't know... some early industrial type stuff might be nice. Massive textile factories, slums, labor revolts... that sort of thing. Also there may be a few (a very very few) steampunk elements... mainly some kind of "automail" ripoff. I don't want things to come off as too over the top steampunk. Also, I'm trying to write the combat rules so as not to make feudal weapons and armor not obsolete.

Magic: Magic (for players) is mostly wizardly type things. I've written the rules so that laymen might attempt to cast rituals from a scroll or book using their magic skill untrained. Trained wizards can do more with the same rituals and can memorize and abbreviate rituals (the spell feat) so that they can cast a handful of spells very quickly. You can cast spells all day, but can only have so many active at a time before you lose focus. And armor has an armor check penalty instead of spell failure (armor proficiency lowers or negates most check penalties... so if you invest in both spells and armor, there's no penalty besides the number of perks you just spent on it). Magic for the players is written so as to be very very cerebral feeling I hope.

Magic in the world is kind of different. The creatures of myth and legend haunt the lonely and untamed places of the world. Their abilities are unpredictable, their motives sometimes difficult to comprehend, and their attitude towards humans and their ilk isn't often friendly. I kind of like the small gods of Shinto and the fey of old pagan faiths and the way all that feels for this. As a general rule, the more powerful a spirit or monster is, the more alien it is and the less concerned it is with this world. Truly powerful monsters are truly horrific and alien, where small spirits are almost benevolent (if capricious). Also, as a general rule I want a feeling of mystery.

Planar magic may fall into a similar category as fey. The planes aren't organized in tidy alignments and orbits with controllable portals. They are near our world, and easy to fall into, but don't always follow our rules, especially in terms of time and distance. "Higher" planes less near to earth also exist, but as before, the higher you go the weirder it gets.

Culture and Society: This will probably be all over the map in terms of timeline. Some things will be taken back to feudalism and beyond, while some things will be taken forward a few decades from that 1800s baseline. For contemporary society I'm pulling things from England, revolutionary France, Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate, Russia, American history (taken back to its revolution and probably fragmented into smaller nations), and a number of other sources. I feel the need to include a middle eastern analog, an african analog, and some sort of new world (not nearly as expansive as the Americas). All of these so there can be colonialism and a mix of cultures. I'll probably fuse Asian and European culture for the main continent. Additionally, I'll probably pull some alternate history at the collapse of the Roman Empire so that there can be a wider variety of religions and such... imagine if the Mystery cults more closely resembled various eastern philosophies and each gained a significant following, instead of just Christianity. Just a thought.

Geography: There will definitely be a European/Asian continent with obligatory island nation which may resemble England or Japan (not yet sure which). There will be a continent to the south which may or may not resemble Africa... I'd probably portray it as a little more in its heyday rather than use the... unflattering contemporary depictions (I really need to learn more about African history in general... I'm all curious about it lately). There will also be a continent to the east with a distinctly Arab sort of feel. Again I may go for greater political and religious diversity than would be accurate (or were things more diverse than I know?... I need to read up on what was going on in the world in this time period). There will also be a "New World" about the size of Australia or smaller.

Races: Not sure at all what to do here. My initial thoughts were to have elves, dwarves, goblins, ogres, and humans. Now I don't so much know. Mechanically, all these would be perks and may have unique perks available to them... but I don't know what special abilities I'd give them. Setting-Wise, they'd be difficult to make fit. Do I make them like historical human cultures? It feels wrong... like poor caricatures of ethnic identity. But then putting them on the fey side, there'd be that divide... where they're supposed to feel a little alien but aren't because they're still being played by the human players. Another option is to allow more monstrous races with really unique physiques, abilities, etc. This avoids both of the setting problems (they aren't anything like humans, and can be played alien like) and the system problems (easier to give them special abilities unique to their "monstrous" nature). Or I could just go straight human, which has its own appeal... I'll have to think on it. Let me know, those of you who have suggestions.

The Summary for Those Who Want to Read Less
I want a semi-historical basis for things. There will be anachronisms. There will be mythological elements made real. There will be massive inaccuracy, but I'm taking many of my ideas from history.

Everything else will be either cliche or for the sake of having the game work. History and cliche because they're recognizable and because they work. "For the sake of the game" because some things need simplifying.

I want things to be culturally diverse in kind of close quarters. I think it makes things more interesting. Specifically there will be kind of an east/west fusion on the main continent.

Things are set in a time of railways, six guns, etc. Feudal etc. weapons and armor will be available and viable. There'll be a few steampunk elements, but hopefully not too many.

Despite the high tech level, there will still be holdovers from less enlightened times in the politics of the setting.

Magic is scholarly and cerebral for people, but weird as all get out in the setting.

I have no idea what to do for races, if anything at all.

[Steerpike]

[blockquote=bejazz]obligatory island nation which may resemble England or Japan (not yet sure which)[/blockquote]Maybe both?  Samurai-esque retinues to the silk-clad, Victorian Empress; tiered pagodas adorned with baroque cherubim and Gothic gargoyles rather than kitsune and oni (or, conversely, vast, buttressed cathedrals adorned with kappas and dragons, with kami in place of Saints and classical deities); horse-drawn carriages rattling through gaslit streets en route to geisha-attended teahouses?  Ronin gunslingers (way of the horse and revolver?) hanging out in the Thames-esque docklands and chasing shuriken-throwing thieves through the brickwork labyrinths of quasi-Victorian sewers?  I get a picture of a man in samurai armour, complete with mask and helmet, but with a curled, flowing European wig and a flaring, knee-length coat and breeches - a combination of this and this.

Or perhaps you want a... "purer" civilization for the island, with other portions of the world embodying this more mixed/fused feel?

[Llum]

Maybe both?  Samurai-esque retinues to the silk-clad, Victorian Empress; tiered pagodas adorned with baroque cherubim and Gothic gargoyles rather than kitsune and oni (or, conversely, vast, buttressed cathedrals adorned with kappas and dragons, with kami in place of Saints and classical deities); horse-drawn carriages rattling through gaslit streets en route to geisha-attended teahouses?  Ronin gunslingers (way of the horse and revolver?) hanging out in the Thames-esque docklands and chasing shuriken-throwing thieves through the brickwork labyrinths of quasi-Victorian sewers?  I get a picture of a man in samurai armour, complete with mask and helmet, but with a curled, flowing European wig and a flaring, knee-length coat and breeches - a combination of this and this.

This sounds really really awsome.

[beejazz]

[blockquote=bejazz]obligatory island nation which may resemble England or Japan (not yet sure which)[/blockquote]Maybe both?  Samurai-esque retinues to the silk-clad, Victorian Empress; tiered pagodas adorned with baroque cherubim and Gothic gargoyles rather than kitsune and oni (or, conversely, vast, buttressed cathedrals adorned with kappas and dragons, with kami in place of Saints and classical deities); horse-drawn carriages rattling through gaslit streets en route to geisha-attended teahouses?  Ronin gunslingers (way of the horse and revolver?) hanging out in the Thames-esque docklands and chasing shuriken-throwing thieves through the brickwork labyrinths of quasi-Victorian sewers?  I get a picture of a man in samurai armour, complete with mask and helmet, but with a curled, flowing European wig and a flaring, knee-length coat and breeches - a combination of this and this.

Or perhaps you want a... "purer" civilization for the island, with other portions of the world embodying this more mixed/fused feel?

This sounds freaking awesome!

I especially like the idea of cultural parallels, though I don't know how much of the naming conventions I'd keep from either (you know... keeping content and feel if not necessarily the naming conventions of one or the other specifically).

Let's see... more specifics. I think Japan was originally Shinto, but prior to the Tokugawa period there was a heavy Chinese influence that brought over Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, etc. But during the Tokugawan period, I've read there was sort of a reactionary movement against Chinese influence looking for a purer Japanese culture.

Much of Europe, prior to the rise and spread of Christianity, was pagan (I don't know about England in particular). Later England had its church break away from the Catholic faith. Imagine if elements of a Shinto/pagan religion found their way into an organized faith like Catholicism or Confucianism... it would be pretty nifty I think. There are many ideas that might come in here... it needs more thought.

The political situation is maybe less aligned... I'll have to take maybe a closer look. I like the idea of a Shogunate in general, or at least of having a monarch/regent at the head of government, if only for the time being. I like the idea of a developing Parliament... I really need to learn more about British history in this time period in general though. I got world history until 1700 or so and I'm in an American history class now... I wish I could've just taken both world histories and skipped American, but it was required.

I need a good place to learn about historical cultures independently... a good, broad, but not time consuming source that'll give me what I need to know.

Out of your description:
Elite warriors working under the nobility? Yes!
Covering buildings with pictures of appropriate monsters? Yes!
Legal prostitution (including but not limited to geishas)? Yes!
Warriors who master a variety of weapons (including katanas, kusari-gamas, revolvers)? Yes!
The thieves, shuriken, piers, and sewers thing? Hell yes!

In general, that description just plain works. Thanks man... you've given me things to think over.

EDIT: And I'm drawing a composite of those pictures.

[beejazz]

What about something based off ancient hawaii? the phillipenes? there are a lot of Island Nations out there.

Yes, but fewer with quite the same proximity to the mainland and large landmass. That isn't to say there won't be a plethora of smaller island cultures in the sea between the "new world" and everything else. And I may base some of those on Hawaiian culture.

I'll have to learn something about it at some point.

[beejazz]

Going back and revising: Penalty Dice

My hope from the very start was that I could make skills and task resolution as simple as possible. For this purpose my general philosophy was that an increase in difficulty ALWAYS would be represented with increased dice (NEVER with penalties) and that any and all bonuses would be limited to the skill system (NEVER circumstance bonuses).

The problem child for me in my mechanics has always been attacks. Increasing the dice on an attack will increase the damage and the DC to resist, or may be entirely without effect, as players can determine their own dice totals.

My solution so far has been to apply penalties only where they might apply to an attack. This would include wound penalties, called shots, etc. It has its own problems, including but not limited to a lowered damage cap for penalised shots.

From now on my solution will be penalty dice. My original thought was differently coloured or separately rolled d10s. A friend of mine gave me the idea to use d6s instead. Yes that means I'll be using two die types, but one of them is a d6, which hardly counts. And personally, I like the idea.

EDIT: D'oh, the idea being that penalty dice don't apply to damage and defense DCs, but still count normally to see if you failed to hit. They're d6s partly so I can apply small incremental penalties and partly so they're easily distinguishable from the rest of the dice rolled.

What are your thoughts, in general?

First set of changes will have to be to the wound descriptions... then to called shots rules (small changes really). The best will finally be being able to apply my armor penalty rules, which I think some of you will really like.

Armor will apply penalty dice from 1 to 3 to all movement skills, defense skills, and the magic skill.

Light armor proficiency (a perk) will reduce penalties to defense and magic skills by 1 die.

Medium armor proficiency will reduce penalties by 2 dice.

Heavy armor proficiency will reduce penalties by 3 dice.

So that way, lower armor proficiencies are still useful when wearing better armor. Also, since people don't get a whole hell of a lot of perks, someone who spent theirs on armor and spells doesn't also have to invest in negating spell failure. Because that would be a PITA. Oh, and spell failure doesn't need its own special mechanic... just a plain old penalty.

For hit locations... standard penalty might be one or two dice instead of -5.

And just wait till you see my called shot rules. You'll like 'em.

More later on trying to get the England/Japan specifics right.

[beejazz]

In addition to the fun stuff, I'm still working on the part I don't like. The weapon list. I'll spare you the boring details of what specific weapons I'm considering and give you a broad overview of my goals with this.

1)Generality: A two handed sword is a two handed sword. Stats don't have to vary for generally similar weapons. There's no huge mechanical difference between a longsword and a scimitar and a khopesh. There may be for a rapier, as it's piercing instead of slashing and a finesse weapon.

2)Exotic Weapons: There should be a plethora of interesting weapons mechanically distinct from one another. There are no weapon prof rules outside of exotic weapons.

2a)Even if many of the weapons are Asian origin weapons, I want to give them descriptive westernized names where possible. Because who the hell really knows what an eku is off the top of their head? It's better to just call it an oar or something. Or use names like "rope dart" or "weighted chain." Some iconic weapons like shuriken can keep their names. Generally I only want to do this where the names are familiar to players.

2b)If there's a discrepancy between how the weapon functions in fiction and how it function in reality, fiction should trump reality wherever it's not totally ridiculous.

3)Guns: Guns should be dangerous, but should not automatically pwn all. The wound system, their capacity to penetrate armor (to what extent I haven't decided), and their range make them more than enough of a threat. The reload time, and the danger of letting someone close with you (remember that if you can't shield or parry, it's a lot harder to defend yourself) are more or less enough of a drawback that carrying a melee weapon will still be advisable.