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[Araph]

Here is the link to the in-progress version of it.

It's in a fancily formatted HTML file, so you have to download it to see it. Just click the download button and open it with Firefox or Chrome or what have you. Ignore the links at the top, as those are placeholders for the future when this is on a website. (Also, the background image isn't mine; I just chose it because it looks cool and shows off the transparency in the text boxes.)

So! This is something I've been working on for a very long time. Last year I started on typing up the meat of the game in a Google Docs page, and now, after a several-month-long break, I'm working on it again. I've put it into a (hopefully) easier to read format than a wall of plain text, but it isn't completely finished. Or even nearly finished, really. I'm posting it to see what people think of it, because I would otherwise be in a creative echo chamber with no external input.

The gist of the game is this: it's like a combination of Dungeons and Dragons, Dwarf Fortress, and The Elder Scrolls with a magic system from The Dresden Files.

Characters:
Your character has a few different parts to it: focuses, attributes, skills, ideals and weaknesses, and gifts and flaws. Focuses determine how fast skills level up, attributes are similar to ability scores in DnD, skills are more similar to The Elder Scrolls games than DnD, ideals and weaknesses give the GM something to go off of when handing out experience, and gifts and flaws are free pairs of bonuses and flaws.

Classes and Leveling:
You gain experience by using skills and roleplaying, as opposed to killing things. Classes don't actually restrict your skills or abilities, but you'll only be exceptional in your class' intended area. Classes also control which perk trees you can select perks from when you level up (I haven't gotten around to actually writing the perk trees yet, though).

Magic:
Unlike DnD's Vancian magic system, you cast spells by rolling Spellcasting skill checks and, if you fail, the magic goes haywire and screws you over. Even on successful rolls, you become fatigued from the effort. Spells can be customized easily and modified slightly on the fly, and don't require any specific character traits aside from good rolls and modifiers.

Combat, Injuries, and Healing:
Combat has a targeting system and no hit points, like in DF. Attacking rolls are countered by Block and Armor Usage skill checks, and, if the attack is successful, cuts and bruises accumulate and heal over time. Except in exceedingly rare circumstances, magical healing is entirely absent from play. Skills such as Suturing, Wound Dressing, and Surgery either aid in recovery or are required to survive after serious injuries.


That's just the general idea of it. In the HTML file, there's a lot more information, as well as the exact wordings of rules and whatnot. Looking through it, any thoughts on the matter? Ideas? Criticisms? Scathing reviews of how terrible the whole thing is?

[Lovechild]

It seems like a successful attack requires 3 to 5 rolls:

1. Attacker makes weapon skill check
2. Defender makes block/armor/dodge check
3. Defender may make another block/armor/dodge check
4. Attacker makes another weapon skill check
5. The injury may require a roll

That is a lot of rolls for just one attack. There's also the fact that you will have to look up the effect of every attack in the rules, because you will never remember all the special effects and how much the TN must be beat by for them to happen.

[timotheus]

It seems like a successful attack requires 3 to 5 rolls:

1. Attacker makes weapon skill check
2. Defender makes block/armor/dodge check
3. Defender may make another block/armor/dodge check
4. Attacker makes another weapon skill check
5. The injury may require a roll

That is a lot of rolls for just one attack. There's also the fact that you will have to look up the effect of every attack in the rules, because you will never remember all the special effects and how much the TN must be beat by for them to happen.

Sounds like this needs a mobile web roller/effect calculator!

[MaximumZero]

Posting to watch.

[Araph]

It seems like a successful attack requires 3 to 5 rolls:

1. Attacker makes weapon skill check
2. Defender makes block/armor/dodge check
3. Defender may make another block/armor/dodge check
4. Attacker makes another weapon skill check
5. The injury may require a roll

That is a lot of rolls for just one attack. There's also the fact that you will have to look up the effect of every attack in the rules, because you will never remember all the special effects and how much the TN must be beat by for them to happen.

Sounds like this needs a mobile web roller/effect calculator!

Actually, I was planning on making something like that in addition to a character creation thingy and a GM character experience tracker thingy.

As for fighting, there are actually a maximum of three rolls per attack, though it might be better for the defender to only use two. What happens is this: the attacker rolls for his weapon skill. If the roll is over the TN for the body part he's targeting, we move on to the next step. The next step is for the defender to make either a block check, dodge or armor check, or both (he takes a penalty if he does both). The severity of the injury is determined using the previous attacking roll (base TN of 10, add the defender's armor score). That gets matched against the injury table to find out what happens.

It's a bit more complex than hit points, but that was intentional.

[Appify]

About the roller, as a GM who frequently introduces people to their first tabletop RPG experience, I've actually worked quite a bit on how a web app might handle systems, to make RPG playing easier and quicker (less time looking up charts or figuring out how to create character, roll, etc).

I've actually gotten a lot of feedback from players, GMs, etc.  But I'd be interested in your perspective as an RPG designer.  What were you thinking about in a RPG-support app?  Would you design differently if an app could handle the calculation, rolls, etc?

If you'd like to read more about the app (Live Gaming), or support the dev you can visit: http://www.saltvalleytally.com/campaign/detail/206.  With just a couple of clicks and verifying your email (no spam!), you can vote for the app and help it win $5,000.

[Araph]

Oh, the irony. 'No spam' says the Escaped Lunatic who has posted a grand total of one time.

[Araph]

Quick updoot: I'm finishing up what I think is the last of the bare bones of the combat system, bringing our list of finished parts of the game to skills and attributes, combat, magic, and classes. I'm going to try to get around to finishing up the last of the world-creation details for the first test campaign over the next few days, so I'd just like to check something: would people be interested in joining the alpha campaign?

Also, I haven't made a thread in FG&R yet, but I will soon; I'd like to make sure I'm fully prepared to start before I brainlessly dive in head first.

[Araph]

Would you look at that, a FG&R thread. Post there if you're interested in playing and stuff.