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[Araph]

Rules 'n stuff

As the title says, this is going to be the first campaign of an as-of-yet unnamed tabletop RPG. I've been working on this for a long time and stuff, but that's irrelevant. What is relevant is this: the game is (I think) playable. To look at the rules, just download the file and open it with Firefox or Chrome or something. While Google Docs allows convenient viewing of HTML (complete with colored text), it doesn't actually display the page as it should be. With that in mind, I put all the JavaScript and CSS stuff into one file, so it shouldn't be beyond anybody's capacity to open.


About the Game:

• Uses dice rolls similar to DnD.
• Has skills and attributes (similar to nearly every RPG ever), but also has ideals and weaknesses (these are important for gaining experience).
• Speaking of experience, you get it by using skills and roleplaying, as opposed to killing everything around you.
• Classes help you in some areas, but don't actually limit your ability to fill other roles in the party.
• Combat is done with skill rolls instead of DnD's attacking rolls with AC and an arbitrary BAB.
• Injuries aren't kept track of with hit points. You keep track of individual wounds on your character sheet.

Spoiler: Blank Character Sheet (click to show/hide)

 --- Basics ---
Name:
Class:
Level:
Experience:

 --- Focuses ---
Primary Focus:
Secondary Focus:
Tertiary Focus:

 --- Ability Scores ---
Strength:
Fortitude:
Agility:
Dexterity:
Intelligence:
Willpower:
Charisma:
Presence (Calming):
Presence (Agitating):

 --- Physical Skills ---
Balance:
Jumping:
Acrobatics:
Swimming:
Sneaking:
Lockpicking:
Sleight of Hand:
Ride:
Swordfighting:
2H Swordfighting:
Mace Fighting:
2H Mace Fighting:
Axe Fighting:
2H Axe Fighting:
Knife Fighting:
Hand to Hand Combat:
Wrestling:
Staff Fighting:
Archery:
Throwing:
Blocking:
Armor Usage():
Dodging:

 --- Mental Skills ---
Spell Creation:
Spell Casting:
Enchanting:
Activate Magic:
Concentration:
Knowledge():
Observance():
Searching:
Appraising:
Suturing:
Surgery:
Bone Doctoring:
Wound Dressing:
Survival:

 --- Social Skills ---
Persuasion:
Command:
Detect Purpose:
Bluff:
Coerce:
Intimidate:
Manipulate:
Perform:
Haggle:
Disguise:

 --- Scenario-Dependent Skills ---
Vocational Skills():

 --- Character Traits ---
Gifts:
Flaws:

Ideals:
Weaknesses:

 --- Magic ---
Spell Effects Known:
 -
 -
 -

Focus Power:
Backlash Level:

 --- Pain and Injury ---
Injury List:
 -
 -
 -

Pain Level:
Rounds Until Bleeding Out:
Wound Treatments:
 -
 -
 -

Crippled Limbs:
 -
 -
 -

 --- Inventory ---
Money:
Items Owned:
 -
 -
 -
 -
 -
 -
 -

So, here's how this is going to go: we'll be playing with Maptools on a loose schedule (meaning whenever most people can be there). The rules are mostly complete, but there are going to be a lot of contradictions and errors in them. Whenever you see anything that seems incongruous, please point it out to me and I'll fix it before the next session. Similarly, skill check target numbers (basically DCs) are going to be determined on the fly and added into the rules after the session ends, so we'll be filling out the rest of the document as we play. Feel free to argue about what TN seems valid in each situation; we're trying to smooth out everything balance-wise as we go.

If you want to try it out, read through some of the rule document and get a feel for what sort of game this is going to be. Be warned: it's not like DnD where you can hack your way through a horde of goblins and be fine after you drink a potion or two. It's more like DF, where you'll somehow manage to slay a character far above you in terms of skill before getting your head caved in by a wayward camel hoof.


Character Creation:
We'll be using the rules listed in the 'Characters' section of the rule document; choose a primary, secondary, and tertiary focus, start each attribute at -2 and add 30 points in the manner described by the 'Attributes' section of the rules, and add skill points in the same way the 'Skills' section of the rules describes. About weapon and armor skills: they aren't listed in the 'Skill Description', but they are listed on the blank character sheet.

Quickstart Guide:

1. Choose your primary, secondary, and tertiary focuses.

2. Put points into attributes. (Each attribute starts at -2, you have thirty points to add, you can add up to eight points to each attribute. Ignore the rules about rolling for attributes.)

3. Put points into skills. (Aaaand I seem to have left out part of the text on skills, the part that tells you how many points you can spend. Basically, you get 20 points for any skills and 6 more to distribute into skills governed by your primary focus. You can put a max of 4 points into any individual skill.)

   All characters are allowed to spend a set amount of points during character creation; the typical number is twenty points, though the Game Master may choose a different number to fit the power level of the campaign they plan to run. You may also give distribute another number of points (usually six) between skills governed by your primary focus. No more than four points can be placed in any individual skill.

4. Choose Flaws and Gifts. Because there isn't a list yet, just suggest the kind of things you would like your character to have. For the general idea of what these should be like, look at this list of character traits. Remember, though; Gifts don't have drawbacks flaws don't have benefits. For example, you might have the gift Steady Hand or something, which might give +1 on ranged attack rolls. To compensate, you might have the Inattentive flaw, which makes you take a -2 on all Observance checks.

5. Up next is Ideals and Weaknesses. This is basically just describing your character's values; what they want to be like, what their personality is like, and what their vices are.

6. Finally, you have to make your class. This is probably the most piecewise section of the rules; I've gone through a couple different iterations of how classes should work. Basically, just select a sub-specialization as your class. Ignore the 'Class Skills' section; just have all skills under your primary focus be considered class skills (that is, leveling up those skills gives you experience).

Regarding gear and money: just put down any gear you want that your character could reasonably have with their backstory. I'll put down specifics on the world in the OP soon (soon meaning later today).

Spoiler: About the Game World (click to show/hide)

Vesohin is the region and kingdom this campaign takes place in, and is roughly displayed in the map above. The grey lines indicate the world; coasts, rivers, mountains, and lakes. The solid red lines represent major roads between cities, represented by red X marks. The red circles are other locations of note, though not on the scale of a city. The dotted red lines indicate counties within the kingdom, each containing one or two cities.
General Setting Information:
The land of Vesohin is a faded tapestry of past glories. While magic still exists, the land is in an arcane drought; the realities of the past are legends and folklore, supernatural beings no longer visit the material world, and gods no longer hear their followers. The age of heroes is over.

That's not to say no adventure is to be found, though. The trappings of past civilizations dot the landscape, through high mountains and green valleys; from the frigid coasts to the burning plains. The dying cults of the previous ages aren't vanishing without a final conflict, and that's not even getting into the political turmoil as the aging High King slowly loses his grip on life. Nobles gather allies under their banners in preparation for the ensuing power struggles.

And in the midst of it all are you: an unlikely group of heroes, perhaps the last the kingdom will see. The rest is up to you...
Desaren County
Contains Lake Tenord and the capital of city of Vesohin: Denrielic. It is the second leftmost county in the map. The Sharan Valley stretches from north to south along most of county, and is mainly verdant fields and lightly wooded grasslands. It is the seat of power for the monarchy, currently ruled by the elderly king Aros Ashon.

Garnos County
Home to the titular city of Garnos and the Varaes Mountains, a relatively small mountain range home to rich iron and gold mines. It is the leftmost county on the map. The surrounding land is the driest area in the region, and is nearly entirely sparsely vegetated plains. To the west of the Varaes Mountains is the vast grasslands home to nomadic tribes, uncharted with any measure of accuracy.

Deseinle County
The only county with two cities: the western city of Angkierd, built upon ancient ruins north of the Tenord River, and the eastern city of Oken, built along the delta where the Tenord River meets the ocean. It is the county directly to the east of Desaren County. Immense pine forests stretch to the north and south of the river, at home in the chilly climate brought on by a southbound ocean current along the coast to the east.

Osild County
Perhaps the most scenic area in the kingdom, Osild County is home to the wealthy city of Chatin. It is one of the second leftmost counties, directly north of Desaren County. Built upon the backs of slaves, the privately owned mines in the mountains north of the city provided an impressive source of income for the settlers. With slavery outlawed when the land was conquered and integrated into the kingdom of Vesohin, the slaves were replaced by semi-legal indentured servants and prisoners, keeping the wealthy citizens in power. Chatin was built just where the Sharan valley ends, with high-class homes on terraces overlooking the Tevor River feeding into Lake Tenord.

More details will be added here over time.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I might be interested in this.
Is it a fantasy game? High fantasy? Would most questions I have be answered by downloading that document?

[Araph]

Well, there's magic, albeit not a lot. The document says how to play the game, but not the setting. It's definitely on the higher end of fantasy, or at least it will be by the time the plot is over.

[Caellath]

I'm also here somehow.

[MaximumZero]

I'm watching. Always gotta keep my eyes on the competition.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Well, there's magic, albeit not a lot. The document says how to play the game, but not the setting. It's definitely on the higher end of fantasy, or at least it will be by the time the plot is over.

That's unfortunate, because for me MediaFire says the doc's not there anymore.

[Araph]

Well, there's magic, albeit not a lot. The document says how to play the game, but not the setting. It's definitely on the higher end of fantasy, or at least it will be by the time the plot is over.

That's unfortunate, because for me MediaFire says the doc's not there anymore.

CURSE YOU, MEDIAFIRE!

Should be fixed now, though. I think I may have accidentally linked the wrong file originally, which then got deleted.

I'm watching. Always gotta keep my eyes on the competition.

Ah, yes, the cutthroat world of tabletop RPG design. You never know when somebody is going to copy your stuff, replace all the adjectives, and label it as their own. Like this one time when I had an idea for a game called Castles and Chimeras, and then bam! Dungeons and Dragons comes out the next day.

I'm also here somehow.

You are!

...

Does that mean you're interested in playing?

[Doomblade187]

That reminds me, MZ. When you're ready to beta test, would you terribly mind starting a game on these forums? (Note how I didn't say now, just when you're ready...)

[Scelly9]

PTW.

[MaximumZero]

That reminds me, MZ. When you're ready to beta test, would you terribly mind starting a game on these forums? (Note how I didn't say now, just when you're ready...)

I'd love to. It's probably going to be a long way away, though.

[Criptfeind]

I would like to show my interest.

Edit: What a interesting way of have the information.

Edit 2: Simple and Complex Rolls. Once I have read this it becomes so blindly obviously a good idea that other rpgs are going to disappoint. Wow.

Edit 3: Quite a few things seem to not be working. Such as skill descriptions and a lot of Character trait stuff. Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?

[Araph]

Edit: What a interesting way of have the information.

Are you referring to the menus and stuff?

Edit 2: Simple and Complex Rolls. Once I have read this it becomes so blindly obviously a good idea that other rpgs are going to disappoint. Wow.

I'm glad you approve.

Edit 3: Quite a few things seem to not be working. Such as skill descriptions and a lot of Character trait stuff. Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?

Yeah, that's the unfinished part. As people use skills and TNs are decided on for different actions, I'll be filling out the skill descriptions section; as for character traits and skill/level perks, that's because I haven't gone through the process of thinking up the long lists of potential choices. I was planning on having people describe their characters and say what sort of traits they would want, at which point those would be added to the lists.

[Caellath]

Does that mean you're interested in playing?

Yes. I'll trundle through the things later.

[Criptfeind]

Well, color me interested in giving this a go, but I don't think there is enough info to fill out the blank character sheet you gave us.

Are you referring to the menus and stuff?

In general I meant... Not as a PDF. Which is normally how such things are done.

[Araph]

Well, color me interested in giving this a go, but I don't think there is enough info to fill out the blank character sheet you gave us.

Well, let's see. All the relevant stuff should be listed in the 'Characters' and 'Classes' subsections of the menu.

1. Choose your primary, secondary, and tertiary focuses.

2. Put points into attributes. (Each attribute starts at -2, you have thirty points to add, you can add up to eight points to each attribute. Ignore the rules about rolling for attributes.)

3. Put points into skills. (Aaaand I seem to have left out part of the text on skills, the part that tells you how many points you can spend. Basically, you get 20 points for any skills and 6 more to distribute into skills governed by your primary focus. You can put a max of 4 points into any individual skill.)

   All characters are allowed to spend a set amount of points during character creation; the typical number is twenty points, though the Game Master may choose a different number to fit the power level of the campaign they plan to run. You may also give distribute another number of points (usually six) between skills governed by your primary focus. No more than four points can be placed in any individual skill.

4. Choose Flaws and Gifts. Because there isn't a list yet, just suggest the kind of things you would like your character to have. For the general idea of what these should be like, look at this list of character traits. Remember, though; Gifts don't have drawbacks flaws don't have benefits. For example, you might have the gift Steady Hand or something, which might give +1 on ranged attack rolls. To compensate, you might have the Inattentive flaw, which makes you take a -2 on all Observance checks.

5. Up next is Ideals and Weaknesses. This is basically just describing your character's values; what they want to be like, what their personality is like, and what their vices are.

6. Finally, you have to make your class. This is probably the most piecewise section of the rules; I've gone through a couple different iterations of how classes should work. Basically, just select a sub-specialization as your class. Ignore the 'Class Skills' section; just have all skills under your primary focus be considered class skills (that is, leveling up those skills gives you experience).

Regarding gear and money: just put down any gear you want that your character could reasonably have with their backstory. I'll put down specifics on the world in the OP soon (soon meaning later today).

Are you referring to the menus and stuff?

In general I meant... Not as a PDF. Which is normally how such things are done.

Is that good or bad? I tried to make it so that it was easy to read and navigate, but I don't know if it actually turned out that way...