Roll to Die
The End of Times has come.
For thousand of years, this world lived to its fullest. Different races waged wars on each other, civilizations were raised and fell under the sands of time. Magical beast roamed its lands, while powerful magicians experimented with earth-shattering powers. But now... Now it's time for this world to die and give way to a new one. Death himself has decreed this.
Servants of the Death already cleared most of the world from life, but in the end, it was deemed unnecessary for all mortals to die by their hands. So, a Final Battle of sorts was arranged - for the world to end in a blaze of carnage and glory instead of simply vanquishing into nothingness.
Death is all but inevitable... But for how long would you survive?
Rolls explanationThis game would be using d12. Think of it as an expanded d6.
All bonuses that you have add to the roll up till 10 (perfect success).
If you have (+5) Bow Mastery and roll 7 shooting an orc, you will get a 10.
Roll of 1 is a disaster whatever your stats are as it ignores all bonuses.
Roll of 12 is 'positive' disaster, as it incorporates all bonuses.
Rolls of 2 and 11 get only half a bonus.
Like in the previous example with (+5) Bow, if you roll 12, you get 17. Which could lead to terrific results. But also to very, very good ones.
If your mastery is so great that achieving success is trivial, you get another success for every 5 bonus points exceeding perfect success.
Example: You have Great Melee (+3), Master Axedwarf (+7), Proficient Cleave (+4 on maneuver) and cleave some goblins. Roll 7. You get one 10 for +3, then for each +5 left you get another 10. So, counting all bonuses, you attack goblins with the perfect Triple Cleave!
Name:
Race: (include racial bonus)
Gender: (doesn't do much, although it can have some minor effect)
Attributes: (7 points to assign)
-) Body: 0 (-1)
-) Speed: 0 (-1)
-) Magic: 0 (-1)
-) Sense: 0 (-1)
Skills: (3 levels to assign)
-)
Weapons: (2 simple weapons (shields count as one!))
OR
Spells: (2 novice spells and 1 adequate spell; you may 'dualclass' later)
-)
Armor: (only simple; the heavier - the more penalties it has)
Area: (for now - Labyrinth or Arena, see below)
RaceThere are hundreds of species, some of them intelligent enough to have arrogance to call themselves 'sentient'. Of those races, most will meet their deaths here.
Your choice of race affects only one thing: racial bonus. It is a small skill/ability that is associated with this race.
For example, elf could have Bow Mastery (+1 Bows) or Aether Sense (+1 Air Magic)
Dwarf - Drunk fighting (+2 to Body when drunk), Stone affinity (can sense abnormalities with stones), Blacksmith (easier to damage armor with precise blows, can repair equipment somewhat), etc.
As long as it's adequate, it's fine.
Body (Strength and Endurance. Affect physical damage and resistance to it. Also, willpower and feats of strength.)
Speed (Agility and Flexibility. Hitting, dodging, acrobatic stunts, initiative...)
Magic (Aptitude and Resistance. Affect magical damage and resistance to various magic. Also, identifying items and using magical...things.)
Sense (Wisdom and Charisma. Applies to diplomatic situations, puzzle solving, finding healing herbs...)
For each two positive points in the attribute you receive +1 to corresponding rolls. If attribute is 0 you receive -1. Negative values penalty is equivalent (-2 at -2). It is possible to subtract from an attribute at start.
Skill determines your experience in the field. It is assumed that you have some minimal experience in all fields, so skills only show just how great you are at the ones you specialize in.
Skills may be anything you want, as long as it's adequate. No "Armageddon calling", please, we're already beyond this point. Very broad skills (Attack magic, Defense) would require 2 levels for +1 bonus, while very specialized ones (Shield bash) may yield additional benefits.
It is possible to raise skills with time and practice. But, as you don't have much of the first, the only reliable way is to earn them by great risks. Skills used in dangerous situations would get experience immediately, while training them might take quite a lot of time.
Skill experience progression:
3 (Adequate) -> 5 (Competent) -> 7 (Skilled) -> 10 (Proficient) -> 13 (Expert) -> 16 (Great) -> 20 (Master) -> ?
So, to train a new skill, you need to use it three times. To get it to the second level, five times more. Simple.
At the start, you may have: Three adequate / one competent & adequate / one skilled.
For now, there are two options (feel free to suggest more ways to die):
-) Labyrinth. Endless maze of intermingling corridors, flooded with various monsters, wary adventurers and treasure. (Test of luck and one's ability to use everything s/he comes across.)
-) Arena. Bloodbath and carnage, simple as it sounds. Sentients and beasts fight for their lives in endless battles and duels. (Test of martial ability and determination.)
One thing for sure - you won't meet immortal creatures either in Labyrinth or Arena. They might be excluded from the Death's order or fighting for their existence somewhere else.
Weapons come it different varieties, starting from a small concealed daggers and up to unbelievably heavy tree-clubs.
Generally, it's safe to assume that the more accurate weapon is, the less damage it does. Small weapons have great accuracy, but their problems are reach and damage, as well as parry - it's difficult to parry strikes with most of them. Medium weapons are mediocre at everything, but they do not possess any major drawbacks either. They are ideal for parrying. Big weapons are unwieldy and sacrifice accuracy for terrific damage. It's hard to parry with most of them.
Shields are the best means of defense against everything that may come for you, but they do have price in mobility and combat accuracy. Bucklers won't affect your combat much, but they have small coverage and it's a bit hard to block with them. Big shields are really cumbersome, but you can feel reasonably safe hiding behind them.
Armor is what differs hard life from agonizing death. Even lightest of armors do affect movement, but heaviest of them grant excellent protection in exchange for outrageous penalties in mobility and combat effectiveness.
Do note that it is possible for weapons and armor to crack and, eventually, break into pieces. So, do have an backup plan for the time it happens. Or loot the fallen for their equipment.
Chainmail (Def:2, +3, -11/2)
Def: serves mainly as armor level indicator. It also affects how much abuse armor can withstand and how hard is it to penetrate. Arrows won't bounce off leather armor, for example. Chainmail is more reliable - even if defensive roll is the same, the impact would be different.
+3 - is a straightforward defensive bonus that you receive against certain attacks (namely physical).
-1 1/2 is a total penalty for wearing this armor. It means that half of the time you get -1 to rolls (Acc, Magic...), half of the time -2. Mobility bonus/malus, if it differs, is written as such.
Magic is divided into Attack, Defensive and Utility categories. Just as simple as it sounds.
Attack magic is the most various. Great spikes protruding from earth, scalded steam to the eyes, mental fatigue, mind control... It's difficult to mention all varieties, but it's same to assume that attack spells belong to two categories: Physical and Mental. First ones is no different from simple ranged attacks, if a bit more varied. But second... Mental attacks influence the opponent ignoring most of his normal defenses and could only be confronted by splendid resistance. Most physical spells could be blocked, even parried. It's possible to dodge even a few mental ones.
Defensive magic. A crust of icy armor surrounding a frail body. Gusts of wind deflecting arrows, ground turning into swamp... It's that magic that takes care of opponent attacks while mage thinks of a way to end his adversary.
Utility magic is the most versatile. It ranges from mildly useful all-situations spells and to one-time spells that could alter the whole situation at hand.
New spells could be improvised or learned through magic scrolls. Spells level with continuous use, becoming more powerful. Do note that you only receive bonus to the roll if you use simpler form of a spell.
There are three phases of combat:
1) Initiative
2) Attack & Defense
3) Damage calculation
Initiative determines who acts first. There are no rolls involved, only Speed attribute. Actions that take some time may reverse initiative, while some actions may allow you to gain initiative despite being slow.
When initiative is determined, first to act uses his action. For normal attack, its success is decided by opposing rolls: Attack roll vs Defense roll. Defense can include only one of: Dodge, Block, Parry. If rolls are equal, nothing happens. If one is better, player gets small advantage - or executes strike/counter.
If defense was breached or attacker opened for counter, success is once again decided by opposing rolls: Damage roll vs Armor roll. While it is possible to absorb some strikes with your muscles, most weapons would ignore even the best Defense roll of a naked person. Still, miracles do happen.
After deciding on damage, process repeats until everyone makes their move. Then, its a new Initiative phase.
Random aiming:
1,2 - lower arms
3,4 - upper arms
5,6 - lower legs
7,8 - upper legs
9,10,11 - torso
12 - head and neck
How aiming works: you state your desired target and it would modify the attack roll.
Normally, aiming at bodypart would yield (-2) to redirect from farthest parts (hand/feet for torso aiming) or (-1) from anywhere else
Aiming head would additionally give (-1) and striking hand/feet when aiming for the head would end as failure.
As long as you're wearing armor, you would be slowed down. It's nothing much for an experienced warrior, but for a frail mage it may prove deadly.
First rule: you can't wear armor which Def exceeds your Body+1, unless it has [Light] property.
Second rule: for each 2 Body that exceed armor Def, you ignore a part of a penalty, up to no penalty at all.
Author
Topic: Roll to Die: The End of Times (Read 9147 times)