History TabletopGame / LegendGameSystem

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LegendCover_4787.jpg]]

->''"Legend is built to be understandable, to be learnable, and finally, to be something you can own and change and use without too much fear of making the game go boom."''
->Legend, Page 8

The [[http://www.ruleofcool.com/ Legend Game System]] first started on Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick forum's Test of Spite arena as a series of house-rules to improve the flaws of ''DungeonsAndDragons 3.5 Edition''. It soon became evident to the arena masters that the amount of house-rules that resulted - nearly 80 pages worth of material - was sufficient to reach a critical density and spawn an entire book. Development on a new game system incorporating their house-rules began shortly afterwards, which eventually culminated in a role-playing game that, while still based on the d20 system, was substantially different from ''DungeonsAndDragons''. It aims to provide a sleek chassis for a wide variety of gaming styles and fantasy archetypes with an emphasis on quick, rules light play.

Legend's most obvious defining feature is the Track system. Rather than taking levels in classes, characters are built by combining three or four tracks that each center around a certain ability and gain every ability from these tracks as they level up. Each class consists of three tracks, which center around different abilities - for example, the default Barbarian's abilities center around [[UnstoppableRage Raging]] (Path of Rage), [[OneManArmy Hitting Lots of Enemies At Once]] (Path of Destruction), and [[MadeOfIron Blocking Things With Your Chest]] (Path of the Ancestors). Multiclassing is accomplished by switching out one track with another - to continue the above example, someone wishing to play a technically minded fighter could swap out Path of Rage with the Ranger's Iron Magi track and focus on stringing together precise sequences of blows, or switch Path of the Ancestors with the Rogue's Acrobatic Adept to focus on dodging and weaving through the battlefield. The sheer quantity of tracks (almost 60 and counting) allows for some [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot rather unorthodox]] but [[CrazyAwesome 100% viable]] builds.

There is no default setting in the book, though two settings (Hallow and Chion) are currently in the works. There has also been an adventure released called ''Osaka Street Stories'', set in [[UrbanFantasy Japan in the early 1990's]], and another called ''Comfortably Grim'' is being written.

A beta version was officially released on November 25th, 2011 though the charity Child's Play, and an update to the beta came out in May 2012.

Not to be confused with the MongoosePublishing game ''Legend''.
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!!Tropes appearing in Legend are:

* AfterTheEnd: One of the two official settings, Hallow, is built from the remnants of an entire solar system. It was likely destroyed by some massive catastrophe, and rebuilt by divine powers.
* AnnoyingArrows: Averted. Arrows are exactly as harmful as sword wounds.
* ArtificialHuman: Sentient Constructs with the Skinjob feat are either this or RidiculouslyHumanRobots.
* AttackAttackAttack: The Kitsune in Osaka Street Stories would rather do this than use their VoluntaryShapeshifting for a detailed, lengthy scheme.
* BackFromTheDead: The "Phoenix Reborn" ability for Monks, and a few alike powers in the Dragon, Celestial, and Undead tracks. Also possible via a medicine check.
* BareFistedMonk: [[CaptainObvious Monks]] get a boost that cause their unarmed strikes to gain the same properties as any other weapon.
* BondCreatures: One of the many potential applications of the Heroica track.
* CastFromHitpoints: The Chirurgic Poet can do this, reducing his maximum possible hitpoints in order to heal others. Also overlaps with HeroicRROD, as they receive huge damage resistance and A.C bonuses when they do this, but lose some of their ability to recover from damage.
* CharacterCustomization: Pretty much the big draw of the system. Not only can you choose class, but each class has a set of ability tracks it grants. You may swap out one of your class ability tracks for that of another, and may swap a second track with the Guild Initiation feat. In practice, this means that not only can you build almost any conceivable character, but there are usually several different ways to do it.
* CharacterLevel: There are 20 of them. CharacterLevel is also the ''only'' measure of power in the system - all monsters have levels in the same manner as {{Player Character}}s, with a monster's challenge rating determined by level.
* ClockworkCreature: Produced by Mechanist Savants.
* CloningBlues: Part of the premise of Comfortably Grim.
* DeathIsCheap: A side effect of having a high-level medic in the party; they can stand a dead person back up between scenes.
* DeflectorShields: The main benefit of having a Mechanist Savant in the party.
* DirtyCop: Present in Osaka Street Stories.
* DiscardAndDraw: Late Buy In.
* DrunkenMaster: Fluffwise, this was originally a dwarven martial art, but has been imitiated by barbarians of every race. Mechanics-wise, there are several feats that take an... ''unorthodox'' approach to the idea.
** Then there is a set of feats based upon Livers Need Not Apply, which gives a ton of bonuses for drinking.
* DynamicEntry: A benefit of the Vigilante track.
* EldritchAbomination: The traditional Cthulhu-esque variety is present in Hallow, along with the setting's angels.
* ElementalPowers: In two flavors, the separate Elemental tracks for the classical elements, and the Elementalist track. The Elemental tracks have circle abilities thematically appropriate for the element, while Elementalist provides blasting abilities (such as ShockAndAwe, PlayingWithFire, and AnIcePerson) focused on a single element.
* EmptyLevels: Averted. One of the key selling points of the game is that ''every'' level gives you a significant power boost.
* EpicFlail: A feat with that name.
* FairyCompanion: Acquired via the Summon Mote feat.
* {{Fartillery}}: The "Smell of Napalm" feat.
* FinishingMove: A class ability of the Vigilante track - a once-per-Encounter attack with copious bonus damage and temporary hit points.
* FlamingSword: And freezing, and corrosive, and shocking...
** Now available as a weapon property alongside the other abilities.
* FlashStep: There are several ways to teleport in combat, but popping up behind you after a series of attacks is the signature move of Iron Magi.
* FloatingContinent: Hallow is made up of "constellations" of hundreds of massive floating islands (each one is 30 to 160 miles wide, but they average 80). Most of them are interconnected. Each constellation is centered around a massive semi-sentient divine machine that regulates things.
** Also, dwarves live in massive floating strongholds which they pilot around for trade.
* FluffyTheTerrible: Despite what you may think, the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic My Little Legend]] tracks are quite powerful and can be used to great effect with a bit of reflavoring.
* FriendlySniper: En in Osaka Street Stories, who ends a very formally worded letter stating that her contract on the players has expired and inviting them to her house with the following:
-->P.S. [[FunnyMoments Please? I’ll bake cookies!]]
* FullContactMagic: Shaman incantations are the 'pure' example of the trope, but Just Blade Sages store curses in their weapons and cast them by hitting people.
* GadgeteerGenius: The Mechanist Savant track.
* GrapplingWithGrapplingRules: Pointedly averted - the grappling rules cover less than a page.
* GunKata: Monks with guns is a supported archetype. It's also completely viable to play as Paladins, Wizards, and even ''Barbarians'' with guns.
* HenshinHero: The Vigilante track, which calls down armor, flight, and increased jumping and striking power with a shouted command.
* HeroicRROD: Chirurgic Poet, as seen in cast-from-hitpoints.
* HitAndRunTactics: Present, especially at high levels where the archers can fly. However, most melee characters carry a gun or bow with which to shoot back.
** Or fly themselves. Or get a power that cancels flight. Or-
* ImplacableMan: The Utter Brute track operates like this. They have one of the highest H.P bonuses in one track, and as they grow in power they gain the ability to take a five foot step at the start and end of each turn, become immune to several conditions, and at their highest level becomes literally unstoppable until they're hit by the ChunkySalsaRule, after which they can [[TakingYouWithMe still take one last action before death.]]
* ImprobableWeaponUser: All weapons are custom-designed by selecting a number of traits. You can pick up any object and treat it as a weak weapon, choosing whatever traits would be appropriate. The Spectactular Beats feat is for characters who specialise in this fighting style.
* {{Kamehamehadoken}}: Thanks to a quirk of the weapon rules, it is possible for a monk to give an unarmed strike the "Thrown" property. WordOfGod is that this particular combination is meant to be treated as either this or a RocketPunch.
* LaserBlade: In both item and spell form. Just Blade Sages have it as a track ability.
* LightningBruiser: Anybody with the [[BareFistedMonk Discipline of the Serpent]] track becomes one, thanks to that track's focus on granting extra attacks. The dev team considers this the single biggest GameBreaker in the book.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Averted. Balancing the classes against each other was a key point in Legend's development. The system provides good examples of what Quadratic Warriors look like.
** If anything, spells are actually ''underpowered'' in this game.
* LookBehindYou: Clever characters can use the Bluff skill like this during a fight.
* LukeNounVerber: One of the example dwarf names is "Fistbeard Beardfist".
* MagicKnight: Present due to multiclassing, and without the trope's normal limitations. Learning spells as a warrior is a versatility trade-off; they choose which of their martial abilities to sacrifice, and the spells themselves are the same.
** A RedMage type build is equally possible with the same trade-off - a melee character (Barbarian, Ranger, Paladin, Rogue, or Monk) with multiclassing and Late Buy In can acquire both spellcasting tracks while maintaining some melee abilities and weaponry. Likewise, a spellcaster can do the same thing to acquire their counterpart's spellcasting track and a melee ability, although [[SquishyWizard the limitations of their base class]] may cause some problems.
* MontyHaul: The game goes out of its way to make running this kind of campaign physically impossible - there are ''very'' strict limits on magic item use, and there is no in game mundane economy. This is all in keeping with the philosophy that characters, not items, should be doing most of the work in the game.
* {{Mooks}}: There's a surprisingly in-depth format for building them on the fly. They also have distinct classes:
** Grunts are ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and get a health and AC bonus.
** Strikers are slightly more tactical ranged fighters with an increased move speed.
** Minions get both benefits, and are slightly more competent threats.
** [[EliteMooks Elites]] are minions with a track.
** Operatives are Elites who get their own unique abilities. You play as one in Comfortably Grim.
** Minibosses are Minions with a full four tracks and two feats.
** [[ZergRush Myriads]] are the odd group out. They have the stats of strikers, but are essentially a collection of bodies that die instantly when hit. The tradeoff is that they don't have to roll for attack and will always do damage.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: One benefit of the track system is that it's possible to construct many of these, up to and including a Ninja Pirate Zombie ''KamenRider''. [[labelnote:Breakdown]] The tracks required for this specific combination are Swashbuckler, I Am Ten Ninjas, Undead, and Vigilante.[[/labelnote]] Furthermore, the system's insistence on letting the players and GM create their own fluff means that there are very few hard limits on what can be assembled.
** And that's without taking advantage of the Floating Feat / Guild Initiation combo, which allows you to change your track once a week.
* OneOfUs: The system is essentially completely made by RPG nerds for RPG nerds. Everyone involved is DoingItForTheArt.
** Additionally, When asked if any of the devs browsed TVTropes, the answer was "probably more than half."
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Archons and other fluffy-winged celestial beings exist, and there's even a racial track for players with several options to make each character unique.
** In Hallow, the Angels are enormous semi-sentient constructs of glass and metal that oversee parts of the world. The only job that is mostly understood by humans is that they handle what happens to people and things that [[FloatingContinent fall off of plates]], including turning rainwater back into clouds.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Played with. Dwarves in Hallow are highly logical beings who often become irritated when dealing with less rational creatures (ie, anyone who is not a dwarf) and come across as rather Vulcan in nature. Then you have a subset of dwarven monks who prefer to get drunk and beat the living daylights out of their enemies.
* OurGnomesAreWeirder: Hallow gnomes have low-level mind control and emotion-reading abilities, and like to be ruled by non-gnome monarchs (with the idea being that a ruler without mind control powers, when surrounded all day by creatures with mind control powers, will inevitably be on his or her best behavior). Furthermore, some of their weirdness is in the form of ObfuscatingStupidity - the core book's examples of gnomish technology include a garish set of decorative rainbow armor (that turns into an active camouflage system when one more piece is added) and high-quality opera glasses (that happen to make excellent sniping scopes).
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Hallow Orcs were originally the shock troops of chaos gods, kept stupid and unquestioning to serve their gods' purposes. Once introduced to Hallow, they were freed from their mental shackles and started their own (still militaristic) society, becoming Hallow's most prominent mercenaries.
* LeParkour: Happens right before the climax of Osaka Street Stories, with the players chasing an [[{{Youkai}} Oni]] across rooftops.
* PerpetualMotionMonster: The "By Will Sustained" feat. [[UselessUsefulSkill In theory.]]
* PowerFist: The Knuckleduster, although as of the May 2012 update it's been somewhat nerfed.
* PowerGivesYouWings: Anyone who makes it to level 9 can acquire a pair.
* PromotedFanboy: Pretty much everyone on the dev team aside from the core members is one.
* NaturalWeapon: Present and accounted for. They gain something of a power boost from the fact that they - and, by extension, their properties - are always active and available even with another weapon drawn. This allows you to [[MinmaxersDelight have an active weapon loaded to the gills with defensive properties while still having a strong attack freely available.]]
* RealSoonNow: The schedule is: 1.0 soon, the monster guide after that, Hallow eventually. Everything else is essentially on Valve Time.
* RingOfPower: Several, whose effects range from making you smarter to making you teleport.
* RocksFallEveryoneDies: Averted by the "Rocks Fall" trap, the description of which states that "[r]umors of its lethality have been greatly exaggerated."
* SchizoTech: Justified in various ways.
* ShootTheBullet: The “Reign of arrows” track can do this, along with shoot the arrow, gun boulder, and spell.
* ShoutOut:
** One of the suggested orc names in the core rulebook is "[[SpaceMutiny Flint Ironstag]]."
** Examples of "character concepts" in the core rulebook include "[[Literature/{{Discworld}} Wizzard on the Run]]," "[[ElricOfMelnibone Bearer of Stormbringer]]," "[[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Cheerleader Who Kills Vampires]]," and "[[TheDresdenFiles Wizard Detective]]."
** Some feats: "[[TengenToppaGurrenLagann To Pierce The Heavens]]", "[[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Hero]]", "[[ThePrincessBride I Am Not Left-handed]]". There's also the Obsidian Ring (Black Isle Studios and Obsidian entertainment) and [[ICallItVera Vera]] (Firefly)
** Monks eventually get an ability called [[TheBigBoss Fists of Fury]]
** The aforementioned "Fistbeard Beardfist" is a reference to a popular [=CharOp=] build; the creative lead is a well-known D&D 3.5 optimizer, and the creator of "Fistbeard" was until recently one of the writers.
** The Unicorn track has circles named after memes - including [[Creator/KateBeaton AwYiss]]. The Pegasus track has an ability called [[SchlockMercenary "Everything's Air-Droppable Once"]].
** One of the examples of high-level use of Athletics jumping is to [[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick jump onto a skeletal dragon to confront the lich riding it]].
** The abilities granted by the Vigilante track seem [[KamenRider awfully familiar]].
** One of the traps is called "[[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Deadly Neurotoxin]]".
* SmashMook: Enemies with the Utter Brute track, which focuses more on granting raw numbers than new abilities.
* TeleportSpam: The Shadow Blink feat enables this.
* ThrowAwayGuns: {{Justified}} in the case of the Gunslinger's Sash.
* ThrowItIn: Due to the open nature of the system's development, if a player points out a problem to the devs, they will either fix it ASAP or just say "SureWhyNot" Examples include the aforementioned KamehameHadoken ability for Monks.
* TrainEscape: Possible in Osaka Street Stories.
* TransformationIsAFreeAction: It is for the Vigilante Track. For Barbarians, it's technically a ''swift'' action.
* UnstoppableRage: Still the Barbarian's calling card; available to any class via multiclassing. Notably, it gets legitimately quite unstoppable as the character levels up - a higher-level Barbarian's rage includes features such as counting as one size larger (whether or not the character actually grows in size is left to the player), being able to intimidate enemies in combat, and gaining immunity to mind-affecting attacks. At the highest circle of the track in question, the Barbarian ''never stops raging.''
* UrbanFantasy: Osaka Street Stories specifically, but any modern-day game with this system pretty much has to be this.
* UselessUsefulSkill: [[PerpetualMotionMonster By Will Sustained]], which by level 12 eliminates the need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe. The problem is that Legend currently has no rules for any of these things, and by all accounts [=GMs=] rarely if ever enforce the conditions involved.
* WasOnceAMan: The transformative races enable a somewhat strange variety of this.
* WeaponsKitchenSink: The rules are designed to enable the assembly of quite literally any weapon imaginable simply by putting together three properties and declaring, for example, "This weapon is a chainsaw."
* {{Yakuza}}: Present in Osaka Street Stories.
* ZergRush: Pretty much the entire point of Myriad-class {{Mooks}}.
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* CharacterCustomization: Not only can you choose class, but each class has a set of ability tracks it grants. You may swap out one of your class ability tracks for that of another, and may swap a second track with the Guild Initiation feat.

** A RedMage type build is equally possible with the same trade-off - a melee character (Barbarian, Ranger, Paladin, Rogue, or Monk) with multiclassing and Late Buy In can acquire both spellcasting tracks while maintaining some melee abilities and weaponry.

** Also, dwarves live in massive floating strongholds which they pilot around for trade.

Legend's most obvious defining feature is the Track system. Rather than taking levels in classes, characters are built by combining three or four tracks that each center around a certain ability and gain every ability from these tracks as they level up. Each class consists of three tracks, which center around different abilities - for example, the default Barbarian's abilities center around [[UnstoppableRage Raging]] (Path of Rage), [[OneManArmy Hitting Lots of Enemies At Once]] (Path of Destruction), and [[MadeOfIron Blocking Things With Your Chest]] (Path of the Ancestors). Multiclassing is accomplished by switching out one track with another - to continue the above example, someone wishing to play a technically minded fighter could swap out Path of Rage with the Ranger's Iron Magi track and focus on stringing together precise sequences of blows, or switch Path of the Ancestors with the Rogue's Acrobatic Adept to focus on dodging and weaving through the battlefield. The sheer quantity of tracks allows for some [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot rather unorthodox]] but [[CrazyAwesome 100% viable]] builds.

* DrunkenMaster: Originally a dwarven martial art, but imitiated by barbarians of every race.

** The aforementioned "Fistbeard Beardfist" is a reference to a popular [=CharOp=] build; the creative lead is a well-known D&D 3.5 optimizer, and the creator of "Fistbeard" is one of the game's editors.

* OneOfUs: The system is essentially completely made by RPG nerds for RPG nerds. Everyone involved does it ForTheArt.

* OneOfUs: When asked if any of the devs browsed TVTropes, the answer was "probably more than half."