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LolipodDistortion HIP HOP HIPSTER from Austin, Texas Since: Aug, 2010
HIP HOP HIPSTER
#1: Dec 28th 2010 at 6:01:51 PM

Because why the hell not.

Stuff to consider:
* Universal (ie no setting, just a system) v. One setting (Like DND)

  • Setting if applicable
  • Is character creation die or point based?
  • Rule heavy, rule light, or in the middle
  • Combat
  • Dice used

Anyone up for it?

Underneath the bridge The tarp has sprung a leak And the animals I've trapped have all become my pets
WeirdUsername Since: Nov, 2010
#2: Dec 29th 2010 at 6:53:51 AM

Sounds good to me. I have a few ideas already.

Something with no preset setting is the best, in my opinion.

Point-based creation as standard for the game, but if it's somehow feasible with dice, add dice-creation as an option.

For an RPG, the basics have to be simplistic, and so should combat. But options are always good, so it would be somewhere in the middle, a light core, but with more rules-heavy options.

As for combat, I would suggest making it a bit like Shadowrun and other games like that. You pit your combat skill against your opponent's to determine the outcome. Ranged combat is a standard skill check to hit your opponent.

It doesn't really matter to me what kind of dice I roll, but percentile dice have a nice precision.

LolipodDistortion HIP HOP HIPSTER from Austin, Texas Since: Aug, 2010
HIP HOP HIPSTER
#3: Dec 29th 2010 at 1:02:44 PM

I think d100s for skill checks and d6s for damage would be good.

Personally I'd like a set setting.

Underneath the bridge The tarp has sprung a leak And the animals I've trapped have all become my pets
arbane BLUH from Wallowing in obscurity Since: Jan, 2001
BLUH
#4: Dec 29th 2010 at 11:02:43 PM

If we're using D100 for skill checks, how about this:

To succeed on a die-roll, you want to roll as high as possible on the dice without going over your skill. If two people are opposing each other, highest successful roll wins. If they both fail, lowest failed roll gets hosed worse. (This is so someone who has a really high skill can fail non-catastrophically.)

Characters have the option of 'pushing' their rolls - you just add a multiple of 10 to the number rolled. If you have a 93% skill, you can push it by 20, and if you roll 73 or less, it's a success worth 20 points more than your roll. Get a 74 or higher, though, and it's a failure. (This is useful if skills can go over 100% - gives you something to do with the extra points.)

sz σχίζω from over there Since: Apr, 2009
σχίζω
#5: Dec 30th 2010 at 2:42:41 AM

I'm down with this — I've been messing with putting together working RP Gs for a while. I usually lean toward fluff-heavy and crunch-less stuff, though.

For having no preset setting: this does permit far more freedom and room to work with, but not having a direction can make development far harder. D&D was developed with sword & sorcery settings in mind, so they have more stuff for combat and magic. Wo D was for supernatural horror, so there are stuff for balancing demon magics and totally losing your shit. Nobilis was... or... attempted or... tried to depict God-like beings messing with reality; so RNG went byebye and fluff drove the game.

Though — coming up with a setting will quickly lead this to nowhere. So how about having a set theme or philosophy? Maybe the conflict resolution system presents two people fighting for one thing as a comparison of emotional/dramatic dedication, or people succeed at things by reallocating their personal resources. Or something like that.

It's possible to tell a story with numbers, dice choice and crunch alone; I think this will give the project enough flavor to keep people working on it.

"Good year and model, but Vladimir Putin is strangling journalists in the back seat."
LolipodDistortion HIP HOP HIPSTER from Austin, Texas Since: Aug, 2010
HIP HOP HIPSTER
#6: Dec 30th 2010 at 10:29:15 AM

Arbane: That sounds good. So would a critical success be rolling exactly your skill?

Sz: That's sounds interesting. Care to elaborate?

Underneath the bridge The tarp has sprung a leak And the animals I've trapped have all become my pets
arbane BLUH from Wallowing in obscurity Since: Jan, 2001
BLUH
#7: Dec 30th 2010 at 2:32:47 PM

Lolipod: That would work, if we decide the game 'needs' crits. (And rolling exactly 00 is always a failure, even if you have a skill of 200%?)

One thing we should decide early on: Is the game going to be 'sim' style (like D&D or Rune Quest, where tactics and gear-choosing are ultra-important), or more 'story' style (like RISUS or Hero Quest, where character traits and improvisation are more important)?

MorkaisChosen from Learning Since: Jan, 2001
#8: Dec 30th 2010 at 3:31:27 PM

Good thinkin' here.

Unknown Armies uses a similar dice-roll mechanic, though the crits aren't exactly the same in it. I don't think that's a problem, though- there are plenty of similar systems, for e.g. Shadowrun 4 and Wo D.

WeirdUsername Since: Nov, 2010
#9: Dec 31st 2010 at 7:22:46 AM

Arbane: Story-style, where your character itself is more important than your gear, but with a certain amount of "realism" within the system. Gear choice shouldn't be THAT important. Most weapons should have comparable damage, depending on the size of the weapon. For example, one-handed weapons could do 1D6 damage, whatever the weapon may be, with two-handed weapons doing 2D6.

I think we should take a bit of inspiration from Adeptus Evangelion in regards to combat. Each body part (Head, Body, Arms and Legs) could have a number of HP, with varying effects when they reach certain thresholds. With LD's idea to use D6s for damage.

I really don't think crits and auto-fails are necessary. I think the skill test itself should indicate if it's possible or not, by modifying the skill itself (allowing for skills over 100%), and using degrees of success as "crits".

In other words, the only factors should be the character's competence and the difficulty of the task.

66Scorpio Banned, selectively from Toronto, Canada Since: Nov, 2010
Banned, selectively
#10: Dec 31st 2010 at 6:28:31 PM

First thing is first: what genre do you want to simulate and what tropes will be incorporated into the rules? Everything else flows from that.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are probably right.
sz σχίζω from over there Since: Apr, 2009
σχίζω
#11: Dec 31st 2010 at 6:37:11 PM

I like wuxia. And also Urban Fantasy.

Surely it should be about kung fu cars hopping on trench coats and duking it out industrially in the sky.

"Good year and model, but Vladimir Putin is strangling journalists in the back seat."
MorkaisChosen from Learning Since: Jan, 2001
Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#13: Jan 5th 2011 at 6:01:18 AM

If /tg/ can do it, why couldn't we?

For character creation, definitely Point Buy. That way no player (including myself) can bitch over another one having the unfair advantage of a luckier character creation. Besides, Honest Rolls Characters remind me too much of FATAL ever since I've read the liveblog.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Kzickas Since: Apr, 2009
#14: Jan 5th 2011 at 12:45:12 PM

The two things that really need to be decided on first are how cinematic/realistic and how silly silly/serious it should be

the first will be important for how every mechanic works and the second can lead to alot of conflict if there isn't a decision made early on

Edit: I'd prefer mostly realistic and mostly serious

edited 5th Jan '11 12:46:01 PM by Kzickas

Otogi The House of Void/Hiphop from Around... Since: Nov, 2009
The House of Void/Hiphop
#15: Jan 5th 2011 at 1:51:10 PM

[up]

Think it's possible to make a game based on how far you go on each side of the scale?

Kzickas Since: Apr, 2009
#16: Jan 5th 2011 at 2:31:13 PM

Huh? You mean that each character would have a value for realisticness and seriousness? I don't think that would work cinematic/realistic is stuff like wether 1 strong character can kill 100s of mooks at the same time. Which would be a game system wide thing. If you did have a player value for that then realistic characters would be extremely underpowered

Otogi The House of Void/Hiphop from Around... Since: Nov, 2009
The House of Void/Hiphop
#17: Jan 5th 2011 at 2:34:03 PM

I'm actually talking about the game itself, where certain rules have values that go up or down depend on how far you move toward realisticness/cinmatics or sillyness/seriousness.

66Scorpio Banned, selectively from Toronto, Canada Since: Nov, 2010
Banned, selectively
#18: Jan 5th 2011 at 2:48:42 PM

Kzickass, that sort of ties in with my suggestion of picking the genre first. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that realistic systems look similar while the others are goofy in their own particular way. In any event, otherwise realistic systems can include "hero points". "action points" and similar bottled luck that characters can use when things get a bit too realistic.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are probably right.
Voot from Not the internet Since: Feb, 2010
#19: Jan 11th 2011 at 2:48:19 PM

Seeing as how this is tvtropes, we should attempt to reflect some amount universality, but first apply the rules to a setting that is largely acceptable. While the urge to suggest some sort of "Tropetopia" is strong, I feel as if it would be some what cheesy. If someone else can phrase that idea in such a way that I don't get to much of a remembrance of Big eyes small mouth, though, I would love you forever.

My vote is thrown in for the "Roll under, but near" (Heretofore known as Rubn (Or Reuben)) dice system. As for how criticals -might- work, Every "Push" counts as a "Critical level," Effectively making whatever stunt you want to do more awesome, or some stunts would require a certain number of pushes.

I vote for a style where rules are modular, able to be applied if wanted, but not really needed. Eg. You wouldn't treat throwing a spear as any different as swinging one, unless you were playing a game where that kind of thing was important.

As for character creation, Definitely point buy. Though we should put an emphasis on Suggested values, and offer alternatives for different settings. Should the ability to fly cost as much in a Medieval world as it does in a sci-fi one? I think not, but I'm open to change.

CAPS LOCK IS RAGE!!!
ssfsx17 crazy and proud of it Since: Jun, 2009
crazy and proud of it
#20: Jan 13th 2011 at 3:17:55 PM

Instead of normal checks, characters should instead have to do checks for embodying tropes or performing actions that fit into tropes.

(Yeah, I'm a fan of the "Narrativist" games like FATE and what not)

Voot from Not the internet Since: Feb, 2010
#21: Feb 8th 2011 at 12:41:26 PM

I had an extra couple of minutes the other day and this thread popped into my head. So I wrote down a basic idea for some setting(s), Its a little cheesy, and I'm by no means a good writer, but I'll dump it for everyone to over view.


The all encompassing idea that is Unitrope exists forever in flux. New worlds form, and old ones fade. Some who have attempted to live there have tried to understand the world. But they have only understood Their world.

The most ancient the most mysterious lands in all of Unitrope is Fantenisia. A land where life is simple, the technology is burgeoning and the magic is strong. (Fantasy Land)

Its Sister land, One that long ago stopped relying on the unknowable mysteries that fuel magic, that has long ago focused on the self, and the power that come from its own study, is known as Scierra. It has mastered Time, Space, and even the Mind. Artificial life forms live along side Humans and other, more foreign, species. (Science Land)

Finally, the land between the two, Where hope for the future and Reverence for the past fuels the present, exists the land known as Mod. (Modern Land)

These lands are separated by a great divide, a divide that at first seems impenetrable, Genre. This divide manifests it self as a barrier between Dimensions. Each world, when looking at itself, finds the others, but it can not be reached or touched. The Strongest Of Scrying magics in Fantenisia can see the The world of Mod, and Scierra, but Try as they might, they can not Conjure any part of them. The people of Mod sit in reflection, considering the present, and when they think of the past they find themselves viewing the world known as Fantenesia, But try as the might, it can not be reasoned out, or affected in any way. When they dream of the future they find them selves in the world of Scierra, but as with any dream, are unable to bring it back with them to the waking world. Scierra, for all of its mastery of Time and space, can find no way to penetrate the veil of genre that they have found. They might glimpse echoes of the past through the strongest of their time sciences, they can never reach out and grab them with their mastery of space. There are whisperings though, of places where the divide of Genre is weaker… where the Future shall meet the past.


I thought this approach would make it a little bit easier to jump through multiple settings and incorporate the Modular rules idea.

edited 8th Feb '11 12:42:00 PM by Voot

CAPS LOCK IS RAGE!!!
WeirdUsername Since: Nov, 2010
#22: Feb 8th 2011 at 1:51:51 PM

Awesome. Now, we just need to agree on basic rules, and develop from there.

How about we start with dice?

Voot from Not the internet Since: Feb, 2010
#23: Feb 9th 2011 at 1:45:37 PM

I have a fondness for a bell curve, but I don't think we just want to play GURPS, so maybe Percentiles? Though a couple of d6 is always nice.

Actually, Lets do something crazy and show some love for the d12s! 2d12Could be nice, max number 24, lowest number two, average number (lucky) 13. 1/144 for a 2, (Pretty uncommon), 12/144, (1/12) not very common.

Being criminally unlucky, I prefer a bell curve for some sense of fairness, though others might feel otherwise. Are d12s a good idea? or are they too gimmicky?

(As a side note, If any one wants to actually make better names for the lands, PLEASE DO SO. Mine are craptacular.)

CAPS LOCK IS RAGE!!!
MorkaisChosen from Learning Since: Jan, 2001
#24: Feb 9th 2011 at 3:03:03 PM

I'd say d12s are a bit gimmicky- you don't wanna piss people off by making them have to buy too many extra dice, and a lot of people have either one or no d12s.

Land names? Cydonia for fantasy (after the Greek Goddess of Heroism, and allows Knights of Cydonia; the Science-Fiction one's tough without knowing what style we're going for- space opera? Hard scifi? I'd suggest something like Artifexia, except that's a bit poor.

Modern? Dunno.

WeirdUsername Since: Nov, 2010
#25: Feb 9th 2011 at 4:22:27 PM

How about we go halfway?

Use a d10 bell curve. Results go from 20 to 2.


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