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+--- Thread: variant RPG systems are still eating my brain (/showthread.php?tid=8446)
variant RPG systems are still eating my brain - classicdrogn - 03-22-2014
The current nibbler is a version of class-free skill tree, where you get your stats and seven unlocked skills out of an arbitrarily large number at character creation in a fairly standard way, but the slots to put those skills in are the trick: There are three A-ranked slots, each of which can be divided into two B-rank slots which give only half effect, and each of those divided again into C-rank slots that give 1/4th effect. Unlocked but Unranked skills, which is anything not in one of the above slots, can only be used for 1/10th effect. Your basic sword-and-board (or gun and riot shield) tank type could actually get by with three A-ranks, for Heavy Armor, Heavy Shield, and (weapon type), and leave the other four starter package skills unranked, though I think I'd want to split the weapon type to get Regenerate in as well, myself. (I like the stats and skills I came up with for YAPPIE RPG Engine, but this would probably call for a longer, skill list offhand - YAPPIE is pretty abstract and generic, and four stats with eight skills each does not make for the kind of option tree I'm looking at for this system)
Advancement would be a matter of unlocking more Unranked skills and being able to reconfigure to deal with different types of enemies or non-combat challenges, rather than real power progression, though it could include raising stats or a numerical score for each skill rather than a straight percentage bonus fixed by tier - this system would probably do fairly well for a superheroes game, where powers don't really tend to progress so much as you figure new tricks to do with them/ways to combine them/etc. Honestly, I'm picturing this as more a video game type RPG than tabletop, making lots of fiddly character options to endlessly play with on the back end and argue over in an internet forum a strength rather than a weakness.
Another possibility for advancement would be gaining a Skill Crown, that effectively shifts the attached slot one level higher, even a few of those (with A+1 as a hard maximum), or perhaps various ranks of those that boost the percentage of the slot they're attached to by varying degrees.
Any thoughts on this kind of a configurable skill tree? I know it's kind of hard to say without a skill list to plug into it, but figure that magic is typed by elements and weapons by types, with various spells in an element or special attacks with a weapon type accessible via a single equipped skill (and the actual weapon, obviously, for that) while most defenses are attached to armor or resistance skills. Perhaps it would be better to treat it as ranking the stats you'll use, and have the associated subskills grow with use, rather than basing them on a stat list external to the system.
It would open a path to having one called Sanity that holds all the magic and mental resistance subskills, to bask in the forum posts of spell-monkeys complaining "Sanity OP plz nerf!" but then I'm usually one of those spell-monkeys...
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"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
- classicdrogn - 05-14-2014
well, another one showed up, this time inspired by Tri-Stat. It ends up with nine, though, three Primary Stats for Physical, Mental, and Occult that you assign a point total to, but then you split the points in each one between the Secondary Stats: Speed, Bulk, Wit, Wisdom, Magic and Sanity.
Speed is running, reflexes, and dodge ability
Bulk is lifting, striking force, and ability to take a hit
Wit is pretty much the social group, and how likely your mouth is to get you in trouble
Wisdom is the "think it over" stat, for eggheads and people who look before they leap
Magic is the ability to send Physics and Logic to the time-out corner
Sanity measures how well you deal with trauma, and resist magical effects
Obviously this would be for use in a game where magic is, if not inherently evil, at least inherently dangerous.
Looking at it some more, it seems like a cut-down version of the system I've written my project notes for Ninja Robot Space Fighter around, though in that the twelve stats are just divided into four types and three styles for easier organization.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
- deadpan29 - 05-14-2014
I don't see the difference between having three primary and six secondary and having just the six secondary as the only stats.
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No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.
- classicdrogn - 05-14-2014
Well, the original idea was the three primary stats and then percentages for the secondaries, but then I thought "Who wants to deal with calculating percentages when you could just assign whole point values?" and changed it. As it stands, it mainly just reinforces the idea that the Secondary Stats represent dichotomies within the fields of the Primary Stats, for stylistic purposes.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
- deadpan29 - 05-15-2014
Well, are there circumsances when the total physical (Bulk + Speed) score or total mental or occult will matter? If so, will they come up more often than a combination of two stats from different primary categories?
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No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.
- classicdrogn - 05-16-2014
Didn't really get that far with this one, but the only thing that immediately occurs to me that doesn't run afoul of the idea that each Primary Stat represents two opposed concepts, would be handing out advancement points in those three flavors depending on what it's earned for. You could assign the gain to either of the linked Secondary Stats (and probably have a trickle-down effect to the skills like in YAPPIE/YIPPIE/YORKIE/whatever name it is this week) after applying it to the Primary Stat, but not the other two Primaries or their linked Secondaries.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows