Jormengand
2012-12-09, 06:15 AM
Right, this is me trying to make a new game system. While hardly a GitP veteran, I've been doing RPGs for a while, and want to make a relatively simple but (I hope) fun RPG system.
The problem with a lot of roleplaying systems is that they're really hard to learn. Having spent a fair bit of my childhood playing the Neverwinter Nights games - D&D 3.5 on a computer - and also having played Pathfinder, I almost have the hang of them. Almost. The problem that I find is that it takes so long to learn these systems that many people don't actually ever get to playing them.
The entire ruleset as it stands is laid out before you:
Statistics:
These don't work the same way that your attribute scores do in D&D, or most other games - imagine a hit point or mana point bar, but neither regenerates on its own. Normally, you have 400 points to share between your stats.
Sanity: Your sanity is measured out of 100. As you start to lose sanity, you become less effective in combat as delusions appear and you waste your time fighting them. Those with high sanities are more effective in combat, as they fight more efficiently and don't waste time working out whether or not they're completely insane. There is no particular effect of having 0 sanity.
- The mask of sanity: The mask is measured out of 200. It is never less than your sanity, nor more than double it, and always starts as double it (thus you need not spend points on it). It essentially represents how sane you look. A score over 100 means that no-one suspects anything. This does, of course, mean that you can be a good half way to losing the plot entirely and no-one bats an eyelid. There is no particular effect of having 0 mask.
Health: Your health is measured out of 100. Health is basically your hit points. All those in the 18 constitution club, hold your horses. You might not want to stack all your points in here, as if you have 20 health and 100 sanity you are still probably more effective than someone with the converse. That said, it is quite important; at low health you become less effective. Any character with 0 health is dead.
Intellect: Your Intellect is measured out of 100. Your Intellect can help you stave off the effects of madness in early stages (For example, "I know humans can't jump that high, so he didn't just jump that high.") Conversely, a low Intellect may make you disbelieve things on the grounds that you don't believe they can happen, or make your delusions seem like more blindingly obvious truths. Any character with 0 Intellect is comatose.
Will: Your will is measured out of 100. Your will stops your character giving up and turning suicidal - or in less extreme incidents simply giving up at the task at hand. Your will can also allow you to ignore delusions. Any character with 0 will is comatose.
Initiative: Your initiative is measured out of 100. Your initiative allows you to move faster, and also make decisions faster. Initiative is perhaps the least dangerous statistic to have 1 of; it doesn't make you kill all your friends, it doesn't make you bleed to death or kill yourself - accidentally or otherwise. However, your team might have better things to do than wait for you. Any character with 0 initiative is immobile.
Example: Pedro Ignacio has 400 points. Being an intelligent but weak boy, sharp but on the verge of mental breakdown, he has the following statline:
Sanity: 64
Mask: 128
Health: 61
Intellect: 97
Will: 83
Initiative: 95
Stat tests:
At certain points in the game, you may be called upon to make a test upon a certain statistic. It will be given a difficulty number, which you must beat to pass the check, and a characteristic such as your initiative or will. You roll a d100 and add the result from your relevant stat.
Example: Pedro manages to walk into a trap. D'oh. The trap is fairly well-made, and so has a difficulty of 120, and works against his Initiative. Which is kinda fortunate for Pedro, really. Pedro rolls a 59, and so his total result is (95+59=)154. Which means that he has passed the test by a lot. Pedro is fine, the trap does nothing.
If you are called upon to make a check against another check, then your opponent (usually the one who is not acting) makes the check. The result then becomes the acting character's difficulty.
Here is a table of example actions - the GM (See "The Gamesmaster") will have to think of more, of course.
{table=head]Action|Difficulty|Stat
Climb over a large gate|
120|
Initiative
Make magic mind attacks|
Opposed|
Intellect/Will
Escape combat|
Opposed|
Initiative/Initiative|
Pick lock|
80-120 depending on lock quality.|
Intellect|
Attack undriven car|
130|
Health or Initiative|
Sleep|
70|
Sanity|[/table]
Combat:Everyone loves combat, don't they? Well, okay, not everyone. I don't really like combat much, but there we go. In combat, follow this sequence:
Everyone takes a sanity test (Difficulty 100) or their initiative is 1 for step 2.
Everyone takes an initiative test. The highest roller acts first. In case of a tie, randomise between the tying players.
The player wishing to act must take a sanity test (Difficulty 90).
They may now act normally if they passed.
The character with the next highest initative test result goes to step 3. If there is none, then return to step one.
Example: Pedro is, for some reason (I can't be bothered to make another character), fighting himself. Pedro A rolls his sanity test and gets 64-11=53, which is positive and therefore a pass. Pedro B rolls 64-67=-3, which is a failure as it is negative.
Moving onto step 2, A takes his initiative test and gets 95+36=131. B gets 1+66=67, as his initiative became 1. A takes his second sanity test, and rolls a 64+32=96. He can then act normally.
To attack, the attacker takes a test of health, opposing the defender's test of initiative. These are inverted with a ranged weapon. If the attacker succeeds, the defender immediately loses an amount of health equal to the difference between the two scores.
The defender must then take a will test with a difficulty equal to the amount of damage dealt plus 100. If they fail, subtract the number by which they failed from all their ability scores for the duration of the next round.
Example: A uses his action to attack B. B rolls 95+28=123, and sets the difficulty for A's check to 123. A rolls 61+74=135. A thus inflicts 12 damage on B. B must then make a will test with a difficulty of 112, and rolls 83+21=104, failing the check by 8. When B acts, all of his stats count as 8 lower.
The gamesmaster:
In Descend Into Madness, one player becomes the gamesmaster, and orchestrates the game. The main responsibilities of the gamesmaster are:
Plot: The gamesmaster creates the world for the players, and comes up with the main storyline. He also decides upon the setting - will it be a medieval setting, or will it be in modern times?
Checks: A lot, and I mean a LOT of actions don't have specific checks to them. Intellect, the Mask, and for the most part Will have no use. The gamesmaster decides upon an appropriate stat and difficulty level for each action, though he should tell the player at least which stat he's using first. Most likely, jumping around will be initiative, picking locks will be intellect... use your imagination!
Equipment:Define which weapons are go and which weapons aren't. same goes for armour, and any other equipment that a character might have. Grenades are probably a no in an 11th century setting, for example.
Character points: 400 is the normal number of points to spend, but why now 300 for a more evil campaign? Or if you're feeling nice, give out 450. Other options include making mask equal sanity, but you can pay one point to get two extra mask. You decide!
Opponents: The gamesmaster has to work out who the characters arre going to fight. They'll need to write up stats, not neccesarily with the same points you give your characters.
Equipment:
Generally speaking, equipment gives a bonus to some stat for some check, like a gun giving you a bonus to Initiative for ranged attacks. Also, it is impossible to do certain actions without the correct equipment - you cannot make a ranged attack with nothing but your fists, after all!
Below are some example peices of equipment - you can make your own, of course!
{table=head]Item|Bonus|Stat|Action|Special
Short Sword|
+5|
Health|
Melee attacks|None
Long sword|
+10/+2|
Health/Initiative|
Melee attacks/defences|None
Dagger|
+2/+2|
Health/Initiative|
Melee/ranged attacks|Allows ranged attacks, lose it if you make one.
Plate mail|
+10|
Health/Initiative|
Defences|Requires seven rounds to equip. -3 to all other initiative rolls.
Spear|
+5/+4|
Health/Initiative|
Melee/ranged attack rolls|Allows ranged attacks, lose it if you make one.
Healer's kit|
+5|
Intellect|
Healing|Lost if you succeed the check.[/table]
The problem with a lot of roleplaying systems is that they're really hard to learn. Having spent a fair bit of my childhood playing the Neverwinter Nights games - D&D 3.5 on a computer - and also having played Pathfinder, I almost have the hang of them. Almost. The problem that I find is that it takes so long to learn these systems that many people don't actually ever get to playing them.
The entire ruleset as it stands is laid out before you:
Statistics:
These don't work the same way that your attribute scores do in D&D, or most other games - imagine a hit point or mana point bar, but neither regenerates on its own. Normally, you have 400 points to share between your stats.
Sanity: Your sanity is measured out of 100. As you start to lose sanity, you become less effective in combat as delusions appear and you waste your time fighting them. Those with high sanities are more effective in combat, as they fight more efficiently and don't waste time working out whether or not they're completely insane. There is no particular effect of having 0 sanity.
- The mask of sanity: The mask is measured out of 200. It is never less than your sanity, nor more than double it, and always starts as double it (thus you need not spend points on it). It essentially represents how sane you look. A score over 100 means that no-one suspects anything. This does, of course, mean that you can be a good half way to losing the plot entirely and no-one bats an eyelid. There is no particular effect of having 0 mask.
Health: Your health is measured out of 100. Health is basically your hit points. All those in the 18 constitution club, hold your horses. You might not want to stack all your points in here, as if you have 20 health and 100 sanity you are still probably more effective than someone with the converse. That said, it is quite important; at low health you become less effective. Any character with 0 health is dead.
Intellect: Your Intellect is measured out of 100. Your Intellect can help you stave off the effects of madness in early stages (For example, "I know humans can't jump that high, so he didn't just jump that high.") Conversely, a low Intellect may make you disbelieve things on the grounds that you don't believe they can happen, or make your delusions seem like more blindingly obvious truths. Any character with 0 Intellect is comatose.
Will: Your will is measured out of 100. Your will stops your character giving up and turning suicidal - or in less extreme incidents simply giving up at the task at hand. Your will can also allow you to ignore delusions. Any character with 0 will is comatose.
Initiative: Your initiative is measured out of 100. Your initiative allows you to move faster, and also make decisions faster. Initiative is perhaps the least dangerous statistic to have 1 of; it doesn't make you kill all your friends, it doesn't make you bleed to death or kill yourself - accidentally or otherwise. However, your team might have better things to do than wait for you. Any character with 0 initiative is immobile.
Example: Pedro Ignacio has 400 points. Being an intelligent but weak boy, sharp but on the verge of mental breakdown, he has the following statline:
Sanity: 64
Mask: 128
Health: 61
Intellect: 97
Will: 83
Initiative: 95
Stat tests:
At certain points in the game, you may be called upon to make a test upon a certain statistic. It will be given a difficulty number, which you must beat to pass the check, and a characteristic such as your initiative or will. You roll a d100 and add the result from your relevant stat.
Example: Pedro manages to walk into a trap. D'oh. The trap is fairly well-made, and so has a difficulty of 120, and works against his Initiative. Which is kinda fortunate for Pedro, really. Pedro rolls a 59, and so his total result is (95+59=)154. Which means that he has passed the test by a lot. Pedro is fine, the trap does nothing.
If you are called upon to make a check against another check, then your opponent (usually the one who is not acting) makes the check. The result then becomes the acting character's difficulty.
Here is a table of example actions - the GM (See "The Gamesmaster") will have to think of more, of course.
{table=head]Action|Difficulty|Stat
Climb over a large gate|
120|
Initiative
Make magic mind attacks|
Opposed|
Intellect/Will
Escape combat|
Opposed|
Initiative/Initiative|
Pick lock|
80-120 depending on lock quality.|
Intellect|
Attack undriven car|
130|
Health or Initiative|
Sleep|
70|
Sanity|[/table]
Combat:Everyone loves combat, don't they? Well, okay, not everyone. I don't really like combat much, but there we go. In combat, follow this sequence:
Everyone takes a sanity test (Difficulty 100) or their initiative is 1 for step 2.
Everyone takes an initiative test. The highest roller acts first. In case of a tie, randomise between the tying players.
The player wishing to act must take a sanity test (Difficulty 90).
They may now act normally if they passed.
The character with the next highest initative test result goes to step 3. If there is none, then return to step one.
Example: Pedro is, for some reason (I can't be bothered to make another character), fighting himself. Pedro A rolls his sanity test and gets 64-11=53, which is positive and therefore a pass. Pedro B rolls 64-67=-3, which is a failure as it is negative.
Moving onto step 2, A takes his initiative test and gets 95+36=131. B gets 1+66=67, as his initiative became 1. A takes his second sanity test, and rolls a 64+32=96. He can then act normally.
To attack, the attacker takes a test of health, opposing the defender's test of initiative. These are inverted with a ranged weapon. If the attacker succeeds, the defender immediately loses an amount of health equal to the difference between the two scores.
The defender must then take a will test with a difficulty equal to the amount of damage dealt plus 100. If they fail, subtract the number by which they failed from all their ability scores for the duration of the next round.
Example: A uses his action to attack B. B rolls 95+28=123, and sets the difficulty for A's check to 123. A rolls 61+74=135. A thus inflicts 12 damage on B. B must then make a will test with a difficulty of 112, and rolls 83+21=104, failing the check by 8. When B acts, all of his stats count as 8 lower.
The gamesmaster:
In Descend Into Madness, one player becomes the gamesmaster, and orchestrates the game. The main responsibilities of the gamesmaster are:
Plot: The gamesmaster creates the world for the players, and comes up with the main storyline. He also decides upon the setting - will it be a medieval setting, or will it be in modern times?
Checks: A lot, and I mean a LOT of actions don't have specific checks to them. Intellect, the Mask, and for the most part Will have no use. The gamesmaster decides upon an appropriate stat and difficulty level for each action, though he should tell the player at least which stat he's using first. Most likely, jumping around will be initiative, picking locks will be intellect... use your imagination!
Equipment:Define which weapons are go and which weapons aren't. same goes for armour, and any other equipment that a character might have. Grenades are probably a no in an 11th century setting, for example.
Character points: 400 is the normal number of points to spend, but why now 300 for a more evil campaign? Or if you're feeling nice, give out 450. Other options include making mask equal sanity, but you can pay one point to get two extra mask. You decide!
Opponents: The gamesmaster has to work out who the characters arre going to fight. They'll need to write up stats, not neccesarily with the same points you give your characters.
Equipment:
Generally speaking, equipment gives a bonus to some stat for some check, like a gun giving you a bonus to Initiative for ranged attacks. Also, it is impossible to do certain actions without the correct equipment - you cannot make a ranged attack with nothing but your fists, after all!
Below are some example peices of equipment - you can make your own, of course!
{table=head]Item|Bonus|Stat|Action|Special
Short Sword|
+5|
Health|
Melee attacks|None
Long sword|
+10/+2|
Health/Initiative|
Melee attacks/defences|None
Dagger|
+2/+2|
Health/Initiative|
Melee/ranged attacks|Allows ranged attacks, lose it if you make one.
Plate mail|
+10|
Health/Initiative|
Defences|Requires seven rounds to equip. -3 to all other initiative rolls.
Spear|
+5/+4|
Health/Initiative|
Melee/ranged attack rolls|Allows ranged attacks, lose it if you make one.
Healer's kit|
+5|
Intellect|
Healing|Lost if you succeed the check.[/table]