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Morty
2008-05-05, 07:31 AM
So, from quite a long time I'm homebrewing my own gaming system. It's purely for fun and my own amusement, but recently I've finally started to standardize the rules, think them through and write them down in one place instead of three different notebooks. This got me thinking, how many other people do the same thing? Because of that, I'm starting this thread to see how many of the forum goers are tinkering with rules themselves. Note that I'm asking about entirely new rulesets here, not modifications to existing ones, unless they're really heavy an d change the system in some significant way.
I might belong to Homebrew section, though.

random11
2008-05-05, 07:58 AM
I tried it once.
I worked with a friend for some time on our new system, but when we tried to play we discovered some crucial problems in the system, which made it completely unplayable (at least if "fun" is one of your goals...)

Switched mostly to heavily modified GURPS after this.

Skjaldbakka
2008-05-05, 08:40 AM
Yeah, I enjoy doing that. I'm currently working on Legends (in my sig).

Lord Tataraus
2008-05-05, 08:45 AM
Two systems actually. One purely for PbP - pure cinematic, no dice, no RPS, quick and easy. The other was a freeform pseudo-realistic combat system which had slightly complicated series of actions and reactions and counter-reactions, pseudo-realistic because I knew a realistic system would be too complicated (and you might as well LARP at that point), it actually came about as two separate systems that I meshed into one, taking the best of both. But in the end, I shelved it in favor of the more well known d20. However, I will be getting some mileage out of my PbP system soon (I just finished it).

auroraskylines
2008-05-05, 10:21 AM
Yeah, I've been thinking about starting to work up a system of my own, but I haven't had a lot of time, other than just starting to think up how I'd go about doing it. I want to make something that is high fantasy and has races, classes, etc, like DnD, but is set up similarly to WoD in play and is more RP heavy. There would be a point system that you use to build your character as opposed to rolling dice and it would use something similar to a dice pool. It would be fairly complicated, though, I feel. Heh...someday...

DirtyPacifist
2008-05-05, 10:34 AM
Yeah, I have thoguht of that. At first, I thought about heavily modified system based on dnd, but the d20 simply ruins everything it gets involved with. (1 and 20 are too far from each other, such as in the jump system in DnD "Uhh... I't stresfull situation so I have no idea at all whether I can jump 1 or 20 feet... Geez...")

I kinda liked the WOD system but really, it's too slow and too many dice... "The werewolf attacks you... He rolls 12 dice to hit, hits with 4, rolls 9 dice for damage, 3 damage, soak with 7 dice, you soaked 2, so he inflicts health level...". It's also not scalable enough.

So, I figured that the only way to create logical and effective game system is using coin (aka. d2), d6, 3d6 and the d100. Using influences from pretty much everywhere... But it's not finished and I have heavy doubts it ever will. Mainly because even if I can create it and make it work well, it'll always be easier to find players to play DnD than homebrew systems...

auroraskylines
2008-05-05, 10:42 AM
I kinda liked the WOD system but really, it's too slow and too many dice... "The werewolf attacks you... He rolls 12 dice to hit, hits with 4, rolls 9 dice for damage, 3 damage, soak with 7 dice, you soaked 2, so he inflicts health level...". It's also not scalable enough.

See, I adore the WoD system. I also haven't had that many problems with there being too many dice or it taking too long or whatever. I picked up WoD much easier than I picked up DnD and things tend to move faster in the WoD games I've been in that the DnD campaigns I've played in. Then again, I come from a group where damn near every round of combat somone needs to book crawl to figure out the rules around whatever thing they decide to do, which generally doesn't happen in WoD, so maybe that's why...

That said, that might be interesting. I'd like to see some of the prototypes of these ideas that people have.

Elana
2008-05-05, 11:33 AM
designing rpg systems is almost a hobby of mine.

The last one I have sketched out at http://www.elanasrealm.de/rules.html

if anyone finds a use in that, good for you.

I recently have started in making a system with rules fully written out, instead of just sketched out as the one I linked to.

This one will be have a base in the SRD but has enough differences to those rules already to make it a completely different game.
(Might have todo with the fact that one of the design goals is to make sure that you can generate a new character in under 5 minutes)

if I should ever finish that, you can be assured that I will post a link on this board to find a few people who can tell me what grossly mistakes I made with those rules :)

Draz74
2008-05-05, 11:33 AM
Yeah, I think the system I'm working on counts as a new system, even though it's still based pretty closely on the d20. It's about as different from 3e as True20 is. (But quite different from True20, too.)

Generic classes, E8, VP/WP, special abilities based on "being Focused" instead of per-day or per-encounter, lots of changes to the Skills system ...

WalkingTarget
2008-05-05, 11:34 AM
I haven't done any system-creation myself. But my college gaming group had several homemade games.

First there was The Rules of Conduct (affectionately known as TROC) which was a playing card-based system built to support a game centered around political intrigue. No dice, just a standard deck of cards (and no, poker rules had nothing to do with it, although we did play plenty of Deadlands as well).

The guy who invented that game also worked with another friend to write what became our standard "one-shot" adventure system. It's called Persona and has been written up and made available online here (http://tckroleplaying.com/Persona.html) for free by another friend with more of a gaming-philosophy streak to him (he's active at the Forge and has even been selling his own game at GenCon the last few years). It used what we referred to as "just in time character creation" (a play on just in time memory allocation, we're computer nerds) meaning that you don't define your character up front, but decide to add aspects of your character as you go. Some of my favorite characters ever were made while playing with this one (for example, one time I decided that my dashing young nobleman didn't actually have any fighting abilities, but that was after there'd been a few fights that I just happened to be in the next room "protecting" the women and hadn't needed to do anything, I decided on the fly that he was useless and didn't have to change any points around or anything as none had been spent yet). If you're only playing a session or two with a character, there's no reason to work up a long convoluted back story, so this gets the group from "hey, we're bored, let's play a game" to actually playing in as long as it takes to dig around for some paper and dice (the original version used only d6's and not many of those, I forget if the rules on that link changed that). Speaking as somebody who has trouble getting into character until I've actually played him/her for a while, this makes that acclimation process part of the system.

The same guys invented another game during the cross-country drive to GenCon last year. This one is Chrome Dawn (http://technofetish.net/ChromeDawn.pdf) which was an excuse to have crazy amounts of cyberware, I think the phrase was "unlimited and without scope". Point-based diceless system if I remember right, it was another short-game system. I thought it was pretty good considering it was just written by two guys in a truck over the course of a few days.

There were a few more ideas that people had (including one that was a combat-heavy system involving computer controlled double-blind resolution; you knew what your best techniques were, but had no means of knowing how they ranked in comparison with your opponent until you tried them, needless to say they all had overly elaborate yet meaningless names like "obsidian monkey strike" or whatever), but none of these ever got actually playtested to my knowledge. They were all fun to discuss, though.

Tin Can
2008-05-05, 01:25 PM
I have designed my own system, based on previous issues i had with other game systems, the main thing I went for is good defintion of a character with lots of customization but without "trick builds", another thing I decided is not everything needs mechanics to decide if something is a success or not like social interactions(There is still social skills, more so than d20 but there is no accual mechanics for deciding if they work or not, it is up for the GM to decide.). The system I designed mainly around fantasy or sci fi concepts, though it will generally work for most genres and power settings(I designed it based on the idea that the GM accually is capable of altering a few things for whatever type of campaign they are running). There are classes and level but they are very generic and only relate to the skills a character gets and what magic they are able to use.

At the present time I am mostly testing it, finding various issues, found out that recently that warrior types were far stronger than casters due to how damage works so I had to increase the power of magic.

Behold_the_Void
2008-05-05, 01:52 PM
I'm working on an original system with my roommate at the moment to capture the shounen anime feel, we're not a fan of BESM.

We're playtesting at the moment, the main system is more or less intact. We intend to market it eventually.

Reel On, Love
2008-05-05, 02:51 PM
I know enough about game design to know that I don't need to be designing any games. I'll leave that to people who can actually produce games that do something new and interesting (like Vincent Baker's Dogs in the Vineyard (http://www.lumpley.com/dogsources.html) or In A Wicked Age (http://www.lumpley.com/wicked.html)). Any gaming needs I have can be met by an already-existing game.

Most people who design systems wind up making, basically, their own little fantasy heartbreakers. Most of the rest make something else... that still isn't particularily good.

Townopolis
2008-05-05, 03:05 PM
I have my own "homebrew system" but it's nothing I'd ever think about trying to export. The reason is it's the same system any number of people can come up with in an afternoon and fine tune on their own.

It's a "less is more" system where the point is to only use rules and numbers where necessary. It uses a single d6 for a variable (because it's easy to find 1d6. If you don't own backgammon, they sell them at the supermarket.) as few mechanics as possible, and has a 1-sided character sheet. All for ease of use and learning.

The main rule is "never let mechanics hamper concept and roleplay." There are no rules for equipment.

Kioran
2008-05-05, 03:26 PM
Somewhere, I still have that 120 pages behemoth I made in a fit of megalomania during 12th grade. I abandoned it somewhere down the road, because it was too clunky and slightly unbalanced, but if anyone´s interested, I can send you the PDF (that is, if you speak german)...
I also made a two others, but they didn´t have a proper writeup (alpha-testing and building the newest version right now), allthough they had quite a following (about 10 people who actually met regularly to play, later on 2 sessions per week with each 4-6 people).

I also thought about an alternative 4th Edition/ d20 2.0, because impo (in my presumptuous opinion) both Paizo and Wizards are doing a lousy job of it. But really, the limiting factor is me being somewhat lazy.......

Kizara
2008-05-05, 03:37 PM
The Tome of House Rules is my own little pet project with the intention of revising, rebalancing and generally improving 3.5ed without destroying the essense, tone and flavor of the game.

It's still very much a WIP, since its such a massive undertaking. I'm currently on v1.54, with v1.6 to be ready fairly soon. It's 41 pages, 12 font and mostly single-spaced currently.

Some elements of it are in my sig, anyone wanting a complete copy is free to PM me, meet up with me on MSN and get their own. The price is feedback. :)

Squash Monster
2008-05-05, 04:07 PM
I've made my own system before. It turned out really good as a whole, but I either need to resign it to a computer system or simplify the rules for hitting things and initiative a bit.

My goals with the project were:

appropriate for a low-magic fantasy setting
character advancement doesn't mean bigger numbers
weapons are used in a way reminiscent of real-life techniques
interesting class roles


I think the most important part of the system in achieving this was how I handled turn actions. Starting with D&D's system, I made move and standard actions the same, and got rid of full attacks. Then, instead of attacks of opportunity, characters get two interrupt actions per turn. Interrupt actions can be used outside of your normal turn, for things like attacks of opportunity, and a few feats gave you extras.

The interrupt action system allowed me to have a lot more flexibility with what you can do on an opponent's turn. The major use of these was weapon specialization feats. Each class of weapons had a handful of very strong feats that let you access major features of the weapon. For example, polearm users could spend an IA to stop an opponent from moving, and press weapon users could get a feat that lets them spend an IA to follow an opponent that moves away.


The way I handled character advancement worked very well too. Characters had their starting ability scores and a number of skill points determined by their intelligence. These numbers never changed. Each level gives the character a feat, and that's it. At the GM's option, completing a particularly dramatic quest could instead award a heroic feat, which are extremely powerful feats intended to be gained only once or twice in a character's lifetime.


Finally, the role system was pretty good. Each class had two roles. Martial classes chose between the roles of cannon (do damage), controller (control enemy positions), scout (rogue/ranger stuff, really), curser (make the enemy suck), protector (protect allies), and tank (take damage well). Each role had a set of feats only for classes with that role, and each class had a set of feats to help those roles work together better. Magic classes had the same roles, minus protector and tank, and plus summoner and buffer, which do what you think they do.

You'll notice that none of those were healer. Healing is handled entirely through the skill. By using the healing skill and a few minutes, a character could remove 3/4 of another character's damage at the cost of replacing 1/4 of that damage with damage that could only be healed through proper rest.

Oslecamo
2008-05-05, 04:44 PM
Five years and I'm still trying to make an RPG that runs with MTG cards as the monsters/character powers... Still didn't got anything that feels right.

Chronos
2008-05-05, 05:06 PM
I've been toying with a few ideas since before 3E came out, though I don't think I've written anything down. I've gotten a lot of the subsystems worked out, but I'm having trouble integrating them. For instance, I have large chunks of the martial system worked out, and obviously, a fighter should be better with weapons than a wizard. A wizard can train some with weapons, but it'll cost him more than a fighter. But... Cost him what? What would a wizard spend those points on, if not on weapon training? The magic system I'm also designing doesn't really have anything that would work the same way.

Tequila Sunrise
2008-05-05, 05:54 PM
Yeah I've been in the process of creating a homebrew system more or less ever since I started gaming. Every couple of years I decide I don't like where the project is going, so I trash everything and start again with a new design philosophy. Right now my priorities are:

Make a system that encourages heroism, classical archetypes, tactical combat, role play and freedom in character design but is at the same time much simpler and a bit more realistic than d&d (for example hp don't advance per level). We'll see how long it lasts this time. :smalltongue:

TS

Pronounceable
2008-05-05, 10:40 PM
There's a whole lot of gamecrafters out there. I, for example, have been running games in my own ruleset for many years. And I noticed that new system threads pop up in homebrew forum here every now and then.

The main point of creating games from scratch is to have a ruleset that appeals to you. When you think, for example, a couple of guys cutting down millions of mooks to reach the bbeg is dumb, but have no problem with a magic man doing that, you either need to a) find a system that allows that (PLUS with no other repulsive aspects and acquire it, which may involve you paying) or b) make a system that allows it.

A personal ruleset that reflects your views on gaming is a GOOD thing to have. Cos you're not gonna find a system that makes you completely comfortable in every aspect, there'll always be something wrong. Sure your own game may not be that either, but you can always hammer on it until it stops wriggling.

LibraryOgre
2008-05-05, 10:51 PM
Prior to 3rd edition coming out, I attempted to come out with something similar to the "generic classes" rules in UA, but using 2.5e AD&D as a base. Looking back on it, there are several things I would change (the combination classes would be removed, for one thing... they were a horrible kludge that could be handled more elegantly by charging a surcharge onto abilities that belonged to another class). However, I still have the data up on my web page:

http://www.editors-wastebasket.org/nexx/indep.html

Reinboom
2008-05-05, 11:13 PM
I played around with making a survival horror RPG. I even ran it a few times, and it went quite smoothly. Only about a dozen pages of rules.
I have since then had many theories on various game design aspects, and a sizeable notebook carrying them all in it. I would still love to see some of it applied.

Kizara
2008-05-06, 01:52 AM
I played around with making a survival horror RPG. I even ran it a few times, and it went quite smoothly. Only about a dozen pages of rules.
I have since then had many theories on various game design aspects, and a sizeable notebook carrying them all in it. I would still love to see some of it applied.

Is it fairly easy to read?

If so, I wouldn't mind seeing it.