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The Rose Dragon
2008-09-06, 05:19 PM
So, I've had this idea of a simple RPG system for starters for about... eight hours.

Basically, you have nine stats. That's it. No weapon stats, no gold pieces, no wealth, no detailed spells, no nothing. Any action you do is based on the combination of three of these stats.

I call it 3x3.

The stats are divided into three groups. The first group, the base group, is called the Aspects. These aspects are Body, Mind and Spirit (like in Jade Empire, for those who recall). The first aspect, Body, determines your physical abilities; the second aspect, Mind, involves mental and social abilities; and the third aspect, Spirit, involves mystical abilities. Naturally, the system needs to be used in a relatively magic-heavy setting to have a balance between Spirit and the other two.

The second group, the determining group, is called the Attributes. These attributes are Power, Finesse and Resilience (you know, like in World of Darkness). In any given action, you pair the relevant Aspect with the relevant Attribute. Power determines brute force in using a given Aspect. With Body, it would come into play when, say, you use a maul to smash open something (possibly someone else's ribcage). With Mind, it determines your sheer intellectual potential and social presence. With Spirit, it determines how powerful your raw mystical talent is. Finesse is when brute force won't cut it and you need to be a bit trickier. With Body, it determines the use of lighter weapons such as an epee, acrobatics and sleight of hand. With Mind, it determines quick thinking and social manipulation. With Spirit, it determines the ability to create precise effects with your mystical powers, at the expense of power. Resilience is your ability to resist outer effects that would negatively affect your Aspects. So, with Body it determines physical toughness, with Mind it determines willpower and with Spirit it determines spiritual unity.

The third group, the judging group, is called the Anima. This group is the one I have most trouble with. I'm thinking of naming the three anima Storm, Earth and Fire, and tie them to the cause and purpose of the action, rather than what the action is. So, an attack action based on self defense would be a Storm action, based on defense of others would be an Earth action and based on pure offense would be a Fire action, for example. In the setting I have in mind for the system, Fire is the chaotic, discordant element, Earth is the orderly, harmonic element and Storm is the balance between the two extremes, hence the names. But I'm still not sure about how it would effect the game. To balance things, I have an idea that the Anima cannot be increased by the player but rather by the Judge (the system's name for GM) depending on the in-game personality of the character.

So, if you have any comments on how to make this system more fleshed out, I'm all ears.

((Also, I'm aware this is not very original, but it is intended for newbies, anyway, so please work with me here.))