Creating the Perfect PbP System
At the moment there is no name for the current system so until then it will go by the simple PbP System. The PbP system uses d12’s exclusively for rolls and all scores range from 1 to 12. The purpose of this system is to create a streamlined system that can be used in place of the other system which are roll and rule heavy. A setting will not be tied to the rules to allow Game Masters (Referred to as GM’s here after) to create their own and because of this no additional races other then “generic race” will be used. The system will focus on rules light, roll light highly descriptive combat and intensive Role Playing storytelling intended for two (2) to four (four) players. A setting may come out later after the system is better fleshed out.
Many will probably see a few similarities with other systems, and that was mostly on purpose. I took what I felt were some good general idea's from other systems such as White Wolfs focus on telling a story and rewarding their players for doing so, a single die like the Uni-System and White Wolf for ease of stream lining this whole mess. I chose the d12 because I felt it gave a wider variance of results and because the d10 was taken. This is a classless system where players pick and choose what they want from a list not unlike feats from D&D 3.5. Hopefully it will all come out as planned though with that said, let’s get to why you came here. And thank you one and all for reading my system.
Lexicon: Sorting through the Text
Attack: A roll against a character or monsters Defense in order to deal damage.
Ability Bonus: A flat bonus based on your stats
Attack Order: The order in which attacks are handled.
Armor Score: The score that determines how hard you are to hit.
Armor Value: The base number a roll must meet before an attack lands
Attribute: Commonly referred as Elements in other systems, an Attribute is an additional aspect of an attack ranging from Fire to Physical.
Combat Phase: One of Three Phases, the Combat Phase focuses on combat between enemies and the characters
Combat Slot: A slot that a character may place another move or spell into. Each Character as a Physical Slot, Spell Slot and Ranged Slot that cannot be changed.
Condition: A negative effect on a player or enemy
Enemy: Anything not the player
Equipment Stat: A stat that is determined by your equipment
Game Master: The storyteller and the person who plays anything not the Player
Move: A physical attack either with a personal range or at a distance
Movement Score: How fast your character can move
Perk: Additional abilities, talents and skills your characters have.
Player: One of the main characters in the story
Pool: A stat that can decrease or increase over the course of combat or storytelling
Run: A combat action that lets you move fast
Side Step: A quick move that lets you avoid getting punched in the
face
Skill Challenge: Any task outside Combat and Roleplaying that must be rolled for to see if it succeeds.
Spell: A magical attack either with a personal range or at a distance
Spell Armor Score: A special Enemy Stat, acts much like the Armor Score only for Spells
Stat: One of the parameters that display what your character can do
The Trinity: The three most common Attributes
Character Creation: Step 1- Rinse and Repeat
Character creation is the most important aspect of a single game system; the following section covers how to make a character from start to finish.
Stats: Stats are a general range of what your character is capable of and a measure of many factors that will become important in your journey like your intellect or how strong you are. All stats range from one (1) to twelve (12). Stats at one are considered above average while twelve is considered peerless. Players roll a d12 four times and places the results in the following stats. A player cannot have more than one stat over 12, any rolls that would cause this to happen must be re-rolled though only the second 12 and after must be re-rolled.
Strength: The stat that determines how much damage you deal with personal ranged physical attacks and is the stat used to save against Frozen and Staggered Conditions
Intellect: The stat that determines the damage of magic attacks and is the stat used to save against the Charmed Condition.
Dexterity: The stat that determines the damage ranged physical attacks deal and acts as the save stat against Paralysis
Haleness: The stat that covers all other saves not listed. Haleness also determines how well you can be healed or drained from the Darkness Attribute.
Stats each have a bonus attributed to them based on the score you have in each.
{table]Stat Score|Ability Bonus
1-3|+0
4-6|+2
6-9|+4
10-12|+6[/table]
Pools: Pools are a set of sub-stats that chart expendable resources in and out of combat. The three Pools are Health, Magic and Stamina and each is important to the character in almost equal measure. Characters get five points to spend between their pools. Pools are determined by multiplying the base score by ten (10).
Health: The total health your character has, when it drops to 0 your character is unconscious. Anything lower then a 0 Health is death.
Stamina: The Pool which determines how many Ranged Attacks you can perform in a combat.
Magic: The Pool which determines how many Spells you can cast in a combat.
Equipment Stats: Called thus because they are determined by what you’re wearing, Equipment Stats can fluctuate wildly over the course of the game.
Armor Score: The combined stat of all equipment that grants Armor Points, this Score can also be influenced by Perks
Movement Score: The Movement Equipment Stat is your base Dexterity minus any points removed by your Armor. Your Movement Score cannot ever be less than one (1)
Combat Slots: All characters have three combat slots which are Physical, Magic and Ranged which they may use in combat and may never replace over the course of their adventuring career.
Attributes: All attacks have an Attribute associated with them though many things ranging from magic to magical weapons can alter Attributes and will be noted in Perks if they change them. Some attacks or items can provide additional Attributes on top of the weapon or spell being used. Along with all this, a character must pick an attribute from below at character creation.
{table]Attribute|Description
Fire|The Fire Attribute is one of the three common Attributes known as the Trinity and can set combustible objects ablaze on critical hits
Ice|The Ice Attribute is another of the more common Attributes and a member of the Trinity. The Ice Attribute can freeze objects or people on critical hits.
Lightning|The third of the AttributeTrinity, the Lightning Attribute can cause paralysis in enemies on a critical hit
Poison|The Poison Attribute often deals no additional damage but cause enemies to suffer from the Poisoned Condition
Darkness|A rare Attribute, the Darkness Attribute often steals health from enemies though often has a cost
Light|The counter to Darkness, the Light Attribute focuses on healing and has no offensive capabilities
Sound|The Sound Attribute deals more damage against objects though makes the user noticeable to enemies. The Sound Attribute can also cause enemies to suffer the Staggered Condition.[/table]
Perks: Perks are additional talents, skills or quirks to your character that define them and make him more unique against other adventurers. These range from granting you other Combat Slots to attacks that can replace or fill in free Combat Slots. Perks can also be skills such as lock picking or tracking. A full list of Perks can be found later in this write up.
Leveling and Experience: Step 2- Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
As characters grow stronger and learn more on the road, they gain experience towards gaining another level. Once a character levels up they gain one point (1) to place in their pool. Every three levels a character may take another perk they meet the pre-requisites for. A character gains a single point to add to their states every five levels. Player levels cannot exceed thirty at any time. Experience points, unlike many pen and paper RPGS, is a flat number of one thousand points for each level. Enemies give a flat number of Experience Points based on the level of the Players.
Finishing Character Creation: Step 3- Work It, Make It, Do It, Makes Us
So you’ve picked your perks, rolled your stats and picked your attributes and bought all your gear and you think you’re ready to start, but wait! There’s one last thing you need to do before the game can get underway and is easily the most important piece for what’s to come. Tell the people present a little bit about yourself. What do you look like, where did you come from and what do you hope to accomplish on the road of the Adventurer. Where did you get shiny sword, who taught you your first magic spell? These are all important aspects of the character the GM should know, and that your fellow members should learn as the course of the game goes on.
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System: Son of the Perfect PbP System
Player Perks: Skills to Pay the Bills
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System: Son of the Perfect PbP System
Combat and Storytelling Phases: The Narrative Wizard
The Combat Phase: Sucker Punch to the Back of the Skull
Combat for characters can be either at a personal range or at a distance which is measured by either squares or feet. Squares remain five (5) feet as in most traditional pen and paper games and all moves, spells and movement speeds will be given in both.
Basic Attacks and Spells
All characters start off with a single Physical Attack, Ranged Attack and Magic Attack at level one. Physical and Ranged Attacks are generic weapon strikes that are determined by the equipment you hold while a character’s Magic Attack is based on the Attribute they picked at character generation. All Magic Attacks at first level deal 1d12 and cost two (2) Mana per cast. Ranged Attacks also cost 2 Stamina per shot.
Starting Spells
Fire: A Fireball that can target one enemy that deals 1d12 damage though this attack has no range so long as the caster can see their target. This attack can cause combustible materials to catch fire but cannot impart the Burn Condition.
Ice: Creates a lance of ice that shoots through the air at an enemy and deals 1d12 damage upon striking. While the ice lance cannot cause the Frozen Condition it pushes anyone successfully hit back 5 feet.
Lightning: A bolt of lightning that stretches 10 squares (50 feet) forward though only one square (5 feet) wide that deals damage to any in its path. This spell cannot cause the Paralysis Condition
Poison: Creates a cloud of noxious fumes that deal 1d12 damage halved to any that stands within it. The cloud is a five by five square (25 by 25 feet) area that can be placed up to four squares (20 feet) and forces anyone who remains inside of it for two or more turns to roll a Save or be Poisoned.
Darkness: Drains health from the caster to cast a ball of darkness that damages any target within 5 squares (25 feet)
Light: Heals yourself or a target with a flash of warm light, this spell can be cast at any range so long as the caster can see the target
Sound: A wave concussive force four squares (20 feet) wide that reaches 6 squares (30 feet) in front of the caster that deals damage to any enemy in the way. Unlike other spells this spell is not affected by Ability Bonuses.
Rolling to hit and Dealing Damage
Rolling to hit a foe is based on their armor the foe is wearing, which will provide a number that a character must beat on an attack roll before they can roll for damage. This number must be met for each attack or the attack did not land. This number is known as the Armor Value.
Damage is rolled by a number of d12’s and all damage is reduced by the Enemies Armor Score before damage is removed from their health pool. Magic and items can restore health removed from your Health Pool or even increase your Armor Score.
Spells damage is subtracted from half the armor score of your opponent, making it more dangerous against heavily armored foes. Enemies can have a special stat that players can only achieve though items called Spell Armor Score which acts the same why as Armor Score does with Physical Attacks.
Spells can be upgraded by Perks while physical attacks can be improved by weapons or perks to grant additional die of damage. Each die of damage rolled is granted the Ability Bonus unless otherwise noted in an item, move or spells description.
Theatric Displays in Combat Phases
Players can attempt to gain more damage or reroll an attack once per Combat Phase. A Player must declare he is attempting a Theatric Display before the action or during the same post as said action. The GM may allow the Player to receive a benefit if they feel the post or description of the attack is creative enough.
Healing and the Darkness Attribute
Healing: Healing always does a base number as determined by the spell and your level though each time you are healed you may add your Haleness bonus to the end result as additional Health restored, Healing Spells also receive a bonus from the casters Ability Bonus.
Darkness Attribute: The Darkness Attribute removes health from the wielder to deal more damage to a target though it sometimes drains health from enemies to restore it to you. When factoring how much health is subtracted from your Health Pool subtracts your bonus from your Haleness Score, this cannot drop the number below one. Darkness Spells and Moves are not affected by bonus damage based on your Ability Bonuses.
Condition:
A negative effect that most often occurs due to magic, items or physical attacks when they are imbued with an Attribute, conditions are harmful and oftentimes cause an otherwise normal attack to be particularly lethal.
Saves: A save is a roll a character can undertake to resist the effects of a condition. A character rolls 1d12 against the enemy or player that caused the condition plus the Players and opposing roles Ability Bonus. If the character scores a final total equal to or higher than the opposing roll they do not suffer from the condition. Failures mean you must take the full effect of the Condition.
Burn: Burns cause pain whenever you move; dealing 1d12 halved every time you move or attack which is not reduced by your Armor Score.
Charmed: Caused by spells or items, Charmed targets attack allies willingly at the command of the person that charmed them.
Frozen: Frozen characters move at half their Movement Score to a minimum of one. This Condition persists until a character remains motionless for six turns or the end of the Combat Phase.
Paralysis: Completely immobilizes a player or enemy on a failed roll. Players or enemies may roll each turn to see if they break free of the Condition.
Poison: Poison causes damage to an effected Player or Enemy every turn until it is cured, dealing damage equal to the Player or Enemy’s Intellect Ability Bonus every turn.
Staggered: Staggered enemies cannot act for one turn.
Turns and Flow of Time in Combat Phases
Turns: All combat takes place in turns which are a single minute in real time that players and enemies can act. A turn is over when ever each team has finished with movement or attacking. Each Player and Enemy is granted a single movement action and attack action naturally though this can be changed by Perks. Talking is not an action and can be done freely in your teams turn.
Attack Order: A party picks one person to roll 1d12 against the GM’s roll, who ever scores higher gets to have their team go first. A roll of one or twelve is referred to as a Surprise Round, granting the other team the ability to go first and receive two turns on the case of a one or grants the team that received a twelve the same benefit. Every twelve turns, Attack Order must be re-rolled which resets the Combat Phase to the start.
Reprisal: Should a character move outside the range of an enemy’s physical or attack, the enemy is allowed a single attack on that character unless they take a Side Step action. Any Perk that is activated by an attack roll triggers as normal.
Combat Phases Actions
Full Defense: A Full Defense Action allows you to negate the damage of a single attack whether it is magical or physical.
Assist: An Assist Action grants another players attack an additional number of dice in their attack as if you had attacked as well minus one die. This action cannot be taken if you only have a single die of damage.
Flee: The most valiant of Combat Phase Actions and one that no party should ever forget. Sometimes you have to run away whether you like it or not.
Run: The Run Action allows a character to move at twice their Movement Score for a single turn though they may not attack
Side Step: An action that allows a player to move at half their current Movement Score without being attacked.
Storytelling Phase: Epics Have to Start Somewhere
The Storytelling Phase takes place any time the Combat Phase is not declared. Storytelling can be as big or as little a focus as desired though all games have Storytelling Phases in some way shape or form. Below are listed a few events that can transpired during the Storytelling Phase
Shopping: Players have to buy and sell to keep themselves well supplied and not overburdened by junk.
Plot Progression: Plot can move outside of combat, any Plot Progression that takes place outside of the Combat Phase takes place in the Storytelling Phase.
Rest and Relaxation: Every group needs a little R&R, this can either be a trip to the in just to Role Play or an actual break from the story altogether.
Side Quests: It’s not a generic fantasy game without side quests. Any side quest that takes place is part of the Story Telling Phase until that Combat Phase starts.
Theatric Displays in the Storytelling Phase
Theatric Displays are not to be confused with Role Playing, they must be declared before undertaking them though the limit on them is fully up to the GM. Theatric Displays in the Storytelling Phase must also have a clear and express purpose for being undertaken. Rewards are also determined by the GM though should not be world shattering. Thematic Displays in the Storytelling Phase are meant to be embellishments and side events to impact the story, nothing more.
Challenges During the Storytelling Phase: Work is Never Over
There are times in and out of the Storytelling Phase where a charcter will attempt to complete a task that are otherwise left up to the GM, such as climbing a tree, swimming or other activities in this vein. These are termed as Skills and focus on a particular stat which a character must roll to see if he beat the challenge the GM has set. A GM can place a Challenge on the task a Player undertakes ranging from one, being the eaisest, to 12 being the hardest. If a Player rolls equal or over the Challenge they have succeeded. A 12 is an automatic success while a one is an automatic failure unless the Challenge is a one, in which case the player does not need to roll at all. There are four Skill Challenge Types.
Strength Skill Challenge: Things like climbing, pushing or destroying something outside of the combat phase.
Intellect Skill Challenge: Remembering a vital piece of information, studying and other tasks that require a keen and swift mind make up the Intellect Skill Challenge
Dexterity Skill Challenges: Dodging falling objects, running up surfaces and other tasks that demand speed over power make up Dexterity Skill Challenges
Haleness Skill Challenges: The Haleness Skill Challenges are any other task that the other three would not cover.
Skill Challenges can be held during the Combat Phase should they be called for.
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System: Son of the Perfect PbP System
Equipment and Magical Items: The Generic List
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System: Son of the Perfect PbP System
Monsters: The Denizens Beyond Get Perks As Well
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System: Son of the Perfect PbP System
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System
I would certainly be interested in playtesting such a system.
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System
I have to admit that the premise is interesting, but I'll reserve judgement for when you've fleshed out the rest of the system.
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System
In your signature you call this the perfect play by post system. I dissagree.
First of all, the system is completly focused on physical combat. How could I know if my character managed to climb a tree or not? If the character lied succsefully?
The stat rolling is very random, point distribution would prevent a situation where some players would have lousy stats and others fantastic stats.
If you go with point distribution, I suggest that the points put is the bonus. Simplier that way.
I think the magic is overpowered. It effects multiple targets and does the same damage as the other attacks, and ignores half the armor bonus.
You only use one die, which simplifies things. But using it for damage when the health is the value put multiplayed by 10? If for exemple a character puts 1 in health, and therefore got 10 health points, there is a 25% an attack with bonuses equal to the armor value would kill it or render the character unconsciouns. It could be solved if armor value will tend to be signifcantly higher the bonuses to damage. Otherwise, every character should put at least 2 points in health.
I`m assuming someone unarmored has an armor value of 0, so I suggest having the damage die be d6 instead of d12.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Innis Cabal
Attributes: All attacks have an Attribute associated with them though many things ranging from magic to magical weapons can alter Attributes and will be noted in Perks if they change them. Some attacks or items can provide additional Attributes on top of the weapon or spell being used. Along with all this, a character must pick an attribute from below at character creation.
That complicates the mechanics, and will not fit any PBP - for exemple, a knight with an ordinary sword couldn`t cause such effects with his weapon.
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System
Quote:
Originally Posted by
akma
In your signature you call this the perfect play by post system. I dissagree.
That's fine, but wouldn't it be better to disagree when you've seen the finished product and not the very first posting of the rules?
Quote:
First of all, the system is completly focused on physical combat. How could I know if my character managed to climb a tree or not? If the character lied succsefully?
The focus of this game is on the entire system, there are simply less rules on things that a GM should reasonably be able to address. I can see where I didn't expound on some idea's in the Storytelling Phase so I appreciate you pointing it out.
Quote:
The stat rolling is very random, point distribution would prevent a situation where some players would have lousy stats and others fantastic stats.
If you go with point distribution, I suggest that the points put is the bonus. Simplier that way.
It is intended to be random, I am working on a point by system but it just didn't get
Quote:
I think the magic is overpowered. It effects multiple targets and does the same damage as the other attacks, and ignores half the armor bonus.
Weapons and Physical/Ranged Combat Slot Perks have not been listed, I think that's a bit of a strange thing to say. Not only that, but everyone has the starting Spell tied to their Attribute. It's what you focus on later that matters.
Quote:
You only use one die, which simplifies things. But using it for damage when the health is the value put multiplayed by 10? If for exemple a character puts 1 in health, and therefore got 10 health points, there is a 25% an attack with bonuses equal to the armor value would kill it or render the character unconsciouns. It could be solved if armor value will tend to be signifcantly higher the bonuses to damage. Otherwise, every character should put at least 2 points in health.
I`m assuming someone unarmored has an armor value of 0, so I suggest having the damage die be d6 instead of d12.
Armor, weapons and Perks have not been posted so I can't really answer to this because the rest of the rules aren't posted and thus I can only tell you what I'm working on in my head.
Quote:
That complicates the mechanics, and will not fit any PBP - for exemple, a knight with an ordinary sword couldn`t cause such effects with his weapon.
I don't get your point. Every character will have a use for their Attribute.
This is not by any means finished or the final draft. The claim as you can see by the title is "Building the Perfect PbP system" which is the sole intent of this project. The problem is saying that it isn't yet is plain to see, the system isn't finished at all. I appreciate you pointing out I need to elaborate on a few things though.
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System
I've been actually thinking about such a concept for a while now. The conclusion I came to was that the biggest problem for PbP is combat. It's a huge problem since it requires people to do their actions in a certain order. Now, in a real life game, combat can take a while, but in PbP, where you're lucky to get the required 1 post/day, it can take weeks to do one combat encounter. People aren't always on and they're definitely not always on at the time when they need to post.
There's a couple solutions I've thought of:
- Allow people to post at any time, but act out their actions in initiative order. PRO: It doesn't matter when people post CON: People can have their characters react to things which they only know will happen out-of-character
- Reduce combat to "meaningful points". For instance, the only meaningful decision a high-level character has to make when fighting low-level characters is how they want to defeat their opponents - their success is pretty much assured anyways. Amber Diceless's combat system is like this, though such a system doesn't have to be diceless. PRO: Reduce the time it takes for low-importance encounters while still having them; allow characters to be more creative in their actions CON: Combat essentially runs on GM fiat which can run the gamut of good to bad depending on the GM
- Simplify combat so it can reliably reduced to only a few rounds (or turns or whatever). PRO: Greatly reduces time required; makes the system easier to understand CON: Potentially loses depth; encounters can be anti-climactic (who wants to kill the Dragon King of Lilkon in three rounds?)
Of course, that's just what I've thought of.
Also, one of the advantages of PbP is that it's the number of actions a player can do not how long an action takes that determines how long in real life time it takes to complete. What I mean by this is consider the difference between a roll-plus-modifier system and a dice pool system. A dice pool, in real life, takes more time to determine whether a roll is successful than a roll-plus-modifier while playing a real life game - you have to count the number of successes instead of just adding one number and it takes longer if certain numbers can "cancel" successes. However, in a PbP game both types of rolling take exactly the same amount of time. As an extreme example, imagine a system where you had to roll five dice, each time asking the GM whether it succeeded or not. In a real life game, this wouldn't take all that long - the GM is right there, watching your dice, so they can answer as soon as you announce the result. In a PbP there would probably be significant delay between each roll, especially if you and the GM are working on different schedules.
I hope I'm properly explaining what I'm trying to say.
The upshot of this is that you can have, for instance, the player make a bunch of rolls using a complicated rolling system as long as they only have to tell you the result once and it will take just as long as roll-plus-modifier.
Finally, since we're using the forum dice roller, you're not restricted to d4, d6, d8, etc. If you want to use a d34 go right ahead! For instance, think of a system where you roll a dX, where X is equal to your attribute+skill rank and you need to roll higher than the difficulty (which is determined by the task). Such a system is simple to understand while having useful properties, such as diminishing returns and the ability to scale (e.g. a d100/diff 6 is statistically equivalent to a d20/diff 2).
(1d18)[5]
(1d51)[51]
(1d203)[108]
I hope that my observations help out in some small measure.
Re: Creating the Perfect PbP System
I'll look over them all and certainly appreciate any of the help I get! I posted it in the Homebrew Section to get honest critique and assistance for the system from the minds found within.
Saying that, I picked d12 for a reason which I am going to flesh out more. I wrote the system down late though the idea's were buzzing in my head for a long time. I also jumped back and forth between parts of the system I was writing so I think some things got out of whack. I picked the d12 because it's fairly even considering it doesn't end on a 5 or a 10, and again I didn't go with 10 because I didn't want to crib a system (White Wolf) to badly. 1 is always a failure while 12 is always a success. That still gives the GM 10 numbers to play around with to set up challenges.
The System is designed to be very easy and comfortable to use, with the GM being the final decider in all things. Rule 0 exists no matter what you do, so instead of making lofty rules GM's will just throw away and house rule I wanted to provide an open system where Rule 0 is not just encouraged but is in fact Rule 1.
The system also owes some of itself to the things that influenced it, specifically Castle Crashers, The White Wolf System's focus on Story with fast combat, D&D's interesting Feat System and the Uni-System's focus on a single die for all rolls for ease.
