QBase: Help/Encouragement [System Mechanic]

[Dangerboy]

Ok, it's been months, but I finally have most of it done. It was going to ne rules-lite, but it's moved well past that into rules-medium/heavy.
What I'm looking for:
Does this appear to be a sound presentation? It a generic system that I want to wrap my settings around.
Would this be something you would play? In not, why?
Is there anything you see that I should expand upon/remove? Why?
I've tried to make it 'not too crunchy', but want to know if I traversed into 'too crunchy'. 'Too crunchy' for me is Dark Conspiracy, which has square root symbols in it's mechanics. How have I done?

A few notes though:
1. Suggestions are welcomed. This is pretty much the direction I'm going in.
2. This is still a work in progress. Some things are unfinished, but for the most part, I just haven't put it in here yet (armor and toxins).
3. This system was playtested, but since then we changed the die type, so I haven't playtested it with this die type. I also haven't had a chance to playtest the balance on the weapons; that was a new addition also.
4. I haven't capped anything yet, but right now, I've been working with Stat cap 5, Skill cap 7.
5. Yes, there are charts. When we playtested the system, we got the hang of it pretty fast and only had to look at the charts acouple times after that.
6. For now (b/c the section isn't ready yet) follow these guidlines for weapons and armor:
.   Treat all melee weapons as Power/3 weapons that do a base of light trauma.
.   Treat all ranged weapons as Reaction/3 weapons that do a base of light trauma.
.   Armor - RV: Reduce damage roll by this amount, Move: Reduce Movement by this amount, Skills: Reduce Skill roll by this amount for things that it applies to, like swimming, etc.

You can find the PDF's here.

[Dangerboy]

As far as the Moderator's Section, I'm think of stuff like Lateral Rewards (things not Experience related, like "drama dice" and whatnot, NPC's (named and unnamed), Game Grittyness, like uping the TN on damage rolls so more damge is done, alternate die penalties, and general role-playing advice.

[Nogusielkt]

1: None of the pdf links on the site seem to work
2: I don't like damage reduction as it leads people down the "I need bigger guns" path and is usually unbalanced

[Dangerboy]

UPDATE:

OK, finally. If you guys goto www.thepwnage.com you should be able to download what I have so far. I also put it in my sig.

And to restate what my first post said (so you don't have to scroll back up to reread it):

What I'm looking for:
Does this appear to be a sound presentation? It a generic system that I want to wrap my settings around.
Would this be something you would play? In not, why?
Is there anything you see that I should expand upon/remove? Why?
I've tried to make it 'not too crunchy', but want to know if I traversed into 'too crunchy'. 'Too crunchy' for me is Dark Conspiracy, which has square root symbols in its mechanics. How have I done?

A few notes though:

1. Suggestions are welcomed. This is pretty much the direction I'm going in.
2. This is still a work in progress. Some things are unfinished, but for the most part, I just haven't put it in here yet (armor and toxins).
3. This system was playtested, but since then we changed the die type, so I haven't playtested it with this die type. I also haven't had a chance to playtest the balance on the weapons; that was a new addition also.
4. I haven't capped anything yet, but right now, I've been working with Stat cap 5, Skill cap 7.
5. Yes, there are charts. When we playtested the system, we got the hang of it pretty fast and only had to look at the charts a couple times after that.
6. For now (b/c the section isn't ready yet) follow these guidlines for weapons and armor:
. Treat all melee weapons as Power/3 weapons that do a base of light trauma.
. Treat all ranged weapons as Reaction/3 weapons that do a base of light trauma.
. Armor - RV: Reduce damage roll by this amount, Move: Reduce Movement by this amount, Skills: Reduce Skill roll by this amount for things that it applies to, like swimming, etc.

and

As far as the Moderator's Section, I'm think of stuff like Lateral Rewards (things not Experience related, like "drama dice" and whatnot, NPC's (named and unnamed), Game Grittyness, like uping the TN on damage rolls so more damge is done, alternate die penalties, and general role-playing advice.

[Dangerboy]

If anyone can let me know if the links work, I'd appreciate that too. :)

[Nogusielkt]

Yes, the links worked, but I haven't had much time lately.  I foolishly signed myself up for too much responsibility.

[Adam Dray]

Looks interesting. At first, it looks like just a standard "old school" RPG, but I think there's a small gem of an idea in there: I like the Qualities mechanic though it's all a bit complicated for me but I'm sure there are people out there who want that kind of crunch.

What do characters do in your game? Is it a "generic" system? It's a lot of rules and not much "flavor." I think it would benefit from focusing it on a genre or setting or something.

[Dangerboy]

Looks interesting. At first, it looks like just a standard "old school" RPG, but I think there's a small gem of an idea in there: I like the Qualities mechanic though it's all a bit complicated for me but I'm sure there are people out there who want that kind of crunch.

What do characters do in your game? Is it a "generic" system? It's a lot of rules and not much "flavor." I think it would benefit from focusing it on a genre or setting or something.

Right now, it's just the mechanic. I have one setting for it that I didn't mention (because I wanted to focus on the mechanic first). It's a psionics game set in the far future (well, not that far). There are psychics that affect their surrounding, vs. psychics that affect themselves, vs. the government with their own quasi-psychics.

[Adam Dray]

See, this is the stuff that excites me. Right now, I see a shell of a game, but show me how players can use it.

[Dangerboy]

See, this is the stuff that excites me. Right now, I see a shell of a game, but show me how players can use it.

Like an example of play? The kind that say "Bob, Bill, and Tim all roll..."?

[Simon Marks]

Examples of play rock.

To the extent that you may want to write them first (This is how I want a session to play like, let's see if I can write a system that supports that)

[Adam Dray]

An example of play, sure (and search for "structured design" in subjects on The Forge for an example of how it can be done). Or just more information that shows what players do during the game and how the game experience unfolds.

[Adam Dray]

The Structured Design post is stickied at the top of this forum here.

[Dangerboy]

Ok here's how I expect a game to flow. I haven't included any setting (other than what you need to see the flow of the game). Just so you know the party consists of Darrius and Quinn, played by Bill and Tim, and both are internal psychics. They are enemies to the faction of external psychics, as well as, the MEG Team (the government's qusai-psychic military division).

Bill Darrius and Timothy Quinn are trying to break into the MEG office to free thir friend. They have made their way under the cover of night and have so far not been spotted.

GM: Ok, you've come op to the back door of the building, which is the closest one to the cell your friend is being held in. What do you do?

Bill: I attempt to bypass the lock on the door.

GM: Ok, it's an electric lock, so first you'll need to first roll electronics and then programming to bypass the lock.

Bill rolls 3d8 and looks for 5's or lower...

Bill: Ok 6, 7, and 5. Damn, well I got one success, but I can't spend it on anything.

GM: Alright, you succeed and the job takes you less than 10 minutes to get the panel off and hook up your mini computer. Roll.

Bill rolls 3d8 again and looks for 6 or less...

Bill: 1, 6, and 8. Cool. I keep the 1 and spend the 6 for Diff 3. I add a hiccup in the system. Can I do that?

Darrius has hacked into the system in such a way that if anyone tries to interfere with what he's done, they have at least a -3 penalty to their roll.

GM: Sounds good. You make your way inside. You two are at least three hallways away from the cell and there are two guards potrolling. Make stealth rolls and your diff is 3 due to the fact that you have very few things to hide behind and it's well lit.

Bill and Tim roll Stealth. Bill succeeds with a 1 and 3, but Tim fails, rolling three 7's.

Tim: Crap.

GM: Ok, Quinn sticks his head around the corner to check if the coast is clear and is most certainly is not; the guard gets a good look at you before you can pull your head away, Tim. Roll initiative.

Bill, Tim, and the GM roll initiative. Bill purchases 2 Basic and 1 Interrupt actions (for a total of 3 basic actions and one Int. SCORE: 5), Tim purchases 3 basic actions (for 4 Basic actions. SCORE: 7), and the GM buys 1 Basic Action (for a total of 2. SCORE:10).

GM: Well, the Guard is going to wait until you guys pop out, so he's going to wait for one of you to pop out. Tim, you're up next.

The guard converts one of his Basic actions into an Interrupt action.

Tim: Well... I activate Bio Armor and stand in the hallway.

Tim rolls 4d8... and gets a 1, 2, and 5.

Tim: Awesome, I use the 5 to gine me Armor 4...

GM: but that gives you a -3 movement.

Tim:... yeah, but that's cool, I still have a two.

GM: Ok, the guard opens up on you then.

The guard spends his Int action and shoots Quinn with a laser gun. The GM rolls and gets a 4, 4, 4, 3.

GM: He hits and spend a 4 to give himself Maintain 3, so unless you move behind cover, he's pretty much hitting you for four rounds... and spends andother 4 to give himself +3 damage.

Tim: What's the total damage?

GM: Minus your armor? That's still 3.

GM rolls and gets all successes.

GM: 3 lethal trauma. Bill?

Tim: Crap! ... Cool.

Bill: Since he's used up his Int action, I'm gonna combo and activate hands of fire and punch him.

Bill rolls for Hands of fire and succeeds (automatically gets +3 damage) and then moves in to punch the guard (he's -1 die, since he's comboing two actions together). He succeeds and uses a success to up the damage some more (by +2)and hit him in the legs.

Bill: What's his armor?

GM: 2.

Bill: Booya, 6 dice and his movement is reduced.

Bill rolls...

Bill: 5 lethal trauma.

GM: Ok, the guard is looking pretty bad, but he's still up. He's also maintaining the laser beam for one less round. Ok, back to the top. The guard has one action left. Tim, you have 3 actions and Bill, you have 1 action and one Int action left. The guard decided he's going to break the laser shot and shoot you, Bill.

Bill, punch him first.

GM: Roll.

The GM and Bill both roll initiative scores to see who acts first. Bill wins. Bill rolls to hit and succeeds, buying himself another +2 to damage.

Bill: 4 more points of lethal trauma...

GM: Ok that downs him.

Darrius and Quinn move to the next door.

Bill: I open this lock too.

Bill rolls an succeeds.

GM: You open it and to save you the trouble, when you hook up your mini-comp, you see that your hiccup is still there...

... the game continues ...


Is this what you guys meant? to see how a game progresses?

[Adam Dray]

Yeah, that rules. I totally get a feel for the game from that. It looks good.

So, what next? Do YOU have any questions? If not, playtest this sucker and post the report (what the players did, what worked, what didn't, not what the characters did) to Actual Play.