Couple of questions on a rules-lite system

[earwig]

Hi all!

Quick question that I hope isn't too broad.  I am working on my first rpg, and I am developing the system.  What I'm looking for is a very easy, rules-lite system that fast, consistant, and doesn't require very large die pools.  I've had a couple of people recommend looking into FATE, which I am currently doing, but I was thinking of something even more simple if possible.

My game is more about the "skills" than attributes.  In fact, as it stands there's really only one attribute.  However, the game deals with characters who travel thgrough time, possessing the locals and having access to their skills while they're using the host.  They will be able to "take" certain skills with them when they leave the host and jump through time again.  They will be limited to the number of skills (skill points?) they can "hold" at any given time.

Since they can travel through time, they will have a wide range of skills which they may have, considering they can end up anywhere from the dawn of man to the present.  So this system would have to be quick and flexible. 

Math has never been my strong point (was always a lit guy), so I'm having a bit of trouble with this.

My system (as it stands now) is skills are rated 1 to 6.  The player roles a 1d6.  If the d6 is equal to or less than the skill rating, they are successful. 

From my limited math, I would determine then that they have just under 17% chance for success per each point in the skill on a single d6 die roll.  So if they had a 1 in the skill, they would have a about 17% chance, if they had 2, they would have around 34-35% chance for success, etc.

I'm really not looking for hyper-realism here (which is why I'm staying away from rule-heavy formats like GURPS), but (assuming my math is even remotely close to being correct) is this system way too unrealistic?  from going to 17% to 35% is a big jump for one skill point.  Then again, a lot of skills will just be temporary and the characters won't keep them or improve them anyway.  So if the character has Make Mutton 5, he can make a mean mutton while possessing the medeivil cook, but chances are they wont keep that skill for their next journey.

But the characters can tap the emotions of those they possess (if appropriate)and add those points to the roll.  So...in the case above a character can "tap" his host for a point of love (he's making the mutton for a maiden he's in love with, I guess) and boost up his amazing skill in Mutton Making to a 100% chance of success.  (there are dangers in tapping emotions, but that's for another post).  I'm not sure that by tapping an emotion, one can become more "knowledgeable", but it is feasable that they will strive to be more successful as long as the goal relates to the roll.

Anyway, that's the basic system (or lack there of).  I would appreciate it if someone could point out any basic flaws in my math or concept, point me in a better direction, or offer any input (good or bad).  I'm pretty thick skinned, and I know my limits (which aren't that far) in mathmatics, so I can take a decent beating.   But I'm really happy with the background of my game, and I'd hate to waste it on a crappy system that no one would want to play.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[opsneakie]

Okay, this sounds like a very cool idea, and mathematically, I think it works out fine.

So if your skill is rated:

1: 16.66%
2. 33.33%
3. 50%
4. 66.66%
5. 83.33%
6. 100%

The jumps are big, but I don't think that's really a problem, and I like the idea of the max skill being unable to fail. If you wanted the skills to have more gradual movement, you could make it d8, d19, d12, d20, whatever based. I like the d6 though, it's a good size die and it's uncomplicated.

switching to d10s would shave the probability gap from 16.66% to 10%, d12's would bring it down to about 8%, d20s to 5%. I think that the d6 is fine, especially if you're not going for an uber-realistic system. I'd stick with them, and I really like the ideas (both system and setting).

Hope that was helpful math thoughts,

- john

[Narf the Mouse]

You want 'There Is No Spoon'. Points:

1) d6's roll-under system.

2) Matrix success (Convert to Emotion success) trumps Skill success.

3) Skills are uploaded = Skills come from possesion.

As I was reading your write-up, I saw absolutely nothing that TINS couldn't do with very little re-write.

Heh. I may be wrong or way off-base, though.

[earwig]

Cool.  Thanks for the input.  

At first I was opposed to the highest score being 100% chance of success.  However, the more I thought about it, the more plausable it seemed.  A highly trained paramedic (skill 6) could probably set a broken leg under ideal conditions 100% of the time.  There could be modifiers, of course.  So if he's trying to set a broken leg in the middle of a thunderstorm with limited supplies, and a someone shooting at him (-3) it would drop his chances to 50%.  Modifiers would actually work against the skill rating, not the die roll.  This would give the GM a chance of adding challenges to the a character that not only help to reset a sort of balance, but also can add to the story.

The characters are actually Fragments of a shattered soul that travel through time embedding themselves into the souls of the local population.  However, all the hosts must have an emotional tie to one another (good or bad).  Each host has a conflict (sometimes with the other hosts!) that the Fragments must resolve in order to move on.  However, since they are all Fragments of the same soul, they can only move on together, so the conflict for each host must be resolved from moving on. (likewise if any one Fragment perishes, all do, as the soul can never reunite.)

The Fragments start as blank slates, but fill up with emotions and skills taken from each host.  Eventually these begin to form into a personality for the Fragment, and this personality can change over time, depending on the emotions they take on, and to what degree they have them in.  Every skill will have an emotion tied to it based on the host it is pulled from...ex. Swordfighting (anger) 6.  The character may use his rating in anger to modify a roll.  However, the more he uses an emotion the more powerful it becomes.  So if he uses ANGER to modify his swordfighting roll, he will become a very angry person indeed.  The emotions carry with them to the next host, regardless if they bring the skills with them or not.  So if the next host should be a timid, groundskeeper in the 1930s, this timid groundkeeper would suddenly become much more angry and his shyness would convert from timid to brooding.  This can cause all kinds of havoc on the Host's life, and thus the Fragment's.

Also, when Fragments are maxed on the skills they can carry, or if one turns out not to be as useful as originally thought, they can "burn" the skill, which basically turns it into its core emotion to be absorbed.  So going with the above example, if when leaving the Groundskeeper, the fragment decides to take a skill from the Groundskeeper along, but lacks the "room" to do so, he/she could "burn" off the Swordfighting skill, but would have to add 6 points of anger!

When a Fragment takes on an emotion that he or she feels counters another that he or she already has, the Fragment has the choice to split the new emotion in half (for the above example, say the GM agrees that Love can counter anger, and the Fragment lifts a love of 6 from the host). The first half becomes a new emotion, the second half is subtracted to the preexisting counter-emotion.  (the Fragment would take Love at 3, and subtract 3 from Anger).  In the case of an uneven number, the majority goes to subtracting the counter emotion.  (so if it lifted 3 instead of 6, 1 would go to love and 2 would be subtracted from anger)

The only "attribute" of the game will be "Tangibility" (subject to change in short-order).  This will be how close the Fragment is to reuniting with the others to become a True Soul to be born into the world as a True human being.  However, all the Fragments much reach this point before the True Soul can reunite, and a Fragment which reaches it long before the others can be driven mad with the desire to unite, possibly leading to ending more tragic than good.

Once all the Fragments reach this point, the soul reunites and is born into the world.  The knowledges and emotions combine, and through a system designed for coopertive storytelling, the players work through the life of the human being to see how he or she turns out.  Upon death the soul moves on into unknown territory.  Time to pick up a new game all together, or start over with new Fragments.

[earwig]

Narf-
Yes, that is very similar to what I had in mind.  Is this your system?  I just really like that "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" never happened.  How I wish that were true.

But yes, that is very similar to what I was trying to do.  Also, never having played a Matrix RPG, I have to say this one seems to get it right. 

[Narf the Mouse]

No, it's not mine. It is very cool, though and does fit the Matrix movie.

However, since casual conversation is not encouraged on this forum...

If an emotion always ensures success, you're going to get people trying to fit as much as possible under one of their emotions. Not sure if that's a bug or a feature from your point of view, though. You could have emotions go up or down with success and failure.

[earwig]

Yes and no.  The emotions do not necessarily mean automatic success.  They get +1 per point spent.  The spend would be temporary, and would eventually rise back up to its original level (much like "healing" of physical wounds in RPGs).  Plus the players must justify the spend in terms of how it relates to the emotion.
So take a "nice" emotion such as LOVE.  The Fragment could drum up feelings of LOVE in a non-violent skill, such as "Sweet Talk" etc. assuming the person the host was trying to sweet talk was one he/she was in love with. Pretty simple stuff.  However, if the Fragment wanted to tap LOVE for a violent action, it would be harder to justify, but possible.

Say, the Host is a guy named Mark.  Mark is in LOVE with Mary.  Mark has a LOVE of 5.  Mark also now possesses Boxing 3, due to the fact that the Fragment imbedded in his soul carried it with him from his last Host, who was a failing Boxer.  Dr. Meanguy is planning on pushing Mary out of a window.  Mark decides to tap 1 point of Love, the player justifying this by saying "Overwhelmed with his LOVE for Mary, Mark rushes at the Dr., taking a swing."

(boxing) 3+1(love)=4

Player rolls d6 and comes up with 4

Mark lands several rabbit punches to the face, knocking the evil Dr. unconcious.  (granted there's more to it than that with combat, damage, etc. but for this example let's assume...)  Mark runs to Mary to make sure she is okay, both of them confused as to where Mark had attained such fighting skills...

However, the Fragment now has a score of 1 in LOVE that will stay with it until he can counter it with an opposing emotion.

I am using the old "The way to heavy is twisting, rock path, while the road to hell is straight and well paved road"-metaphor in hopes that Negative Emotions such as Anger, Fear, Hatred, etc. will be easier to justify and use throughout a story, than positive (love, pity, compassion) ones.

It probably would be much easier to justify Anger or Hatred to gain a bonus on a combat roll, even in the above example, than love.  The more you use an emotion the stronger it becomes, thus it is much easier for a Fragment to become jaded, angry, or miserable.  However, even the darkest of players, probably wouldn't enjoy playing that character for too long and even if he/she did, the other Fragments might not enjoy the company. 

My hope is that this will open up two avenues to the game:

1) Redemption: A character who has taken the paved road, must now focus on repairing the damage he is doing to the "True Soul" by seeking out more positive experiences to counter the negative ones he has built up inside of himself.

2) This can give the game a tragic edge as well.  Imagine a Fragment who in the first few sessions of the game ends up a gentle and understanding seeker of knowledge.  She is the pacifist the others rely on to think clearly with a level head.  But after a series of terrible events, she is forced to pull from ANGER or HATRED in order to get herself out of some tight situations.  We watch her spiral downwards from the meek seeker into a reckless, raging, mess of chaos.  Since all Fragments must remain in existence in order for the soul to eventually reunite, and due to the fact that all Fragments of the same True Soul have an unbreakable bond regardless of their regard for one another, the other Fragments must fight to keep her under control.