Eldritch Legends : 2 questions....

[Pelinderian]

Ok, just so all of you know, I am new to the Forge ( at least to posting here), and also sort of new to the whole design thing. I have been re-working an old idea of mine, and have run into two snags.
  1) what type of damage system to use for combat. the firt thing I tried was a Hit Point system of the type in D&D. the second one was what I refer to as a free form damage system ( for lack of better term), like the one used in Mutants and Masterminds (sort of...). It uses wound severity for negative modifiers to skill rolls.
  2) Should the game be setting specific, or not. the original game did not have a setting included, but after reading many of the posts in here, I thought that a setting specific game may have more of a draw.
  Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[DP]

Hi Pelinderian,

Welcome to the Forge!

I love the signature, by the way. :)

What type of damage system to use for your game? Well, the definite answer to this is: it depends. I think many here would agree that form follows function; in game design terms, it means the damage system--as with any part of your ruleset--should evolve out of the kind of game you want.

Without thinking too hard about it, I'd say that wound levels are a great way to realistically model injury to the human form. But if you want a simpler system, there's great appeal in the D&D model of having a bucket o' hit points, and when the bucket's empty, you daid.

But again, this should flow organically out of the kind of game you want to produce. I think any designer should ask themselves FCSW? (For Christ's Sake, Why?) when they intend to bring into being a new game system. Do we need a new generic one? If not, do you have a setting that is dying to become an RPG?

For a great example, look at Paul Czege's Nicotine Girls. And while I'm referring to things without bothering to look up the links, read Mike's Standard Rants here on the Forge, especially the one on combat systems being distinct from other skill resolution systems.

[Tony Irwin]

Ok, just so all of you know, I am new to the Forge ( at least to posting here), and also sort of new to the whole design thing. I have been re-working an old idea of mine, and have run into two snags.
  1) what type of damage system to use for combat. the firt thing I tried was a Hit Point system of the type in D&D. the second one was what I refer to as a free form damage system ( for lack of better term), like the one used in Mutants and Masterminds (sort of...). It uses wound severity for negative modifiers to skill rolls.

Hey Pelinderian,
Tell us more about your game and what it is you're trying to accomplish. I don't believe in a "right" way for combat damage systems, I feel different systems are good for meeting different objectives in different games. In this thread Valamir talks about imagining what's actually happening in the game-world and finding mechanics to suit that. So if you were to imagine (or better yet write out and post) a combat scene between two characters in your game, what would you say was actually happening?

For example...

If you're picturing two equally skilled characters slogging away at each other for 10 minutes, each one causing light flesh cuts on the other, gradually wearing and exhausting each other down, their swings becoming more and more wild and uncontrolled, until one of them falls gasping to his knees, exhausted and unable to even hold his sword - then yeah, negative modifiers to rolls could support the vision of combat you have.

If on the other hand you're picturing the two characters swinging away with no real sign of damage until one of them manages an astonishing thrust right through a gap in the armor and into the armpit of the guy's sword arm - then a critical hit system could support the vision of combat you have.

Or you might be visualing scenes where combat is kind of a "count-down". The characters will have lots of combats in a day, and every opponent will add just a little bit more damage to the character, and the character isn't really even thinking about the opponent he's fighting, he's looking beyond to the stairs/exit that will get him out of this hell hole and to the daylight, and praying to his gods that he can make it back to the Keep where he can buy some healing potions and get his buddy resurrected before his fighting ability gets whittled away to nothing - then yeah, an abstract hit point system could support the vision of combat you have.

So anyway, lots of people on this board will have different (and great) advice for you, but my personal take would be to try and visualise exactly what you see happening in a combat and pick mechanics that will best support that. I'd encourage you to type up that vision and post it here if you want others to help advise you about mechanics.

Good luck with your game!

Tony

[Mike Holmes]

IIRC, Hunter Logan had a good article on the issues that this subject brings up.

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/dream19jun03.html

Mike

[Pelinderian]

Ok, thnaks for the replys first of all. I will be posting the setting I envision for EL sometime soon. so hopefully It will help explain the game a little better. Also an example combat would be a great idea ( as soon as I can getone written up) so hopefully that will be here as well. Sorry for any typos, iam typing with one les finger right now, ntil the skin grows back onto the tip...

[Pelinderian]

It has been about three thousand years since the end of the Wraith War. Though not peaceful by any means, the lands of Keltas have prospered, and the people have flourished. However dark days lie ahead. 20 years ago, the Sage lord of Caer Naeros revealed a prophecy that had been hidden for centuries. It told of the Days of Wrath, and the return of the Dead Lords. Though he did not give many details of the prophecy, he did reveal one specific thing. On the first day of Wrath, the Dead Lords would send one of their spawn to the city of Orthen, and that one would slay the last Scion of Jaemund Windrider, the hero who banished the lords 3000 years before. The following day, the Sage Lord was found dead in his sanctum, a look of utter terror on his face. A mesage was found scrawled on his chest in his own blood, ' The Dead Lords awaken'.
    It is now 2 decades later, and no news has been had of the Dead Lords, or their Spawn. Unfortunately, no one knows who the Scion of Jaemund is. So he or she may already be dead, and the Days of Wrath may already have started! This is the world the players find themselves in. Will they find the Scion before the Spawn does, or will they be able to beat back the Dead Lords , as Jaemund did 3000 years ago?

  The world is populated by a diverse set of races. There are the fantasy basics of Humans , elves and dwarves, along with Reptilians(Lizard men), Freyling(a woodland race akin to faeries), and the Sho-Dann(a warrior race that has been stranded in this world, by magic gone arry.) Players also have the option of playing a Half-Giant( not your run of the mill brute either. These guys are desended from what I refer to as true giants, sort of a cross between Greek Titans, and Norse Frost giants)