Universal Game Engine. Wardenwerx

[warden]

Hey

i am sick of over priced books and constant expansions. And... 4th ed. has made me finally follow thru with an idea i have had for years. Build my own
free easy to use game engine that can be used for ANY game setting.

Now such an undertaking can be daunting as there are, i feel, some great mechanics engines out there and some horrible ones. Just let me say
i hate level based systems. The white wolf one is one of my favs but even it has big problems. Also i have kinda borrowed my base from another
system. So i do not claim intellectual ownership of this system for it is based on the the quick and dirty rules that can be found on Firestorm Inks Cybergeneration site. A great game btw.

Here it is. Any feed back would be appreciated.

http://wardenwerx.blogspot.com/

Now keep in mind the goal of this is simplicity. i prefer story based games not 200page rule book games, where half the time spent playing is checking grappling rules or attack of opportunity mechanics. I want anyone to be able to take this system and use it for any game idea they have or use for any existing game or genre idea.

regards,

Warden

ps - this is also the first draft so go easy on me

[warden]

oppss. also the damage chart is not formatted right for some reason. sorry.

Warden

[BigElvis]

Welcome to The Forge Warden.

I advise you to read the different articles in the articles section (find it in the upper right corner). Especially the System Does Matter article by Ron Edwards.

As for your game:

The Good:
Your game seems perfectly playable the way it is now.

The Bad:
I don't think your game is universal, but then again I can't think of a game that is, and I think the idea of creating a universal system is flawed. This is beacuse of the reasons covered in the System Does Matter article.

For instance I don't think your game would be a good supporting mechanic for a game about the complexities of life for students in an american highschool.

But I also don't see anything on magic (which I think is a more serious thing for the kind of game you are aiming for).

I also don't think the game would be very good for a game about kung fu masters whose fist are deadly weapons.

And I wouldn't be sure how I would cover superfast characters under your system.


To sum up:
As a traditional rpg there is nothing wrong with your system.

but

Read the system does matter article - and preferably all of the other articles as well - and try to think about what kind of gameplay / interaction you want to have and then create a mechanic that supports that gaming style.

[dindenver]

Hi!
  Well, this looks like an almost straight port of CP2020. I love this system, so that's not a bad thing. But, there are somethings in CP202 that make it bad as a "universal" system. IN fact, this system should be alright for a teenage angst game. But the higher the power level, the less well this game scales. For instance, this game would probably do well in a Teen Titans style setting. Probably not so well in a Justice LEague power level and I know from the game book that it stinks at DBZ/Superman power levels. And you seem to have done nothing to mitigate this fact.
  CP2020 as over 50 skills, why so few in your system? And why are they all fighty skills and no other REAL skills (e.g., General knowledge or persuasion)? I think less skills are better, but, especially for a universal system, you need to have skills for different arenas of activity, no?
  Also, you want to take a look at your target numbers. You tweaked the Stats/skills, but not the Target Numbers, so its actually kinda hard to do an "Average" task if you are an average character...
  Finally, there is a glaring error. You want to roll less than your current HPs to stay awake. Otherwise, the tougher your character is, the more likely he is to go down in the first hit. And the closer you are to death, the less likely you are to fall unconscious...
  I, personally, would recommend making a great setting for this mechanic and go for that! Good luck man!

[warden]

hey guys

thanks for the intelligent replies. Very cool. I will look at each point you have given me and
make some changes on my engine. Thanks.

I will post Wardenwerx 1.1 soon.

Regards

Warden

[warden]

hey guys.

Is there any good free rpg systems out there that i could use for my
genre games.

Warden