Mechanics for U.S.A.

[RPunkG]

My original concept of using 2d6 for Union States of Americo has changes since reading the forums.

I think now I have developed a better system.

The dice and mechanics are based around the numbers 6 and 12, using up to 12d6.

The attributes are on a scale of 1- 6 and are as follows:
1. Health
  2. Strength
  3. Dexterity
  4. Reaction
5. Mind
  6. Intelligence
  7. Education
  8. Perception
9. Soul
  10. Charisma
  11. Creation
  12. Reputation

Each attribute has 12 associated skills, except for Health, Mind, Soul, and Reputation.  

Health has 12 associated hit locations (head, torso, hands, feet, etc.),

Mind has a gauge of 1-12 from sane to insanity.

Soul has a guage of 1-12 to track karma (the means to improve your charcter and other bonus feats)

Reputation has the 12 regions listed underneath.  Each region has a guage from -6 to 6 to track infamy or fame in each different location.

The other attributes are pretty standard and self explainitory.

The skills are also fairly standard (jumping, woodworking, flintlocks, sail ship, ride animal, etc...)

The skills are on a scale of 1-6 as well.  Each point represents 1d6 to roll, with a set target number of 6.  This means that a character with 1 point in jumping has one dice to accomplish a feat where a character with 6 points has six dice to accomplish the feat.

Opposed rolls are handled the same way.  Characters roll their appropriate dice with target numbers of six, who ever gets more successes wins.

This target number may seem high, but I used that to add in an element of pressure versus taking ones time.  If a charcter concentrates (aims, studys without distraction, or other positive modifiers) they can start adding in dice from their attribute.

Example:  A character with Flintlocks 3 has one 3 dice to roll when shooting at a bullseye IF they just draw and shoot.  If they take the extra time (one turn=one extra dice) they can add in dice from the associated attribute.  Therefore, someone with flintlocks 3 and perception 3 can concentrate (for 3 turns) and roll 6 dice opposed to 3.

In the mad rush of combat, however, the time to concentrate may not be allowed.  You may possibly be able to aim for one turn in combat, but not for three.  If you are struck or distracted in any other way, you lose all of your concentration, starting over with just your basic skills.

Craft skills work a similar way.  There is a huge difference between trying to assemble a wooden shield in 3 days and another in 3 hours.  By taking ones time, they can greatly increase the number of dice available to succeed.

Critical failures occur on the result of all ones.  All dice must roll up 1 to critically fail, even in the case of just once dice.  I hate games where a novice and an expert both roll a d20 and have the same percentage chance of criticall failing.  It makes sense to me that someone who barely knows how to use a whip might pop themselves in the face while someone who is a master would never let it happen.  A character with 6d6 will rarely roll all ones.

However, this works in the opposite manner of critical successes, so there are no critical successes.  In the case of rolling a 6 with one dice, thats good enough for the untrained idgit.  If someone rolls all 6's with 6 dice, the results will be so fantastic, it doesnt need the word "critical" to make it any more spectacular.  With this mechanic, I have done away with the idea that some average joe can pick up a broadsword and "acciddentally" lob it into a dragons heart and kill it (which i think is ludicrous.)

Combat turns are determined by rolling reaction dice.  All the dice are rolled and saved.  Whoever got a six goes first, but someone with a five and a two can give up both dice to go before them.  Someone with a five, a two and a one can give up three dice and go before them.  In this way, slower characters have a chance to go first, but faster characters are left with more actions.  If a faster character feels so inclined, he can give up 5 or 6 dice to ensure they take the first action.

Weapons either do 1, 2, 3, or 4 points of damage.  Each hit location has a certain number of wounds they can take.  Head has two, while torso has 4.  A weapon doing 2 points of damage (a mace) could crack a skull, but only do middle-class damage to a torso.  A sledge hammer (4 points of damage) would crush a ribcage or a head.

When a strike is successful, 2d6 are rolled to determine hit location.  Then, the attacker can move the hit location up or down based on how mnay successes they received.  So if they got 3 successes and rolled a 4 (striking someone in the arm) the 3 successes allow them to move the strike 3 times.  They can move it to 1 (head) or 7 (right hand.)  This way they can kill or maim, depending on what would be most appropriate.  This also assists the concentration part, adding dice from the attribute.  Concentrate = more dice = more successes = better hit location.

Once a body part is out of points, it is crippled.  Crippling a head or torso kills the character.

Armor is either light or heavy and subtracts either 1 or 2 wounds from a successful attack.

I think I have covered most of the essentials of the mechanics.  Please tell me what would work, wouldnt work, what sounds good and what sucks.

Are the mechanics too complex?  I tried to make them more realistic; combat is designed to be a last resort, because odds are many people will die.  I'm not much for combat where everyone stands in a circle and shoots till someone is dead.  This system encourages people to take cover when the S hits the fan.

(That reminds me, positive or negative modifiers either add or subtract dice to the skill rolls.)

[Andrew Martin]

Do several paragraphs (roughly half of what you've written so far) on combat match your goal? Which I believe is:

Combat goes on the back burner (to be used occasionally) while political interration, exploration and survival are the main focus.

[RPunkG]

I provided the combat rules to give everyone a better idea of the machanics involved.  Whether combat is the main focus or not is entirely up to the GM.

In most roleplaying systems, combat is the most involved part, which is why i explained it in the most detail.  Exploration and diplomacy doesn have quite as many details and mechanics and shouldnt take to muct to figure out from the mechanics i posted.

What I'm looking for here is opinions of if this system mechanic seems simple enough, or if it too complex.  I would aslo like to know if someone notices any flaws.  I just want to know if these are good mechanics, not if these mechanics contradict what I said about the focus of combat.  Let me know what you think about the rules.

[Andrew Martin]

I provided the combat rules to give everyone a better idea of the machanics involved.  Whether combat is the main focus or not is entirely up to the GM.

In most roleplaying systems, combat is the most involved part, which is why i explained it in the most detail.  Exploration and diplomacy doesn have quite as many details and mechanics and shouldnt take to muct to figure out from the mechanics i posted.

What I'm looking for here is opinions of if this system mechanic seems simple enough, or if it too complex.  I would aslo like to know if someone notices any flaws.  I just want to know if these are good mechanics, not if these mechanics contradict what I said about the focus of combat.  Let me know what you think about the rules.

So, why not just use any generic RPG system, like Fuzion, Fudge, WW Storyteller, GURPS and so on? After all, they have relatively simple rules, they include combat rules and they ask the players to work it out for themselves for exploration, diplomacy and survival. :)

Edit: Corrected spelling.

[RPunkG]

because i wanted to try my hand at creating my own system.

[Andrew Martin]

because i wanted to try my hand at creating my own system.

Why?

[RPunkG]

because i work a night job with nothing else to do; this keeps me sane and eats up my senseless freetime

[Andrew Martin]

because i work a night job with nothing else to do; this keeps me sane and eats up my senseless freetime

Have you thought about changing jobs? It sounds like you're bored; perhaps it's time to challenge that sense of boredom and do a job that is new, harder and more interesting? Or is there other special reasons you're taking this job?

[RPunkG]

hahahaha  dude, my career advisor died 2 years ago.  just tell me what u think of the mechanics

[Andrew Martin]

hahahaha  dude, my career advisor died 2 years ago.  just tell me what u think of the mechanics

The mechanics remind me of WW Storyteller, but using D12/D6 instead of D10. As such, they've got all the flaws of that system (see RPG.net Game Design forumn for a long post about this), There's extra flaws, like too many different scales. I counted: attribute, skill, attribute+skill (after taking time), hit location, reputation (broken), weapon damage & armour protection. Too high a target number, which rewards play to win behaviour from players, and causes other players to become defeatist or negative sum. The biggest flaw is the no goal or generic nature of the system; which doesn't match your desired goal, as far as I can see.

[RPunkG]

The mechanics remind me of WW Storyteller

My inspiration for this syetm is more ShadowRun by FASA, but I see how each pont in a skill and attribute equaling one dice might seem very WW.

As such, they've got all the flaws of that system

I'm not familiar with WW very much, but since its not the ame system, it doesnt necessarily have the same flaws.

I counted: attribute, skill, attribute+skill (after taking time), hit location, reputation (broken), weapon damage & armour protection.

Had I left any of these out, wouldn't there be gigantic flaws in the mechanics?

Too high a target number, which rewards play to win behaviour from players, and causes other players to become defeatist or negative sum.

Not sure what this means.

The biggest flaw is the no goal or generic nature of the system

Im not sure how a game mechanic can have a "goal" and i believe the sytem to be generic enough for the game.  This isn't intended to be a Universal system, but a system more suited for my game.

which doesn't match your desired goal, as far as I can see.

My desired goal isn't to create a generic nature of the system.  I'm pretty sure I never claimed it to be generic.

[Marco]

Comments:

1. All around the dice-pool is a pretty well rounded idea--but how do you handle difficulty beyond 1 in 6? If I want to scale a sheer wall vs. climb a gothic building facade? One is easier than the other (maybe I missed this).

2. I don't know how unarmed (both trained and untrained) combat will work. Does a normal punch do 0? 1? Does a karate blow do 2? If so then the world's most powerful handgun (3?) isn't that much better than a heavy punch.

3. Over all it's a pretty deadly system, I think. I think there will be some issues with heavily armored riot troops (2pts of armor will stop what? An assault rifle round? A rocket launcher?)  I suspect that none of that is really the focus of the game so it probably doesn't matter if an APC can suck up a LAW rocket or not.

4.Do skills add to stats? If I have a skill like, say Karate, of 2 and a Dexterity of 4 do I roll 6d to hit?

-Marco

[RPunkG]

how do you handle difficulty beyond 1 in 6? If I want to scale a sheer wall vs. climb a gothic building facade

In cases such as these,  positive or negative modifiers are added in.  A sheer wall would be pretty damn hard, so the GM can assign a -2d or a -3d modifier.  However, climbing a gothic facade is like walking up a flight of stairs,  so a +1d or +2 modifier can be included.

Does a normal punch do 0? 1? Does a karate blow do 2?

a normal punch would so 1.  A karate blow does 3, which is high for the system (equal to a shotgun), but if a master of martial arts hauled off and struck someone in the face, they could kill someone easy.

However, shotguns (damage 3) also rolls for 3 hit locations, as the spread hit more than just the arm.

heavily armored riot troops (2pts of armor will stop what? An assault rifle round? A rocket launcher?)

None of these things exist in the Union States of Americo, so there arent game mechanics for it.  Armor is either leather (1 point) or metal (2 points)

Do skills add to stats? If I have a skill like, say Karate, of 2 and a Dexterity of 4 do I roll 6d to hit?

Only if you are able to concentrate.  This can either be as a combat turn (1 turn = 1 dice from the attribute) or as a roleplaying element (studying in silence = 1 dice from the attribute).  Essentially this is like aiming, focusing, medititation,  which give positive modifiers BU in this game positive modifiers = more dice.

[Marco]

The biggest flaw is the no goal or generic nature of the system; which doesn't match your desired goal, as far as I can see.

It's a matter of faith by some here that a system should encourage a given mode of play. Traditionally a lot of this is left up to the players and GM and background/setting (if the setting is rfie with intrigue then one assumes the play may involve intrigue).

As I understand the theory (I don't subscribe to it), because your write-up does not have mechanics that somehow promote play based on survival,  (it seems to me the combat system does), intrigue, or exploration (I'm not even sure what kind of mechanic would encourage "exploration"--or discourage it, for that matter) that your game is "not meeting its stated goals."

For what it's worth, I find the career advice--and alll of Andrew's  commentary leading up to it--condescnding and unhelpful (especially in its terseness).

-Marco

[RPunkG]

This might clear up the weapon damage/armor mechanics

weapons damage
1 point  (fist, knife, sling)
2 points (brass knuckes, mace, short sword, bow, flintlocks)
3 points (karake blow, spiked mace, broadsword, shotguns, X-bow)
4 points (sledge hammer,  gigantic sword,  double barrel shotgun, heavy x-bow)

5 points (reserved for non-conventional weapons)  Train wreck, falling boulder, getting hit by a pirate ship
6 points (to the point of instant-death circumstances)  Falling from the grand canyon, caught in a rockslide, attacks by a MoMo

armor protection
0 points  (clothes)
1 point  (leather armor)
2 points (metal armor)

3 points (reserved for non conventional armors)  exceptional quality metal armor
4 points (reserved for Ancient armors)  Ancient Military Armor