In selecting and tweaking a number of very interesting role-playing game systems (Savage Worlds, the Pool, FATE), I realized that I was basically creating my own system, and I'd love to get some feedback on it. In the end it's mostly just PDQ, but with different dice, weaknesses merged with Qualities, Wild Cards instead of Style Dice, no modifiers or target numbers--Well, you can see why I just started from "scratch." The basic rules fit on just one page.
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MULRAH (My Universal Lite Role-playing Adventure Heuristic)

Story Power Chart
[table]
[tr][td]Level[/td]  [td]Die[/td]  [td]Skill Level[/td]  [td]Task Difficulty[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Phenomenal[/td] [td]d12[/td] [td]A genius, a leader in her field[/td] [td]Extremely difficult[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Remarkable[/td] [td]d10[/td] [td]Noted professional, talent backed by skill[/td] [td]Difficult[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Notable[/td] [td]d8[/td] [td]Experienced professional or exceptional talent[/td] [td]Complicated[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Interesting[/td] [td]d6[/td] [td]General professional or a talented novice[/td] [td]Somewhat involved[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Ordinary[/td] [td]d4[/td] [td]Unremarkable skill or latent possession of unusual ability[/td] [td]Simple[/td][/tr]
[/table]

To play MULRAH, you will need at least one set of standard role-playing dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12), a deck of playing cards, and at least a couple dozen counters (poker chips, coins, checkers, etc.).

Characters in MULRAH include any entity that can influence the direction of the story. Villains, monsters, thugs, allies, and so on are Characters, but so are castles, horses, starships, traps, and anything else that can challenge the players.

Tags refer to any game element—an attribute, skill, quirk, (dis)advantage, weakness, feature, etc.—that describes a Character. By default, a Tag’s Level is considered “Ordinary,” the starting point for measuring a Tag’s influence, as shown on the Story Power Chart. To the degree that a game element is extraordinary, it moves up the chart, gaining Levels. Character Creation and Advancement is simply the process of players choosing Tags for their characters and applying Levels to these Tags. 6 to 10 Levels across a minimum of 4 to 8 Tags are probably a good start, but the GM has final say on these numbers. Acquiring unusual Tags, like “Magical,” might cost an extra Level at the GM’s discretion. Characters can add a Level every two or three sessions and can, within reason, change Tags and redistribute Levels during extended downtime.

Action Rolls are required whenever a PC’s action could lead to interesting success or failure. Both the player and the GM will roll dice based upon the Level of all Tags involved in the action. If a Character does not possess a relevant Tag, their action defaults to Ordinary (d4), unless it is a typically impossible action, like ESP. The higher roll wins and incurs Damage equal to the amount by which it exceeds the highest of the opposed rolls. This mechanic applies for all significant actions, from climbing to sword fighting. Modifiers and target numbers are unnecessary.

Damage leads to the temporary removal of Levels from a character’s Tags. The player removes these Levels from any Tag, thereby weakening his character’s Story Power in that area. A Tag that has lost all of its Levels is unusable, and, once all Levels from all a Character’s Tags have been lost, he is Incapacitated. The GM should use Tags that have lost the most levels by the end of a session as story hooks for the next one. By default, Characters recover all Levels between game sessions.

Wild Cards represent the luck, blessing, or determination that all PCs and other recurring Characters possess. At the beginning of every session, each PC gets 3 Wild Cards, drawn from a standard deck of playing cards, and the GM gets 1 per player, including himself, to use as needed, and recurring Characters other than PCs also get 1 to 3 Wild Cards. Cards can be used to replace any roll with the value of the card, with Aces low, Jacks worth 11, and Kings worth 12. As such, Wild Cards can be used like a “reroll” or to avoid Damage. Players can use the Queen to describe a plot twist related to his Tags at any point in the game. Any player may give another player one of his Wild Cards for exceptional role-playing, humor, or anything else that player appreciates. Unused Wild Cards disappear at the end of every session.

Calling Out Tags occurs whenever a Tag limits the actions of a Character and usually leads to the granting of at least Wild Cards equal to the number of Levels invested in the Tag. When the GM Calls Out a Tag, the player may refuse the Call Out by using as many Wild Cards as Levels she has invested in that Tag, or she may accept the Call Out and earn that same number of Wild Cards. Alternatively, a player can Call Out a Tag herself and likely earn Wild Cards. Because they produce Wild Cards when role-played, Tags like Coward or Intolerant can be just as valuable as Strong or Attractive. Each Level of Damage to a Called Out Tag reduces the award given for role-playing it by one Wild Card and similarly increases the Wild Cards given up to refuse the Call Out.

Example: Jen has used two Levels to Tag her character as a Notable Athlete, one Level for an Interesting Love the Outdoors, and one Level for an Interesting Fear of Heights. The GM tells her that she has come upon a Remarkable Cliff. She wants to climb it, so she gives up her last Wild Card when the GM Calls Out her Fear of Heights. Although she gets to roll a d8 (Notable) and a d6 (Interesting), she comes up with a 4 and a 6, which do not beat the GM’s roll of 7 on his d10 (Remarkable). She does not have any Wild Cards left to change any rolls, so, using the better of her two rolls (6), she takes 1 Level of Damage. She can deduct this amount from any of her Tags, but, since she is out of Wild Cards, she cannot attempt to climb it again. In this situation, it would have been better for her to accept the Call Out, gain an additional Wild Card, and find another way to her destination.

I like to say the name of your game.  MULRAH! MUUUUUULRAHHHHHHH!

What does this game do that the other games you mention (Savage Worlds, Fate, PDQ, etc) don't do?

Simon wrote:
What does this game do that the other games you mention (Savage Worlds, Fate, PDQ, etc) don't do?

Cool.

What kind of stories do you think this game is good for, and why?

Also, maybe it's time for you to playtest this thing.

Simon wrote:
What kind of stories do you think this game is good for, and why?

Mulrah wrote:
For now, my primary hope is simply to bring some narrativist elements to a basic fantasy campaign in a simple, straightforward manner without also inheriting unnecessary layers from other rules systems.

Mulrah wrote:

I presume that MULRAH, given its heritage, would be a good fit for cinematic adventures in a variety of settings. In the end, it's probably still more simulationist than narrativist, so the more appropriate question might be what kind of setting is best, rather than what kind of story. For now, my primary hope is simply to bring some narrativist elements to a basic fantasy campaign in a simple, straightforward manner without also inheriting unnecessary layers from other rules systems.

Simon wrote:
Using GNS terms isn't helpful here, because you're not talking about Creative Agenda.  I literally don't know what you mean when you say "simulationist mechanics".

Maybe if you could explain your goals for what you want play to look like a little better, I'd be more able to tell you whether I think the game is likely to give you that.

Heh, I love the name.

Personally, I kinda have this thing though where I like games to be fairly minimal as far as required peripherals at the table are concerned. This is a problem I have with 4E D&D; It's not enough that you need dice, books, paper, and pencils, but you also have to have a battle-mat, miniatures (or things to use in their place), cards to help keep track of your 'powers', etc. I feel that it makes PBP games online a bit difficult, and I think that's kind of a big part of the rpg market right now. It's something you may want to keep under consideration.
I wonder if there is anyway you could do without the playing cards and the poker chips and work only with dice?

chronoplasm wrote:
I wonder if there is anyway you could do without the playing cards and the poker chips and work only with dice?

One thing that appeals to me about the playing cards is that I could optionally add on options other than replacing rolls. Maybe Clubs are used for rerolls, but the other suits do something different. Maybe face cards do something different.

Cards are cool. You can do things like lay them face down and turn them up for things like 'simultaneous action'. You can put them in piles. You can do all sorts of stuff with cards.

PDQ, FATE, and my own game MULRAH seem to lack mechanics like Humanity in Sorcerer, Sanity in Cthulhu, Exhaustion in Don't Rest Your Head, etc., so I figured I'd alter MULRAH's rules a bit to include space for rules like these.

First, I replaced the paragraph on Wild Cards with:

• A Meta Force is an abstract power defined by the GM to capture the atmosphere of the campaign setting. By default, it is simply Luck, but there could also be Magic, Sanity, Soul, Grit. PCs can call upon Meta Forces through the use of [Luck, Magic, etc.] Cards, of which they receive 3 at the beginning of each session. Each card can replace any roll with the value of that card (Aces low, Jacks = 11,  Kings = 12). The Queen allows for describing a Tag-related plot twist at any point in the game. Unused cards disappear at the end of each session.

Second, I added another paragraph at the end:

• Additional Setting Rules refine Character Creation and Meta Forces. Acquiring unusual Tags, like “Magical,” might cost an extra Level. The GM might also require all Characters to have a specific kind of Tag, like a motivation, profession, or fear.  In non-cinematic campaigns, the GM could keep used Luck Cards to use against PCs in subsequent scenes. Cards used for Meta Forces other than Luck may have additional requirements or consequences. Magic cards might only be invoked before rolling dice, rather than after, and require a description of the spell being cast. Running out of Grit cards may lead collapsing from exhaustion.

I also changed the Damage rules as follows: "Once all Levels from all a Character's Tags have been lost, he becomes Totally Boring and is taken over by the GM as an NPC."

Do you have a real name we can use?  It's a bit awkward referring to you by the name of your game.

I think that you have a bit of a blindness to what kind of play you're really looking to promote with this game.  Possibly this is because you've not experienced a wide variety of play styles.  I'm worried that your game will become a "kitchen sink" of various parts, none of them working towards the whole.  Your addition of "Meta Force" strikes me as one symptom of this.  Humanity, Exhaustion, and Sanity are all very different mechanics that have wildly different effects on play, that aren't appropriate to the game you're making.

I suggest you do one of two things:

Either

a) playtest your game now, and post in the playtesting forum, describing which bits were fun, which were frustrating, and talking about the interactions of the players with the rules.

or

b) post in Actual Play with a real-life example of a game that you really enjoyed, that captured some of what you want to achieve with your game.  Again, describe the interactions of the players with the rules, which parts were fun, and which parts were frustrating. 

By doing this, I think we'll be able to discover what it is you're really trying to get at with this game.  Once we know that, I think you'll find it much easier to write the game, and I also think I'll find it easier to assess whether your rules are going to work for your purposes.

Simon,

You are correct about my inexperience, and I will certainly post playtest results. While I agree that Humanity/Exhaustion/Sanity can and should feel different during gameplay, they all seem to use the same kind of "use at your own expense" economy. MULRAH seeks simply to genericize this concept so the GM can rework as she desires.

- Chris Flood

I've made a few more changes.

• I tossed the GM takeover of Totally Boring Characters.
• I collapsed Luck, Grit, and other previous "Meta Forces" that would typically recharge between game sessions into Tags. If the GM wants to have stuff like "bennies" or "FATE points," then she should just require players to Tag their Characters with universally applicable Tags like "Luck" or "Heroics."
• Instead of occurring as a result of diverging rolls, Damage now happens when invoking a Tag irrelevant to the Conflict, which will be necessary when up against a superior Character.
• Meta Forces are now optional, described as follows:

[tt]"A Meta Force (Optional) is at the core of a story's atmosphere and, once defined by the GM, cannot be Tagged. Meta Force can be a Character's Soul, Sanity, Mana, etc. and usually starts out equal to the Character's Levels (10 by default). Characters can usually increase a Resolution Score by reducing their Meta Force by the same amount, but Meta Force is recoverable only through specific acts rather than through the start of a new session. Upon reaching zero, the Meta Force will cause the Character to enter a usually game-ending state such as death, madness, etc., so players must use it with extreme caution."[/tt]

We're going to playtest this weekend. I'd love to hear any final thoughts before we do!

Final pre-playtest rules are in a PDF here:http://deaddogcafe.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/mulrah3.pdf. I made a number of changes and added a page of optional rules that can be tweaked based on the theme of the game. I understand that's a no-no here on the Forge, and that's actually kind of the idea.

There are no "no-no" rules here.  Optional rules are a great idea, especially if you're clear about the effect they'll have on the game, why you'd use them, and why you wouldn't.

Playtest results: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=28803.0