So I'm killing time here in the jury assembly room. I've had this little concept (based directly off the old Quest for Glory series of PC games) in my head awhile, and figured I'd type it up between bouts of StarCraft.

It's still a little rough. Especially the lame little bit of color opening..

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We at HACS are dedicated to making your goal of becoming a famous adventurer or hero come true! We have a comprehensive set of correspondence courses to assist you on your way at competitive prices.

Whether you're looking to be a fearsome fighter, wise wizard, or a tenacious thief, HACS will get you there!

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FORTUNE: Roll-over; 1d12 + skill rating
TARGET NUMBER: Determined by the "adventure tier" the player is currently in.

Adventure tiers are simply a way to describe how tough the area the hero is in. There are 5 tiers, with ascending TNs: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20.

SKILLS: Totally dependent upon completing coursework.

There are three "class" paths, as well as a "general" pool of courses. Each course has a requirement of money spent for the course itself, and a number of weeks it takes to complete the course. Every course that isn't an 'Intro' course also has a requirement. Not sure on the money.. maybe a number of coins equal to 100/week.

This'll be a complete list later on, but here's the 1st tier Fighter stuff:

(2 weeks, intro) Fighting 101: +2 Swing, +2 Thrust, +2 Shield Parry, +2 Dodge
(4 weeks, kill a Troll and Bandit Leader) Fighting 202: +2 Dodge, +1 Shield Parry, +2 Sword Parry
(6 weeks, obtain a Saurus Tooth from Mt. Saurus) Fighting 303: Intro to Saurus Technique School, +2 Acrobatics

Any time you attempt an action, you roll 1d12 plus one appropriate skill bonus.

Character stats consist of Hit Points, Vitality Points, and Mana Points. VP is your stamina; most actions will have some kind of VP cost associated with them. MP is for magic, obviously. Each character also has an Attack and a Defense rating.

There're five "placements" HACS can set you up with. The group decides where they're starting from about 5 different 1st tier locations.

Still messing about with how to do combat.

I left my notes from yesterday at home, so I'll try and post the complete coursework list I worked up later.

The game setting is a mostly light-hearted and punderful Earth analog, circa maybe 1200-1500 or so. There are a number of fantasy races, but I think I'll limit players to humans.

What else.. sorry this is kind of scattered at the moment.

GM has 'Puzzle Chips'. He can slap one of these down when he wants to put a puzzle between the player and his goal, which he needs to use his skills and player ingenuity to get past (as opposed to saying 'here's a wall.. I roll to see if I can figure it out!' gotta do it yourself!).

Primary goal of the game is to simply Get Cool. Maybe get yourself a kingdom, maybe just get rich, maybe become some goody-goody and go off saving damsels and killing demons and such. I like the idea of the coursework determining what you can do.

Thoughts/comments 'ppreciated. I'll see if I can't type up a real draft doc tomorrow once I've got my notes again.